We are on the home stretch in this dang galley/navigation station remodel and before I write up the final Show & Tell post, I wanted to share some of our little galley product wins with you. These are items we bought with the new galley in mind and that we’ve been particularly pleased with.

The color is actually lime green.

Let’s start with this nifty and colorful Bistro Knife Holder by Bodem. This replaces a big, heavy teak knife holder that not only had seen better days, but also did not fit our knives. I like this for its sleek look, ease of use, and the fact that I didn’t have to drill holes in my new Formica on the bulkhead in order to install it. I don’t like drilling holes in Formica unless I am jolly well sure I’m not going to be sorry. This is made of a heavy plastic, holds the knife blades between two brushes, and comes in this fabulous lime green color that I love.

While I’m at it, take another look at those knives. See the two knives with brushed aluminum handles? They are my favorite knives and are made by Rada Cutlery right here in the United States of the blessed America.  My friend Teri gave me a small paring knife a couple of years ago for Christmas. She told me it was her favorite knife. It quickly became mine. Lightweight, sharp as a razor,  it became my go-to knife for almost everything. For Christmas this year I bought Andrew the French Chef’s knife, like the big one in the picture. I was so impressed with it bought one for the boat, then got the bread knife as well, even though we don’t eat much bread. These are very reasonably priced for good knives. I also bought their nifty knife sharpener and it works great! Don’t let the cheap prices of these knives fool you into thinking they are low quality. They aren’t. They are excellent. You can get them on Amazon, but I like to order directly from Rada so they get more of their money.

I guess you could also use this as a cooling rack for baked goods. So really, it’s useful for more than one thing!

Next up is a little gadget I found while shopping for a sink. This is a stainless steel over-the-sink drying rack for dishes. Placed over half of the sink, it gives you a place to put dishes to drain directly back into the sink and It extends your counter top space as well. The best part, however, is that this is easy to store because it rolls up. The stainless tubes end in a removable silicone sleeve that keeps the unit in place. The unit was a little wide for our countertops, but Mike was easily able to cut the tubes to the correct length and replace the silicone sleeve. Perfect fit! We use this every single day and when we get underway it will be easy to store in the cabinet.

Rolled up and ready to put away.

If you’ve looked under my sink lately you’ll realize I collect cleaning things. I like cleaning products and also cleaning supplies. You might say that I have an unconscious, sort of, belief that if I own enough cleaning supplies and products, my house will be clean all by itself because I don’t necessarily love USING these things, only having them on hand. Except for these Catch Mops, which I do love to use and use many times per day. The tag says ‘Made in Korea’ and, in fact, I found mine at the local Korean household good store in Tacoma, ShinShin. I love ShinShin. This is the Korean equivalent to Ikea when it comes to cool little home gadgets you can’t find anywhere else. 

Unfortunately, I can’t find these Catch Mop kitchen cleaning thingys anywhere on the interwebs for you to buy. QVC apparently used to sell them, but no more. And you can find them on the Korean wholesale sites. I found this offering on Amazon, and yeah, this set includes two of these little beauties. But $143.90 for some cleaning supplies is a little much for me, even if they DO give you free shipping. I think I paid maybe $2.50 for my pair at ShinShin. So if you have a Korean home goods store near you, maybe you’ll find them there. They are microfiber, but really GOOD microfiber. One side does a perfect job of drying out and polishing the new stainless steel sink. The other side is great for catching crumbs from the countertop. They are thick and cushy and frankly terrific. So terrific I will be going back to purchase more of them. So if you see them around, grab them quick.

And finally, what we have here is a Cheap and Easy boat trick. Awhile back I read a recommendation for these Lunatec Travel Washcloths. They are said to be quick dry, smell free, and self-cleaning. With that kind of advertising, I was hoping they would also scrub the dishes for me without help.  I paid $9 for two of them on Amazon.

When they came I thought, ‘Huh. I’ve seen this scrubby fabric somewhere before.’. And, indeed, I had. It’s the same stuff that they use at the Olympus Spa in Lakewood,  known locally as the ‘Lady Spa’. You can go in there and get a body scrub and they will use these little mitts that exfoliate the heck out of your skin and leave you with a wonderful pink glow.  It’s the same stuff but a finer weave. They also use these long ‘towels’ made out of a coarser weave that you use to scrub your own back. (I’ll wait while you figure out how you do that.) Those ‘towels’ are exactly the same thing as these washcloths.

A little trip to ShinShin, again, found me buying a couple of those Salux ‘beauty skin cloth’ towels as shown in the photo. They were $1.25 apiece and about 45″x12″. Cut into large pieces, I will get at least 3 washcloths from each one. I’m not even sure I’ll have to hem them.  I’m going to give you this Amazon link, but I’m kind of ashamed to do it because look at that price! They want $11.46 for three of these towels. I got three for $3.75 plus tax. Still, if you don’t have a ShinShin or other Asian home goods or dollar store near you, it’s better than the $9 for two washcloths I originally paid for the Lunatec ones. These things are really great in the kitchen. Plus, you can use one to wash your face and body and get great exfoliation. What’s not to like about that? Your skin will positively glow!

Okay, that’s all for now. I’m on the home stretch with the painting and I have to go to the house to use the miter saw for apiece of sea rail to fit right. Then we’re done! Hurrah!