Rachael Ray 3/4 Quart Butter Warmer

When I was a kid, our telephone handset (back in the days when the phone had a cord attaching it to the rotary dialer part) had a bunch of divots on the back side. Why? Because my mother was prone to using it as a hammer.

Much of our flatware was dinged and bent and off-kilter, because mom often used knives, spoons, and fork to pry things open or to unscrew screws.

She was the queen of using everyday objects in ways they weren't supposed to be used. And from her, I learned how to open the front door of our apartment with a butter knife, because mom's relationship with her keys was on-again, off-again.

On the other hand, my dad's mantra was that you should always use exactly the right tool for the job. It wasn't good enough to use a screwdriver. You had to use the correct screwdriver.

It's amazing to me that those two people managed to like each other enough to get married and procreate. A constant wonder.

While I appreciated mom's resourcefulness when faced with an emergency, I also embraced my dad's quest for the right tool for tasks that were likely to be repeated. Eventually, dad bought mom her own set of tools, but we still occasionally needed to borrow a butter knife from a neighbor to get into the apartment.

It's my dad's influence that makes me love having this blog and reviewing so many different items. It's not really about which is the ultimate best, because I don't think that's possible. It's about having the best tool for the specific job. Swiss Army knives do a lot of different things are great for emergencies, but in the kitchen I prefer to have a paring knife and a chef's knife and a bread knife, each designed for specific purposes. In theory I could cut a slice from a bread loaf using a paring knife, but it wouldn't be pretty.

So this brings us to the Rachael Ray 3/4 quart butter warmer pot. For those who are doing the math, that's 3 cups. Yes, it's a small pot. You're not going to make stock in it.

But the pot is absolutely perfect for melting butter, as the name implies. Or for other small tasks where a larger vessel is just ridiculous, like heating that cup or two of milk for making hot chocolate.

I've even used it for making a very small amount of caramel. Very small. Caramel can boil over easily.

Or for heating a single serving of soup. Or warming some gravy or sauce. Or any other small cooking task. While I love my giant stock pots and even my normal-sized saucepans, they're simply not the right tool for the job when you're dealing with a small quantity.

The interior of the pot is nonstick, so it's easy to clean. As far as the exterior, this pot, as well as a whole set of Rachael Ray Cucina cookware, comes in a number of fun colors. I chose the new lavender color, because I thought it was fun.

Who's it for: Anyone who needs a small pot.

Pros: Nonstick interior, pouring spout, attractive.

Cons: No lid.

Wishes: None really. I don't even want a lid for this type of pot.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.