Read Time: 4 Minutes Subscribe & Share
My Dishwashing Confessions
Can we talk about one of my childhood gripes? It begins with my mother, who did not love cooking, but who always created a complete evening meal that we unfailingly ate together at our dining room table. It is interesting to note that the one common denominator in a survey done years ago to analyze high achievers on a national high school test, was that the majoritiy of high-scoring students had regular family meals together, regardless of family income or status. I somehow managed to buck the trend. But to go back to my gripe. My parents divided up the dinner chores for their three children on a supposed rotation schedule. One child had to set the table, another had to clear the table, and the third had to wash the dishes. You can imagine the negotiations that occurred. My very distinct memory is that somehow, I washed dishes more than clearing them or setting the table. I loathed doing the dishes, even when we finally had a dishwasher because, once again as fate would have it, according to my parents’ reading of the appliance manual, the dishes had to be virtually washed before they were put in the durn thing.
Which brings me to the importance of truly helpful dishwashing utensils. Since I bore these childhood scars when I opened La Cuisine, dishwashing needed to be addressed as part of making a meal. We tested and carried a variety of scrubbers and even dishwashing detergents (more on the latter in another post). Some choices were pretty good; others, not so much. And then one day at a trade show, I walked into a booth hosted by a German company that produced really neat cooking utensils, and also this phenomenal and sustainably designed dish brush.
Just Who Is Küchenprofi?
It’s a German company founded in 1923 by a catering professional, which provided European restaurants and homes with a variety of well made but fairly priced utensils for kitchen use. The company founded by Arthur Schnitz later switched the logo to Küchenprofi which means “kitchen pro”. Their food mills, salad dryers, ricers and strainers are superb, without being priced at the Prada levels of some of their branded competitors. While they make plastic gadgets too, I always stick to the stainless steel tools whenever possible. Plastic just does not hold up under pressure over time. And, we are now so much more aware of plastic waste in our environment that it makes even more sense to pay a bit more for metal and more environmentally serviceable materials.
Ladies And Gentlemen….
This wonderful brush with a stainless steel handle is so superior to any of its competitors, that we now carry it in our luggage when we rent vacation places. And of course, in self-defense, we gave one to each of our daughters wherever they lived, because we knew we would always pitch in by washing dishes. It has a wood head with natural bristles, which can be replaced. So there is no throwing away the whole brush once the bristle head is worn out. You have a perfectly usable handle, which is comfortable to hold — so why should it go into a landfill once the head has worn out? The natural fiber bristles mounted on a wood head will wear out faster than any of your nylon bristle competitors, but oh my goodness, they are so much more efficient at the job. And as you can see from the photo, there are plenty of these bristles in each head. Some Cuisinettes who had this scrub brush used one head just for cleaning out food and water dishes for pets, then snap on another head for human dish washing. Others whom I will not mention by name, were not so organized. We literally sold hundreds of Küchenprofi dish brushes, and we lost count of the replacement heads clients bought, especially when we had our Annual Coupon Sale. You could say the Küchenprofi brushes became a cult item. And it will be a cult item for you, too.
The US distributor for Küchenprofi, Frieling, has offered Kitchen Detail readers a generous discount of 15% on ALL Küchenprofi products through July 31, 2019. From my own experience, you should not only get extra replacement heads for the dish brush of your life, but also check out their food mill, ricer and strainers. I use them all in my kitchen.
You can go through their online catalogue at: https://www.kuchenprofiusa.com/and use the code KITCHENDETAIL15 when you check out.
After owning one of the best cooking stores in the US for 47 years, Nancy Pollard writes a blog about food in all its aspects – recipes, film, books, travel, superior sources and food related issues.
Your store was a wonderful fringe benefit of living in Alexandria! It was always a delight to go there. Love your blog and all of your fabulous products, ideas and recipes!
Hi JoAnne,
So good to hear from you! And thank you for sending us the email that you enjoy the blog. It means a lot to me and the KD Team.
Nancy
Hi, Nancy.
That brush is a NECESSITY. I went down to Alexandria to get more but you had already closed operation. Desperate, I found some somewhere on the internet.
Good to find a recommended source.
I enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work.
— David Winer
Hello David,
You are right, it is a necessity, I should have said that! This source is the US distributor for Kuchenprofi, so they are more reliable. I am delighted that you are enjoying the blog and thanks very much for writing back to me.
Nancy