Flash in the Pan

An online gift retailer called BLUW.com has sent a product called The Wedge, intended to help store bottles, cans, and other cylindrical items you might want to tip on edge and store. I don't know who designed the product, but the execution is intelligent. A set of of wedge-shaped strips ($12.95 for the pair) lets you set down a series of bottles or cans on a flat surface and keep that row together. You can then stack another layer on top, and another, each new row having one fewer than the one underneath. The result is a pyramid. You can also set one of the wedges opposite a wall and build the rows that way.

There are a couple of major limitations that might make you decide on some other storage mechanism. One is that the use of space is pretty inefficient. With the pair of wedges, you must build a pyramid, as you don't have the side vertical supports to keep additional items from rolling down the sides. That means you're wasting the space above the bottles, and in many homes that would be a problem. You can do a bit better using a wedge and a well (whether the wall of a pantry, cabinet, or inside wall of a fridge). In this case, the bottles or cans can actually stack up the wall some, because you're effectively tipping the triangle over and being able to stack upwards a bit more. Still, it is a limitation.

The other problem is if you have a variety of different wines or cans of whatever. When everything is the same, you take items off from the top. But when they are different, eventually you'll either have to unbury what you'd really like, or drink through everything above it first.

Personally, while I might use this for a display that I wanted to make part of a theme at some gathering, I'd probably opt for traditional storage that uses space more effectively.

Labels: opinion, product, review, storage