Joseph Joseph Square Colander > Reviews (1)

Three years ago I scalded my arm badly when handling a pan of boiling water which had pasta in it. Ever since then I have been understandably cautious when dealing with pans with hot water and have found a combination of this caution and a right arm weakened by a fracture in my teens and the onset of arthritic pain in middle age has made using a colander tricky.

For years I had a cheap round yellow colander I purchased in IKEA but there were several design flaws with this colander, one of which was the straight handle which curved inwardly – thus having the potential to hold boiling water just a little too close for comfort to my hands – and holes which I found so large that food contents frequently found their way into the sink.

Browsing Debenhams last year I spied the Joseph Joseph Square Anti Tip Colander and was curious to learn more – although I must admit to being put off a bit by the price of £12. Well the Gods must have been looking out for me because not long afterwards I encountered the same colander on sale in TK Maxx for the far more agreeable price of £4.99. Delighted by this find, I headed straight to the cash desk with it.

The Colander

The Square Anti Tip Colander is available in several colours – I have seen it in green, pink, orange and grey. When I found mine they only had grey, which I must admit was a bit of a disappointment but I didn’t buy this purely for aesthetics – even though I love the design.

The colander has a vertical handle which also acts as the fourth “leg” on the base of the colander with the other three on the bottom of the main body itself. It measures 21cm x 21cm x 11.5cm and is designed to fit easily into a conventional sink. The colander is also very well made – certainly in comparison to my old cheap one from IKEA the plastic it’s been made from is thick and of a far better quality.

There is a hole at the end of the handle if you wish to hang your colander on a hook, and the Joseph Joseph logo is located on the outside just under the handle. The colander is dishwasher safe.

My Thoughts

I must admit I hesitated about reviewing my colander as there isn’t really much to say about such a humdrum part of everyone’s kitchen but I have been so impressed by it I haven’t been able to resist.

Unlike other colanders I have had in the past, this one is really sturdy and sits flush on any surface – including the bottom of my sink – without wobbling. More importantly for me however is the fact the design of the handle – which points downwards – makes this feel far more secure in my weakened right hand when I am draining pasta or vegetables. Using my old colander I found that even with the level of caution I exercised, the colander still wobbled about a bit when I was using it – but I have had no such problems with the Joseph Joseph colander. Even better this colander can be safely used with just one hand thanks to that clever handle.

The holes are a good size too – far better than those on my old colander and as such I haven’t had to worry about food falling out into the sink.

My only criticism of this colander is it obviously won’t sit flush inside a pan as a round colander would do – but I have been able to position it on top of a pan to allow water to drain off whilst using the sink for other chores and while it doesn’t look particularly good, the colander hasn’t fallen off the pan. However the shape of the colander makes pouring food out far easier because of the angled sides.

I have owned this for several months now and been very impressed with it in use. It’s very well made but more importantly it’s very well designed and it amazes me it’s taken so long for someone to look at the humble colander and tweak it so effectively – but I am incredibly grateful Joseph Joseph have done.

I would highly recommend this but suggest trying your local TK Maxx if you are interested in buying – they cost significantly more elsewhere, with Amazon and Debenhams currently charging £10.80.