If only we liked to cook ...

For a couple that doesn't especially enjoy cooking, we love kitchen gadgets. This may be because we like to play with gadgets of any type. But we always fawn over fun pointless devices meant for fancy chefs. For this reason, we had a ball during our recent visit to Eggshells, the store that replaced Sauce Co. when it joined all the other Heights shops in the West Little Rock Mass Exodus of 08. (Several boutique have moseyed over to Pleasant Ridge Town Center on Highway 10). Eggshells is on Kavanaugh kind of across the street from Mary Healey's.


Eggshells doesn't offer a spread of dips and noshing fare like its predecessor. But it does offer everything from frilly kitchen rugs and coordinating oven mitts to stainless steel measurement converter magnets and high-quality zesters. You can waste a lot of time browsing and find things you've never seen elsewhere.

Case in point:


This is a new-age ice cream scoop. You plunge it into a container of ice cream, twist the top and pull it out of the carton, then push it to deposit the ice cream in a bowl. The ice cream comes it out neat little round stacks (think cylinder-shaped building blocks with flat tops and bottoms), rather than a squishy ball of dessert. This would make ice cream a novelty at dinner parties. Obviously from the picture, they cost $15.

Another neat offering -- and great gift for a foodie who prides herself on a well-decorated kitchen -- is a hand-painted pepper grinder. There's a large selection, starting around $35 and going above $50.


For moms who are introducing their young 'uns to the kitchen, there's a cute Racheal Ray kid's cooking set for about $30. Other interesting items include some beaker-style olive oil dispensers (perfect for, say, your sister who is persuing a PhD in microbiology ;) ) and a ergonomically-shaped corn-on-the-cob butterer.

We have yet to check out the new Sauce Co. location in West Little Rock, but look forward to dropping in soon. For now, Eggshells is definitely filling their shoes in the Heights. Though we do wonder whether there's enough room for both Williams-Sonoma and a fun little kitchen toy store on this side of town.