Today: Brette tackles the sharp kitchen tool family: the mandolines, microplanes, and box graters.

You'll be hearing from the staff at FOOD52 every week in Too Many Cooks, our group column in which we pool our weekly experiences with food, cooking, life, and more.

From strawberries to cherry trees, you can tell it's springtime here at FOOD52. Here's what we've been up to -- don't miss the tiny baby chicks in Peter's photos, or the big baby in Merrill's!

You'll be hearing from the staff at FOOD52 every week in Too Many Cooks, our group column in which we pool our answers to questions about food, cooking, life, and more.

The New York Times Dining section ran a piece this week about those kitchen gadgets that you buy thinking they'll make your life easier -- oyster knife, bread machine, milk frother -- but that end up gathering dust in a cabinet.

But sometimes more is more, even if those pickle tongs take up too much space in your cutlery drawer. Here are our favorite kitchen utensils -- the ones we won't give up in favor of a simpler life. It's funny how so many of our answers are about tools that are just so "satisfying" to use!

Click through for pitters, slicers, and choppers galore.