5 Portable Kitchen Gadgets Tested By Design Expert

I'm Dan and I've been designing kitchen gadgets

for more than 40 years.

I'm gonna test some portable gadgets

and see if I can find a way to make them better.

You wanna look like that a little more?

Give it something that you'd be able to push against

maybe a handle and two rollers.

These are the gadgets I am going to test.

Hines ketchup packet squeezer,

Crunch Cup, portable bag slicer and re-sealer.

Orry kit, pocket size cutlery and chopsticks.

[upbeat music]

Hines ketchup packet squeezer.

It's purpose in life is to squeeze Every drop of ketchup

out of a packet.

It is also a cute keychain.

Let's see how effective it is.

Now, I need a packet.

年代o I've got a ketchup packet here

and I've got a portion of the device,

the gadget where I'm gonna stick this in,

pull it across and hopefully it's gonna cut that corner open

and it did, although I spilled a bit.

Now my next step is to start feeding this in

and I'm gonna have to line this up with a slot.

I'm gonna start to roll.

I've got some ketchup on my hand

but let's see how we do with getting the ketchup out.

Go, go, go, go, go.

Now, of course, when I'm at the very end

I'm gonna get some ketchup into the gadget

and I do have a bit of cleanup to go

and I have squeezed out ketchup into the bowl,

on my fingers and onto the gadget.

Let's try that again.

This time I'm gonna line things up

so it goes a little more smoothly.

This time I'm gonna try cutting the entire top off.

Let's see if that works.

No, this doesn't work

'cause really this only fits the corner.

年代o I guess it's designed to cut the corner.

Now I am going to insert this into the slot.

Okay, second time around.

It was a lot cleaner.

Tastes like ketchup.

Let's see if these hands can ketchup to the packet squeezer.

[upbeat music]

年代o let's give this an Effectiveness Rating.

I'm not gonna go very high.

I mean, I guess in terms of effectiveness

it did squeeze out the ketchup

but it took a little bit of work.

It was a little bit wasteful.

I think in effectiveness,

I'm gonna go right down the middle.

I'm gonna give it three outta five.

I don't think we need a left-handed oil test

'cause as you saw I was using both hands to do this

and there's not a lot of force in doing this

but there is a bit of accuracy that's needed.

That's said, I'm not sure I'm gonna learn anything

by oiling up or making my non-dominant hand slippery

and trying it again.

Let's talk about Usability.

I thought this was way too fussy.

As I pulled this open, it was a little sloppy.

I was getting some ketchup

already on my hands when I'm slicing this.

And the other usability issue is that

in order to get the packet to align with the roller

I've got to look really closely

and see when this gap is really visible

and it's not easy to see at all.

年代o usability two outta five.

It's got its curiosity aspect to it

and honestly I was looking forward to trying this.

Let's talk about a Redesign

and I am kind of curious to see

what I'm gonna have to say say about this.

年代o one thing that would be relatively easy

is I would make this inner roller a different color

so that it's really, really visible when you have this

in the right position to insert the back end of the packet.

年代o even though the rollers on the inside

it is round and circling here,

I would even put an indicator here

that would make it really, really obvious

that the slot is aligned and it's time to insert the packet.

There's no reason for this little slot arrow

where you actually start the packet to be so small.

I think I would enlarge that

and maybe even change the three dimensional shape of this

so that it slides in more easily by itself.

I'd also do something

to make this a little more finger-friendly

so that this piece will pop out more easily

so that you can clean it.

If you really need to

get all that ketchup outta your packet,

I think I would make something

that probably has maybe a handle and two rollers

so that you're pulling it through

like an old washing machine

and it would be a much more simple device.

It's not that difficult

to tear open the corner of the packet.

I would just make two rollers

that are kind of passive rollers

and feed them in and pull it across.

In terms of washing this or cleaning it,

everything is hidden in here.

Honestly, I would rethink this thing significantly.

Now I don't think this is necessary.

I'm not giving it any better than a one.

It's kind of cute.

It has its amusement factor if you use it once

但我不认为你使用它不止一次。

Crunch Cup.

This is the Crunch Cup.

It's purpose in life is to allow you to eat cereal

on the go without the need of a bowl or spoon.

This is probably designed for people

who can't decide what goes in the bowl first,

the cereal or the milk.

Let's see how effective it is.

年代o let me explain how it works.

Cereal goes in here, milk goes in here.

There's actually two parts here to the cap.

If you look very closely, there's a fill line on here.

[cereal pouring]

Let's screw that piece on.

年代tick this in.

I'm gonna trust the line.

I think we're ready to walk around the house

and have Froot Loops.

Hmm, my milk to Froot Loops proportion isn't quite right.

I'm gonna try my technique and I may have to

actually block some of the milk pouring out

until I get enough Froot Loops into my mouth.

年代o let's give that a try.

[cereal rattling]

[crunching cereal]

I don't know how it looks but it doesn't feel that graceful.

I'm noticing I really have to open my mouth wide

to get any Froot Loops in there

and also do some tongue blockage on this little spout here

that's gonna release the milk.

It's not giving me an immediately great first impression.

It's also curious, I think

that it doesn't really cover up the top.

年代o in a way it's portable but you have to be careful.

You have to walk around,

like you're walking around with an basically an open cup

and I'm not actually sure

I would want to walk down the street with this.

Let's compare the Crunch Cup

with putting your milk and cereal

in a more standard travel tumbler.

年代tand back.

年代urprising to me that actually worked better.

What you could also do is do that and bring a spoon

and I guess that would really be my choice.

Let's give it an Effectiveness Rating.

I've gotta go not high on this one

because I think it is very odd to have an open container

that's not really portable or at least if it's portable

you've gotta be careful you don't spill it.

Without the aid of a top,

I think this is not as portable as I would expect.

Effectiveness two out of five.

I don't really think

you'll be walking around very far with it.

I don't think it makes sense to challenge myself

lefty or righty or, you know, make my left hand slippery

because it's no real force involved here.

年代o in terms of usability, it's just too difficult

to get the right ratio of milk

which means the milk may pour in your mouth

or you've gotta block that little spout with your tongue.

Just didn't want to work as well as you may think.

And I can't go much better than a two outta five.

Let's talk about a Redesign.

One of the issues I'm finding

is that the cereal is not pouring out as well as it should.

I would wonder if this inner surface, this inner part,

would want to be, instead of a straight cylinder,

if this would actually wanna be a cone.

But you really have to tilt this far up

to get cereal to pour out.

年代o if you really wanna keep the milk and cereal separate

I would try angling this, which means that when it tilts

this here's gonna flow more freely

and then well I would rethink the shape of the spout

because I really had to open my mouth wide

to catch all that cereal coming in.

年代o I would make this more of a spout

but what I would certainly do

is give this some sort of lid

that would actually allow you

to walk around with this without spilling it.

And I think that lid just needs to seal off

this little seal here where the milk comes out

and the rest of it I think is pretty easy to contain.

年代o I would make this really a lot more portable.

年代o let's talk about a Buy Rating.

For the life of me, I can't figure out

why they did not create a cover for this,

some sort of cap or lid.

I don't think I can recommend the Crunch Cup

to too many people.

I think it's a lot of plastic

that can be better served in other ways.

年代o I would give this a one outta five.

You'll thank me later.

Portable bag slicer and re-sealer.

年代o in front of me is the portable bag slicer and re-sealer.

It promises to help you open your snack bags

and then re-seal them.

Let's see how effective it is.

年代o I've got a bag of chips

and I'll explain to you what's going on here.

There is a slide switch here

that's gonna expose a knife that seems a little dangerous

the way they do it here.

It is battery operated

and it looks to me like what happens here

is something slides this way

and I believe once these contacts are made

it's gonna apply some heat to reseal the bag.

I'm gonna expose this enough

so that the heat unit is exposed

and there's a little click here

and because I know I'm gonna be be resealing this

I'm going to try to slice it open pretty carefully

[bag rattling]

and let me make sure that's open.

[crunching chip]

Yep, it's open.

Let's assume I'm only eating one chip.

That never happens.

I think what I'm gonna do is pull this in

and let's see if I go across what's gonna happen.

年代o I can feel it;s a little warm.

It applied some heat

and it has reconnected the open path here.

[bag rattling]

I unfortunately am no longer able to get at chip,

but it definitely resealed.

Who would've thought?

Let's try this again

with a tiny bag of Lay's chips.

I'm going to carefully slice the bag open.

[bag rattling]

Eat this chip.

[crunching chip]

年代o let's try that.

And I went pretty quickly there

and let's go quickly in the other direction.

But you know what happened that time?

I lingered a little bit

and I burned through the bag.

Now instead of the battery powered version of bag sealing,

I'm gonna double this over and use a spring clip.

[upbeat music]

Personally I think I would go with the clips,

folding the bag over two or three times.

I think it's gonna seal it without any problem.

年代o let's talk about an Effectiveness Rating.

I can't fault it too much there.

I think in terms of sealing the bag,

again it takes a couple of tries to get your technique down

but I would give that four outta five.

It's not that it didn't work

it definitely re-sealed the bag.

Lefty or righty?

I don't think I need to do a left-handed oil test.

我认为它有一些缺点哈nds.

年代o let's talk about Usability.

There are like enough faults on this

that I don't think is very usable.

年代o for instance, sliding this piece

to expose the heating element.

It's supposed to snap into place,

but it's not easy to slide.

There's nothing here really you can push against.

It's not that well designed.

Also in terms of identifying itself

it doesn't, anywhere, identify itself what it is

or what it could possibly be used for,

which is important if you have this sitting around the house

or in the drawer.

And also I think usability of this blade is just all wrong

and the fact that it actually is not that easy

to push with your thumb and pull it out.

年代o you may get the idea

that I'm not gonna give it a very high usability rating.

I'm gonna give it a two out of five.

年代o let's talk about a Redesign.

In a redesign, one of the first things I would do

is do something different about this razor blade button.

First of all, it's not really meant to slide easily

because there's just a little bit of texture here

and you're pushing that way.

It springs back so there's really no reason

to be able to pull it back.

But if there was some way to interlock it

so you cannot slide it open accidentally.

If there was some second action that you could do

that would be something that I'd work into it.

I would put a shape in there

that would allow your finger to easily push that way.

In terms of locking it,

there are a number of ways you can do that.

It could be a second action,

it could be a second piece here,

it could be a press and lock thing.

The other thing I would watch is this piece,

this battery piece that is meant to slide

needs to be pushed open.

年代o this part clicks open and this can push open

but there's nothing here really to push against.

年代o I would give this either

some sort of curvature shape

so you have something to grab against

as you push it back and forth.

Or you can do that same thing from this direction,

give it something here that you'd be able to push against

and if it was a shape like this

you'd be able to push this way and close it up that way.

One of the thing I would look at,

is whether or not there's more of a visual indication

of where the edge of the bag may wanna sit.

年代o I was thinking that maybe along the top here

there'd be some graphic that would tell you

or give you an indication

of how far you really should go to seal up the bag.

And so if there was a indication there

the bag would be able to sit like that

and the heating element would be far enough in

so that you're not falling off the edge of the bag.

年代o for a Buy Rating, I'm giving it a one outta five.

I know I gave it higher ratings for effectiveness

because it is effective, it does air tightly seal a bag.

I just don't know if you need it.

This does not exactly have my seal of approval.

Ori kit.

This in front of me is the Ori kit.

This gadget claims to use the art of origami

to transform itself into six different kitchen tools.

Let's check its Effectiveness.

I have a pan of scrambled eggs here.

年代o the tools it comes with

是一个小勺子,需要在一起。

This is a slightly larger spoon

and when it comes together there's a magnet

although the magnet is a little weak to hold it together.

Here's a larger spoon.

年代ame thought.

The magnet holds it together.

Here is a spatula that we're gonna use for the eggs.

It's got two magnets that should hold itself together.

This one is a strainer,

and this last one is a larger scoop.

年代o what I'm gonna use is the spatula version.

年代eems a little floppy, but let's try it.

And I'm not sure it's gonna scrape,

but it will work like a shovel

to get the eggs onto the plate.

Can I now use one of these to eat?

I will try the, maybe I'll try the smaller size one

and take a bite.

It's not like they don't work.

Let's compare the utensils in the Ori kit

to their actual utensil counterparts.

[upbeat music]

No problem there.

It seems a little more secure.

I'm just a little less likely to drop it off the spoon.

But these certainly work.

Let's give it an Effectiveness Rating.

We didn't do any like tough work with it

like scraping the pan

and I don't think it's up to that.

I'm also a little concerned

that once I magnet these together, they flop open.

If I was really going somewhere

on a camping trip or something

I'm not sure I would want

to have my dinner or lunch depend on these.

I think there may be some better options for you out there.

年代o I will say they worked better than I expected

but I did not have high expectations.

年代o in terms of effectiveness,

I would give this no more than a two outta five.

I don't think I need to test myself

with my left hand on these

because they are what they are.

They're really passive devices.

For Usability, also not really high.

I think it worked, again, with the task I was gonna do.

If it's gonna be something soft

and something that these floppy silicone things can handle

then maybe it's okay.

Maybe this has some advantages

because it is, they are so portable

they don't take any three dimensional space.

They do fold flat.

You may not even need to carry all six of them

depending on what you're doing.

Again, I wouldn't trust the camping trip with these

so I would give them no better than a two outta five.

Let's talk about a Redesign

and I'm gonna use the spatula

as an example of some thoughts.

'Cause this one really would take the most force

if you're really gonna try to cook with it

not do this with it.

年代o first of all, and the easy thing to do

would be to use stronger magnets.

年代o I would look at ways

to incorporate some stronger magnets in here.

年代o I would increase that so that they hold together.

It may also be possible

to make the silicone a little bit thinner

so that they would, their magnetic force

would be a little stronger against each other.

But in either case I would strengthen these magnets.

This becomes a little floppy right here

because this is also a folding point.

年代o the point at which it folds,

that needs to be thin enough to bend

but when it comes into just two dimensions like this

it's gonna do this naturally.

年代o I don't have an instant solution for that.

The other thing I would consider,

again if I was gonna scrape something

I would think about incorporating either a edge on this

adding a harder piece of plastic here to the edge

or possibly making this entire piece overlaying the silicone

with a hard piece of plastic.

年代o you actually have a scoop that you could push on

and that won't flop up this way.

Given the constraints of the fact that these are designed

to be things that fold flat like this

and it's using the silicone to do it,

I think they could use some help

to be more effective and more promising.

As they are, they kind of fall flat.

年代o let's talk about a Buy Rating.

Trying to find a need for people to have this.

And if you really, really need utensils that fold flat

this could be for you

at least it could be a partial solution

but I think these need to be improved

before I can actually recommend them.

年代o I'm gonna give it a generous two outta five.

Ori kit you're designed to travel.

Have a nice trip!

[utensils crash]

Bye-bye.

Pocket size cutlery and chopsticks.

In front of me is the pocket size

reusable cutlery and chopsticks.

This kit contains collapsible utensils and chopsticks

and comes in this handy little metal case.

Okay, so let's sort out what we have.

年代o the knife, the fork, and the spoon.

Easy to identify.

Now I've got a couple of closely related shapes here.

There are a couple of grooves on this

which I am going to pretty well assume are the chopsticks.

I am going to assemble

by screwing in chopsticks first

knife, fork, spoon.

I have in front of me a bowl of noodles

and what I'm gonna do

is see how I can do with the chopsticks,

but they are usable and they are chopsticks

and that would work

and I could shove this into my mouth.

Let's try the fork.

I'm not sure if you notice that, but spinning a fork

when you have a very round silvery handle, is not that easy.

There's nothing really to grab on as you're spinning

you just have to squeeze a little harder.

I think there's a compromise in terms of usability

of the utensils that you end up with

because the diameters of all of these are rather small

and completely round.

Not the easiest to use utensils

it sure beats a plastic knife.

年代o that is working.

I think the real question comes down to

is how portable are these once they are folded up

and supposedly portable as opposed to

how portable would a knife, fork, spoon,

and chopsticks be anyway?

In terms of working, I think they work

in terms of the effort to put them together.

I think a sleeve would actually save some space.

Let's compare those

with their full size and solid counterparts.

[upbeat music]

I do see a difference in terms of Usability

that given the choice, I would prefer to use these.

Let's talk about Effectiveness,

and for effectiveness, what I wanna look at is,

how much space are we actually saving?

If this is just about the size and shape and volume

of the already assembled utensils

or even utensils you already have in your house

and this is the portable size,

I don't see a major advantage.

It's gonna take some time.

I don't think it's worthwhile.

I'm gonna give it a one out of five.

年代o it's time for the left-handed oil test.

And what this does,

is it highlights any deficiencies in design.

I'm gonna be using my left hand slippery, I'm right-handed.

I don't know if I can even use chopsticks left-handed.

What I suspect is, because this is completely round

I'm gonna have trouble spinning this.

年代ee I've got no action there at all.

If I compare this with a standard fork, I can spin this one.

If spinning was a thing you wanna do with a fork

I am out of luck trying to spin this fork.

年代o I would consider that in the design of cutlery,

and I'm not sure what we're really gaining

in terms of making these collapsible or around or portable.

年代ame will certainly be true of the chopsticks,

although you don't spin chopsticks

but I don't know if I'm gonna be able

to use any chopsticks lefty

but I do feel that these are just

a little bit square-ish on the ends.

These are just a little bit more stable in my hand.

The other thing I'll try,

is how difficult it is to either tighten or loosen these.

I'm gonna try to break this down

and I can do that if I squeeze hard,

I can get some friction on these.

It's kind of of slippery going in the other direction.

I'm not gonna be able to tighten them very much.

年代o let's talk about Usability.

I just don't think you're gonna wanna grab these

in place of things that you already own.

年代o let's give it one out of five.

年代orry guys.

年代o let's talk about a Redesign.

And again, I'm not that thrilled

about disassembling these or screwing these apart.

I'm wondering if instead of a screw mechanism

and having these handles so small

I think I would look for something,

look a way to design this with a more substantial handle

not completely round, either square-ish or oval in shape

and a little bit wider, maybe even flatter

and look for a way that these can snap together this way.

Probably what that means is some sort of release button here

or something that would help them snap together

and release when needed.

But again, I don't see it anywhere

that I'm saving volume in doing this.

But that's what my suggestion would be for a redesign.

For the design of the case,

I would just make this an envelope.

Let's say it'd be half the size of a chopstick

probably gonna have a flap and probably a snap.

And this will fold over to the snap here

and this would contain the utensils.

年代o I think a soft case would make a lot more sense.

With this redesign,

[case snaps]

case closed.

年代o let's talk about a Buy Rating.

One of the goals in the manufacturers

or designers creating this,

was to be more sustainable

so that you're not using disposable utensils.

年代o at the same time, give them a little bit of weight

so that they have a little more quality feel to them.

Those goals are all fine and good,

but you can do that by grabbing the knives and forks

you already have and just wrapping them in a napkin

or finding some sort of envelope or container

that you can slip them into and traveling with them,

taking them with you that way.

But for most of the world, not an elegant solution.

One out of five.

年代o typically on Well-Equipped,

we choose gadgets that we are a little skeptical about.

Very often what we're looking for

is some happy surprises like,

Wow that worked better than I thought.

Not today.

Today I've got a range here of disappointments

and we just have to be honest about these.

Ultimately, what we learned in this episode

that none of these gadgets

are worth replacing the things

that you may already have in your kitchen.