Amid a sea of colorful tumblers, shiny metal cookware, and vibrant cooking demonstrations, it can be hard to stand out. It's easy to get distracted or lost as you wander the aisles, at least to booth 8700. But persistence pays off: The Inspired Home Show (TIHS) 2024 was packed with fresh ideas and unique items.
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Some kitchen gadgets bring a splashy, eye-catching spark, while others offer quietly exciting ideas that could have a major impact on home cooking. A clever dishwashing detergent points to a greener future for cleaning, while an attachable pot grip makes you rethink handy stovetop products. Many of these products incorporate sustainability as well as convenience into their design.
These were just a few of the thought-provoking tools on display at TIHS. We were also impressed by the TIHS kitchen appliances and clever food storage solutions that lined the aisles of Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center. Though the 2024 show is over, we'll be thinking about these unique kitchen essentials as we look forward to next year.
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Kitchenventions PanBuddy
This attachable plastic tool grabs onto pot handles and creates a vertical handle, giving users more strength to lift heavy or unwieldy pots and pans while reducing strain on joints. It could be a game-changing kitchen accessory, especially for those with wrist pain, mobility issues, or weak grip strength.
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The Pan Buddy is heat-resistant up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, so it's not suitable for every kitchen task, but anyone who frequently cooks on the stovetop might want to try out its universal grip. To use it, simply insert the plastic tube into the handle of your pot, twist the top of the vertical grip to tighten it, and grab it to remove.
Nelly's Dish Butter & Nelly's Dish Stick + Refill
The first thing that catches your eye about Nelly's is its packaging: The light designs on the company's washing soda cans and dish soap bars have a vintage feel, and its dish butter sits on a powder green ceramic dish on the shelf. That's by design. The zero-waste dish detergent comes in a convenient container designed to be reused and repurposed after the detergent is used up, the Nelly's team explained.
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Dish Butter is a bar of soap, and the dish stick has a bar of soap built into the center, a unique feature among scrub brushes, which usually contain liquid soap. “No one has a bar of soap in the brush,” said marketing director Paula Grigg. The cleaning product contains just a few ingredients and produced a good lather when used at TIHS.
Brisalac 1.0
As lazy people and jet setters alike continue to embrace reusable water bottles and tumblers, it's only natural that savvy business owners are coming up with new solutions to make maintenance and cleaning easier. The Brisa Rack 1.0 is an electronic dryer designed for what the company calls “reusables.”
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The device, which will be available to order starting in late April, features four silver tubes that blast air and several buttons to customize drying times. Customers have used it not only for water bottles, but also for baby bottles, reusable plastic bags, and thermoses. It might not appeal to those who live in deserts, but it has great potential for those who live in humid climates.
Everyholder Cocktail Smoker
The Evriholder Cocktail Smoker offers home cocktail makers the opportunity to infuse their drinks with campfire flavor. To use it, bartenders point a handheld torch at the brand's metal puck. The metal has special indentations for inserting wood chips of your choice, allowing you to pair the woody flavor with your libation. The disc has a silicone ring to stick to a glass for protection, and a top to trap the smoke.
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Another Global Innovation Award nominee, the compact design fits a variety of glass sizes. The process takes just two minutes, so your guests won't have to wait long to get a taste of your party trick. Cooks can also use the tool to inject flavor into dairy, nut, and other snacks. How about a smoky fig baked brie?
Cherapotta
CeraPotter offers an interesting proposition: brew your coffee using porous Japanese ceramic. Instead of shiny stainless steel cones or disposable paper filters, a clay cone filters the coffee through tiny pores in the ceramic. According to the brand, each filter is made in Japan using traditional Hasami ware techniques, but the exact clay recipe remains a secret.
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Incredibly lightweight, each cone has a line marker inside the design to help you measure the amount of coffee. The team emphasized simplified equipment: all you need is a cone-shaped filter and a cup, and you're ready to brew and drink. A team member at TIHS added that the products are “designed with a deep respect for nature.”
