Kitchen Gadgets - A Great Knife Sharpener for under $10 (Accusharp)

Those beautiful kitchen knives you have don't seem quite so lovely when they get dull. Once in a while, you need to pull out this handy knife sharpener from Accusharp, which gets rave reviews from users! For under $10, you can get all of your knives nice and sharp again, good as new. Just sharpen your knives once or twice a year, and you should be good to go...to chop, slice, dice, and julienne your way to culinary creativeness.





(Don't forget that every time you use your knife you should use a honing steel. Honing doesn't sharpen the knives or remove any metal from the edges, but it works to sort of realign the edge of the knife, giving you a more precise cut again. Hone every time you use the knife, and sharpen your knives only up to a few times a year.)

Kitchen Gadgets - Swissmar V-Slicer Plus (Mandolin/Mandoline)

What it is: Swissmar V-Slicer Plus Mandolin
Why It's Fantastic: Because it slices and dices everything you need in the kitchen
Why You Should Get One: Because it's $21.99 for a very reliable mandolin. Every kitchen needs one of these gadgets!







Whether you need to slice, dice or julienne - this Swissmar V Slicer does it all for you. Neatly and with minimal effort. Plus, the huge hand guard thingamajiggy keeps your fingers all protected from the big, bad (and very sharp) blade. This is a good thing, as only professional chefs should use a mandoline without a guard on for protection.

The thing that impresses me about this model is not only that it's well designed and made, but look at that price! We sell mandolines in the kitchen shop where I work for $300. This is less than 1/10th of that price, for a very decent kitchen must-have.

Right, it IS plastic. But really, unless you plan to use a mandoline all the time, you don't need the pricier stainless steel versions.