Gadget, gadget. Go Go Inspector Gadget!

If you remember where that title comes from then you are true geeky person like me. Although, I won't call myself big fan of the show, I did watch it as a kid. Psst.... we are both showing our age. LOL

So on with my point... This weekend is the International Home and Housewares Show at McCormick Place and I am super excited to see all the new product offerings. I went/worked the show last year and had a ball. I like conventions when I am working more than when I am just attending. I don't really don't know why as it should be the opposite. Who knows?

https://www.housewares.org/show/future

This year will again be stocked to the gills with a ton of innovations and new ideas. While new kitchen gadgets and home products are cool to see before they come to the local stores for sale, I am always very skeptical to buy the next new thing on a whim. For me, since I have a limited budget for the next new thing, and since I don't like a lot of extra clutter, I am very selective about what I will and won't buy for my kitchen. My kitchen space is relatively small and it houses both my cake decoration tools and my regular kitchen tools, so it can get out of hand very quickly.

A kitchen gadget has to do two things for me to be really interest in buying: first it has to be useful for more than one task and secondly must make my work easier or uniquely. If the only thing that I can use the tool for is to peel and core an apple, it is three foot long and two foot wide, and hard to store then I will not be likely to buy it. I am well stocked with the essential items that any kitchen needs, and some more besides. Now if I find a new and improved version of something that is a nice improvement of the model I already have, then I may just trip over my own feet to purchase it. For example, no baker ever wants to be out of measuring cups and spoons. A couple of years ago, manufacturers began producing a lot of items in silicon since the improvement of silicon was put into use. The new material is heat and cold resistant and can be molded into a great many styles. So at first, we started seeing cake pans in silicon, then other items followed like a collapsible colander which is a huge space saver in a cabinet. But my favorite of them all are the collapsible measuring cups. The older metal style measures were too small to put in a cabinet but a bit too large for a drawer so you would end up with them wedged in a manner that would prevent the drawer from opening or the drawer would damage the cups. The silicone ones smash down to less than a third of the size of the same metal version. This made chef very happy. They are durable and versatile.

It is easy to get excited by the new and sometimes the improved, but I try and temper my need to procure them, so that I don't end up with a whole pile of things that I only use once or twice a year, and they sit and collect dust the rest of the time. Stay tuned... I will be featuring some of the new finds from the show. Wish me luck.

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