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I am the kinda guy that always says that if it's not broken, don't fix it. I am all for innovation, but some things just work how they are, so don't mess with it. Here, a present you a story of a humble Henckels spatula, which is by far my favorite and my most used cooking instrument in the last 12 years.
Below are 3 pics and I will be referring to them as 1, 2, and 3. I bought my first spatula 1 in 2008. I needed to get to free shipping threshold on amazon and it was $12 and I thought i'd try it. Before then, I used many different cooking spoons and spatula's and never thought twice about it. The second I started using it, I realized it's the difference in wearing shoes 2 sizes too big or too small. This one was perfect for 90% of my tasks. From mixing to stirring to plating. It was stiff enough to plate, heat resistant enough to mix, and just the right size and shape for everything else.
So, I bought 5 more of them, thinking that I'll will them to someone, who will find them just as invaluable as me and will sing praise of me for the next 50 years of using it. Then, after about a year, i was mixing water for pasta and it just disintegrated on me (spot where metal joins rubber with weird design). I was super puzzled and pissed at first since I felt like only thing held it together was glue and obviously it had failed due to many hand washing, heat differences, moisture, etc, but i figured I got a year work out of and went to grab 2nd and saved this one in case I needed some parts or something down the line... 1-2 years later the same happened to the next one and by 2012 I had last one left and I was pissed. By then, I could not find more to buy at amazon and everywhere else prices were at $30+, which I would have paid gladly, if it lasted more than a year for me.
Once I started to look around, I noticed that there is a new model of the same spatula... pic #2. I bought one of them for $25 and it worked for me for 3 years, no issues. In 2015 I was moving and it got 'lost'. I went looking again and I noticed that they went redesigned it again for cost cutting reasons (or so i think) and made version in pic 3. Thinking that it's like #1 but cheaper to make due to less elaborate design, I bought one of them. 5 Years later I still use it daily and I love it just as much as before.
But, wait... in 2015, Henckels were clearing out their cermax line of knives due to chipping, just being expensive, and most users complaining since they didnt know how to use it correctly. I bought the cermax utility knife to cut fruit, etc and after a month it developed chips on me. I called henckels and tried to get it replaced under a warranty, which they did. But while I was taking to the guy, I said, hey, what can you tell me about the silicone spatula's cause mine seem to disintegrate on me once a year. He said, which one, so I told him and he is like, oh ya... it's the bane of our existence and it went through so many redesigns due to either performance or costs. I am like. i know.......... I have bunch of them here literary in parts broken as I saved them due to loving it to much and hoping to frankenstein a few of them later. The guy said, really? you like it so much? send me a pic... I said sure. He said, let me look into it for you. Then I forgot about it.
1-2 Month later, I get a box with 5 or 6 brand new spatula's with a note saying that, "sorry it took so long but that's all I could find.' I was so happy, I must have jumped. Not because of 5 new spatula's but because it's the 2 or 3rd pic, not the first. Why I am not sure? Because I have not had to reach for them and I forgot which one it is.
Every time I use it, it makes me smile... because mine now has a nice cut on the edge because my friend tried to use it as a ruler when she was cutting dough for turnovers. Knowing how much I love my spatula, she yelped and cried and was shaking when she cut it (ruin it in her view), thinking that I would dismember her on the spot and then dispose of her Breaking bad style (her fav show).
Yea, all of this over a spatula...
Below are 3 pics and I will be referring to them as 1, 2, and 3. I bought my first spatula 1 in 2008. I needed to get to free shipping threshold on amazon and it was $12 and I thought i'd try it. Before then, I used many different cooking spoons and spatula's and never thought twice about it. The second I started using it, I realized it's the difference in wearing shoes 2 sizes too big or too small. This one was perfect for 90% of my tasks. From mixing to stirring to plating. It was stiff enough to plate, heat resistant enough to mix, and just the right size and shape for everything else.
So, I bought 5 more of them, thinking that I'll will them to someone, who will find them just as invaluable as me and will sing praise of me for the next 50 years of using it. Then, after about a year, i was mixing water for pasta and it just disintegrated on me (spot where metal joins rubber with weird design). I was super puzzled and pissed at first since I felt like only thing held it together was glue and obviously it had failed due to many hand washing, heat differences, moisture, etc, but i figured I got a year work out of and went to grab 2nd and saved this one in case I needed some parts or something down the line... 1-2 years later the same happened to the next one and by 2012 I had last one left and I was pissed. By then, I could not find more to buy at amazon and everywhere else prices were at $30+, which I would have paid gladly, if it lasted more than a year for me.
Once I started to look around, I noticed that there is a new model of the same spatula... pic #2. I bought one of them for $25 and it worked for me for 3 years, no issues. In 2015 I was moving and it got 'lost'. I went looking again and I noticed that they went redesigned it again for cost cutting reasons (or so i think) and made version in pic 3. Thinking that it's like #1 but cheaper to make due to less elaborate design, I bought one of them. 5 Years later I still use it daily and I love it just as much as before.
But, wait... in 2015, Henckels were clearing out their cermax line of knives due to chipping, just being expensive, and most users complaining since they didnt know how to use it correctly. I bought the cermax utility knife to cut fruit, etc and after a month it developed chips on me. I called henckels and tried to get it replaced under a warranty, which they did. But while I was taking to the guy, I said, hey, what can you tell me about the silicone spatula's cause mine seem to disintegrate on me once a year. He said, which one, so I told him and he is like, oh ya... it's the bane of our existence and it went through so many redesigns due to either performance or costs. I am like. i know.......... I have bunch of them here literary in parts broken as I saved them due to loving it to much and hoping to frankenstein a few of them later. The guy said, really? you like it so much? send me a pic... I said sure. He said, let me look into it for you. Then I forgot about it.
1-2 Month later, I get a box with 5 or 6 brand new spatula's with a note saying that, "sorry it took so long but that's all I could find.' I was so happy, I must have jumped. Not because of 5 new spatula's but because it's the 2 or 3rd pic, not the first. Why I am not sure? Because I have not had to reach for them and I forgot which one it is.
Every time I use it, it makes me smile... because mine now has a nice cut on the edge because my friend tried to use it as a ruler when she was cutting dough for turnovers. Knowing how much I love my spatula, she yelped and cried and was shaking when she cut it (ruin it in her view), thinking that I would dismember her on the spot and then dispose of her Breaking bad style (her fav show).
Yea, all of this over a spatula...
