The Single-Purpose Kitchen Tool Actually Worth Making Space For

Plenty of single-purpose kitchen tools have ridiculous as-seen-on-TV qualities. Most people are only going to get so much use out of supposedly specialized fruit slicers, prescribed veggie peelers, or dedicated pizza scissors. But other ostensible mono-use items — can openers, corkscrews, ice cube trays — are kitchen canon. And we'd place salad spinners like the OXO Good Grips variety right on the overcrowded shelf with the best of 'em.

Washing produce is always key for shaking off any debris or rinsing away errant little critters. But drying is also critically important to cooking chemistry. Wet greens are ruinous to recipes. Soppy spinach will send oil sputtering all hither and thither as enemy elements do battle in a cast iron pan. Soggy Brussels sprouts won't fully crisp in the oven. And no waiter has ever invited anyone to enjoy a wet salad. A damp Caesar, chef, or Cobb isn't just unpleasant, those otherwise benign water droplets will dilute dressing and cause it to distribute unevenly. Crisp, clean greens are just one of the reasons why salads often taste better in restaurants. And with little more than a few pumps or pulls, a salad spinner is the best remedy to the moisture ailing all of your produce preparations.

Sure, there are ways to dry produce without a salad spinner. You can press lettuce, for example, between layers and layers of paper towels. But this would be environmentally and financially wasteful. You can apply the same method with kitchen towels. But the last time we tried, our Bibb lettuce absorbed unwelcome notes of laundry detergent. You can lay everything out on a giant cutting board, as long as you need neither it nor the counter space this effort requires to continue cooking. And you can even try rinsing your ingredients early in the day and leaving them in the colander to hopefully dry over time. But even with occasional tousling, there's bound to be some lingering swampiness at the center. A salad spinner is the only solution that solves each of the above conundrums, while also saving valuable salad prep time.

Rather than burning through a bunch of disposable products, potentially introducing cleaning chemicals, or just taking all day, a salad spinner is a tidier, more efficient, and more sustainable way to achieve the greens (and plenty of other items) of your dreams. The literally titled device's dual layers — an inner basket and outer bowl — use centrifugal force to pull that H2O away from whatever's being spun inside in a matter of moments. Many, like our OXO pick, are hand-pumped, so they don't even need any electricity. And you can use it for more than just salad; it'll also aerate less expected foodstuffs like potatoes for upgraded homemade french fries.