Reddit reviews Chef Craft Stainless Steel Slotted Skimmer | 13-Inches Long | 3-Pack

Meh, I worked in food for years, and also have had cats my whole life, and also know people involved with cat rescue. It all comes down to what form factor and materials serve your needs best. That, and keeping straight which tools are which in a particular place.

For example, probably the best cat litter scoop I've ever seen is this. I grew up using these, and didn't even know they were actually designed for food. These utensils were common in homes of my youth, and it wasn't until I was old enough to start visiting other people's homes a lot that I realised that most people knew them as skimmers. As you can see, they are still sold as cooking skimmers. (I'm not sure what the name for this particular style is.) But we're not alone in realising that they make better litter scoops than most tools designed for that purpose, and savvy marketers are aware of it, too.

Commercial kitchens are pretty much relegated to tools specifically designed for what they're using them for, mostly for reasons of liability and insurance. If a customer got zinc poisoning and all your pans are NSF approved, you're probably safe from liability. If not, then you might be spending some time in court trying to prove it couldn't be from one your metal pans. (ProTip: Do not use buckets from the hardware store for ice or anything else.) When I ran restaurants, I spent the extra money for all that fancy stuff, for that reason.

But cats are not likely to sue you, so you're much freer to use quality culinary tools, of which there are many thousands of different designs. A great deal of what's designed for cats is either poorly designed, poor quality, or overpriced -- or all of the above.