Wazzup!
I’m Danimal,
and I’ve been designing kitchen gadgets
for more than 40 years.
Why am I dressed like this today?
I’m gonna be giving you the 411
on gadgets designed in the 90s
and see if I can find a way to make them better.
Maybe add some symbols around here
to say what the actual device is doing.
The slots may help it strain.
I would also make this a screw thread.
These are the products I am going to test.
Salad Blaster, Kitchen Wizard,
Super Slicer, Salsa Master,
Safety Can can opener.
[cheerful music]
Salad Blaster.
In front of me now is the Salad Blaster.
This is designed to dress your salad
with the push of a button.
Let’s see how effective it is.
So, top unscrews.
I think.
Yeah.
This is a container for the salad dressing.
There is a word saying Press,
which makes me think I should press it,
and when I do,
that salad dressing is gonna come blasting right out.
And let’s load up some lettuce.
Some vegan ranch with avocado oil.
A little shaker salad cocktail.
Okay, everyone stand back.
I am about to press.
Whoa, it popped right on.
Let’s give it more of a shake.
It appears
that I am ready to drink my salad.
Let’s see how this Salad Blaster compares
to some Tupperware that you may already have at home.
[playful music]
I think shaking up the salad was a little difficult
because it’s stacked and it didn’t wanna shake up as much,
so I would give the Salad Blaster a four out of five.
So typically, I’d try this with my left hand
and making it slippery to challenge myself a little bit
on usability, but I’m kinda asking myself here why,
so I’m gonna skip the left-handed oil test this time.
I wasn’t thrilled with the way this top pops off.
Takes a little bit of work.
I think in terms of usability, on a one to five scale,
I would give this a two.
It’s more of a Salad Dribbler.
Let’s talk about a redesign.
And I’m not a big fin of the Salad Blaster
but that being said, I think we’ll just give it a go.
This part of it needs to be much more easier to clean.
I would make this just a standard cylinder.
We’ll have a rather wide cylindrical compartment
for the salad dressing.
I didn’t like the pop action at all,
so I would give this some thread
so that you can screw this on or off.
In terms of a buy rating for the Salad Blaster
that wasn’t that much of a blast,
let’s give it a one out of five.
It actually has me a little bit buggin’.
90s term.
Kitchen Wizard.
This magical-looking thing in front of me
is the Kitchen Wizard.
It does five things,
and those five things are
you can use it to flip, serve, strain, serve.
You can probably grab, serve again.
They must have counted differently in the 90s.
Maybe you can dry your socks on it.
I wouldn’t recommend that.
I’ve got the makings here of an omelet.
I have a couple of task I’m gonna have to do
in making the omelet.
All in theory can be done with the Kitchen Wizard,
so let’s give it a shot.
And let’s start beating those eggs.
[bowl clinks]
[egg sizzles]
Let’s grab some spinach.
Some mushrooms.
Not sure it’s grabbing the mushrooms
the way I would want to grab that mushrooms.
Some cheese.
Okay, let’s give it a flip.
Now let’s grab some ham.
Two.
Hmm, it’s not quite getting under there for the ham,
but I got it.
This omelet’s pretty good.
Result-wise, we’re okay.
Question is how much of that is the Kitchen Wizard?
I’m something of a wizard at omelets myself.
In my opinion.
Let’s see how the Kitchen Wizard compares
to a spatula, whisk,
and tongs that you may already have at home.
[playful music]
Wow, the Kitchen Wizard version did taste much better.
Sike!
In terms of effectiveness,
it’s probably due to the shape of this,
it’s probably due to the shape of the handle.
I will only give it a two out of five.
I hope it doesn’t cast a spell on me.
Let’s see how the Kitchen Wizard performs
with a slippery left hand.
With a slippery hand and a little less force in the hands,
it’s gonna be very hard to unclip this.
I am noticing a little more by doing this left-handed.
Broke the omelet a bit.
This lock lever is rather difficult to use,
and it wouldn’t get under something
the way a spatula would get under.
I would give this a one out of five.
Let’s think about a redesign.
I would turn one half of this into a spatula,
or at least look at some way
to make the front edge of this sharper
or tighter so it can get under some food.
We can make it a slotted spatula.
The slots may help it strain
which is one of the claims that it’s given.
I am not thrilled with this shape.
These little ridges here are doing very little for me,
so I would think about making this entire thing
curvy, like I suggest with a lot of tools.
I would do whatever possible
to get rid of the fact that this is a pinch area
and this can be a pinch area.
Got a pinch point here,
and that pinch point is gonna be right where
this fatty part of your palm
is gonna ooze into that crevice,
and once you release it, you’re gonna feel it.
This won’t open any further,
so you can’t get in there with a brush or a tool.
It’s gonna be impossible.
You gotta hope your dishwasher gets through it,
but even that is questionable.
The way it is now, it is definitely
in need of some improvements.
Let’s talk about a buy rating.
What number does 1990 start with?
Let me think, one!
I would give it a one.
Why?
‘Cause I don’t think anyone should buy it.
Kitchen Wizard, eat my shorts.
Super Slicer.
What I have in front of me
are parts from the Super Slicer.
It was developed some time ago by
Charlie and Mike.
And Charlie and Mike had a lot of ideas,
apparently,
because look at all the things it could possibly do.
This is a spinwheel and what’s that gonna do is
I think adjust the thickness of whatever you’re slicing
and it also has this piece
that you can use to hold the vegetable
so that your fingers don’t get too close to the blade.
Charlie, Mike?
Give it a go.
So, we have
small slices of carrot.
What I have is a radish.
That is working okay.
Let’s see if I can do it this way.
Get my hand out of the mix here.
And that’s working okay.
Let’s see how the Super Slicer
compares to a French mandolin.
[playful music]
In terms of effectiveness,
I would give the Super Slicer a two out of five.
It’s a little too cheaply made.
I don’t trust it.
It’s a little difficult to adjust,
so two out of five.
It is time for the very careful left-handed oil test.
So I am getting some radish chips, which is okay.
They’re thicker on one side, thinner on the other side.
I would rather, I think, it have
thinner slices of radishes,
but I don’t think that was really possible.
I think this is the next level setting.
In terms of usability, I would give the Super Slicer
a one out of five.
I could possibly give it a two,
but these things, they’re just too dangerous to use.
Let’s chat about a redesign.
I think I would give some sort of preference
or indicator or something
to denote that this is pointing to something
and as you go around, maybe add some symbols around here
to say what the actual device is doing.
I think I would give a little more shape
to this part,
by giving it an oval shape.
I think it would have a little more feel to this
that would make this a little bit more secure,
probably would make it bigger,
so that you have more choice of pushing this down
and I think this lip is meant to mesh in here
to keep this in track.
The chances of being on target are pretty low.
The chances of being off-center are pretty high,
so I would make sure that as this comes down,
we’ve got a shape here
that is funneling this into place.
As mentioned, this blade is pretty straight
as opposed to a blade that would look like this
and I think this cutting action
would go a little smoother.
In terms of a buy rating,
the Super Slicer is getting a one out of five.
It is just too dangerous of a kitchen gadget
to fool around with something that’s just not
engineered or designed very well.
Super Slicer, you are tripping
if you think you’re coming home with me.
Salsa Master.
In front of me here is the Salsa Master.
Master, make salsa.
It is designed to make salsa.
This top will unscrew.
Got a three-bladed attachment,
and it also has a mixing attachment.
So I have some salsa-like stuff here.
I have some tomatoes and cilantro.
Now this is at a gear ratio,
meaning I spin this once,
the blades are gonna spin more than once.
That puts me at a disadvantage in a way.
This diameter is not a whole lot different
than this diameter,
which means I’m kind of doing three times the work.
So let’s try and see.
This is, I guess, what I’m thinking.
Gonna have to get this a couple of tries to get it going.
I’m gonna squeeze this lime
into this little cup-like thing.
It is more finely chopped.
I think that it’s starting to get acceptable.
As you can see, we’re talking about the 90s,
but I’m gonna do something that landed in the 60s.
I’m going to go electric.
[playful music]
For effectiveness, I would rate the Salsa Master
two and half.
I don’t think it deserves a three down the middle.
I think it may have something to do
with the shape of the blades
that could use some improvement.
Typically, at this point,
I would try my left hand, make my hand slippery,
and try it again.
The shape of this knob is no problem.
I don’t think it’s gonna slip out of your hands
if it’s slippery,
so I am going to skip the left-handed oil test.
I would give Salsa Master a two out of five.
Let’s talk about a redesign of Salsa Master.
Watch what happens if I don’t use my left hands on it.
As I come around, it’s gonna tilt up that way.
Maybe I’d make it a little more stable in this direction.
As I’m on top of this, and I’m spinning, let’s do that.
Notice that the blades are spinning much faster
than my handle’s spinning, that’s fine,
’cause that’s doing a whole lot of chopping.
To compare these straight blades that I have here in blue
with the CuisineArt blades, it only has two blades,
notice the CuisineArt blades are shaped quite differently.
These blades are curved.
And I’m wondering if CuisineArt knows something.
And maybe they do.
They’ve been making these for a while.
So I would learn what the shape of these blades
are bringing to the party.
I have a sense it would help.
For buy rating, I would give Salsa Master a two out of five.
And that’s only for people who live in a cabin
with no electricity.
You are truly the master of salsa.
As if.
Safety Can can opener.
So I’m gonna be using the Safety Can can opener,
the world’s safest can opener,
according to the box.
This safety can opener
is a very early version of a side-opening can opener.
I’m gonna place it on the side of my split pea soup,
and let’s start twisting.
What I’m gonna try to do is back it off,
and that does open it up.
Mechanically, that worked pretty well.
Let’s see how the Safety Can can opener
compares with a metal shearing can-opening mechanism.
[playful music]
I am living a life of danger, hold on a sec.
Whoa, not completely off yet.
Okay, I’m done.
What you end up with,
it actually does have a bit of a…
Boy, a little bit of a pinch point here.
In terms of effectiveness,
I would give it a five out of five.
It did what it promised.
It separated the lid from the base of the can
without leaving any sharp edges.
I felt so safe while using it.
It’s time to try the Safety Can can opener
using the left-handed oil test.
Let’s do that.
I’m gonna favor my left hands.
And I’m gonna start spinning with my left hand
and I don’t think it matters which direction I go.
I’m gonna back it off
because I learned that’s a way to release it.
Now I am just posed with the problem of
getting the lid off.
Oh, I popped right off.
In terms of the way it functions mechanically,
that’s fine, but I think the weak point is actually
this handle that you are spinning.
Could give it a three, but let’s be mean
and let’s give it a two out of five.
You are old enough to take that sort of criticism in stride.
Let’s talk about a redesign for the Safety Can can opener.
I have a couple of things that I think would improve this.
I would put some sort of graphic indicator here.
To say your can goes here.
Instead of this fin,
I would try maybe a three-sided shape.
Or maybe even a soft, four-sided shape.
As you’re spinning this,
to get to the next position,
you gotta go extreme that way,
and now what do I do?
I’ve gotta come around to another extreme position.
If the fin here, the spin portion,
was something that would be easily grabbed
from multiple positions
instead of just two positions,
that would be a lot more forgiving.
In terms of a buy rating,
I would give the Safety Can can opener a two out of five.
Okay, three out of five.
No, two out of five, final answer.
Well, it opened up a can of pea soup okay,
but can it open up a can of [bleeps]
not sure.
Here’s one thing that you may have learned at this point
from watching Well Equipped,
that if you ever see a gadget
with a name like Master or Super or Wizard in the title,
be very, very suspicious.
