Chef Tests the Most Pretentious Kitchen Gadgets

TL;DR

Two chefs test four high-design kitchen gadgets to determine if they're genuinely useful or just expensive, style-over-function showpieces.

Key Points

• 1.The Alessi Sfizio ring peeler costs £28 but divides opinion on function vs. form. Designed by Italian industrial designer Valerio Simla, it's a handleless stainless steel peeler that fits over one finger — it does peel vegetables but offers less control than a standard £4 peeler.
• 2.The hosts ruled the Alessi peeler 'prizeworthy but not pretentious.' They argued it doesn't pretend to be something it's not and is simply a refined, beautiful object — though its £28 price tag versus a £4 alternative is hard to justify functionally.
• 3.The Airflow portable soda maker costs £47 for the aerator plus £26 for the bottle — £73 total. It carbonates water in three steps (fill, spritz, shake) using CO2 capsules, each making about 2L of sparkling water, and was deemed compact and well-engineered.
• 4.The Airflow was called 'a sparkling solution' but borderline pretentious in practice. The hosts agreed it works well and isn't designed to impress others, but noted that pulling it out in public — a 'personal spritz bottle' — would inevitably come across as pretentious.
• 5.Müller Van Severon trivets (4 pieces, £117) are handmade sculptural hot-pan rests by a Belgian furniture duo. Designed to sit on white tablecloths as geometric art pieces, they can also be wall-mounted; the hosts found them chipped on arrival and called them definitively pretentious.
• 6.The Doré Champagne Saber costs £87.85 and is used for sabrage — opening champagne with a sword swipe along the bottle seam. The tradition dates to Napoleonic Wars; it was notably used at Harry and Meghan's wedding, but it wastes some wine and only works on traditional-method sparkling wines.
• 7.The champagne saber was unanimously voted the most pretentious item of the four. Hosts argued it literally pretends to be a sword to impress guests, serves no practical purpose over simply removing a cork carefully, and is better suited to wedding venues or restaurants than home use.