5 High-End Kitchen Gadgets Tested By Design Expert

I'm Dan and I've been designing kitchen gadgets

for more than 40 years.

I'm gonna test some kitchen gadgets

from some high-end brands

and see if I can find a way to make them better.

We're gonna create a larger area for the vegetable,

maybe have it come all the way to the edge

just to give this a little bit of a waist.

These are the gadgets I am going to test.

HORL 2 Knife Sharpener,

Forma Cheese Grater, Apostrophe Orange Peeler,

Cast-Iron Spice Grinder, Toss & Chop Scissors.

[upbeat music]

HORL Knife Sharpener.

This is the HORL Knife Sharpener.

It uses the power of diamonds, ceramics, and magnets

to help you sharpen your knives.

This block is magnetic on both sides.

One side is 20 degrees, the other side is 15 degrees.

20 degrees is for your everyday use of sharpening.

15 degrees will give you an even sharper edge.

This roller cylinder has two sides.

One has a diamond coating.

It feels a little bit like sandpaper.

And this side is a smoother ceramic surface.

I wanna show you how this knife is gonna cut

before we sharpen it.

It's okay, it's not in bad shape.

I'm going to place this against the magnet,

start with the diamond side.

[metal scraping]

Now, this knife, I'm getting almost to the edge,

but not completely to the edge.

I'm missing maybe two centimeters or so.

Let's try the ceramic side.

[metal scraping]

Something a little disconcerting

about a knife being face-up,

especially when my hands are going back and forth,

I am being really careful, but still it is...

I'm very conscious of the fact that this blade is facing me.

Let's try side number two.

Again, I'm using the diamond side to start with.

[metal scraping]

And I'm gonna try now the ceramic edge.

[metal scraping]

Okay, I'm gonna stop there.

Let's see what kind of improvement we made.

So you probably can't see this,

but I can feel that it's sharper than before.

It starts to cut very easily.

Let's see how that compares

with using the coarser and finer side

of a relatively inexpensive whetstone.

[jaunty music]

Let's give it a try.

Well, this feels sharp as well.

It may be a little sharper.

Let's give this an effectiveness rating.

I'm just gonna give it a four out of five

because I'm a little concerned

that it didn't quite get to the base

of the knife that I was sharpening.

And other knives in your drawer may be taller or thicker.

It's not gonna get to those edges as easily.

In terms of usability,

it felt like I was putting myself in a little bit of danger.

I'm gonna give it a three out of five,

and that may be a little bit generous

'cause I don't want anybody to cut themselves.

I want to address that in the redesign.

Let's talk about a redesign

and a couple of things came to mind as I was using it.

I think the magnet is strong enough.

The magnet works really well,

and, of course, it's gonna hold the blade at that angle.

The thing I was a little concerned about,

maybe I should say very concerned,

is the fact that my hand

was moving this way towards the blade

and I had to push.

So it would be really simple

just to give this a little bit of a waist,

a little skinniness in here

that will give me a little bit more security

when my fingers are pushing that way.

The other thing is it's not accommodating larger blades.

I know if I get a larger knife than I had,

it's not gonna be tall enough.

There may be a way to put this on a surface

to make this higher to get the edge of the blade,

but that's improvising a little bit.

So as this rolls along the table,

it is gonna sharpen the tip here,

but where we wanna start cutting very often is this part.

I think we either need a bigger diameter here

or we need some way to raise this,

so we can get larger blades.

Let's talk about a buy rating,

and I'm gonna give it a two out five.

It's not for everyone, it's not for every size knife,

and I think you're gonna be a little disappointed

when they get at home.

I just don't think it's a cut above the rest.

Forma Cheese Grater.

This is the Forma Cheese Grater.

It claims to perfectly grate your cheese

while looking like a beautiful modern art piece

on your table.

Okay, let's start grating, I have some Parmesan cheese.

Unlike other cheese graters,

this actually has different sizes of blades,

so it's gonna result in different coarseness

of grated cheese.

There is a hole in the back.

It's gonna start in here until we're done.

Then, we'll pour some out.

Now one thing you may wanna know

is this cheese grater cost $95,

so the grated cheese better be worth it.

If I'm gonna use my right hand to grate cheese,

I will be grating in the, I guess, up direction.

If I wanna catch the grated cheese.

I feel like, though, I would be want to grate it down.

And when I do that, it's gonna start to pour out.

That could be okay, too.

Okay, it's grating the cheese, I'm not sure how much yet.

[plate clattering]

Let's see what we have.

It's not coming out too easily,

but maybe that's an advantage for sprinkling over the food.

And I can't quite tell if I'm done.

I think I am.

There are some powdery bits and some larger bits.

So it is unusual in that respect

in that most cheese graters have one size only.

I think in order to appreciate this,

you really wanna look at it more than music.

Let's see how the beautifully aesthetic

$95 Forma Cheese Grater

compares with a plain old box grater.

[jaunty music]

Well, that worked just as well.

The advantage is the cheese here is consistent in size.

Let's give this an effectiveness rating.

On a scale of one to five, I would give it a three.

I thought it grated cheese okay.

I took a bit of work to do it.

The fact that the blades are all different sizes

isn't quite right depending on what you're cooking.

I would actually want to choose one size

and stick with that.

It is time for the left-handed oil test.

I take my non-dominant hands.

It's a very, very quick way

to simulate what it may be like to use this product

for someone who may have dexterity problems, hand problems,

or they simply have slippery hands in the kitchen.

Let's see how it goes.

And it is a bit out of control.

It's hard to tell, but in order to compensate,

I'm squeezing this much tighter

than I feel like I should be.

It's a little awkward.

Concern would also be that it's a little bit wide

for smaller hands

'cause my hand is pretty much outstretched.

My fear is that with the smaller hands,

it's gonna be fingertips,

and that's gonna be a lot more slippery

and a lot less power to do some squeezing.

I think for some people, this may have some issues.

So for a usability rating, let's give it a two out of five.

It's a little awkward.

I'm concerned about smaller hands.

It's definitely slippery.

It just makes me wanna tone down the rating.

So two out of five.

So let's hop into the redesign.

This was actually designed by Zaha Hadid.

She was an architect,

very-well known for some more amorphous shapes,

and this certainly follows suit.

However, I think it would've benefit

from a few more usability studies.

One thing I would do here is downsize a bit

or I think I would just go a little bit shorter on one end.

I'm not sure if you could see this,

but there's a second little shelf here,

so I'm gonna make that shelf a little bit shorter.

I'm not sure what to do about the hole sizes.

I think I would make them consistent

or at least not be so radically different

because if you're cooking something

and you want it to melt evenly,

you want the coarseness of the cheese to be consistent.

So I would make those at least closer in size.

I would consider dipping this in,

and I think it's gonna get your fingers around here

a little more securely

or your palm into here a little more securely

because I would consider this inside as well

to have a little bit of a subtle indent.

Doesn't need a lot to be secure

but I do feel like this is holding a slippery bar of soap

when I'm using it.

Some shape to this would help alleviate the fact

that I have to squeeze it so hard to hold it steady.

The other thing I would watch and have to think about this

is what to do about this exit hole in the back.

Right now, the exit hole looks like this.

I think I would've considered

a more organic-looking pour spout.

Maybe have it come all the way to the edge,

so that it doesn't pull up in the bottom here.

You can give this more of a spout

and not only to work better,

but also look like that's where the cheese is coming out.

From here, it looks sort of like an accident.

So this design has good intentions.

It depends if you wanna look at your cheese grater

or a grated cheese with it.

For buy rating, I would give the Forma Cheese Grater a one.

It doesn't grate cheese as easily.

I'm not sure you would actually use it

if you had it at your house.

Considering that you're buying it for $95,

you can probably spend your money better elsewhere.

Apostrophe Orange Peeler.

This is the Apostrophe Orange Peeler.

This gadget claims to peel your oranges easily

with its rather unique design.

Let's give it a go.

There's a little hook here, it's maybe hard to see,

but it is sharpish at the bottom part of that hook.

And as I put it into the orange,

it finds its own height so it's not going too deep.

I've got a couple of peel slices here.

The cuts were definitely deep enough.

So second one.

I think that was rather successful

for what it's designed to do.

I'm gonna give it a little harder test.

I am going to cut this orange peel in a spiral.

It's a little more stable doing this on the table.

Let's see what I got.

And what we have now is one perfectly-peeled orange

and one that could put back in the fruit bowl.

Okay, so that worked pretty well.

Let's try something smaller and probably with thinner skin.

I'm gonna try to do some slices on this lime.

Maybe this is why it's called an orange peeler,

not a lime peeler.

It just does not wanna peel as easily,

but it's not because the slices aren't deep enough.

It's time for happy hour.

Let's see how that compares

with using a plain old vegetable peeler

and a more specialized channel peeler.

[jaunty music]

Not as thrilled with that one.

Let's give it an effectiveness rating.

On a scale of five, I would give this a five.

Although the lime is a little stubborn,

I think that's the problem with the lime,

not the peeler itself.

Orange, you glad I gave you a five?

Let's try this again with the left-handed oil test.

Time to slipperize.

The Apostrophe Orange Peeler is made of stainless steel.

I can feel it being slippery already.

I've got a sharper blade here

but I don't feel like I'm gonna cut myself

because my hands are below the blade

and I don't see it slipping in any way that would cut me.

So I think we are peeled.

I'm actually a little surprised

because the shape is so amorphous.

I thought it would be a little more slippery

and a little more challenging.

But no, it's relatively easy.

Let's give it a usability rating.

On a five-point scale, I would give this a five.

For any product, when something works better

than you even thought it was gonna work,

it gets bonus points.

So let's talk about a redesign

or at least some thoughts about design improvements.

I'm gonna be a little hard-pressed here

'cause I like it the way it is.

It's so basic and simple and it seems to work really well.

I think I would experiment

probably just doing some real simple 3D prints

with how bulbous this part is.

I think I'd try one that's maybe a little bit rounder.

If I was thinking of branding it, I may give it an eye.

Cute.

Here's one other thing I may consider.

Right now, it comes to a point.

I would consider a spatula shape

or like a rounded screwdriver shape,

so that once you make the slices,

you'd be able to dig in and start that peel coming up.

Right now, what I had to do

is once it was sliced when I did the horizontal slices,

I had to dig my finger or fingernail in there

to get it started.

So again, that's a pretty minor improvement,

but I would think

there'd be some experimentation I would try,

but I'm not sure I'm gonna get any major improvement

over what we have now.

So I'm gonna give it a buy rating now,

and this one's gonna be a little tough

because I like it a lot,

but it costs $40.

Just gonna go right down the middle

and give it a three out of five.

It's not for everybody,

it's for orange lovers.

Cast-Iron Spice Grinder.

This is the Cast-Iron Spice Grinder.

It promises to pulverize your peppercorns

with the power of cast iron.

Let's see how it works.

I'm filling it with white peppercorns.

I'll just put a few in there to get started

and I'm going to push and turn.

[spice grinder vibrating]

I'm gonna stop here for a second.

Want to see what I have.

What I have is ground pepper,

but also couple of completely intact peppercorns,

probably more than I would want.

Let's give it a few more.

[spice grinder vibrating]

And it's looking a little more respectable

in terms of being ground.

I do have various sizes of pepper.

I'm not sure if you could see this,

but as I push down and twist,

I'm getting no action out of the inner piece

that it's supposed to do the grinding.

So I may be addressing something like that in the redesign.

Let's compare the Cast-Iron Pepper Grinder

with the way the Ancient Romans used to do it,

the stone mortar and pestle.

[jaunty music]

I feel like the mortar and pestle is more effective

and a little more satisfying.

For an effectiveness rating.

On a one to five scale,

I'm gonna give this a one.

I don't think you're gonna be that happy with it.

The mortar and pestle is gonna serve you better.

Just had more expectations for this.

In terms of usability,

I would also give it a one out of five

and no better than that.

Took a lot of spinning, a lot of pushing,

and it just had more promise than it actually delivered.

So let's talk about a redesign.

One of the things that's curious here

is what I've gotta do to make this grind

is I've gotta place the peppercorns, of course,

put this on top, place this wooden lid on top.

Then, I've gotta actually grab this ring,

the upper part of the inner piece,

in order to make it spin.

Otherwise, I'm just spinning the top

and doing absolutely no work at all.

I'm not sure why this piece

doesn't key into this inner piece,

so that when I spin the top,

this inner piece will also spin.

So one way to solve that is to just make this notch

into the rim of this inner piece.

A few times around, maybe four times would be fine.

What I would also experiment with

is that it didn't feel like it was effectively grinding

the peppercorns.

I don't know if you could see it,

but there's a little diamond pattern here

and there is a similar diamond pattern

at the bottom of this cup,

and I'm not sure those diamonds are that effective.

I would consider the fact

that because this is spinning at a circular pattern

that is designed to crush peppercorns that are spinning

would be more effective.

Whether that means that there's a spiral in here,

or concentric circles,

or some sort of other shape down here

that would work a lot more effectively,

I'm not sure, that's what prototypes are for,

but I would experiment with that.

Even with these improvements,

I'm not sure it's going to beat out

some of your alternatives for grinding pepper.

For a buy rating, I would give this one out of five.

I just can't recommend it.

It takes a lot of work,

it's not that effective, and it's crazy expensive.

Cast-Iron Pepper Grinder,

if I was your parent, you would be grounded.

Toss & Chop Titanium Scissors.

This is the Toss & Chop Scissors.

It claims to allow you to make tossed salad in no time.

Let's give it a go.

We are chopping some romaine lettuce.

It's working really well,

but I'm not sure it's opening as much as I would like

as I'm not getting into the crevice of the scissors.

The lettuce is just a little too big for that to happen.

Now, let's see what happens with iceberg lettuce.

And this is okay.

Again, I can decimate this lettuce pretty easily,

but I do wish these blades opened up just a little bit more,

so I can get a little more in there as I cut.

Let's try scallions.

And this goes pretty quickly,

and I can get it into the crevice,

which makes cutting easier.

Let's try tomatoes.

This one, I am not too sure about.

Let's stand back.

Well, that worked pretty well.

Why make a salad if you can't put bacon in it?

So let's try that.

And the bacon was really easy.

And the egg,

I feel like I'm gonna end up with an egg and three slices,

and that took no effort.

Of course, that's the thickness of the egg.

You're not gonna get any thinner than that.

So you can certainly chop it further

and that's pretty effortless.

Let's see how the Toss & Chop Scissors

compare with using a good old-fashioned knife.

[jaunty music]

One of the things I liked about the knife

is I felt a lot more in control of the output.

Let's give this an effectiveness rating.

I'm gonna give it a two out of five.

It took a lot of work,

and I think you may already have scissors in your drawer

that are gonna do just as well

and maybe a little less effort.

I wasn't totally thrilled with it.

Usability rating, I was getting really fatigued.

Someone with some less strength

or some issues with gripping or dexterity

is gonna experience some problems

before they get through the whole salad.

I think I would give that also a two out of five.

It's too bad because it actually looks a little more capable

than it actually is.

Looks can be deceiving.

So let's talk about a redesign.

One of the things you're fighting here is the spring

because as you're squeezing,

you're actually squeezing not just the vegetables,

but the spring.

The spring has push to it.

Or you do want that spring to be strong enough

so that it opens up, the scissors don't get stuck.

That said,

I think this spring maybe is just a little too stiff.

So thing to do there would be experiment

with different forces of spring.

The other thing I would look at

is whether or not it's possible

to change the shape of this blade

so it has a bigger opening here.

When you come down, there's quite a bit of overlap,

so the blades are gonna cut.

So I think we have some room to reduce that overlap.

And by reducing the overlap,

we're gonna create a larger area here for the vegetable.

'Cause of that,

you're gonna get more squeeze leverage when you pull down.

And I think that would be something to look at.

This comes up a lot with squeezed tools.

It is very important to get the pinky involved

and get as much of the pinky involved as possible.

And that would take a couple of shape experiments.

One way to do that would be to possibly shorten this

and extend this up,

so that the pinky sits here.

But the goal would be we're giving more room here

for the pinky to do some squeezing.

Let's talk about a buy rating for the Toss & Chop Scissors.

I'm gonna give it a solid two out of five.

I wasn't that thrilled with using it.

It took a bit of work.

I think you'd be better off

spending your gadget dollars elsewhere.

So five high-priced, maybe overpriced, gadgets.

I really had higher expectations.

I was kind of disappointed.

I was looking forward to trying all of these.

Perhaps the higher price point

comes from the materials being used.

But in terms of performance or usability,

I think you're better off looking at these

than you are actually using them.

For almost all of these gadgets in this episode,

I just wanna say, give me my money back!