One of the new trends in cooking appears to be the wealth of new silicone products. I saw someone using silicone pot holders on the food network and when I later saw them at Sur La Table I strongly considered giving them a try. My 2 year old daughter was fascinated with them as well and insisted in laying them out on the floor in the store and standing on them every time we turned our back on her. I would have liked to have bought black. My daughter wanted pink. After some negotiation we settled on blue. Overall I am happy with the purchase, but despite the high overall quality of the KitchenAid Silicone Pot Holders I still quite often use my old fashioned pot holders. That didn't stop me from getting a couple more for Christmas, this time in pink of course. I guess I need to work on my negotiating skills.

What this is
No matter how good silicone is at insulating don’t get too excited. It is still just a pot holder. The KitchenAid Silicone Pot Holders measure 7 x 7 square. They are flat of course with a pattern of rivets running 5 x 5, except for one that is punched out. I would assume this missing rivet is to give you something to hang it from. The KitchenAid Silicone Pot Holders come in a range of colors, in case you want to display them in your kitchen, including red, black, khaki, blue, and white. The white color is actually sort of opaque. They are flame and heat resistant up to 675 degrees, which is quite a bit hotter than my oven will even go. Unlike any other pot holder I have ever heard of they come with a 1 year warranty. They currently retail for $9.99 for two at Bed Bath and Beyond, which is where my daughter got my pair of pink ones.

I will just go ahead and get to the punch line. I like the KitchenAid Silicone Pot Holders, but I don’t love them. They do some things very well, and some rather basic things they are not so good at.

The Good
As far as what they are good at, insulating. I have a large assortment of pot holders, ranging from home made to high tech Weber and Viking brands. None of them are as good at protecting you from the heat as the KitchenAid Silicone Pot Holders. If you are holding something really hot, you will feel the heat build up against your hands over time, so it isn’t as though you can grab burning embers out of a fire or make a suit out of them and rescue people from a burning house (well you could and that would be nice of you, but don’t expect your pot holder suit to make you invulnerable). So the KitchenAid Silicone Pot Holders get a big thumbs up on insulating. They work well as a trivet, and I have no fear of putting anything on them. I have confidence that my table will fine.

The Bad
So why don’t I love them? Despite being so very good at insulating, I think they have actually caused me to get burned more than once. You see, they aren’t nearly as flexible as a cloth or fiber based pot holders. More than once I have reached into the oven and struggled to get a good grip on a baking dish, only to grab it sort of awkwardly and eventually make contact between my skin and the dish. They don’t form well or cup well in your hands, so in addition to burning myself I also some times drop them. As far as know they don’t make these in mitten form, but I think that would solve the problem totally. If you could just have a small partial sleeve to keep the pot holder on your hand these things would be perfect.

Conclusion
Overall I am pleased with the KitchenAid Silicone Pot Holders. They have one fairly significant drawback, but are really quite good at insulating which I suppose evens things out a bit. As far as value, I can’t really decide. Ten dollars is probably a lot for two pot holders, but they are new and cool and you get to try something new, and of course they have the KitchenAid brand on them which I am sure jacks up the price a touch. I suppose my value rating is somewhere between average and below average. My personal experience is that it is always good to have an abundance of pot holders around the kitchen. My final word? If the idea of spending $10 on two pot holders doesn’t make you upset then I say pick up a pair. They are heat and flame resistant up to 675 degrees which is pretty impressive. 5 stars for heat resistance, 1 star for usability for an average of 3 stars.


Recommended: Yes