How Nigella Lawson's Recipes Have Led Fans To Fill Their Kitchen Drawers

Fans of Nigella Lawson know there are some kitchen tools she can't live without, such as her double mezzaluna, which she uses to prep her herbs and aromatics; her microplane (for grating garlic), per The Kitchn; and a Dash Masha 2X potato masher. "I know it sounds odd to have a machine just for mashing potatoes, but this really does make the best mashed potatoes ever, and my family favors mash over all. It's not a beautiful implement, but function sometimes trumps form — it mashes and aerates at the same time," Lawson told the New York Post of the latter gadget in 2018. 

To be fair, other than the specialized potato masher, it doesn't sound like Lawson is into fancy kitchen gadgets. Still, she must have used a few that caught the eye of some fans, who went admitted on Twitter that they went on a shopping spree after watching her cooking show. One fan said: "Caught a snippet of @Nigella_Lawson on Saturday Kitchen this morning doing Shoestring Fries. By 6pm we'd bought a 2nd hand electric spiralizer off Facebook for £5 and then with our dinner with Paprika and Salt. Delicious!" 

Another fan agreed, tweeting back, "Nigella is responsible for my mezzaluna, my fairy lights, the dishes with a beaded edge and my salt pig. I need a bigger kitchen!"

Before you get the urge to Do as Nigella Lawson Does (from time to time) and pick up kitchen gadgets that might look fun and funky, you may want to ask yourself whether there's room in your kitchen for that device — and whether investing in something less gimmick-y and more useful in the long run might not be a better choice. 

Consider that while fellow celeb chef Alton Brown might be an authority on kitchen hacks, he also advises people against purchasing "unitasker" kitchen gadgets, or kitchen tools that can do just one thing (his humorous review on the "dumbest" Amazon gadgets can be found on NPR). He says: "I have railed against unitaskers for 20 years. I've come around to liking them as strategic gifts for people you don't like."

So while the double mezzaluna might look cool, and the potato masher has a nearly five-star average rating on Amazon, it might be worth stopping and thinking things over before you make that purchase, particularly if you already have the basics. Your wallet — and your kitchen cabinets — will thank you.