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Left-handed people have a lot to complain about, starting with semantics (sinister, gauche, goofy) and ending with the unproven claim that lefties die younger than righties. Somewhere in the middle lies a valid complaint about kitchen tools, especially vegetable peelers, most of which are made for right-handed people. The culprit appears to be old or cheap peelers where the manufacturer has only sharpened one side of the blade.
“If it is symmetrical in all ways, it should not be handed,” explains Timothy Yee, director of marketing for DKB Household, which makes Zyliss vegetable peelers. “It would make a difference [for lefties] with one side sharpened. You’d have to flip it over and pull up,” he says. A peeler made with a bend in the handle might likewise be awkward to flip over and use. Y-shaped peelers are ambidextrous by default, says Michelle Sohn, a category director at OXO.
The people we spoke to from Kuhn Rikon, OXO, and DKB all told us they sharpen both sides of their blades, creating ambidextrous peelers. Yee says the main reason a manufacturer wouldn’t do this is to avoid extra costs: If a company uses grinding equipment that requires the blades to be taken out and flipped to hit both sides, it will just make a peeler one-sided to save time and money.
The only other kitchen tools that are handed are scissors and can openers, says Sohn. (Although serrated knives and some Japanese knives are handed.) With a can opener, you have one hand squeezing and one turning, so if you want to turn the knob with your stronger hand, you can’t do that as a lefty. “But lefties have just sort of learned to do it,” Sohn says, noting that can openers with the knob located on the top are universal. She says OXO tries not to exclude lefties: “Even our pie server is serrated on both sides.” Despite this, a cottage industry has grown up around servicing the underserved, with products such as measuring jugs with the measurements on the opposite side, corkscrews that twist counterclockwise, and more.
as far as peeling use a pering knife, and for can openers there's always electric!
Can openers never bothered me. A good one doesn't require much strength to turn.
Another item that is handed are bread knives. In a set, they'll always be right handed, which means lefties cannot make a straight cuts with it. I only know of three brands that make a left handed version: Victorinox, Shun, and Wusthof.
i just use a palm peeler too, like this one: http://www.spacesavers.com/palmpeeler.html. so much easier!
use a kitchen-aid peeler, so no problem. Too many pans with pouring lips on the right side of the pan from the handle, simply do not work for me. Found a manufacturer who makes their pans with a lip around the whole pan rolling toward the out side of the pan. I can both pour from the pan and it does not run down the side of the pan.
I'm a lefty and it is hard to peel those veggies with my right hand! I guess it just takes practice.
@ xinyue5545 WTF does that have to do with the topic? More SPAM!!
BTW, I also have no problems with kitchen utensils including vegetable peelers. I've grown accustomed to them, and if I had to buy a leftie item, I'd proly have to go through a whole new learning curve. :)
No kidding agoodbite, this article is stupid.
"With a can opener, you have one hand squeezing and one turning, so if you want to turn the knob with your stronger hand, you can’t do that as a lefty. “But lefties have just sort of learned to do it,”"
And completely degrading...
I have a left-hand slanted spatula from Jonathan's Wild Cherry Spooons - woodspoon.com I've had it for at least 15 years and it does make things a bit easier. They are sold in various gourmet shops, etc. also.
I've learned to do a lot of things right handed in life. I don't think my quality of life has been diminished at all because I'm a lefty :)
The only other kitchen tools that are handed are scissors and can openers, says Sohn.
Not true.
Pepper mills (and other kitchen devices, eg. timers) that crank clockwise are right-handed.
Fish knives are often right-handed
Spatulas are often right-handed
Some knife sharpeners are right-handed
Cheese and bread boards are often right-handed
Ice cream scoops are often right-handed
Many pots...+READ
The only other kitchen tools that are handed are scissors and can openers, says Sohn.
Not true.
Pepper mills (and other kitchen devices, eg. timers) that crank clockwise are right-handed.
Fish knives are often right-handed
Spatulas are often right-handed
Some knife sharpeners are right-handed
Cheese and bread boards are often right-handed
Ice cream scoops are often right-handed
Many pots have no lip for lefties
Microwave ovens are mostly right-handed (almost always have the controls on the right side and open on the right--many devices with control panels have this)
And even cookbooks are right-handed (if the world was left-handed we would likely write from right-to-left and we would turn pages "backwards."-COLLAPSE
The Leftorium should handle all problems.
Vegetable peelers are probably the last thing I have an issue with. Now, I would love to have a wooden spoon that angles in the other direction though.
My husband's immediate response when I read him the title to this story was, "f*ck you". We're both left-handed and get along just fine in the kitchen. We don't need your pity.
I'm left-handed, but I do most kitchen tasks right-handed (cutting, peeling, opening cans). I use spoons (for stirring and scooping) left-handed, though, which causes problems with asymettrical ice cream scoops (the kind with a thumb rest on one side). Those are impossible to use left-handed.
I believe my favorite peelers have been OXO, and I can honestly say that I appreciate it. I ran into a right handed pie server last Thanksgiving and oddly annoying for something so simple.
Thanks for thinking of us left handers!