I explicitly purchased identical cutlery and gave away all my old mismatched cutlery.
I tried to buy another identical set of cutlery because we needed more and the two version while looking identical on the package and being from the same maker are dramatically different in reality and it makes me crazy.
Yes I did the same, bought a whole set of a big brand so I could easily get replacements and additions if needed. Some time later I decided I needed more spoons so I bought another set of 10 spoons of the exact same brand and set name. Turns out the spoons are slightly different in the handle, bugs the hell out of me.
Yes, one of my most adult-feeling purchases was a full cutlery set for 12, and basically a cabinet full of different types of plates and bowls, all in sets for 8 ppl, from the same design series. I love this stuff way more than I ever imagined.
I’m the exact opposite. Maybe because my rounded ones are god damn heavy. Can’t use them with a plastic bowl because it’ll tip it over.
we had an aluminum teaspoon once, don't know where it went but it's on the top 10 of my favourite objects.
weighed almost literally nothing and always catched me off guard. i love it.
Trivia. Aluminum was once the most expensive, and thus prestigious metals on the planet. The king of France would dine with aluminum cutlery as a show of opulence.
You (everyone) will hate this entire comment, but my aforementioned favorite aluminum spoon comes from a Czech army surplus cutlery set. I hate the other utensils, but just think how fucking amazing it is that this is a set which belongs together:
Why is the spoon so ornamental and aluminum? Why is the knife steel with a plain plastic handle? Why is the fork so fucking weird with a different ornamentation (aluminum too, btw)? This is a set for soldiers. Fancy is good and all but why is it so mismatched? So many questions.
This specific picture isn't mine by the way. I'd never allow a fork that horribly misshapen to live in my house.
Ironically, they're the least stabby ones I own. I assume specs for these vary greatly however. They're not the higest quality controlled things on earth by any measure.
Taking this post as a platform to rally against cutlery that isn't fashioned from a single piece of metal but has a useless metal or plastic handle. When you take them out of the dishwasher, a pool of warm, stagnant , vaguely soap-smelling water will pour out onto your wrist and wet your sleeve and my week is ruined.
For the record, I haven't experienced this in years but I carry the trauma.
Or the very first time you discover you hate those when the tines end pops out into your food and sludge from the handle falls in after it.
Mine is a butter knife. I had a poor quality and overpriced meal at a restaurant and stole it in revenge. When I got home and started using it I realised that every single thing about that restaurant would always be atrocious and nothing would ever make it OK to eat there.
My wife works in retail and a lot of employees in the service industry have main character syndrome and probably aren't accommodating of people with autism and unusual needs.
I used to think it was insane that people were afraid of getting their food spat in for asking for no pickles but I get it now. My dad would always resist making special requests like that when my autistic sister was a boy because she had a consistency thing about pickles or any other changes in the consistency of food and our dad would always make excuses about it taking a long time. She worked in retail for a long time and there are absolutely employees who are petty enough to spit in food over simple requests like that because "it disrupts their system."
That's bizarrely specific yet accurate. For me it's a spoon, but only because I somehow lost every single fork I own and had to buy a new, matching set.
I've kind of made it my mission to buy orphaned utensils that I like, so my drawer is full of mismatched stuff. I have stuff that matches too, of course.
I bought us a nice, thick , chromatic set.
kids lost a spoon here and there and now... we have this hodge podge of shit silverware.
when grabbing for me, I reach for the chromatic set every time.
the other ones are mostly too sharp around the edges, too heavy, or just too flimsy.
One day my wife had enough and threw out all the mismatched cutlery, so now we have everything 100% matched.
I married the right woman.
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A matched set has its own problems. For us, the pattern was discontinued right after we got them. Over the years a bunch of spoons disappeared and we needed more serving utensils but there was no way to keep a matched set. So far we mostly do without, but we have to consider the possibility of having to replace the entire set
It's a proportions thing. There's a very specific size and shape of fork that I like, and it shouldn't have decorations on it. Just stamped sheet steel.
For me it's one of the two sets my parents use. One set is smooth, shiny, and nice to hold. The other has lots of detail which looks neat, but is unenjoyable to hold. So I avoid them whenever I can.
I don't have a single metal fork in my drawer because I have some kinda weird issue where metal cutlery touching each other or my teeth makes me want to die :(
Yes and it makes my teeth... Itch? But in an almost painful way. I mostly just use chopsticks and bamboo cutlery at home. I ask for plastic at restaurants lol. It sucks but it is what it is
there are certain forks i cant use because i taste them. i inspect eat fork i grab thoroughly
Sometimes I can smell them and it makes my mouth water in the worst way that I can't really explain. They smell disgusting. Don't even get me started on silver cutlery ugh it's so strong and nasty. I also don't like touching loose change too much because it stinks. Metal has been bullying me my whole life lmao
I have 2 different sized spoons that don't match the rest. I can't use either of them, even if it's the only utensil I need. I also have no idea why I don't just get rid of them instead of making sad panda face every time I accidentally grab one of them...
I have 3 tablespoons that don't match the rest of my silverware and I have no idea where they came from. I guess someone brought a spoons to my house? They all offend me and I bury them under all the other spoons to reduce the risk of picking one up.
Like you said, I don't know why I don't just throw them out.
We have two forks and two spoons that don't match the rest. We went on a weekend trip somewhere and forgot to bring utensils. Instead of getting a 30 pack of stuff and have a lot of wasted extras, we found individually priced metal utensils (like 50 cents each). But they are much thinner/flimsier. So now I actively avoid them, but also can't bear to throw them away.
Put them in a utensil wrap and keep it in the glovebox of your car! Then you don’t have to deal with them, and they’re handy in case of needing them again on a trip.
My largest spoon is just funny. I don't like eating with it, but I appreciate that it's not small enough to be a spoon while at the same time not being large enough to be a ladle.
Is that an American thing? In Australia, a ladle is the kind of scoop-looking spoon with a handle that goes straight up. What you would use to serve soup. We call spoons that look like big desert spoons ‘Chef’s Spoon’.
I used the word that came more naturally to me, but the Swedish word for it would be "slev" and I'd argue the word can both be a traditional scooped ladle or a huge spoon depending on context. Ladle seemed synonymous.
I think ladle is more the term in English for the scooped sort, and you would use a descriptor for a large spoon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladle_(spoon)
That fork has too long prongs and they curve... inwards. Brrr...
Loving the engagement in this post btw
Does it count if by 28 I have one fork I like and the rest I only tolerate? My preferred fork is a plain one, not unlike fourth from left while all the others are more textured than any of those present here. I'm used to them from having forks like that all my life but I like the simple one most.