On average, we spend over two hours per day in the kitchen preparing meals and cleaning up, so it’s no surprise that many are always on the lookout for a gadget to make the job quicker and easier. Clever inventors have developed numerous items that have changed the way we cook. Electric mixers have replaced hand beaters, food processors help us to chop, dice, and slice to perfection, and the microwave oven has revolutionized the way we cook.

Then we have those unusual and sometimes weird inventions. We see them every day on online shopping sites, kitchen shows, and in our chain stores and supermarkets: must-have gadgets that are going to save us time in the kitchen. Some of them truly are ingenious and make our daily cooking easier. Others seemed like a great idea when we originally bought them but lie forgotten at the back of the kitchen drawer. And then there are the gadgets that we can’t believe were ever actually invented.

What’s lurking at the back of your kitchen cupboard?

10 Fat Magnet

Health authorities have been educating us for many years on the need to remove fat from our diets. Many of us have moved toward lower-fat cooking methods and ingredients—like grilling our fish instead of deep-frying it, choosing leaner cuts of meat, and including more fresh fruits and vegetables in our diets.

However, the Fat Magnet has become an attractive alternative for health-conscious cooks. According to the marketing claims, you can still cook your fatty stews, but this handy gadget will successfully remove the harmful fat from your meals.

Simply freeze the handy gadget for a couple of hours. Then skim the metal plate over your soups and stews. It will basically pick the fat up, solidifying it to be easily scraped away, giving you a healthy, lower-fat meal.^[1]

9 Banana Slicer

Throughout history, people seem to have had little trouble picking bananas from the trees, peeling then, and chomping through them with their teeth. This popular fruit has been cultivated and eaten since ancient times, and in more cultured societies, we began slicing bananas to eat them more delicately or to sprinkle them across our morning cereal.

Knives have served well to slice our bananas for centuries, so it’s surprising that anyone even thought to invent a banana slicer. Therefore, it’s little wonder that it has become one of the most mocked kitchen gadgets available today.^[2]

The banana-shaped crescent of plastic has a number of blades which instantly slice through an entire banana at once. It’s perhaps useful for those with arthritis or other disabilities which make holding a knife difficult. For the rest of us, it would probably take longer to fossick in the kitchen drawer to find the gadget than it would to simply grab a knife and cut the banana.

8 Grape Peeler

Grapes have been one of the world’s most popular fruits since Neolithic times. Simply grab a handful off the nearest vine and nibble on them. Of course, it wasn’t long before we discovered how to make this handy fruit into wine.

Egyptologists have found depictions of servants peeling grapes for their wealthy masters. Older grape varieties had thicker skins, which may have been more palatable when peeled and seeded. However, cultivation over the centuries has led to grapes which are so thin-skinned and easy to eat that it’s surprising to find that there are actually people who peel grapes today.

Nevertheless, meet the grape peeler, a handy kitchen utensil with a thin wire loop that enables you to individually peel your grapes.^[3] It’s no doubt a godsend for serious cooks who don’t want grape skins in their recipes. The rest of us could eat a whole bunch of grapes in the time it takes to peel a few.

7 Chork

Do you like the idea of eating your Asian food with chopsticks, but you haven’t quite mastered the skill of successfully getting the food to your mouth? The Chork could be just what you need. This handy invention has a fork on one end and a set of chopsticks on the other.^[4]

The nifty plastic utensil is becoming popular in a number of fast food outlets, providing diners with options, depending upon one’s skill with eating utensils. Non-chopstick users can simply use the fork end to eat their fried rice in a traditional Western manner. Those who want to experience a little authentic Asian culture can use the chopstick side, reverting to the fork to save chasing those pesky portions of food around the bowl.

Experts can snap the two sections apart, transforming the Chork into a set of disposable plastic chopsticks. The utensil might be great fun to use at home, to teach the kids how to use chopsticks with their Chinese takeout.

6 Pizza ReHeater

When ordering pizza, we all end up with those leftover slices in the fridge the next morning. Many of us enjoy a slice of cold pizza for breakfast, while others prefer to reheat the pizza in the microwave or oven. This usually results in either a soggy mess or an overcooked, hard slice of pizza.

This is why the Pizza ReHeater was invented. The triangular tray utilizes a measured amount of water to absorb excess heat, enabling you to properly reheat your pizza in the microwave.^[5]

5 Trongs

Do you enjoy chicken wings, ribs, or other finger foods but can’t stand the sticky mess? Most of us hate the greasy juices on our hands after tucking into a plate of wings. This is precisely why Trongs were invented. The handy silicone finger covers act as a pair of tongs to pick up messy foods, leaving your hands and fingers clean.^[6]

Simply place the claw-like utensils over each finger. Then pick up and chomp away at the messiest food without the risk of your hands being covered in a greasy, oily residue.

4 Karoto

Peeling carrots and other cylindrical vegetables can be somewhat of a chore using a knife or a conventional vegetable peeler, so it’s little wonder that someone has invented an ingenious way to complete the task more quickly. Designed in Israel, the Karoto looks and works exactly like an oversize pencil sharpener. Simply place the vegetables into the hole and twist, just like sharpening a pencil.^[7]

The device is said to enable you to peel the skin from carrots in as few as 30 seconds, without removing skin from your fingers in the process. So very simple yet effective.

3 Electric Spaghetti Fork

Eating spaghetti can be a messy business, unless you’ve mastered the art of putting your fork into the pasta, taking a couple of twirls, and lifting the bundle into your mouth like a true Italian. If you are after a little more precision, you can also use a spoon to help with the procedure.

Or you can try the Hog Wild Twirling Spaghetti Fork. The battery-operated piece of cutlery automatically twirls the spaghetti onto your fork for you to lift into your mouth.^[8]

Some hilarious videos exist online of kids and adults alike attempting to eat with this invention. It certainly has the potential to make a lot more of a mess than the simple, time-honored method of spaghetti-eating. On the other hand, it may make mealtime more fun for kids, if possibly messier to clean up after for Mom.

2 Cookie Dipper

There are two types of people in the world: dunkers and non-dunkers. For many, dipping Oreos into a mug of warm milk or coffee is the ultimate comfort food. Others dislike the soggy mess that ends up floating in their cups.

You would think that dunking is such a simple process that it couldn’t be perfected. Yet you can now buy cookie dunkers, such as the Dipr,^[9] to make your morning coffee even easier.

These cookie dippers range from simple, fork-like contraptions that enable you to pick up your cookie and dunk to magnetic devices that enable you to safely submerge your cookies into your milk. How did we ever manage to dunk our cookies without these?

1 Self-Stirring Coffee Mug

Making the morning coffee is a fairly simple process. Many of us have an automatic tea or coffee maker from which we simply pour our morning brew. Others can’t face the morning without their fresh barista coffee.

For those of us who prefer instant, we spoon in the coffee or jiggle a tea bag, pour on the hot water, and then perhaps add a little sugar and milk for taste. The spoon is no doubt still in the mug to make those couple of stirs to complete the perfect cup of coffee.

However, it seems that this simple process became a little much for some, hence the invention of the self-stirring coffee mug.^[10] The mug holds two small batteries which power a small whisk to stir your beverage when you press the button on the handle.

Isn’t that what the spoon was for?

Lesley Connor is a retired Australian newspaper editor, who provides articles for online publications and her own travel blog.

It is no coincidence that Steven Seagal, in the movie Under Siege, was a chef; neither can it be that in Oz, the memorably brutal first-ever outing for HBO, set in the fictional Oswald Penitentiary, the kitchen was the most sought-after assignment for the opportunist convicts. It is not just the extra food that entices the military or the criminal mind.

See Also: 10 Modern Torture Chambers

All guns, knives, explosives, bats, and poisons have the drawback that possession of them can immediately convince a jury of intent. A well-stocked kitchen, on the other hand, is going to look good for you. After all, can you imagine Martha Stewart going to jail?

Obviously you can cut your fingers with a sharp (or blunt) knife, you can drop a chopping board on your foot, or any one of many possible injuries from a multitude of slapstick-type mishaps. Here though, we are going to look at some things you may know and just do not pay enough attention to, and some things that you would not have thought about in a hundred years.

So just be aware of these things and keep you and your loved ones/employees/colleagues safe. There are life-changing and life-ending accidents possible in every kitchen. So keep vigilant. Some of these are minor painful injuries, but some are final.

10 Chilis

Crushed chili peppers will leave a paste, liquid, and oil. There are hundreds of types and strengths of chili peppers . Ranging up from the Jalapeno (approx 10,000 SHU Scoville-Heat Units) to the Carolina Reaper (approx 2 million SHU units). Also they can come in many forms. They can be dried, powdered, whole, pastes, and seeds. All will cause you some severe problems when they get into a sensitive part of the body. Most importantly they will all cause temporary blindness and agonizing ocular pain. If you have touched any of them wash your hands thoroughly. Use a good quality washing up liquid for more effective cleansing. Then rinsing with milk is recommended, although not particularly practical, not to mention unpleasant if you don’t like milk! The other choice is not touching anything, which is almost impossible. All it takes is one scratch to the inside of your nose and you may find yourself inserting a yogurt-soaked Q-tip in your nostrils!

9 Sea Bass fins

Are you a fish fan? If so, look for whole-fish Bass. The fins at the top of the European Sea Bass are razor-sharp with between eight and nine spiny rays at the front (dorsal) fin. Not only that, there is an oil that is agonizing if it gets into a cut. If you go to any fish market or fishmongers you will see the thickness of the gloves they use. This is for a very good reason. Particularly tricky with a Bass as its front fin folds down, so when you pick it up and they are flattened down it will be fine. Then you pick it up from the other side and…OWWWW! Not a mistake you will make twice.

8 Moka Coffee Pot

The heat a Moka pot gives off is immense. The coffee/water is heated to 205deg and the pot itself is then a dangerous item. If the base made contact with skin it would sear the flesh and cause unbearable pain. It would also almost guarantee to be infected, a gaping wide burn of approximately 4 inches, unless treated instantly could be a real problem. It has been receiving constant high-heat to a metal surface for usually about ten minutes. Try dipping a freshly made Moka pot into a bowl of water, see the reaction and imagine that on your skin. Not an injury anyone wants.

To make matters worse, many think that these devices are dangerous and have the potential to explode. If the mistake of tamping-down the grounds has occurred, the pressure the pot creates will often not be enough to push through the compressed grounds, even with a release valve. This can cause an explosion with piping hot liquid and hot metal sent flying. Err on the side of caution.

7 Castor Beans/Ricin

As many will remember from the daring revenge plot to poison a brutal drug-baron in the TV series Breaking Bad, one of the most deadly poisons on the planet is Ricin. A plant found in tropical locations all over the world. Exceptionally deadly due to its innocent source. The castor bean. A product turned into Castor oil. A widely beneficial product used in birth health for centuries, as well as having medicinal, cosmetic, nutritional, and industrial uses. However, the seeds used to make the oil can be lethal. The beans do have a thick skin if eaten and can travel through the digestive system quite harmlessly if swallowed. However, if chewed, the mastication can release the deadly toxin Ricin. Not something to toy around with. No pranks, no experiments. You could end up dead or in jail.

6 Oven rack

A heated grill or oven rack will give off an agonizing burn that is likely to infect, due to residue of foodstuffs searing into the flesh. Especially if it has traces of garlic. Garlic gets into a cut or a burn and its filmy residue means rinsing the burn under cold water will give relief only while doing it. Honey is said to help. This is okay but it is still instantly agonizing and happens in the matter of a second. If you are in the middle of a cooking project, maybe you have guests, or worse you are being paid to cook and you have to now do it with an unrelenting burn-sting that incessantly throbs and the heat of continued kitchen duties is a catalyst for the already considerable discomfort. Use oven gloves! That is all it takes.

5 Hot Cooking Oil

This is an obvious one and a total no-brainer. Yet in no way is it to be skimmed over of given to complacency. If you have deep-fried something, particularly if you do not have a fryer and have done it in a pan or a wok, you are left with an unsecured quantity of skin-melting oil. An accident that could cause life-changing injuries to a child or pet. Always keep it away from a tipping point and dispose of safely. Many professional kitchens insist on oil being left to cool, then carried and safely disposed of. However, this is still a potential for serious injury. It could still be very hot, or there could be spillage, causing others to slip, these others may be carrying hot produce also. The statistic shows us these accidents still happen. Anyone in an environment should treat this as a warning to never take a relaxed approach to hot-oil storage and disposal. Two out of three of the top causes of accidents in the kitchen are accidents that can be caused by oil (slips and burns).

4 Fish Teeth

Various fish have sharp teeth. Fish available from any respectable mongers. Caution must be applied when removing from packaging, moving to storage and disposing of unused cuts and pieces of the fish. However, whilst people all know they are safe, they do not know that sharpness is the only potential to cause danger and pain. Many fish have teeth, fins, and skin that are impregnated with an anticoagulant that will cause profuse bleeding. Examples are fish such as Pike and Barracuda and some Hake as well as the Lamprey. It is not likely to matter to a healthy person, but if taking blood thinners or suffering for blood-based diseases, it could cause problems. A fact worth remembering if whole-fish are a particular favorite of yours. It is also worth remembering that the Lamprey is the only fish than can claim to have been a suspect in the killing of a ruling European monarch and the subsequent cause of much violence and bloodshed. While it is not guaranteed, it was written that the death of King Henry I of England in 1135, was caused by gorging on the Lamprey, which he was said to have been warned against doing by his physician. This is by no means unchallenged as hard fact but it was reported by a 12th-century historian. Sadly, the British monarchy did not listen and was said to have continued gorging on the rather unsightly delicacy throughout the ages.

3 Lima beans

Another entry for beans & pulses. This can be the case of many other types, however, it is particularly the Butterbean (also known as the Lima bean). If eaten raw, the beans contain cyanide, a well-known poison present as part of the bean’s defense mechanism. Cook them first and drain the water, you will be fine. If in doubt, throw them out. Always be careful when using a ceramic slow-cooker if using beans. Kidney beans, for example, can cause poisoning from Lectin. Whenever cooking fresh beans, always google to find out the safe way of preparation. As well as being dangerous, the poisons ingested in such situations are agonizing and sometimes fatal.

2 Pets

Many hidden dangers will cause no suffering to a human and will be nothing more than a tasty addition to a delicious meal. However, for your happy-hound or main-moggy, vigilance is a must. Grapes, chocolates, onion, chives, macadamia nuts and leeks have all been reported to have caused accidental poisoning of household-pets. This list is not exhaustive. We all love our pets but must realize that letting them snuffle through the bin for leftovers can turn from cute and funny to tragic and final.

1 Food Poisoning from meat

Especially if more than one of you is cooking. Some chicken that was being fried is left on a plate before you chopped it up. Then you take the meat off and move the plate aside. There is no visible evidence that something was on that plate. After all salmonella is not color-coded. When finished you put your portion on what you think is a clean plate. Cooked meat on top of raw meat juices. Ii would sooner take a burn or cut or even a slip than a week of salmonella. I can nearly finish you off change that, it CAN finish you off. Never risk it. If you think contamination it is possible, throw the whole thing away and make a sandwich, regardless of how long you spent on it. Three days into the hell of food poisoning will be plenty of time to wish you had not chanced it.

Although a decent chef can work wonders with any set of culinary tools, having the right ones can definitely help. A set of cookware, cutting boards, and knives are just some of the practical items you’ll see in every kitchen.

But what about the goofy kitchen gadget you impulse bought and only used once? Maybe the gadget only has one specific purpose, or you only use it during the holidays. Either way, at the end of the day, you can easily call these kitchen gadgets unnecessary.

Before you venture out to purchase yet another pair of onion goggles, let’s explore the top ten kitchen gadgets that never should have been invented. Hopefully, this list can save you some money and drawer space in your kitchen. 

10 Pickle Fork

Everybody wants to avoid smelly pickle juice, right? Or maybe you hate sharing a communal pickle jar at company picnics, and you don’t want to stick your fingers into a jar that other people will be grabbing from. While most people would grab a regular fork to jab into a pickle, many people choose to spend $5-$10 on a pickle fork. 

While some may find a pickle fork amusing, others will find the tool practical. In our case, avoid spending your money and use a regular ole’ fork to spear your pickle out of the jar. Avoid your “needed” pickle fork being stuffed into a junk drawer, collecting dust. 

9 PB&J Spreader

PB&J’s, also known as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, is a lunchtime favorite for many. But apparently, enough people seemed to have complained about the assembly process to have an actual PB&J Spreader invented. Many PB&J Spreaders promote sturdy handles, long blades, and features that scrape every last bit of peanut butter out of a jar. 

Instead of purchasing a PB&J Spreader, grab your trusty kitchen knife to do the same work and save your money! Better yet, to scrape all the peanut butter out of the jar, reach for a kitchen spatula. While you may need to use two kitchen tools to complete the task, you will save money and drawer space by avoiding a PB&J spreader’s purchase.

8 Banana Slicer

The banana slicer is another kitchen gadget that just doesn’t make sense. Who wants to spend money on this tool when they have a butter knife available right in their kitchen? It makes economic sense to save money and use what you have. The only benefit we can assign to the banana slicer is the equal uniform cuts it makes. A special dessert or dish may call for these equal slices. 

Despite the one benefit of a banana slicer, most banana slicers only allow you to slice small portions of the banana at one time. In the time it will take you to peel the banana and begin cutting bit by bit, you could have cut the whole banana using a knife and cutting board. 

7 Egg Slicer

Let’s add another cutting tool to our list. The egg slicer seems convenient when you’ll need sliced eggs to toss in a cobb salad, but once again, use a knife you already have. When eating eggs, a person will bite into a hard-boiled egg or cut it in half—there is very little need, if any, for a kitchen gadget specifically geared towards cutting a soft egg.

The egg slicer is another gadget that can create equal shaped cuts with food. While many at-home chefs boast that the egg slicer can cut more than just soft eggs, we don’t see the need when you have knives readily available. And with practice, you can cut food equal in size and shape.

6 Hands-Free Bag Holder

This kitchen gadget will cost you more than $20. The bag holder keeps your plastic bags open and in place while you fill them. Many people who meal prep or make freezer meals find the hands-free bag holder ideal when working in large batches. But we think you should save your money and buy more plastic bags for your snacks.

Hands-free bag holders had to make the list for kitchen gadgets that never should have been invented. Many sandwich bags are made with flat bottoms, so you can set the bag on the counter while filling it with food. If you are worried about making a mess, open the bag and roll the top over itself, creating a cleaner fill. Holding the bag with one hand while filling it is easy, and guess what—free!

5 Bear Paw Meat Shredder

Don’t spend a lot of money on a set of Bear Paw Meat Shredders when you have perfectly good forks sitting in your utensil drawer. You’ll only need two forks to dig into your cooked meat. Using the forks, pull the meat apart in different directions. If your meat is soft enough, the forks will easily shred the meat. 

Many BBQ cookers will use meat shredders due to their durability and ease of use when shredding large quantities of meat. Despite the love from BBQ cookers, meat shredders will only take up precious kitchen drawer space. While they look appealing and easy to use, their function can be completed with items you already have. 

4 Butter Dispenser

Butter dispensers are not a practical gadget, no matter how you slice it.

Working as a large syringe, the butter is pushed out onto your desired food. You will have to take the butter out of its original packaging to use the product. Spreading butter on your food is easy with a knife or even a spatula if you are baking and using large quantities of butter. 

Many chefs find that washing the butter dispenser is the biggest downfall of this time-wasting kitchen gadget. The syringe gets discarded or shoved to the back of your kitchen cabinet. Save yourself the cleaning hassle and just spread your butter with a knife from its container or use your trusty butter dish. 

3 Egg and Bread Toaster

If you need to save on kitchen counter space, this device is not going to help you. This Egg and Bread Toaster is larger than your average toaster. You’ll also need to part with a cool $50 to purchase one. The toaster has large wide slots that will toast your pieces of bread. At the same time, the end of the gadget has a spot to cook an egg simultaneously. 

While the gadget does cook two things at once, users report inconsistencies in cooking temperatures. Also, if you have a big family, you will be spending all morning standing at the egg and bread toaster since it can only cook one egg at a time, which isn’t ideal on busy mornings. 

Use a conventional toaster and stovetop instead to cook your morning breakfast. You’ll have more control over your food’s temperature, and you will save counter space by avoiding another bulky appliance. 

2 Tuna Squish

The Tuna Squish gadget helps to remove water from canned tuna. And for $20 per gadget, it feels like a rip-off. If you’ve experience opening up a can of tuna, you know how to remove the excess water. You only need to press down on the tuna using the lid, then remove the cover and throw it away. It’s not rocket science. 

While many users swear by the device to avoid smelling like tuna from touching the water, we can’t get behind a product with no other use, except for maybe opening a can of cat food. 

1 Jenaluca Herb Scissors

The Jenaluca Herb Scissors function like a regular pair of scissors but with specialized functions. These scissors easily cut herbs using five blades or more, depending on the brand of herb scissors you purchase. The multi-blades allow for precise small cuts of herbs at a fast pace.

Regular kitchen scissors can also cut herbs; they only have the two blades that accomplish the same task. You’ll find the herb scissors to be a waste of kitchen space and money. $15 is a lot with only the guarantee to save tiny bits of time slicing herbs. The scissors are bulkier than regular kitchen scissors due to the multiple blades. If you purchase these, they’ll take up more space in your kitchen than a standard pair of kitchen scissors and only serve one purpose.