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Have you noticed that for every kitchen chore there seems to be a tool available to perform that single solitary task? You know, like an avocado slicer or potato scrubber?
‘Hey, can I borrow that scrubber to clean my beets?’
‘Sorry, it’s for potatoes and only potatoes.’
That, my friend is called a ‘unitasker.’ A tool that’s designed to help you with a single task, yet is useless for any other function. A tool that invariably takes up valuable kitchen real estate, yet is destined to gather dust.
Of course, there are a few unitaskers that are pure genius and likely to find themselves in frequent rotation, but sadly those are few and far between.
Read more: 12 things you didn’t know you could clean in the washing machine
Let’s start with the infamous banana slicer. What? You haven’t heard of the banana slicer?! The product so ridiculous that it inspired 5,544 Amazon reviews including this parody one that reads:
‘For decades I have been trying to come up with an ideal way to slice a banana. ‘Use a knife!’ they say. Well…my parole officer won’t allow me to be around knives. ‘Shoot it with a gun!’ Background check…HELLO!’
Not surprisingly, 55,417 Amazon users ‘found this helpful.’ Because slicing a banana is a task so simple that’s it’s usually delegated to an unruly toddler.
Oh, banana slicer . . . you are the most wondrously (un)inspired unitasker!
These Pizza Scissors are described as a ‘Spring-loaded gadget cuts the perfect slice of thin-crust pizza with old-fashioned scissor technology.’ Umm . . . ‘scissor technology?!’ I guess those genius NASA engineers worked this unitasker up in their spare time.
Before falling prey to a fad-driven unitaskers, ask yourself this simple question: ‘Do I already own something that can perform this task, and can even perform other tasks?’ If your answer is ‘yes,’ then go right ahead and keep your cash in your wallet. Because you are smart and know that it’s a waste of money and resources to buy household items that only serve a single purpose. Just ask food show presenter Alton Brown, or better yet watch this video where he hilariously skewers ‘Amazon’s dumbest kitchen appliances.’
Read more: 9 home cleaning hacks that make life so much easier
This post was last modified on March 22, 2017 4:03 pm
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