Here at ES, we love to hate on unitaskers, or at least make fun of them whenever possible. And with good reason. I mean, if you haven’t yet learned to crack an egg, no ridiculous kitchen gadget is going to save you. Also, my kitchen drawers are filled to maximum capacity, so if it it comes down to a choice between a bottle opener or a lettuce knife, the booze wins every time.
There are times, though, when a unitasker is certainly called for. If I had a cherry tree, I would definitely acquire a cherry pitter, although perhaps not one that costs $50. Same with an apple tree and those amazing peeler/corer/slicer things. And actually, those do more than one thing, even if it is to a single piece of fruit, so I guess it’s not a unitasker after all.
And there is a certain gray area when it comes to unitasker ownership. What if, for example, you are really bad at cutting pineapple? Every time you cut one up, you get the distinct feeling that this can’t possibly be the best way, as you seem to have wasted about a third of the fruit. But no one has been able to show you a better way, except your brother-in-law, and that is because he owns on of these. Yes, a pineapple cutter. A perfect pineapple cutter. It’s brilliant.
So, is it worth owning something that you only use three times a year, if it does exactly what you need it to do? This, my friends, is a question that I have yet to answer satisfactorily. I can promise you this, though. I will never, ever, own a corncob cutter.
