In the 1960s, Karen Lumsden was an “ordinary mom” (her words) who used to stir up a lot of chocolate milk–one tedious glass at a time–for her two small boys or fight with cans of frozen juice concentrate, trying to get the gooey contents to disappear in a blast of water without sliming up the entire kitchen counter.
“It was always a mess,” says Lumsden of Marion, Iowa, who remembers thinking that there had to be a better, cleaner way to perform the simple task of mixing beverages that require some oomph in stirring and who ad-libbed back then with a potato masher.
Fast-forward 20 years or so to the early 1990s. Downsized by her employer but not downtrodden, Lumsden started her own business and set about inventing a product that answered her motherly mixing needs way back when. After several years of research and development, Lumsden introduced The Revolutionary Pitcher, which she showed to the world for the first time two years ago at the International Housewares Show in Chicago.
Both a container and a mixer, the acrylic pitcher, which stands nearly 13 inches tall, features a built-in plunger as part of the lid design. In other words, moms (or any user anywhere) don’t have to pull out yet another spoon to stir things up. Mess contained, so to speak.
Besides the cleverness of it and the power-mixing afforded by that plunger, we liked the pitcher’s long handle, which gives big hands–and small–a nice pouring balance, and the dripless spout with flow control.
We also liked the looks of it. The thick acrylic, which does not stain or absorb tastes from previous beverages, does a good job of imitating crystal, at least from afar.
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The Revolutionary Pitcher costs $39.95. Call Karen Lumsden’s company, K.J.I. Practical Products, at 888-474-8243 or 319-377-7371.
