Kitchen Products

What makes a toaster efficient? Read through reviews of popular toasters, and you’ll see that many people seem to care more about the bells and whistles — automatic lowering of bread, pleasant dings when toasting is complete, and the like — than anything else.

Pressure cookers are efficient cooking devices –  they are up to 70% more efficient than conventional pots. The lids of pressure cookers are built to completely seal the pot so that the contents can boil easily inside the pot. Food cooks faster because the liquid inside rises to a higher temperature before boiling. Cooking times [...]

Corelle dinnerware is efficient because it is highly durable — it doesn’t break, and the designs on the plates cannot be scratched by knives. Corelle is actually made out of glass, but it is created like a sandwich with a glass core that’s thermally bonded to an outer glass glaze. The lamination creates a finished [...]

Here’s a promising product that will be introduced soon — the Zevro Perfetto is a pasta cooker said to save up to 70% of energy and up to 50% of water compared to cooking pasta in a traditional pot. Only about 32 fluid ounces (1 liter) of water is needed and there’s no need [...]

This attractive bamboo bowl is made using the “vertical grain” or the side of the split bamboo pole. The dark border color is achieved by a steaming process that brings out the natural sugars in the bamboo, carmelizing it to a permanent stain. It’s priced at $40 and available from IKH

Rice cooker reviews are little hard to find — the bigger consumer magazines don’t seem to cover them, but some other sources on the web do. Reviewers on Cool Tools and Sally’s Kitchen both recommend Zojirushi Rice Cookers.
Popular in Japan, Zojirushi cookers are pricey ($150-$200). But they also have no-frills models for about $60.