Common household items that are pointless...

[ilovebruuuceandbags]

Ok, the ruined designer washing up bowl which has popped up all over again has just prompted me to ask…what is the point of having a washing up bowl? We used to have one, then moved house and now don't bother with one. We just use the sink, which, to be honest, is much easier for washing up the dishes. It was a revelation!

What common 'essentials' do most of us have, which actually aren't essential at all?

Little round crocheted mats. Cornish pastie maker. Individual corn-on-the-cob dishes. Spaghetti portion measurer. Tea bag squeezer. Sugar tongs. Mustard spoon. Knickerbocker glory dishes. Electric herb chopper. Sherry decanter. Cocktail glasses. Small self-adhesive green felt stickers for glueing on to the bottom of ornaments. Candle snuffer. Potato ricer. Yoghurt maker. Cast iron balance scales with weights. Madeleine moulds.

Oh God, I've just realised that I have actually owned all this stuff at some point or other...

Tea bag rest (or whatever called) I rest my spoon on it and got a set of battery operated salt and pepper grinder ive not had them filled up for months. Also got a bread maker I got for christmas never been out of box but saving it just incase ever get urge to make bread

Since moving my dp in ive acumilated an extra stereo, dvd/video player, xbox and various other electrical items that he just doesnt want to part with. Ended up with a tv and stereo in kitchen and a games console in every bedroom now :/

Knickerbocker glory dishes only when empty.

Toast tweezers best thing ever. What is not to love? No burnt fingers or danger of electrocution.

Those bags you're meant to put tights in to stop them getting knotted in the washing machine. They don't work and they mysteriously and inevitably disappear within a fortnight of buying them.

Spaghetti measurer is totally essential here - used once a week at least!

I agree about slow cookers.
I didn't actually read any recipes first, stupidly, and hadn't appreciated how much cooking you have to do before you actually put anything in them. So I don't bother, and finish everything on the hob or in the oven. Maybe it's because we're vegetarian..because the only thing I've ever made in it that was worth it was braised red cabbage. Oh and it's fab for boiling up the condensed milk in cans to make caramel for desserts - so I do 4 cans at a time. Makes it bloody expensive banoffee pie.

That thing you peel potatoes with that is not a knife,stupid pointless piece of shit that has the ability to magically reappear every time I throw it away

At least I think its the same one

At the person who only uses one chopping board! A separate board for raw meat surely?

My MIL's compact dishwasher is too small to stand her plates up in so she had to wash them by hand. Fortunately she has a washing up bowl and a massive sink. My own useless item is one of those plastic kitchen aids that grates, slices and chops fruit and veg. You kind of slide things along it (I think) in order to get evenly sliced veg eg in sticks or round shapes. I not sure as have never used it (it was a gift from MIL).

I love my bread machine. Most of the time I make dough for pizza or bread rolls, but I can also put in the ingredients before I go to bed, and then set it to spring into action at 3 am and have a nice loaf of fresh bread ready for us at 7. So nice on winter mornings.

orange no, I wash it well after using meat.
That said I can't remember the last time I cut up meat because the meat I buy doesn't need cutting. Use bacon only very occasionally, that's the only thing.

"I've never understood the point of fabric conditioner."

It can make fabric feel softer and less wrinkly. In very cold climates, it can help with static cling. However, I don't use them because I used to work in the laundry division of Proctor & Gambles product development labs. One of my tasks was to make swatches of white fabric dingy so that brighteners could be tested on them. I would wash the swatches with things like clay, grease, bbq sauce.... and fabric softener. The softener helped the dirty stick to the fabric.

I also worked on fabric softeners (mostly testing viscosity/shelf life). Sometimes we would run tests where people would feel small hand towels to see which felt best. We'd ask "which of these is how you would like your towels to feel at home?"

The thing is, fabric softener reduces the absorbency of the cotton, so I am baffled that anyone would use it for that.

This is wonderful, I'm going to have a rummage in my drawers (as it were)

We have Chinese saving bowls and dishes. Haven't used those since we had kids. Also don't see the point of rice cookers, except to save using a saucepan and hob space if you cook a lot of rice. Also don't see the point of a garlic press. Chop it roughly then push down the flat side of the knife blade on it. Much quicker and less faff to clean.

We use bread maker, ice cream maker, potato peeler all the time.

Am I the only person who sees the point in a dish drainer because I don't have a dishwasher.
I really don't see the point in a dish washer.

pipbin Yes im with you on this wouldnt be without my dish drainer. Dont have room for a dishwasher but even if I did I wouldnt want a dishwasher

I have and use a dish drainer and a dish washer.
Plastics don't dry that well in the machine and I leave them on the drainer, plus I do wash the occasional pot or pan. And it's useful to put sharp knives that I use repeatedly.
I could live without (MIL didn't have one), buy I'd much rather have it.

The only thing I use different chopping boards for are onions chillis and garlic which have their own one and bread.
Other than that I just have a big chopping board and a small chopping board. I always chop veg first then raw meat and scrub it afterwards.

MIL gave me a glass thing that she said was a chopping board but the packaging said worktop saver.
It was awful to chop as it made my knives blunt and got slippy, and what my worktops needed saving from I never worked out so I binned accidentally dropped it.

I have a dishwasher and it gets used every day, sometimes twice (Christmas for instance). Before I had a home with a dishwasher I had a dish drainer and I honestly can't imagine how you could manage without one unless you had someone to dry everything and put it all away as soon as you had finished rinsing.

in this house.... the iron

Avocado slicers - don't work unless the avocado is so under-ripe you'd not want to eat it anyway. Pizza cutter (sissors work better). Sand timers - completely overridden by timers on microwaves or mobile phones that buzz when they are complete.

No the iron is necessary for Hama beads!

Totally agree that pizza cutters are useless.

Knife sharpeners.

Have bought various different types over the years and none work as well as the small stone that came with a set of craft knives I bought years ago. Knife steels are utterly pointless, they dont sharpen knives at all!