Kitchen Gadgets

I had a long conversation with colleagues the other day about kitchen gadgets and which ones I own. It caused me to reflect on how I’ve ended up with the kit I’ve got.

As a food editor and features journalist I’ve been lucky enough to be offered quite a few kitchen gadgets to try out, but I only have a normal-sized kitchen (no 15-ring burner and giant Sub Zero walk-in fridge freezer for me!), so I have to be very careful on what I agree to take on. More importantly, what do I decide to keep and what do I send back? I wonder if all journalists have the same approach.

For instance, the press release below includes the kind invitation to try a coffee maker but I was kindly gifted and Illy one a while back which only gets a workout on weekends so that’s a no. Against all my instincts, I did trial a Sage microwave (having never had one) and it is now a permanent fixture. 

I can see it’s a tricky situation for a PR – to offer a high-value piece of equipment to a journalist with no guarantee of coverage, let alone positive coverage could lead to difficult conversations with a client. Perhaps being firm with a writer about a time-frame for a trial is the way forward. Years ago I had a strict one week with a Thermomix and… after falling in love with it I bought it (at a modest discount). A good 15 or so years later I still use it all the time and mention it in glowing terms both in print and to friends. That’s got to be a good ROI, right?