My friend Deanna has the most glorious kitchen. And while her cabinetry is beautiful and her granite counters are to die for, what really makes me swoon are all her kitchen gadgets.

Cooking in her kitchen is like being on a cooking show.

I’m convinced the reason everything she makes turns out better than when I make it is because of her kitchen gadgets. That’s the only logical explanation. Clearly.

10 Kitchen Gadgets I Want – Even If I Don’t Know How To Use Them

Chef’n PalmZester, Citrus Zester, Orange

I first realized that I needed a zester when I was making low carb margaritas that called for lime zest.  About 30 seconds later, I realized that zesting with a cheese grater makes a freaking mess.

This palm zester collects the zest in a little storage container so you can measure it AND keep the itty bitty pieces of whatever it is you’re zesting off of your floors and countertops.

Plus, it looks pretty freaking cool.

Harold Imports Chopstir

My friend Erin got one of these for Christmas and I got to play with it for a little while at her house.  You know how browning ground beef is a pain in the ass?  What with the scraping and the stirring and the turning and the standing.

This is designed specifically to make that process easier and faster! Finally, a gadget that understands my style of cooking.

KitchenAid Mezzaluna

I have no idea why you are supposed to use a Mezzaluna instead of a knife, but this one comes with it’s own case blade shieldy thing.  Apparently I’m supposed to be using this when I cut up spices??

Gourmet Cheese Slicer

My husband says I suck at slicing cheese.  Those stupid little hand held things always screw me up and my slices are thicker on one side than the other.  Apparently it’s because I haven’t been using a gourmet cheese slicer.

Which, I think, is a much better explanation than “gah! You’re a moron!”

RSVP International Endurance marble mortar & PESTLE

I’ve wanted one of these forever and I can’t believe I still haven’t bought one.  It’s used a lot in traditional mexican cooking – which I actually do quite a bit of.  I did a little digging and found that the best kind as far as versatility, clean up and surface hardness are marble mortar and pestles sets.

I think you can also use them to crush up pills or something.

Misto Gourmet Brushed Aluminum Olive Oil Sprayer

I use olive oil (or EVOO, actually, as Rachel Ray would say) in almost all of my cooking.  And yet I have never once used an olive oil sprayer.  Apparently, you use this to spray oil evenly on vegetables and breads.  Pfft.

But you can also use it to spray olive oil on your pans – like, instead of PAM.  GENIUS!  Have to have one!  Now!

8-Piece Glass Prep Bowl Set

Deanna has these.  Rachel Ray has these.  Martha freaking Stewart has these.

I?  Do not have these.  Every time I go to buy them I think “really?  Pinch bowls?  Aren’t Emma’s little Dora bowls just as good?”  Something tells m that Rachel and Martha would say “no, no they are not.”

And they would also probably faint dead away at the suggestion.

Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press

Will someone please explain to me how I have lived this long without a garlic press?  I suspect that garlic salt and garlic powder and those little glass jars of diced garlic are just not the same as real garlic that has been pressed.

OXO Salad Spinner

I don’t even know what a salad spinner does – I mean, aside from the obvious – but I know that I want one.  I eat salad, so therefore I must need one.

Mario Batali The Italian Kitchen Collection Silicone Large Basting Brush,

OH!  I actually DO know what to do with a basting brush!

How don’t I own a basting brush?!?!  MY GOD IT’S A WONDER WE EVER EAT IN THIS HOUSE!

Posted in Things For The Home Tagged: cooking, for the home, gadgets, gifts for the home, kitchen gadgets, kitchens, utensils