Customer Reviews

Deluxe Stainless Steel Lid Sterilizer Rack

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I haven't used my rack yet but I am so pleased with this product. The biggest problem I have with canning are the lids. When they go into the hot water, they slide on top of each other and become glued together. If I have to use my fingernails to pry them apart, it ruins the purpose of boiling the lids in the first place, which is to get them safely clean for the canning process. The rack is serious quality steel, very heavy and rigid which means it will sink in the hot water, and not bend. It is made in USA so I have a lot more trust about the materials used. Not aluminum like the foreign made alternate. When I use it, I will add a comment. This is the only USA made rack I have found. I am trying to go USA made for all my food handling

When my husband insisted on buying this I was less than thrilled, like most guys he loves toys. I prefer things that are efficient and make sense. I now have to confess that his choice was great, this makes canning a little bit easier since I don't spend time trying to separate the lids and I know at a glance how many I have. The handle is made to sit on the edge of the canning kettle. I stack the rings on the handle (they slip easily onto it) and heat rings and lids without fear of scratching the lids in the process. Very handy and will probably buy another just to make sure I always have one available at canning time.

If you can on a regular basis, this tool is a must have. I know it only serves one purpose, but splurge on this product. Your fingers will thank you. You will no longer have to pry apart blazing lids after fishing them out of the bottom of the pot.

Can't wait for the canning season to begin! My lids usually stick together in the boiling water and this will make my job so much easier!

Preface: I have a number of excellent Kitchen Krafts items except for this one. EG, see my review of their stainless canning rack compared to the Victorio.
I purchased two of these, one directly from Kitchen Krafts. Fifty dollars worth of very specialized, one purpose kitchen ware.
The intent and purpose of the design of this item is fairly clear and specific: be able to properly prepare and keep the crucial sealing lids separate, sanitary and easy to get at individually. No fooling around here, although I'm new to canning, I read, researched and understood all the health warnings and dangers as real and not as the usual, mind numbing, boilerplate blather of earning opportunities for lawyers.
Both items I received have exactly the same manufacturing defect. Small lids nest adequately in the rack but the larger lids, (there are only two sizes I know of) flop around annoyingly like bored children, clearly defying the design intent.
The picture of the rack, on both Amazon and the Kitchen Krafts site shows both sizes of lids sitting nice and pretty, snug as bugs.
The defect is very simply that the angle of the two bends of the rack is incorrect. No problem with the general design, material or welding. Duhhh, maybeee someone asleep at the bending wheel setup computer.
A call to Kitchen Krafts customer service was disappointingly unproductive. I had to repeat myself several times as to the exact nature of my complaint and then, miraculously, when the rep realized I wasn't going to go postal over the phone any time soon, the problem was admitted by the rep as being the same for many if not all the racks. Oh, just use them the way they are she intoned, like Lily Tomlin shilling the phone company on old SNL episodes.
When it was finally clear to her I had no intention of cooperating with her good game, she agreed to take both pricey items back for a full refund in spite of my pointing out that I had used them with the small lids. I'll bet she'd take them back, shine them up a bit and stuff them into another box destined for some poor shnook who is not as carefully critical, obstinate and insisting on getting what they paid for as myself.
If there was another similar product available, I would not have bothered to call at all.
As a stopgap, I have at least one old, simple stainless steel tweezer which could have done the job in a pinch for a lot less dollar.
Finally, to add icing to this sorrily concocted cake, the rep claimed the item is American Made, in the heartland of Our Nation. Scary.
Nuff said.