Must-Have? Think Again.

EVERY kitchen has one. The ingenious asparagus peeler. The automatic paper-towel dispenser. The whiz-bang electric pepper grinder. These are the tools that Gail Simmons, a judge on the Bravo series ''Top Chef'' and the author of ''Talking With My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater,'' calls ''the skeletons in the kitchen closet.'' Unlike the preposterous gadgets that turn up uninvited beneath the Christmas tree, they were purchased with enthusiasm and high culinary expectations. Now they languish in the drawer or take up space on the counter, where they eventually die of neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]