By Nadia Arumugam |

Strawberry Love: Kitchen Gadgets & Lovely Things

Strawberries. Delicious, delectable strawberries. Supremely easy to grow, wonderful to eat, and also so very pretty to look at. It makes absolute sense then to fill up your kitchen with these picture-perfect, summery tools, towels and what-nots. Trust me, they’ll come in handy one day. Ok, so maybe I fib a little. Ok, maybe a lot. But when you see how lovely they look, I know you’ll forgive me.

Ahhh Etsy, how we love you, and hate you. You make us drool, and gaze adoringly at your artisan, handcrafted gems. Then you reach in our purses and steal all our restraint, and then all our money. Well, you she-devil (oh, Etsy’s totally a girl. With that much style? Totally), I’ve caved in again. Here are my top strawberry picks from Etsy.


Top Left: A hand-painted, linen-covered strawberry bulletin board for your fridge? Genius. Gotta have it. Did I tell you about the 3 white “seed” push pins? Is there a word for more-than-genius? Comes complete with magnetic strips on the back. Available from Pegsboard, for $12.
Top Right: I don’t know about you, but I always need more dish towels. I can make a mess like nobody’s business. I know what you’re thinking, this hand screenpainted 100% cotton flour sack towel with strawberry basket motif is too nice to muss up with all that kitchen grime. Hey, I’ll give it a go. Machine washable, and comes in repurposed berry container for added charm. Available from Tina Produce, for $10.
Bottom Left: Why not hang your strawberry dish towel on a strawberry tile hook? Why not indeed. Once they’re done with your towels, these 4-inch squared, hand-decorated hooks can take on kitchen tools, pot holders, aprons, your PJs – so you get frisky in the kitchen. I’m not one to judge. Available from Memory Bean Designs, for $27 for a set of 3.
Bottom Right: Imagine this. You’re having friends over for tea. You’re serving strawberries and cream. The strawberries are looking all toothsome and tasty in that vintage crystal bowl. Quelle horreur! You’ve nothing to hold the cream. And you’ve got gallons of the stuff. (What can I say, your friends like cream.) Avert any potential of the above happening by buying this charming, hand-painted English bone china farmhouse pitcher. Available from Scatty Artist, for $40.23.

Now that we have all the frivolous stuff out of the way, down to serious business. Tools for practical kitchen duties duly follow:

Top left: Never forget that pie in the oven again with this almost-too-good to eat kitchen timer. Available from Fox Run on Amazon for $20.10.
Top right: Slice strawberries with a knife? Pah! No, we’ll use this nifty little Joie slicer  for perfectly uniform slivers in one easy movement, thank you very much. Available from La Prima Shops for $6.36.
Bottom Left: All that is strawberry-affiliated doesn’t need to scream red. This tasteful, stainless steel colander boasts 4 strawberry cutouts that aren’t just cool to look at, but also function as holes for excellent drainage. Good looks and pragmatism rolled into one. Swoon. Too bad I’m already taken. The colander comes in 3 sizes: medium, small and mini (for all those teeny tiny things you need to strain, of course). Available from Kitchen R Us, from $8.95 – $17.95.
Bottom Right:  This strawberry look-a-likey, siren-red colander boasts a lid with a green cap and stem just like the real thing. Fill with fruit, stick on the lid and tada, a strawberry keeper. How’s that for unbeatable value? Available from MSC on Amazon for $7.97.

You can always rely on William Sonoma to roll out a couple of seasonal must-haves (I’m waiting for my lobster pot to arrive any day now). And they certainly haven’t disappointed this s’berry season.

Left: What’s 90-degree weather without ice pops, right? And now you get to enjoy frozen bursts of fruitiliousness in the shape of strawberries with this oh-so-sweet, pink silicone, easy in/ easy out mold. I can’t decide what I love about this more, the fact that the mold even has tiny seed indentations, or the fact that it comes with 12  plastic “green stems,” that function as handles. Available from William Sonoma, for $15.
Right: Hulling strawberries can be such a pain. Wrong. Hulling strawberries with a regular blah blah huller, or worse still, a knife, is a pain. Use this berry inspired tool, and the task is filled with joy, excitement and good times. Yes, I am overstating the point somewhat. Still, it’ll be fun. Or funn-er.

2 Comments

  1. Rance | September 27th, 2011

    I think it is great to have a theme going on in the kitchen. Just BEWARE…my wife once said “I think I want an apple theme” long ago. All of her friends and family seemed to lock onto that and every gift she received for the next 2-3 years was apple related.

    If you’re going to let people know about your theme, be prepared to like it.

  2. Anne | November 15th, 2012

    My mom had a stawberry kitchen when we were kids! Wallpaper, cookie jar! You name it!

Comments