There’s something oddly tempting about fancy new kitchen gadgets.
One minute you’re just browsing, the next you’re convinced you need a device that cores pineapples, peels garlic in seconds, or does something mysterious with avocados. However, once the novelty wears off, most of these tools end up shoved in the back of a drawer, collecting dust next to that one-use waffle maker. Here are some “must-have” kitchen tools that, let’s be honest, you’ll probably never even take out of the drawer or cupboard you store it in.
1. Avocado slicer
It promises perfectly sliced avocado in seconds — but somehow, it’s just never as simple or satisfying as using a knife and spoon. Most people try it once, make a mess, then go straight back to basics. Plus, it takes up more space than it’s worth. Unless you’re prepping avocados professionally, this tool will spend more time in the drawer than in your hand.
2. Egg separator
This one looks like it’ll make your baking life easier, but separating yolks from whites using a shell or your hand works just as well, and without another thing to wash up. After one or two uses, most people realise it’s more faff than help. Unless you’re separating dozens of eggs a day, it’s basically kitchen clutter.
3. Spiralizer
Zoodles sounded like a fun health kick until you realised it takes forever to clean this thing. It’s bulky, fiddly, and not nearly as exciting as the Instagram videos made it seem. Chances are, you’ll spiral one courgette, hate the texture, and then forget the tool even exists. Meanwhile, your carrots and cucumbers carry on living unspiralized lives.
4. Banana slicer
This one really leans into “solution to a problem no one has.” Bananas are soft. You can slice them with literally anything—a knife, a spoon, even the edge of another banana if you’re determined. It’s a gimmick that turns into a drawer filler. If you bought one, you probably used it once for the novelty and never looked at it again.
5. Herb scissors
Five-bladed scissors seem like a clever idea, but they’re awkward to clean and don’t always give the neat results you were hoping for. They’re also surprisingly noisy and can mangle delicate herbs like basil. A regular knife does the job with less fuss, and you don’t have to dig through your cutlery drawer to find the one tool that now has parsley permanently stuck in the blades.
6. Garlic peeler tube
Roll the clove inside a silicone tube, and boom—no more garlic skin. Except… it rarely works as smoothly as advertised, and half the time the garlic ends up crushed or still half-covered anyway. Peeling garlic by hand takes about five seconds. This tool turns it into a mini project, and once it starts smelling permanently of garlic, it tends to disappear into the abyss of unused gadgets.
7. Egg cooker
It steams eggs, it buzzes when it’s done, and it saves you… what, exactly? Boiling eggs in a saucepan isn’t complicated. This just takes up counter space and adds another plug-in appliance to clean. Unless you’re cooking eggs daily in bulk, it ends up being one of those things you forget you even own. The pan-and-timer method never stopped working, and it doesn’t need a manual.
8. Milk frother wand
It looks fun, it spins, it even sort of works—once. However, getting decent froth takes patience, the batteries die quickly, and cleanup becomes more effort than it’s worth for a coffee that still doesn’t quite feel like a café one. After the novelty wears off, most people go right back to regular milk or just shake it in a jar for the same effect. The wand? Banished to the drawer of forgotten dreams.
9. Cherry pitter
If you bake cherry pies every week, maybe this earns its keep. However, for everyone else, it’s a niche tool that takes up space and gets used once during a summer impulse recipe. It’s also a pain to clean, and if you lose even one tiny spring or piece, it’s basically useless. A knife works fine for the handful of times you actually need one.
10. Butter curler
This might be the most unnecessarily fancy item on the list. The idea is to shave pretty curls off a block of butter, like you’re prepping for a Victorian tea party. But let’s be real, no one’s doing that. The butter curler gets one try, one laugh, and then retires to the drawer forever while your butter goes straight onto toast in its natural chunk form.
11. Pancake batter dispenser
It sounds like a dream—clean, mess-free pancake pouring. In reality, it’s awkward to fill, tricky to clean, and still manages to splatter everywhere if you don’t get the consistency exactly right. A measuring jug or ladle works just as well without the engineering degree. The dispenser just becomes one more thing taking up shelf space next to the mini waffle iron you also never use.
12. Electric can opener
Unless you have mobility issues or a stack of cans to open every day, this one tends to feel like overkill. It’s big, clunky, and not even that fast. Manual can openers are simple, store easily, and rarely break. The electric version usually ends up unplugged, dusty, and mysteriously sticky no matter how long it’s been out of use.
