This review is on the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter, item #1063 in the Pampered Chef catalog under the Cutting Edge section.

From the Catalog: "Smooth rocking motion decoratively cuts vegetables and cheeses and minces herbs effortlessly. Includes protective storage cover."

From the Package Insert: "Liven up dishes by adding decorative crinkle cut foods. The smooth rocking motion of the curved blade makes crinkle cutting fruits vegetables, meats, cheeses, ice cream and even pound cake easier and more efficient than ever. This multipurpose tool, designed exclusively for Pampered Chef, can even be used to mince fresh herbs."

How to use the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter:
(Always wash before first use)

For crinkle cutting, choose whichever one of the following rocking directions which is most comfortable for you. You can: a) With the back corner of blade resting on cutting board, rock forward cutting through food or b) With front corner of blade resting on cutting board, rock backward cutting through food.

To cut through large foods (like frozen desserts, fruit, cheese), hold cutter upright over food and press straight down to cut through food.

To mince herbs, carefully rock cutter in a back and forth motion over herb of choice.

Sight and Feel:

Upon opening my package, I was greeted with what looked like what can only be explained as some medieval torture device. Think travel guillotine without the stand and you have got the point, only this guillotine comes with a crinkled edge for a festive cut. The torture device which will from here on be called the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter, also came with a plastic blade cover and a paper sheet with care and handling instructions along with a recipe for Italian Roasted Vegetables.

The Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter weighs in at a modest 7.5 oz, allowing it to feel comfortable in the hand. It's construction is mostly stainless steel with the exception of it's black hard plastic handle and the included soft plastic blade cover. It's stands 5 3/4 inches at it's tallest point and only 4 1/4 inches at is shortest. The width is 7 1/4 inches.

At the top of the Crinkle Cutter, there is a black plastic handle. The handle, at just shy of 5 inches, is slightly rounded on the top with a slight curve on the bottom. This curve, along with the weight, allows the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter to feel like an extension of ones own body. It feels natural to hold and not uncomfortable to use, making it suitable to work well with anyone including someone with arthritis.

The blade itself is also curved so you can use a natural rocking motion to easily cut through foods, and at 7 1/4 inches in length and almost 2 inches in height, is able to cut anything from the smallest of herbs to something larger and deeper like a russet potato. The blade is set in a
wavy design (think Ruffles Potatoes Chips) and although it is not exceptionally sharp, comes with it's own blade cover for storage.

Why Should I Buy the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter?

Let me start this part out by saying that for all of my reviews, I like to have the said product in hand so I can give an accurate description of why I like or dislike the product. That was not so easy to do with the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter because I was waiting until it was clean. That being said, I have come to realize in the time that it has taken me to be able to write this review, that I never realized how much I use this product. The darn thing is never clean for more than a few hours time! Once it is washed in the dishwasher, before it can even be put away, it is put to use for another task. I use it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and all the snacks in between. In fact, to actually write this review, instead of continuing the waiting, I just hand washed it after my last use and once dried, ran it up to my computer so I could get down to business.

The Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter looks a little different than most of the crinkle cutters available in stores. Most of the crinkle cutters that I have seen are flat on the bottom. Some have handles not unlike a knife, others have the shape of a lower case "n" with the blade on the bottom, but almost always the blade is flat. The Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter carries the lower case "n" design, but instead of being flat, it is slightly rounded enabling the user to slice through food with a natural rocking motion.

Another great plus that I have seen with the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter is that the blade and handle a beveled on both sides so it can be used by left-handed individuals as well as those who are right-handed. I myself, am not left handed, but my mother is and I know how it can be such a pain finding kitchen tools that feel comfortable enough in her hand so her hand
and arm are not left aching.

Like I mentioned earlier, I use my Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter every day. One might ask, "now how can you use a garnishing tool so much?" I am NOT Martha Stewart by any means, so please don't think that I am constantly serving magazine photo quality food all day long, but I have found this product to be the answer for many of my meal problems.

Have you ever gone to breakfast at a restaurant and loved the pat of butter/margarine idea? It makes it so much easier to spread and no awkward cutting with the butter knife and no ugly margarine container being passed around the table. You accomplish just that with the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter! All you have to do is take your stick of butter
or margarine right out of the fridge, unwrap and slice through. Not only do you end up with individual pats of butter for your toast, but they also look pretty and fun making them a treat to eat. You can also use the same technique for slicing up cream cheese for your bagels.

For lunch do you have a toddler that still eats his/her hot dogs sliced up so s/he can sip it into ketchup. Sometimes it is hard to make that ketchup stay on the smooth hot dog pieces. No problem! Take the Crinkle Cutter and rock over the hot dog to make crinkle cut hot dog pieces. The crinkle design makes it so the ketchup wont slide off so easily. Do your kids like crinkle cut French fries? Same idea, slice through a russet potato, dash with salt and bake! Much more fun and healthier than the fast food variety.

What about snack? Ever tried to dip a baby carrot into veggie dip and have it all come right back off? You can crinkle cut all kinds of vegetables and same concept as with the hot dog, they are fun to eat and the dip wont slide off! Deviled eggs look awesome when sliced in half with the crinkle cutter.

Lots of uses when preparing dinner. Making a stew? Slice up veggies like zucchini or summer squash and make them so fun looking that your kids wont squawk about eating them. What about burgers on the grill?The Pampered Chef Crinkle cutter is great for slicing onions or for slicing crinkle pickles. Enjoy Potatoes Au Gratin? Use the Crinkle Cutter to slice your potatoes, pretty and once again, your cheese wont slide off the potatoes as easily!

Having a dinner party and want to make a great appetizer try? Use the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter to slice cheese for a cheese tray with slices that look amazing Use for a veggie tray and make ALL of your veggies from carrots to radishes look like a professional caterer dropped them off. You can even pull off a beautiful ice cream dessert by freezing ice cream in a loaf pan, pop it out when ready and serve over frozen pound cake that has also been sliced with the Crinkle Cutter!You can even use the Crinkle Cutter to chop some mint to serve over the ice cream as a garnish!

As you can tell, the possibilities are almost endless so not only is this a fun and easy tool to use, but it is also practical. It is also cheap. Being under $10 ($9.75) for all the ways this can be used, the price is a great deal. Even better, like all Pampered Chef products, the Crinkle Cutter comes with a great guarantee. This one being for 3 years and allows for repair or replacement of your defective product.

Care and Handling:

The Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter is 100% dishwasher safe and is rust-resistant. In the packet I received with my product, it asks that the blade cover be hand washed, but I have placed mine in the top rack of my dishwasher and have had no problem.

It is also recommended to slice on a wood or plastic cutting board as hard boards such as glass or marble might dull the blade.

Would I buy this product again?

In a heartbeat!

How To Purchase

The Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter is available only through Pampered Chef consultants or their websites.

To locate a Pampered Chef consultant call 1-800-266-5522 (US)

You can also learn more about Pampered Chef products at
http://www.PamperedChef.com.

Other Pampered Chef reviews include:
Cake Tester
Flour/Sugar Shaker
Garlic Press
Deluxe Mini Muffin Pan
Pizza Cutter
Baker's Roller
Oven Mitt
Oven Pad

Recommended:
Yes