Category — Tableware

Oh, the lowly placemat. It sits underneath our plates, garnering none of the attention reserved for the attention hog that is our dinner plate. (Even more so if actual hog is involved). Whatever pork dish you may prefer, it will have to share in the limelight if you are using these LED Placemats from Sylvania.

Operating on a button cell and offering up to 20 hours of battery life, the placemats twinkle and shine, gently illuminating your meal. As romantic as glimmering novelty placemats may be, I don’t think candle makers have anything to worry about quite yet.

(Via Oh Gizmo)

They look like little ultra-cute pieces of chotcke sitting on a shelf into you turn them over, and then you see these pieces from Japan’s Décole are actually drinking mugs. The Upside Down Animal Mug collection measures about 4 inches tall each (upside down or not) and come in three hyper-cute versions: cat, panda and piglet. These mega-cute little drinkers will set you back $20 each. Too much cute? Yeah, maybe.

We as a society seem to have been constantly upgrading our collective utensil sensibilities. During our humble beginnings eons ago we lurched around with crude knives. Since then, we have achieved a pinnacle of utensilology. The place setting has evolved into a minefield of utensils–all refined for specific uses. An unnecessary burden has been place upon us to distinguish the fish fork from the salad fork, and as such, the modern era has given rise to the somewhat-useful spork. Clearly, there is room for improvement.

The Taster by Carl Mertens brings the spork to the stovetop and back on out to the dinner table. With a spoon on one end and a fork on the other, the utensil is designed to give the cook convenient access to their creations. Furthermore, a small hook has been incorporated which can be used to fish out spaghetti or other elusive items. Evolution doesn’t come cheap however, and this spoon/fork/cooking-thingy will set you back $32.

(Via Dvice)

I had a frog growing up. Well, a frog-shaped cookie jar, that is. I think he had a yellow bow tie. While that distinguishing feature somehow made raiding the cookie jar OK, this wide-mouthed frog has a bowlful of dip in its belly.

The Frog Dip Bowl & Spreader brightens up the party spread. Good for dips and cheeses, the earthenware frog comes with a spreading knife to match. It’s not easy being green, but this little guy keeps trying — hopefully those aren’t flies in that dip!

Hey look, somewhere to put those corn holders that always get misplaced! Now, instead of rummaging around in the junk utility drawer for the handy little corn-helpers, you can keep them exactly where they get the most use.

These Corn Dish and Holder Sets by MSC International – Jo!e not only provide a place to store the corn holders when not in use, but also act as an excellent serving device. The oblong shape of the dish perfectly complements an ear of corn, catching all that hot melted butter that may be slathered all over the corn. Good thing you know where to find the corn holders.

These Numerical Mugs over at Anthropologie are pretty cool looking. Sold individually, each with their own type treatment, the mugs come in (apparently) five different varieties. If you have a use for a mug emblazoned with a number 6, 12, 18, 31 or 54, now you know where to get it. Perhaps more important than the question of why there are only these particular numbers, is the question of whether there will ever be more. That half hidden 22 in the photo would make it seem so. Maybe it’s not really that much of a mystery, and they are just tonight’s winning lottery numbers. Which, of course, is a much bigger mystery.