These Kitchen Gadgets Have One Job. Are They Worth it? | Gear Heads 

A big point that Alton Brown had about "uni-taskers" wasn't necessarily that they didn't do the job better (even though so many don't), but rather that even if they work, you will clog up your kitchen space with the proliferation of these devices and mostly never actually use them. But I think a uni-tasker can make sense if it performs significantly better _and_ does a task that you personally need to do very frequently.

Mom told me in '70's to put onions in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to chop them without tears. I find all these years later it still works for me.

Had a good laugh to start, thinking no way I don’t need any of these single use things … until you got to the peanut butter stirrer. Yup, I do need that!

I managed a team of cooks for our Wednesday night dinner at church. We created a salad bar every week a cooked a dozen eggs each week. Without reservation, we all fell in love with our egg cooker. We were all busy with different prep tasks and could never dedicate ourselves to just cooking eggs. We tried several methods but, the most successful was the machine. We absolutely could set it and then answer the bell.

My egg cooker changed my life. It's small. It sits on the countertop because I use it so often. It doesn't need to be stored

I was recommended those egg cookers by friends of mine who are extra strict for Passover. They hard cook eggs daily that week for large families while multitasking themselves, and these are life savers. I also bought one for my mother because she likes eggs and she can't be trusted with a stove anymore. The automatic shut off means she never burns them.

When I got my kitchen remodeled, I had the cabinet maker make me a "tool" drawer section instead of regular drawers and shelves. I told him I knew in his workshop, he had a drawer of chisels, laid out by size and I wanted that kind of thing. So I have 10 shallow drawers, no knobs, no doors, with like use items. My top drawer is beside the stove; it has turners, tongs, and spoons. I have a measuring drawer, a knife drawer, a baking drawer, a serving tool drawer.....it keeps things neat and easy to find, as most are a single layer. Yes, I have some one use tools, but most of them are "specialty" and many are "vintage." Who wouldn't want an egg topper for soft boiled eggs or an egg sectioner for hard boiled eggs? Or a wire cutter that can cut a complete stick of butter into uniform slices? There is no other use for a gnocchi board, is there?

My egg cooker is amazing! 1-7 eggs always perfect. This appliance was useful when I had no functioning stove, hot plates don’t boil water efficiently!

Nope, NEVER giving up our egg cooker! Before it, no one wanted to boil eggs no matter how much everyone loves them. After, everyone makes them, they are now a staple, and always available in the fridge. they are always perfect, and heck I think most of us don't even use the measure anymore since we know where the water comes up to in the bottom. this was just a game changer on how we snack.

Egg cooker. No brainer. Most used appliance after the water kettle. Here in Europe they are very common with a measuring cup and timers dictating doneness. Once you do a few test runs to find the perfect combo you’re set for years. Just prick the egg with inset pin on the measuring cup, put in hole up, add the measured small amount of water, cover & start. Timer tells you when it’s done. I’ve never seen a double decker - Perhaps that’s the problem? Our rectangular unit sits flat to the wall & cooks six to perfection. Mandolin the same. Used less, but worth having if you eat raw veg.

I find using a Bundt pan useful for stripping corn. Put the pointy end in the hole and use a knife and the kernels fall in the pan. It will save your wrists too, especially if you need to do a lot of cobs

Egg cookers are great. Yeah you can make them in a steamer basket or in water on your hob. Takes 15-25 minutes. Or I use my egg cooker, which does it in 3-5 minutes for far less energy. The amount of water is something you have down pretty quickly, just like Hannah had her timings for stockpot steaming by heart.

I disagree on the egg cooker I use a chefman egg cooker and get Perfect eggs every time it took learning to adjust the water to achieve the best results and I use it all the time,,,,,,Love it

I love my egg cooker.... perfect hard boiled eggs every time. Using the pin holer makes them very easy to peel.

I've had that peanut butter mixer for years. The main problem with it is, unless you always buy the same peanut butter where you know the lid fits the top of the jar (more often than not it doesn't) and the hook reaches the bottom of the jar (again, most often it doesn't), you will need to hold the lid down with one hand while also holding the jar with same hand so that the jar doesn't spin when you crank the handle. It is very hard on the hand trying to hold it this way. If the hook doesn't reach the bottom of the jar, you will end up with a dry solid mass of peanut butter at the bottom. You will need to finish off the mixing with a knife to reach the bottom of the jar. Most of the time I don't use it for this reason. Sometimes it is just easier to use a knife.

Oh my goodness a peanut butter crank!! Fantastic and it only had one job, I’m ordering that. At my age my hands/wrist are not what they used to be😂😂

I live in Australia and friends were moving back here from the USA. I ordered some Bear Claws to come with their shipment. The shipment was held up in Customs for weeks because it included what they presumed were real preserved Bear Claws! 😂 I felt so bad 😔

I don't usually buy natural peanut butter, but I do use tahini fairly frequently. Talk about cement! I think the peanut butter stirrer would work great if I buy the tahini in a standard jar, which isn't always possible. But I really like the self-cleaning feature!

As far as the onion goggles go, I ran a google search and like the ones you showed, they were far more spendy than swimmers goggles one can get for about $10. Swimmer's goggles are by design made to be watertight. They should work equally as well.

I love my egg cooker. It is much easier to use than a sauce pan.

Loved my egg cooker. I just got it started and walked away to do my morning stuff. No watching the stove, no remembering the timer. Always done exactly as required when i was ready to eat breakfast.

Night before last I was mixing up a jar of Chinese sesame paste to make sesame cold noodles, spilling the oil all over, and thought "Why doesn't someone make a tool to do this?" Low and behold - Grandpa Witmer's Peanut Butter Mixer. Thank you!!!

That egg steamer I bought off amazon 5 years ago is amazing. Mine still works perfectly. I also make Korean steamed eggs with the tray the provide. I used to have it in the office at work and we would have eggs for breakfast 😂

My grandkids love their egg cooker. And their mom doesnt have to worry about them using the stove. You can regulate the doneness by the amount of water you use. A small measuring cup provided has indicators to select the amount of water to get the eggs the way you want them.

I am really susceptible to onion tears. I bought a cheapo pair of safety goggles (meant for working with chemicals, etc.). They work great.

I’d love to see longer episodes of gear heads with Kate, Lisa, and Hannah when Hannah comes back from maternity leave!

The best part about the onion goggles is no one is going to borrow them! 💖🌞🌵😷

That butter stirrer is priceless. Big fan of almond butter

In my soap-making world, people use those onion goggles to prevent lye or fresh soap batter from splashing in your eyes. So, definitely useful for more than just cutting onions. :)

I’ll have you know that I’ve used my peanut butter stirrer for tahini as well!

I think the onion goggles are also great at protecting your eyes while you get a charcoal grill started, or while working on a smoker. keeps all sorts of irritants out of your eyes.

And yes Lisa, I have Juliane peeler. That kind of knife skill is for people who don't value their fingers as much as I do mine (from long experience). Given a choice between a tool and a skill, the tool wins pretty much every time - not always; avocado tools being a serious counter example. But in general . . .

Lisa McManus moonlighting as a movie trailer voiceover person? I can dig that.

Natural peanut butter. When I buy a jar, I store it upside down until I'm ready to use it. Makes mixing it a bit less messy.

The only unitasker that your kitchen should have according to Alton Brown is a fire extinguisher.

I have the same julienne peeler and I love it. Fast, consistent results... I can't remember the last time I discarded a carrot. The biggest benefit (!!!!): my 86 year-old dad has no idea how to sharpen a knife, no idea of to even use a chef's knife, so when I tries to cut up carrots to add to a salad, a soup, or anything, I freaking cringe, after seeing many a slipped knife putting him in the hospital. I got him this peeler a year ago; he still prepares carrots, but hasn't cut himself since. I also love it that it took away some of his feeling of uselessness in the kitchen.. getting old is rough...

I think a great episode idea would be to talk about future or improved design ideas for kitchen gadgets/tools. Having the hosts talk about what they’ve experienced, maybe what other test kitchen hosts/employees have mentioned. Maybe who has the best design or opportunity to provide what they would like to see.

we get very nice eggs with 1C of water in the InstaPot and the eggs on a steamer tray. 4 min on and then 8 min release... and they peel so so easy

wooden mandolin for corn is great for creamed corn. I guess it depends on how you like your corn. Thanks for the reviews!

We've used a Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 Electric Egg Cooker for the last four years, and this $17 gadget is perfect for hard boiled eggs-anywhere from 1 to 7 at a time. We use it frequently although exclusively for hard boiled eggs. Clean-up is simple and we have NEVER had a cracked, leaky egg which was far more prevalent with the egg-steamer basket. We also have a Julianne peeler that is just gathering dust in our “gadget” drawer. And in my 70-plus years of preparing food for my family, I can unequivocally state that I've never known anyone who stripped kernels from a fresh ear of corn.

No question, the natural peanut butter's are my preference. They just seem to have a more tasty peanutty flavor, that's missing from the no-stir, sugared up brands. I absolutely love Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter😋 I usually turn the jar upside down for a couple days then refrigerate, but I might give that lid cap stirrer a try.

My daughter LOVES onions, but is very sensitive to the gas they put out. I bought her a pair of these when they first came out. We (the whole family) laughed at how goofy they look, but now most of us have a pair in our junk drawer for when we slice onions because they absolutely work. 😂The only other unitasker that the cooks in our family find useful is the meat shredding "bear claws." Those are a pretty common item in the kitchen drawers for those of us who do a lot of pork bbq; they make quick work of large chunks of meat, shredding them evenly while the meat is still hot. **edited for grammar.

We bought my MiL a cheap Dash egg cooker and it's been great for her. She makes a lot of egg salad and just likes having hard boiled eggs in general, but she tends to boil the life out of them until the yolks are half green and the house smells like a stink bomb went off. So they do have their uses, but if you have a good handle on steaming or steeping eggs you don't really need them. Also the meat claws are a good idea, but they could be better designed. Seems like they were going for "Hey bub I'm Wolverine!" before thinking of ergonomics.

I love my little egg cooker! I eat a lot of hard boiled eggs, so it is used frequently. Before getting it, I used a double-decker steamer, which works well, but I let it boil dry a couple of times.

I recently bought a cherry/olive pitter. That's one unitasker I'll be using maybe once or twice a year, but it works so well! 😅

A really easy way to mix natural peanut butter that I stumbled upon a few years ago: a hand mixer! If you've got an electric hand mixer, just stick a single beater on it, put the beater all the way in the jar, and mix away. Works great every time, although the beaters I have a little too short to reach all the way to the bottom of the really big jars.

I love my OXO Julienne Peeler. I have given them to friends and family along with a regular peeler. It is great for making salads and all kinds of vegetable dishes. Carrots, celery and broccoli stems make great salad ingredients with a nice texture. You can't go wrong with this tool. IMHO of course.

15:33 "Also they can really mess somebody up." *SMILES*

We bought the RSVP when my wife was having dental work done when it was fresh corn season. 10 years later, we still use it and I highly recommend it. Its one flaw is that it is *very* limited regarding the size of the cob. If the cob is too big, the cutter will not pass all the way to the end. We have to be a bit more choosy regarding the size of the corn cobs. But, *wow*, does it ever make short work of skinning the corn. And easy clean up too

My favorite unitasker is my pineapple corer, but am now considering getting a julienne peeler 🙂

I’m a natural peanut butter person. We make our own from store bought jarred unsalted peanuts. We use two cans of 1lb peanuts. Once we make them, we store the peanut butter in the fridge and it never separates. We love it! If natural peanut butter on sale for cheaper than jarred peanuts, then we buy.

I've had the PB stirrer for years. I used to put the PB in a mixer to do the job. This gadget is SO much better!

The peanut butter mixer would work for tahini, too. That's what I would use it for.

I love my Cuisinart Egg Cooker. Makes great hard cooked and soft cooked eggs. Easy to use and store. Peels easily. Been using this for 15 years.

Only thing with the onion goggles. They won't fit over my glasses!😂🤷

I have two favorite single use gadgets. The first one wins for 'I couldn't live without it' award and the second for plain fun. Numero uno my milk frother for morning capuccinos -I need two-. I've tried them all, battery, USB...but the little electric kettle looking one that you put your cold milk in and just press the button does the job just right & easy. Second prize goes to a small acrylic press to make square boiled eggs. I bought it 40 years ago in London. It works really well -one egg at the time. I boil the egg, while still hot I peel it and inside the press it goes, twist the lever until tight and then the press goes in cold water for a minute. You get a perfectly square egg that holds its shape even sliced. The list goes on.

I seriously wear those exact onion glasses (I really don't feel like they are goggles) every day - I have eyelash extensions and I want to protect them from the steam when I wash dishes, open a hot oven or the air fryer, cook on the stove and of course for chopping onions. They fit me perfectly and are very comfortable but I have a rather small face. Can't live without them!

We have a pair of Wolverine paws. They are made from stainless wire welded and sharpened at the tip. They work great for shredding meats. They also work great for lifting meats and birds from the roaster.

I am a natural almond butter user. I was so happy to find a resolution to the mixing dilemma. I usually avoid one use items, but this seems so worth it for me. I’m heading to the link now!

That peanut mixer would definitely be something I could use. Unfortunately it’s not $10. It’s $25.

Thank you!!! The peanut butter mixer has been a surprising, much needed discovery ❤ I always buy natural peanut butter, and truly it's a pain to try to mix the oil and the solids just "by hand"... I just hope I can buy that gadget from Spain 🙏🏻

As a natural peanut butter person, when I found the mixer it changed my life lol I eat a lot of peanut butter and I could not live without it.

That cake!! 😂 I really like Kate, her gentle voice and mellow demeanor and she looks like someone you can laugh a lot together with!

7:17 If you eat a lot of natural peanut butter, just use an electric mixer with one beater installed. Poke it through some wax paper or parchment paper to act as a lid, and run it on low speed. Works just fine.

I buy 80 oz jars of Adams peanut butter. For that size jar a hand mixer works great, I just wish the beaters were about 1 inch longer.

Thank you very much for a much awaited video. I spend so much on gadgets that sometimes never work. Very informative.❤❤❤

We always used a heavy steel burger press in the restaurant(kinda looked like a taco press). Did a great job with far less fuss than these gadgets.

There are unitaskers that I regularly use, including a Rosle julienne tool, which I've had for years and it still makes short work of carrots for slaw, stir fries, etc. and is also great for zukes and more. More expensive than your pick but built like a tank and beautiful to behold in its stainless-steel splendor.. And since we live in the tropics and have access to fresh pineapple year-round, I get a lot of use out of my tool that slices and cores the pina into uniform slices and is easy to clean. For most efficient use, I try to match the size of the tool to the size of the pina to minimize waste. Finally, I find a good garlic press will always find a home in my cocina. Keep up the excellent work.

I love it when Kate shows up! ❤❤❤

I am a natural peanut butter guy who has used your stirring device many times. The results were pretty good, but not perfect. I found perfection when I scraped my peanut butter into my KitchenAid stand mixer bowl and whipped it into a smooth creamy mixture. Not only is it beautifully whipped, but the oil stays mixed for a very long time at room temperature. That’s how I eat peanut butter.

The egg cookers are NOT 'uni-taskers'. They can steam-cook anything from broccoli to wontons. If this is a uni-tasker, so is a pan or pot. And they do a great job cooking eggs in record time. I eat a lot of hardboiled eggs and I live alone, so I don't need much more than one that cooks 6 eggs at a time. That's enough to stock the fridge for snacks, salad crumbles, egg salad or deviled eggs. The egg cooker takes up very little storage or operating space (mine's a Dash), they set up in moments, they clean with a paper towel wetted with vinegar, and the eggs come out PERFECTLY after less than 10 minutes. They also peel very easily and quickly. Nope; every household should have one of these. Quick to set up, quick to use, quick to clean, and quick to put away. And you can even take them on trips; imagine making your own hardboiled eggs in your hotel room! ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Onion Goggles? REALLY? What if you need glasses to see how thick/thin/consistent you're cutting the onion? The Goggles won't fit over them. I can't determine why, but I rarely EVER tear up or feel my eyes getting irritated when I slice/dice onions, and I'm sensitive to EVERYTHING. Is it due to slicing near the stove (heat pulling in and burning up the onion gas?) or having the exhaust fan on (fresh air pushing away the onion gas?)? Can't say. Maybe just keeping my face well away from the cutting surface. The only reason to get Onion Goggles is for children helping food preparation. Preferably children with good eyesight. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ I have to say, the peanut butter mixer looks really useful. I DO prefer plain nut+salt peanut butter over commercial brands that add hydrogenated oil, sugar, and preservatives. Also, I've spilled my share of peanut oil on myself, my clothes, and everywhere. Having a simple, easy-to-clean tool to do this efficiently, effectively, and with no mess gets me looking at Amazon to consider buying one. I just wish I'd heard about this while Amazon's Black Friday and Cyber sales were in effect.

We have the corn shucker and love it for how it works not too bad to clean.. living in the south we absolutely love the claws nothing better for shredding meats especially pork! Great videos as usual.

I love the peanut butter stirrer ! I do think it could be used to mix any thick marinade or dressing, home-made BBQ sauce and so on. Just get an appropriately sized mason jar and away you go!

The corn scraper you preferred *is my favorite* too; it works best with HOT corn. At that point, it is also safer and easier to use (picture holding a scalding hot 🌽 in one hand while trying to 'peel' it with one of those in-hand gadgets)!

For the onion goggles, just buy a set of DeWalt or other safety goggles. They're impact rated and some are fog resistant... Then you can use them for other things as well.

What I was told by my mother-in-law, who came from a family of farmers, that the ‘mandolin-type’ device for corn was designed to make creamed corn, not to take whole kernels off the cob. And that is what I use it for. It removes ALL the kernel and the juice from the cob: no waste. I use a large pot (the one I learned on was my MIL’s mother’s. She used it for batch canning of quart mason jars) so the mess (mostly) stays in the pot. Now I use a very tall stock pot. It takes 12 ears of corn to make a quart of creamed corn. I can either freeze it or cook it. When ready to cook, I put (fresh or hard-frozen) creamed corn in a skillet with a bit of butter. [My husband’s family did it at corn harvest & had pickup trucks filled with corn. They baked it in quart batches in the oven, but I don’t make enough at one time to heat an oven in the summer.] Stir & cook until it has the consistency of soft ice cream & tastes like cooked corn. Put it on the table & watch it disappear. I let everyone do their own salt & butter. It’s as delicious as the corn is fresh. If you didn’t throw away that mandolin thing, then maybe try it again at the next corn harvest.

I've always used the dough hooks on my electric hand mixer to mix up any natural peanut butter if needed.

My old hand mixer came with dough hooks. I put one one the mixer, sticke it in the peanut jar and turn it on low. Peanut butter is stirred in no time. One little hook to clean. (My dog loves to lick it clean for me).

Yep used that for almond butter a lot. Works perfect

Good info, as always; although, I do love my Dash egg cookers and works perfectly for me each and every time!

Great Christmas Ideas! Thanks pals

Years ago I used our ski or snorkeling goggles when cutting onions - worked great!

I found this humorous (in a very nice way). As an engineer, who started out as a mechanic, the idea of having the right tool for the job is almost a point of religion. Uni-Tasker's Rule! Are you going to tell me that Oxo salad spinner is not a uni-tasker, just because it can spin herbs and berries as well as lettuce? Some of my favorites: (a) the Chef'n FreshForce Citrus Squeezer. It can probably squeeze limes as well as lemons, but I don't squeeze limes, so it is a uni-tasker to me. Sure, you can squeeze lemons by hand, but it is just so much more fun to thoroughly CRUSH them it the juicer. (b) Oxo Rice & Grains Washing Colander. Maybe its' not a uni-tasker because it can wash something besides rice. Still, it works like a champ, and I use it all the time. (c) Oxo Good Grips 2-in-1 Salad Servers. The name suggests these are not uni-taskers (maybe that is why they disappeared from the market a long time ago). Still, "Salad Server" is a pretty uni-tasking description to me. I think these work great, and it is too bad they got discontinued.

The peanut butter stirrer has been the best unitasker I have ever purchased. I love it!

I love these gadget reviews. One thing I think should be included is the opportunity costs for them. The julienne peeler sold me, becase the cost for buying and storing it is so low in comparison to not having it. Thanks

Love my OXO julienne peeler. Well worth having. Now I must purchase a peanut butter stirrer!! Thanks you two, always helpful.

What fun! I'm with you on all your (both of you) choices . I really like atk but love your segment.

I have the OXO julienne peeler and love it. I was intrigued by the peanut butter crank, but for me it’s too pricey for the amount of peanut butter our household consumes. Great reviews ladies 😁

I LOVE my onion goggles. They work great. I also use them sometimes when bbqing a lot of stuff on the grill so my eyes do not get irritated with smoke.

I've had one of those peanut butter stirrers for years. It's the only unitasker in my kitchen. HIGHLY recommended!

I have a set of bear claws and have not used them in over 3 years. Once my pork shoulder has rested, I move it to my shredding pan using latex gloves over thin cotton gloves. The pork shoulder is usually around 160 degrees at this point. I prefer to shred by hand with my gloves already on. I have the flexibility of incorporating any rendered fat into the meat as well as apple cider vinegar, coarse black pepper, cosher salt and red pepper. When I am done just toss the latex gloves and the cotton gloves go into the laundry to be used again.

Egg cookers. When I first saw one, in Belgium in the late 1980's, I thought RIDICULOUS. ⏩ to 15 years ago, bought a second-hand Petra egg cooker from a charity shop after people had eulogised about the Petra egg cooker, which was discontinued even then. Best. Unigadget. Ever. Always accurate. Uses via the detailed (no. of eggs, soft, medium, hard) measure provided, about 2 teaspoons of water to cook 4 eggs soft-boiled. I was so surprised to see the disproportionately large volume amount of water needed to cook eggs in the one slightly recommended. Blimey. Others may not be, mind. Petra? My bright yellow plastic chicken is perfect.

alternative for stirring peanut butter-- i use my electric hand mixer with one beater attached. mine comes with a unique spiral shaped beater but i've used regular shaped beaters as well. just sink the beater while slowly turning the machine on and holding the jar steady with your other hand. takes just a few mins and works amazing!

I've had a julienne peeler for a couple of years and love it. Vary useful when making a quick salad.

I love my julien peeler, I've had it for years and I use it all the time. I need to get that peanut butter crank gadget, it looks perfect!

I'm assuming that jar stirrer could work for tahini?

I have one of those peanut butter stirrers that I used for natural soy butter. It worked pretty well, and then I stopped buying natural soy butter. I still have it, sitting in a drawer. One of the perils of buying a uni-tasker is if you stop needing to do that task.

Love nature peanut butter and liked the cleaness of the crank but use an electric mixer handheld with single beater which really fluffs it nicely.

I have that corn stripper! I absolutely love it! Worth every penny and every square inch of storage. I do a bunch at once, a couple of times per year when local corn is in season, then I have frozen local corn available when I want it.

Those onion glasses were originally sold for motorcycle riders. Typically, the lenses were tinted, but not always. The gasket keeps your eyes from drying due to the wind.