Kitchen Gadgets Blog – Page 197 – Beyond The Kitchen Sink

Hold Ups Wine Rack helps to keep wine in line

Constantly struggling to find room in your fridge for wine bottles? If your fridge is anything like mine, most of the shelves are not tall enough, and the ones in the door are usually filled up. Wine bottles end up on their side, inevitably rolling around inconsiderately knocking every thing else out of the way. I prefer to give my wine its own space for a more harmonious inner fridge.

Wine bottles need space and Hold Ups Refrigerator Wine Rack can provide it. Slide the gizmo through the wire shelves in your fridge and twist to install. Suddenly, the contents of your refrigerator are transformed from an unruly mob into upright model denizens (or horizontal, in this case).

***Update 10/16/24: The Hold Ups rack must’ve fallen down because it is no longer available. But now, here we have the Sorbus Fridge Wine Rack- Refrigerator Bottle Rack standing up to the task. Or laying down as the case may be.

Sorbus® Fridge Wine Rack- Refrigerator Bottle Rack Holds 3 Bottles of Your Favorite Wine or Drink Universal Bottle Holder Will Fit Most Fridges

Grow your own $100 cucumber

You know how square watermelons (for some reason) sell for close to one hundred dollars in Japan? Well, now you can get in on the ground floor for the next big craze: fanciful cucumber design. Tap into your entrepreneurial spirit with Heart Shaped Cucumber Molds.

Working the same way as the aforementioned ovally-challenged watermelons, simply place your young cucumber into the device and let Mother Nature run its course. (Constricted by this contraption, that is.) When it’s time to harvest, remove the sleeve, and it’s off to market you go!

Make ice spheroids for orbiting a chilled wine bottle

Why settle for boring old ice cubes when you can have ice spheroids? This Ice Orb Icemaker not only makes some cool looking ice, but can also act as a wine chiller too. To make the novel shaped spheroids, simply fill the silicon shell to the marked line, insert the inner bucket and place it in the freezer. The water is kept in spheroid formation until you later pop it free as ice.

The ice mold makes 21 spheroids of ice, but even better it doubles as an ice bucket. Perfect for chilling wine, the bucket is 5 inches tall with a diameter of 6 inches. It holds a good amount of 52 ice spheroids at a time, which means your bottle of wine with be chilling in style for as long as it lasts.

***Update 10/16/24: Exact product melted away and is no longer available. The good news is, you can always make new ice. Here’s a different Silicone Ice Bucket that doubles as an ice maker.

ALLADINBOX Ice Cube Mold Ice Trays, Large Silicone Ice Bucket, (2 in 1) Ice Cube Maker, Round,Portable (Dark blue)

Chop salad right in the bowl — and more

Like many others, I find myself using appliances and tools for tasks that they are not designed for. Be it a screwdriver as a hammer or a fork as a knife, there are hidden uses lurking in all of our hand tools. Sometimes, they are not so hidden.

This Salad Chopper and Bowl from OXO looks to me like it has a second, more useful application. Sure the bowl is great, but I can’t really see myself chopping vegetables inside of it. Some pieces would end up too big, some too small, and all of them oddly shaped. Instead, I’ll choose to chop my salad the old-fashioned way, and serve with pizza strips that could only be cut from such an original ~~salad~~ pizza chopper.

Price alert: Every serving utensil you will ever need

Bed Bath & Beyond has a special deal right now for a Reed and Barton Arlington 17-Piece Serving Set. For $19.99 you can get practically every utensil you will ever need when it comes to serving.

Set includes a gravy ladle, all-purpose tong, berry spoon, pie server, lasagna server, master serving spoon, master serving fork, pasta server, soup ladle, ice tong, macaroni sever plus two each of the serving spoon, pierced serving spoon, and serving fork.

Dishwasher safe, the pieces are constructed of chrome stainless steel. Not every serving piece you need? A carving knife and carving fork are available with the 13-piece set, also $19.99.

***Update 10/16/24: Price alert long gone now, like a buffet set upon by hungry diners. Reed & Barton deals live on though over at Amazon.

It’s a pancake, it’s a waffle, it’s both!

Is it a panffle, or would that be a waffcake? Either way it is a great idea! This Nordic Ware Waffled Pancake Pan from Williams-Sonoma helps undecided breakfast eaters by eliminating the choice between pancakes and waffles. Making important decisions first thing in the morning can be rather daunting, after all. Well, now you don’t have to decide: the two classic breakfast items are now available as one delicious dish.

Simply prepare your batter as if you were making a batch of pancakes and pour into the nonstick griddle. The cast aluminum pan heats evenly right on the stovetop, producing delicious 3-inch round waffles complete with deep pockets for tasty toppings. For creating a uniquely satisfying morning meal, this original take on breakfast is an easy choice to make.