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Simplehuman Utensil Holder with Removable Spoon Rest
by Joker25
You know how it is, one day you're young, free, single and care only about how your vodka is stored. The next, you've hit 30, settled down, bought a house and care deeply about how your utensils are stored. Sad but true.
In my own defence, I really enjoy cooking and I do a lot of it, so it's important that the implements I use ... regularly are within easy reach. For a while, everything was just chucked into a circular wire basket but the taller items made it topple over on a regular basis and it was hard to find the littler things like potato peelers and zesters. It sounds trivial, but when you're in the middle of whipping up a really tasty and complicated dinner, it's immensely irritating to have to leave the sauce that you're painstakingly reducing to go and hunt for a miniature egg whisk (and yes, I do own a miniature egg whisk). My next solution was to hide everything away in a drawer but it was equally as difficult to find things, especially since the potato mashers (that's right, mashers *plural*. That's just how I roll) kept getting caught and jamming the drawer shut. I was in quite the culinary quandary so it's a good thing that Simple Human came to my rescue or I might be there yet.
===Who or what are Simple Human?===
They're a nice company who make jaw-droppingly expensive bits and bobs for your house. On the plus side, their stuff is well made and designed with ease of use and problem solving in mind.
===Why did you buy it?===
Because it does all of the things I wanted it to and looks nice whilst doing it. To clarify, I wanted something that would hold all of my tall and short utensils and be roomy enough to accommodate all the ones that I use regularly. This copes admirably well, as it is a lozenge shaped container that's divided into two deep compartments at the back, with a smaller and shallower compartment at the front to hold smaller items. It also comes with a spoon rest which clips into the smaller compartment at the front. It sounds a bit gimmicky but it's actually a really handy thing to have. In addition to the practical aspects, I thought it looked reasonably nice, like it would fit on my kitchen counters and be easy to clean.
===Worth the money?===
This generally retails at around the £20 mark (although it can occasionally be found cheaper) which normally I'd think was ridiculous for what is, essentially, a small bucket. However, I think it's worth the money because it actually does what I want it to do and looks good whilst doing it. Moreover, it's never toppled over mid-way through whipping up a quiche. Its two large compartments at the back comfortably accommodate all of my most-used utensils and I reckon I could probably fit a couple more items in, if needs be. The shallow compartment at the front means I don't have to spend ages rooting around for the potato peeler and I use the spoon rest all the time.
===Easy to clean?===
The stainless steel part just needs a quick wipe down and the plastic inner can be cleaned with warm water and washing up liquid.
===Is there owt else?===
Simple Human also sell a shower caddy thing for nearly 100 quid. Honestly. Even I'm not daft enough to buy that.
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Wilko Washing Up Bowl
by katykicker
My husband and I moved in to our first home over two years ago and we needed lots of items when we moved in. I can remember well that we went to Wilkinsons for lots of cheap kitchen items and gadgets and this was where we picked up this washing up bowl. We paid just £1 for a beige washing up bowl and I thought that this was an absolute ... bargain - it was!
This washing up bowl is a square shaped bowl with rounded edges and is about 30cm wide and it holds 10 litres of water. There are markers every litre on the inside of the bowl so I can see how much water is being used at any one time. The bowl fits comfortably in my sink and there is still space for me to pick this out, even when full, should I need to. There is a large lip on the bowl that runs all the way around which makes it simple to pick up and despite this feeling flimsy it has never let me down, cracked or broken.
I must say that when I first started using this washing up bowl I found it too small for holding pans, woks and other large kitchen items that often need a soak and that was the main reason that I stopped using this bowl for its intended purpose.
We now use this bowl for maintaining our fish tank. This bowl is ideal for that as we are able to measure how much water we are removing from the fish tank and how much water we are putting back in afterwards. The litre markers are ideal for this and this bowl has been used solely for maintaining our fish tank for about 6 months now, before that it had been resigned to living under the sink for floor cleaning and other tasks as it was just too small for me.
Overall I would say that this bowl is tough, strong and very hard wearing. It hasn't damaged at all in the time we've been using it, for a variety of purposes. We use this twice a week to carry approximately 30 litres of water (3 bowls full) and it is carried from our fish tank over to the kitchen sink so it has been thoroughly tested to its limits in our house. We have no reason to stop using this and it is fair to say that for £1 this was a bargain that has withstood everything it has endured being used around the house and will likely continue for years yet! I am rating this bowl 4/5 as it is strong, tough and very cheap also but marking it down 1 star because it is just a little too small, in my opinion, as a washing up bowl.
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