An observation

[unixronin]

Alton Brown has stated in the past that there is no place for unitaskers — tools that do only one thing — in a kitchen.  Yet he has a kettle, a device for boiling water with no other purpose, and an espresso machine, a device for making espresso and steamed milk with no other purpose.  And then there's knives.

I have to disagree.  There is a place, in the kitchen just as in the workshop, for single-purpose tools that do one specific job well, and for multitaskers that can be used for a range of purposes.  What there is NOT a place for is poorly thought out or poorly constructed tools that are intended to perform multiple tasks, but which don't actually do any of them well, or single-purpose as-seen-on-TV gadgets that do one exceedingly uncommon job that you could, with only a little more effort, do just as well with other tools that you already have.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

well, he SAYS that, but he does have a laundry list of exceptions...

making hot water FAST is useful for other tasks... some of the "hot pots" can cook soup/etc as well, but we know he doesn't go for those.

and the things he does with cast iron, is mostly criminal for PETA ;)

i think he's mostly opposed to things like a garlic press, unless he's also using it to extract oils from SOMETHING other than garlic... and even a garlic peeler is just TOO handy...

so, i agree in general, that gimmicky single taskers are out, but sometimes you get something that does its job WELL, it's a win...

knives... let me tell you about knives ;) who's got a KITCHEN AXE?

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