5 TikTok Gadgets Tested By Design Expert

No, no, no, no, no.

It's like olive CPR.

I'm Dan,

and I've been designing kitchen gadgets

for more than 30 years.

Oh no, wait, it's more than 40.

I'm gonna test some kitchen gadgets

that have gone viral on TikTok

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

So if that would adapt to various sizes of corn cob.

So, we're gonna be twice as strong here.

I think it needs some help in the ease of pouring.

These are the gadgets I'm going to test,

Corn Cob Stripper, Oil Dispenser Bottle and Brush,

Twist-Up Measuring Cup, Multi-Cherry and Olive Pitter,

Tovolo Batter Scoop with Plunger.

[bright upbeat music]

Corn Cob Stripper.

This is the Corn Cob Stripper.

This gadget claims to allow you

to easily strip corn cob kernels.

Let's see how effective it is.

I have some fresh corn here.

I've got the gadget,

and I'll just explain to you what's happening here.

It's pretty simple.

It's an outer plastic ring.

There's a metal part inside,

which hopefully, is the same size as the corn cob,

and the plan is to put this over the corn and press it down.

I will place the stripper on top of the bowl,

and let's go down and hope for the best.

It's not happening easily.

You know, let me try this.

I'm gonna try twisting it, maybe it's my technique.

If I twist, whoa, I'm feeling better.

So not only do I have a bowl full of corn kernels,

but I have a table full of corn kernels.

So I would say, to some extent, success.

Let's see how the Corn Stripper stacks up

to using just a plain old pairing knife.

[bright upbeat music resumes]

I'd say that was okay,

but a little on the crude side

compared to the Corn Stripper,

which is designed for this purpose.

So an effectiveness rating for the Corn Cob Stripper.

I would give it a,

let's give it a 4.

I think it needs some improvement.

I'm gonna try the Corn Stripper again,

using the left-handed oil test.

What that means is I'm gonna

make my non-dominant hand slippery and try using it.

What that will do is point out

some opportunities for improvements.

Spins okay,

but I feel like I'm squeezing harder than I have to

in order to get enough friction to be able to twist this.

This just seems a little less in control

than I think it could be.

Let's give the Corn Cob Stripper a usability rating,

and I am going to give it a 2.5.

The grip was not as good as it could be.

The problem also is that

not every piece of corn is the same size,

so it will miss some kernels

because this ring is a fixed size.

It's not expandable or adjustable.

It's okay,

but the opportunities for improvement are so obvious.

I wish they could have done something

just a little bit different

to make this a little easier to use.

Let's talk about a redesign.

A couple of curious things about the design of this.

One is that it's got this outer corn kernel texture,

so it doesn't give a whole lot of grip to it.

I wonder though if there's an opportunity

to make this a little flexible.

What that would mean is have the teeth come in a little bit,

so if that would adapt to various size of the corn cob

and also this would tend to spring out

as you're working your way through the corn cob.

What that means is

I wonder if this could just be a lot more adaptable,

so it definitely finds itself as you push through.

So if you're gonna press down this way,

there is a subtle curve to this,

but I would exaggerate that,

'cause it would just make it that much easier

to push down or push into the corn,

as you are twisting and turning

and getting those pesky little kernels off of that corn cob.

I do think you have to compensate a little bit

for the fact that it's not designed as well as it could be.

The trick is there's not a really good alternative,

a pairing knife was not nearly as graceful as using this.

So, let's talk about a buy rating.

I would give the Corn Stripper as it is now,

let's give it a 4 outta 5.

'cause I actually think it worked okay.

It's corn, it has the juice.

Oil Dispenser Bottle and Brush.

This all-in-one gadget stores, dispenses,

and brushes cooking oil.

Let's see how effective it is.

It's got a silicone rubbery like bulb here,

and I'm gonna squeeze that.

It's working like an eyedropper.

It is going to suck the oil up into this cup.

Okay, let's try first squirting it onto the salad,

and now I am going to brush it onto toast.

And that is working as expected too, no surprises here.

Think what's nice about this is it's self-contained.

It stores, and you can use it

without really any cleanup at all.

Now we're gonna compare that

to using a brush and a bottle of olive oil.

[bright upbeat music resumes]

All right, well that wasn't too difficult either,

except for the brush version.

I've got some cleanup to do.

So let's give this an effectiveness rating.

I think on a 1 to 5 scale, I'm liking it.

I thought it was effective.

5 outta 5.

Seemed to hold plenty of olive oil in that bulb shape.

You can use it to actually brush on food, brush on corn,

brush on whatever you're cooking.

I think it was pretty effective.

We're gonna test its usability,

doing a left-handed oil test.

Oil up my left hand.

I'm gonna be using my left hand,

squeezing the bulb, no problem,

squirting on the salad, no problem,

for the toast.

This may be the most successful left-handed oil test

I have ever done.

For usability, I would also give it a 5 outta 5.

I thought it was pretty easy to use.

So I think whatever person or group designed this,

I think they had their act together.

I think they probably went through enough usability studies

that were appropriate enough

to make this as usable as possible.

Let's talk about a redesign,

and I'm not gonna have too much to say 'cause I like it.

I think it's well thought out.

There are a couple of things

that maybe could be an improvement.

One thing I would look at, as mentioned,

is this could be a little bit difficult to open or close.

It's possible to put a couple of ridges

or a little bit of shape into this,

so there's a little more friction when you open it up.

Couple things you could do is

either make it not exactly round,

you've got a little bit of mechanical interference here

because your hand is not gonna just spin in a circle.

Something else that you probably can't see very clearly

is that there is a dish to this on the inside,

the inside surface of this.

So what I would do

instead of this dish part in here coming flat,

I think I would make that down a little more,

so that it drains,

so in case any oil splashes or puddles up,

it's gonna find its way back into the jar.

For a buy rating, I would give this a 5 outta 5.

So we chose this because it went viral on TikTok,

and I think for good reason, I think people are liking it.

It seems to work really well.

It does its job and maybe even exceeds expectations.

I think I'll be taking it home.

Twist-Up Measuring Cup.

It is designed to measure liquid or dry ingredients

with a simple twist.

Let's see how effective it is.

It has two sets of markings and the difference is,

there is tiny, tiny, tiny type here that says,

Liquid fill line, and that's this black line you see

that's just a little bit shy of the very rim.

There's another set of markings that say Dry,

and that's because the dry ingredients

can go right up to to level off.

Now it's a little bit tricky here,

you may find or you may see,

is that since this gasket is black

and the graphics are black,

it's not really easy to see black on black.

So I've got this measured to one cup.

I've got some brown sugar here, and I'm gonna fill it.

That looks like 1 cup.

I will put it into the bowl,

and that is 1 cup of brown sugar.

Let's try that again.

This time I'm gonna fill this

with 1/2 cup of maple syrup.

So I'm gonna find the liquid version of the graphics here.

Now, the maple syrup is pretty thick,

so I don't expect that it's gonna seep through the gasket.

And note, there's no spout on here,

so what I'm gonna do is carefully or quickly

pour this into the cup.

I poured it into Pyrex cup,

and it is much less,

significantly less than 1/2 cup.

One of you is lying.

[fire alarm sounds]

It is time to see which one of these two gadgets is lying.

So I have here

100 milliliters measured by the Pyrex cup.

1 milliliter of water equals 1 gram of weight.

So I've got a scale here that is set to metric.

I'm gonna put a bowl on here.

So 100 milliliters of water out of this Pyrex cup

should end up weighing 100 grams,

and we have 92.

Let's try that again with the Twist-Up Measuring Cup.

One problemo with the Twist-Up Measuring Cup

is it's difficult to pour.

It doesn't have a spout.

So if I fill this to the line, it should read 100 grams,

and it is reading 101.

You've been lying to us for years.

Banish that cup to hell.

Let's see how the Twist-Up Measuring Cup compares

with using a more standard measuring cup

or the glass measuring cup.

[bright upbeat music resumes]

Done.

Let's talk about effectiveness.

I'm gonna give it a 4,

only because it's a little bit difficult

to see the measurements.

I'll leave it at that,

and I'm giving it a 4

because it is accurate in terms of its measurements,

and that's why it's getting a 4 there.

I don't think there's any reason

to use my left hand to try this

because this has already been tested enough.

I don't need a slippery left hand

to understand anything about its usability.

For usability, I'm going to give a couple of demerits.

I'm gonna give it,

I'm gonna give it a 2.5.

I think the changes or the improvements on this

would be so simple.

Despite the accuracy problems,

I think you may be grabbing the Pyrex cup

more than you would be grabbing the Twist-Up Measuring Cup.

Let's talk about a redesign,

and there are a couple of things that I would consider here.

It's got a black gasket, and it's got black graphics.

And not only is the type here tiny,

I would also consider making the dry graphics

and the liquid graphics a different color

or do something different with them graphically,

so at a glance, you pick this up,

and you remember or know which side you are on.

It is molded,

so I would look at a way to give this a spout,

like a really nice pourable spout.

One of the problems that Pyrex cups have

is the spouts are not that controllable typically.

If you're molding that spout,

you can make a very sharp end to that spout,

and this could actually happen like that.

In order to compete,

I think it needs some help in the ease of pouring.

So I think those are probably

the top priorities on my hit list.

Let's talk about a buy rating,

and what's interesting

is this seems to have a lot of fans on TikTok

Maybe a 3 outta 5 because it's a bit unique.

It does have some usefulness.

This just doesn't measure up.

Multi-Cherry and Olive Pitter.

This is the Multi-Cherry Pitter Olive Pitter.

It is designed to allow you

to pit 6 cherries or 6 olives at the same time

with one clamping action.

Let's see how well it works,

so let's load this baby up.

I'm gonna load these with the open side up.

Ready to press.

Whoa.

No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no.

What I do have is some smashed olives.

So far, not a fan.

So I'm gonna try something here that I think I would do,

if I was looking at this

and actually trying to rethink it or redesign it.

I am going to see what happens

with one olive right in the middle.

That should make life easier,

and that worked no problem.

So one olive, no problem.

Actually, let's go for three.

Yeah, but it felt like something was gonna break.

Let's compare the Multi-Cherry and Olive Pitter

with this single cherry and olive pitter.

[bright upbeat music resumes]

That was 1/6 as difficult.

Let's give this an effectiveness rating.

On a 1 to 5 scale, I would give it a 1.

It just was not easy at all or effective,

or it basically didn't work.

I don't think this makes any sense

to do a lefty-righty test, a slippery left hand test,

because it's not really a dexterity thing.

It really is a brute force issue going on here.

Usability, I would give it a rather low rating as well.

On a 1 to 5 scale, usability 1 out of 5,

just took too much weight and too much force, non-usable.

It was a little bit messy to use,

and it just was not what it promises to be.

Let's talk about a redesign,

and there are a couple of things I would experiment with.

We've got a pivot point here.

We have weight coming down here

that's trying to extract 6 pits at a time.

There is no mechanical advantage here, which could help.

I wonder if this base should be extended.

This not extended, but this handle extended up top,

so that this is still where the pins exist.

But what we have here is instead of a one-to-one ratio here,

the further out we go,

the more mechanical advantage we're gonna have,

so we're gonna be twice as strong here.

More power, more pits.

Let's give it a buy rating.

And for a buy rating, I would give it a 1 outta 5.

This gadget is the pits.

I really wish I didn't say that.

Okay [audience laughs].

If I had this at home,

in order to get the weight that's needed to push down,

I'd be putting it on the floor and stepping on it.

Tovolo Batter Scoop with Plunger.

This is the Tovolo Batter Scoop.

It is designed to dispense batter

with this plunger without any mess.

Batter up.

So let's see how messy or non messy it is.

In front of me, I have some batter, cupcake batter.

I've got a cupcake pan with 12 cupcakes ready to be made,

and let's start scooping.

So I'm gonna fill this,

and that looks a little questionable

as how accurate that is, but let's give it a go.

Pour it in here and plunge,

and that was a little messy.

So in theory,

I should have 3 so far equally filled cupcake cups,

so I guess the test here is to see

if the cups that I filled are about the same height.

They are, but they look a little low to me,

just a little questionable

about whether or not I actually filled these enough.

That part of it is gonna be

just a little bit tricky to clean,

but what I'm more concerned about is there's an area here

where the plunger arm comes through.

So there's a hole in here,

and if the batter starts to build up,

maybe even if it just builds up a little bit

or maybe even as it is now,

that batter is gonna work its way into the handle,

into this part of the scoop.

And it may dry,

I may not be able to clean it,

and I may not be able to ever see that it's in there.

Let's see how this compares to using an ice cream scoop.

[bright upbeat music resumes]

Nailed it.

So let's talk about an effectiveness rating.

I would give this a 2 outta 5.

I think it's a scoop, so it works like a scoop,

but I just don't think it is delivering what it promised.

I don't think I need to do a left-handed oil test on this

because the deficiencies are already pretty obvious.

They speak for themselves,

and I think I'm going to address that in the redesign.

Usability, I think there's just too much cleanup here

to be useful.

And I also think it's not very controllable as to the volume

unless you go back in and scoop again,

and there's no reason to really use this to scoop again,

if this is not gonna plunge

and the cleanup's gonna be that difficult.

So usability, I would also give it a 2 outta 5.

I'm not a huge fan.

Let's talk about a redesign,

and there were a couple of things I would try

to see if this can become a viable product.

One of the things I would consider

is making this seal either a lot tighter

or look at the possibility of making this a rubber gasket

or even making this whole piece outta silicone,

so that it actually does plunge,

and it keeps the backside of this clean.

The other thing I would do, it is round,

and when you wipe this against the bowl,

you're not really wiping it and scraping it.

I would consider the fact

that you may wanna scrape this against the bowl,

and because of that,

I would make the scoop square not round.

I would make the scoop do this.

Very concerned about so many products

that have these God awful slide switches.

This one, I'm just gonna draw this part of it,

and it just has these 3 little bumps,

but there's nothing to push against

unless you like press your skin into these little ridges.

So bottom line is,

I think what this could do

is just be something that has a shape to it

that looks like this.

Make it really something that your thumb can sink into.

The one other thing I will look at is opening up this area,

not enclosing it, but opening it up,

so that it can be rinsed out.

So you can get some water in there and just go with the fact

that this needs to be cleaned

and that you may get some batter in there,

and you do need to wash it out.

For all you gadget lovers,

who leave comments that say things like,

Yeah, but what about cleaning?

That thought was for you.

Let's talk about a buy rating.

I don't think it's there there yet.

I don't think I'd run out and tell anyone to buy this.

I think they would just get upset with me

and say, Why did you even recommend that?

I'm gonna give it a 1 outta 5

just because I don't think you'll be that happy with it.

So, we had some hits and misses as usual.

The Oil Dispenser, love.

So TikTok trends tend to come and go pretty quickly.

Gadgets that you buy tend

to hang around your kitchen for awhile,

so when you make a purchase like this,

make sure it's something

that you wanna live with for awhile

and use in the very near future.