Gadgets from Grandma's kitchen that should be in yours

Cooking in my mother's kitchen can sometimes be a chore: She and I just don't think the same way when it comes to food, despite the many years I spent as a student under her tutelage. As a child of the Great Depression, she represents the commitment to thrift mixed with an often-blind love for the technological wonders of the last century so common in her generation (her frequent use of powdered milk is just one example). But there are times in her kitchen when I remember my roots and thank her silently for bequeathing to me a love for, and skills with, some low-tech tools that are both useful and low-cost.

Want to use your kitchen better without spending a lot? Here are six gadgets from Grandma's kitchen that should be in yours: