Kitchen cart stories were beautifully told at Green Mountain Trading. The company's carts stylishly complete any kitchen with their butcher block tops, stainless steel baskets, and deep-fitting drawers and wicker baskets. Add to that good price points ($750 retail for the Servus model) and you have a merchandising tool for your store that can be sold as a special-order item. The company also creates beautifully designed mango, coconut, and bamboo bowls, some with incredibly unique finishes. The mango bowls retail from $30 to $60. Check out these and more products at www.greenmountaintrading.com, or call 802-387-2510.
From TruBamboo comes a new partnership with Ming Tsai to promote its line of bamboo cutting boards. Along with a wealth of new bamboo cutting boards and accessories, this new partnership will help increase bamboo products' popularity. For more information, visit www.trubamboo.com, or call 561-832-0628.
Colombian Home Products entered into a license agreement with Weber-Stephen Products Co. for the development and marketing of Weber-branded woodenware products, including carving and serving platters, cutting boards, and serving bowls. Snow River Products, a division of Columbian Home Products, will manufacture and distribute the products throughout North America. The products will be marketed under the Weber, Weber Style, and Smokey Joe brand names, with each product line offering a mix of product features, benefits, and pricing. The premium-priced Weber Style products were developed for the highly involved barbecue aficionado and will include a collection of thick chopping boards and blocks. They feature wooden legs, turkey wells, juice grooves, and hand slots for easy carrying. They will also feature stainless steel handles and hanging loops. For more information, call 847-307-8611.
SiliconeZone combined bamboo and silicone in one collection of tools, making them fashionable and functional. The kitchen tools, spatulas, and cooking spoons feature durable colored silicone heads that can endure heat up to 900 degrees F. The cool colors add a breezy accent to the kitchen. The tools come with 11.75-inch bamboo handles that are long enough to keep a cook's hands clean when cooking or baking. New tools include a silicone basting brush in Green Apple, a tasting ladle in Orange Ice, a slotted turner in Watermelon Ice, and a turner in Blueberry Ice. The utensils retail for $12, the spatulas for $5.75, and the cooking spoons for $7.25. For more information, call 212-997-9591, or visit www.siliconezoneusa.com.
Maverick Industries is a small Oregon company, but this little operation makes some great myrtlewood cutting boards and cheese slicers. Each handcrafted cutting board is made of one piece of Oregon myrtlewood. The result is a work of art. Wholesale prices range from $9 for a cheese slicer to $38 for a 23 x 10-inch rectangular cutting board. For more information, call 541-832-3200, or e-mail dennis@maverickwood.com.
Another hot gift idea is The Personal Wine Curator, an easy-to-use database with some very cool functions for no-hassle inventory upkeep. With loads of automatic features that other cellar management programs don't have, like letting the user know when his or her wine is becoming old, matching sub-regions with their regions, printing ID labels and reports, and specific food-pairing suggestions (over 1,200 in all), the Personal Wine Curator is available for $29.95. For more information, visit www.thewinecurators.com.
