Gadgets for Kitchen

I love kitchen gadgets, collect tons of bizarre, esoteric ones (French crepe anyone? okay, good, I haven't figured out how to use that one yet) but only one has stood the test of time: a Waring Pro blender my sister bought me at least five years ago. It's a 900 watt monster, louder than a jackhammer, but nearly as powerful.

One end of this simple, stainless steel tool takes out the pit (something I've never been able to do cleanly with a regular knife), and the other slices evenly in one smooth move. And unlike most shiny kitchen gadgets I fall in love with at Williams-Sonoma, my tiny cottage kitchen can handle this little addition.

dding to the ever-growing list of esoteric kitchen gadgets, the Endurance Mojito Muddler from ChefTools provides the perfect tool to create the perfect Mojito. Made of stainless steel with a Santoprene end cap, the muddler makes mashing your limes, mint and sugar together most enjoyable.

After testing out an array of new kitchen gadgets, NYT baker-writer Julia Moskin gives the "white thumbs up" to two new gizmos: the Orka Squid and the Kyocera Perfect Peeler. In A Baker Rolls with the Technology she writes:But the final step, basting the pie with sugared orange juice, benefited from a pleasing new device, the Orka Squid.

I have a soft spot for kitchen gadgets, so needless to say, I am thrilled with technology that will make life less messy on my busy weekday mornings. And it's always the simple yet elegant technology that impresses.

And, now the designer Terence Woon has designed his Kitchen Wall Series gadget that offers the most used kitchen gadgets on a platter. The wall series gadgets features a juicer, toaster, blender, scale, water dispenser, and multimedia interface which will serve quite handy inspite of picking-up each gadget separately from the drawers, going from one corner to the other corner of the kitchen.

This set of three kitchen gadgets (pics of the other two after the jump) is meant to remind us of something: a river stone? A hockey puck? How about the shadow of an egg? That's the ticket. This egg-shadow-shaped "Form series," designed by Charles Job, consists of an egg timer, salt and pepper shakers, and an egg slicer.

It'll dunk the bag into the cup of water and raise it out when the timer is complete. By now your kitchen should be completely decked out with quirky kitchen gadgets, but, as an avid tea drinker, this one has to be the best.

As kitchen gadgets go, these adjustable measuring cups are actually pretty damn handy (they beat the pants off that silly scroll pan, anyway). Doing away with a whole arsenal of spoons and scoops, the pair of cups will save you a chunk of space in your kitchen drawer.

This week in Krazy Kitchen Gadgets we have this orb island by Italian company Sheer. Floating in the middle of your kitchen, it adds a touch of class and spaceship-esque design to your home.

Any list that presumes throws out a few gift ideas for Mom based solely on the fact that she's given birth to a kid or two is pretty much useless. So forget the pink iPod skins and demeaning kitchen gadgets  for our Mother's Day Gift Guide we've identified 10 different types of moms and picked out a gift idea for each one.