There is an admirable, spartan beauty to the single-use kitchen tool, otherwise known as a unitasker: the zester that remains ever monogamous to zesting its fruit, the cheese knife that begs for Brie, or the corer that makes a parade of apple pies possible at Thanksgiving. Not that I’m turning my nose up at multitaskers and trendy hybrid kitchen tools — at their best, they save you time, money, and space. But there’s a special place in my heart for the noble unitasker.

My fellow Eater staffers agree. And as we swapped stories of stand-out holiday gifts, we realized that so many of us sang the praises of tried and true unitaskers, including garlic presses, kettles, popcorn makers, and more tools that have the potential to make your life a whole lot easier while pouring olive oil, making German egg noodles, and whatever else you have in store.


| Cuisinart

Cuisinart Microwave Popcorn Maker

Prices taken at time of publishing.

I have given this silicone popcorn maker as a gift to all of the popcorn lovers I know, and “Where has this been all my life?” has been the most common response. While this microwave popper leaves more unpopped kernels at the bottom than others I’ve tried (and I’ve tried many), it makes up for that in so many other ways. There’s no need to add any oil to the kernels as you microwave, so it’s essentially an air popper that folds up flat for easy storage. After three minutes it makes delicious, crunchy, hot popcorn that you can top with your favorite seasonings and eat right out of the vessel (as opposed to dirtying two bowls). — Terri Ciccone, associate director of audience

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