Having the right tools makes a huge difference. Try cooking without a good knife. Try celebrating New Year's Eve without a champagne stopper. Shoes without socks? Coffee beans without a grinder?
See what I mean? We all want to declutter our lives — especially the kitchen — but there are tools, even if you don't use them daily, that carry their weight. You'll miss them when they are gone. You'll struggle if you don't have them (when you can't open a can or get the wine out of the bottle, for example).
Here are a few more gadgets that you probably don't have that will come in super handy when you do have them.
This automatic pan stirrer
That balsamic, red wine, and beef stock reduction will be delicious on your steak, but you have to stir it constantly. Meanwhile, your toddler wants to "help," and the dog wants a walk. Now you have 40 pounds of child on one hip and a puppy threatening to mess up the carpet while you're stuck stirring for another 15 minutes.
Or you could set this little robot stirrer ($25) loose in the pan and get everyone else out of the kitchen while your sauce makes itself on a low simmer. It has a timer and more patience than any human.
Organize your fruit by ripeness
Putting a bowl of fruit out so that your family can snack on it is a healthy strategy — until you walk into the kitchen and find a pile of pears with tiny bites out of them. Determining if a piece of fruit is ripe without destroying it is not a skill your young ones have.
Get ahead of this problem by putting the "ready" fruit within easy grasp and the not-yet-ripe fruit behind an obstacle with this Just Ripe Fruit Bowl ($65). Genius. Problem solved.
A clean bowl of berries
We love tools that make life easier, are beautiful, and don't put any waste into a landfill. This Berry Buddy ($48) fits that requirement to a tee.
It's a pretty stoneware bowl for berries that saves a step and some cleanup. Just dump a bag of berries into it, run water over the fruit, pour off the water, and serve. The berries will continue to drip dry into the catcher below while everyone munches on yummy fruit.
Where to put the dishcloth? Here!
It's a universal problem. You want to keep the clutter and wetness off the counters, but you need to keep a dishcloth handy. That wet cloth ends up in a pile somewhere, growing mildew. This Magnetic Dishcloth Holder ($20) puts it where it can drip dry and where everyone can find it easily.
No drilling or installation required. Just put one magnet on the sink inside the cupboard, hang the holder on the sink side, and now you have a spot for the cloth.
Is too much beer a problem?
Did you really just have to move 12 bottles of beer out of the way to get to the milk? In a world where there can never be too much beer, there's always a problem of keeping it cold and handy without dedicating the entire fridge to the job.
This BottleLoft ($30) will make everyone happy. It holds the beer aloft, keeping it out of the way of the necessaries, and makes it easy to grab a beer and pop it open. Everyone gets what they need.
Just stick them to any fridge ceiling, and the strong magnets will hold the beer by the cap.
Psst: If you choose to purchase an item from this post, CafeMom may receive a small cut. Each item and price is up to date at the time of publication; however, an item may be sold out or the price may be different at a later date.
