Accessories | Beyond The Kitchen Sink

Sauce wrapped in cheese

Okay, we have officially gone too far as a society. The line has been squirted in the sand: screen-printed squeeze bottles might just be the most unnecessary celebrity chef merchandising concept ever. First of all, whoâ€™s gonna see them? Youâ€™re in the kitchen, cooking for some guests. Do you turn to a friend and ask them to pass the Guy Fieri Squeeze Bottles? No, no you do not. Please, do not.

You canâ€™t blame Marketing for coming up with such a useless promotional item. After all, precedent has been set. We now live amongst Alton Brown Flags (not really) and Rachael Ray Sheets (really). The madness has to stop. Even if you do need a set of squeeze bottles, there are better options out there. Here, just get these and draw on all the cheesy dice, flame, and/or skull tattoos your heart desires.

A different kind of Pot Drainer

Everybody has a method when it comes to cooking pasta. Some people like to throw a strand of spaghetti against the wall to see if itâ€™s done, while others opt for cleaner walls and a more traditional taste test. No matter what method you use, or if you add salt or oil to the cooking pot, that pasta somehow, someway, has to come out of the water.

While every pot of pasta should come in contact with a strainer, in the real world that simply doesnâ€™t always happen. Quite often, a fork is used to push back the pasta while the water is drained. Itâ€™s not a perfect solution, but it keeps dirty dishes to a minimum. Due to its flat design, the Silicone Pot Drainer by Trudeau doesnâ€™t take up as much space as a colander, thus saving space and being easier to clean, but I just donâ€™t imagine it faring too well piled high with a heaping bite of sauce and pasta. Long live the fork!

Personal chef on your kitchen counter

There is no end to the amount of culinary information available on the Internet. However, if you donâ€™t keep your laptop in the kitchen, chances are it does little good. Sure you could print out content (gasp!) and follow along, but that doesnâ€™t help much when it comes to video tutorials.

Continue reading Personal chef on your kitchen counter

Four times the pizza party

One of the most enjoyable food dilemmas out there is what to put on your pizza. While there are no incorrect answers (like putting ketchup on a hot dog), chances are that not everyone is going to side with your anchovy, pineapple and garlic preferences. Sure, you can make pizza with one half topped one way, and the other half topped another way, but then you only have half of a pizza the way you really want it. Wouldn’t you rather just have the whole pie the way you want it? Or better yet, four of ’em.

Okay, so this Pizza Pan Set is all about sharing and those four pies aren’t all going to one place (hopefully). No matter what you want on your pizza, with four pies in the oven, everybody is going to get a slice. If you’re lucky there may even be some of that anchovy special left over.

***UPDATE 1/7/2025: Turns out four is too much! (Product no longer available.) Good news! Here is a set of three! The Chef Pomodoro Pizza Baking Set with 3 Pizza Pans & Pizza Rack is ready to stand in to give you triple the pizza.

Chef Pomodoro Pizza Baking Set with 3 Pizza Pans & Pizza Rack, 13-Inch, Non-stick Pizza Stand & Pizza Tray for Oven, Grill, Pizza Pan with Holes, Perforated Pizza Pan for Oven, Barbeque

Pumpkin Lights scream for no one

Halloween is creeping up. Time to start planning for some spookiness. While these Pumpkin Lights with Remote Control are certainly a neat idea, I can’t help think that they could be better. Sure, having a flameless light inside your jack-o’-lantern is a good thing, especially when it means you don’t have to reach into the increasingly goopy interior to turn it on. (Assuming, of course, it survives Halloween night.) I just can’t help thinking that something is missing.

Reach for the silicone grips

Put those clunky oven mitts away and stick out a hand for these Trudeau Silicone Pinch Grips. Easy gripping and cool to the touch, theyâ€™re perfect for peeking under the lid of hot pans. Available in a variety of colors, the bright grabbers feature a ridged inner surface that allows for a secure grip when handling even the slipperiest of items. At five bucks a pop, it might be worth it to keep one (or two) handy.