Appliances | Beyond The Kitchen Sink

Mr. Coffee brews and blends

One of the best things about coffee is that it can be enjoyed hot or cold. Start the morning off with a nice hot cup, and by the afternoon keep the caffeinated train going with an iced version. If there is any lull between cups of coffee, and it gets hard to concentrate or pay attention, Mr. Coffee has your back.

The Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe Maker is a simple to use coffee-making gadget that brews and blends in three minutes time. Just add ingredients and press a button. The 20-ounce capacity blending jar will soon contain enough magic elixir for you to make it through the dayâ€”or at least until the next cup of coffee.

Take me to your raclette party

If only all parties involved some kind of helicopter-UFO appliance. Or at least melted cheese. With the Unold Flying Raclette you get both! Made for melting or browning cheese, which is then served with potatoes, meat and vegetables, the sci-fi looking kitchen gadget is a new take on a traditional raclette grill.

Carnival in your kitchen… and on your sofa… and in the carpet… and on the drapes…

The carnival has packed up and is heading off into the sunset. The sounds of the midway are faint in the air. A slight breeze carries the scent of fried foods and roller coaster grease. You take a step forward, hoping to capture one last taste of the county fair and all that it has to offer. Instead, you find a sticky paper cone attached to the bottom of your sole; a piece of pink-stained detritus left over from the summer carnival.

Lucky for you, you can take that crumpled tube of paper and breath new life into it with your very own cotton candy machine. The Nostalgia Electrics Retro Series 50’s Style Cotton Candy Machine is a countertop appliance set to spin all year long. Just add sugar mixture and use the included reusable plastic cones to catch the freshly flossed cotton candy as it spins out of the machine. Now, that sticky and goopy mess that you thought you left out in the fairgrounds can finally be made at home. Lucky you.

Pasta Vision for those that do not see

The really cool superheroes have x-ray vision or heat-ray eyes, but there is another class of totally lame superheroes (or villains) that have bunk powers. However, Asbestos Man and Doctor Bong have nothing to fear from anybody who has Pasta Vision.

Featuring a concealed heating element mounted in a cool-touch base, the pasta maker is “a fun and easy way to cook your favorite pasta dish”. It may be easy to use, but I’m not sure how much fun I would be having. Chances are I’d be kicking myself for buying this $60 kitchen appliance. However, I’m sure Saucepan Man (if he existed) would be so proud of me once I defeated this awful Pasta Vision by simply throwing it away.

Grind your own chuck daily

Why let the fat cats in the meat establishment decide what should constitute a burger? With the Deni Professional Meat Grinder, you can decide for yourself. Create custom sausages or burgers by grinding beef, chicken, venison, turkey or anything else you can think of. Or, just stick with the classics and grind your own fresh chuck daily.

With an 800-watt motor that grinds up to three pounds of meat per minute, youâ€™ll be enjoying better, tastier and safer burgers and sausages in no time. The counter-top kitchen appliance comes with three die-cast grinding discs for making everything from breakfast sausages to Polish and Italian sausages, and of course, ground beef for burgers.

It’s my (wok) party and I’ll cry if I want to

There is no way this Table Wokset is a good idea. The small, 4-centimeter tall (really?) mini-woks may look colorful and appealing, but in no way could perform like, you know, an actual wok. With such a small area to work with, ingredients can’t be moved around to different temperature zones. That doesn’t even begin to touch on the question whether this crazy contraption can even put out the heat necessary for the high heat cooking commonly associated with wok cooking. Most likely, this 6-serving party set would do little more than make individual bowls of slightly cooked vegetables. Which, all in all isn’t such a bad thing: add some broth and have a soup party. For about $90, you can find out.

Via Gizmodo

***UPDATE 8/15/2013***
Here is a link for a seller on Amazon:
BP 2973 Wok-Set (now defunct)

And here is the site of the manufacturer, Tristar:
Wokset 6 colored wok pans – Crepe and baking plate BP-2973

Double bonus: Turns out the contraption can be used as a crepe pan. Thanks, Nicole!