Yes, that's what I thought too. You're thinking that's too good to be true right? It's what I was thought when Kuhn Rikon sent me one of their stay clean scrubbers, that and how it reminded me of sticklebricks!

It was much less like a sticklebrick when it arrived though. It's made of silicone which gives it a soft, flexible feel, which is just what you want from something you'll be using on your pots and pans. And I didn't mind the orange either, although if that's not your colour it's also available in white, red, blue and green.

It claims that you'll have no more smelly sponges, and let's be fair sponges can get pretty smelly which is why I don't have one. There's one in the kitchen at work and I can't bear to touch it to move it out of the sink, let alone use it anywhere near my mug. Kuhn Rikon say because silicone dries faster it doesn't harbour the bacteria, like a normal sponge does. And to give it a thorough clean you can just pop it into the microwave. Being silicone it's also dishwasher safe and heat resistant up to 260 degrees C.

So how did I get on?

Well, all in the name of research you understand I'd managed to burn something on my frying pan. I can't remember what, but it wasn't shifting and it seemed just the thing to try this on. There are apparently over 5000 silicone bristles on each scrubber - I took them at their word for this!

Using the orange scrubber on my frying pan

So I set to work. And shortly after MOH got in on the act too. He is the master cleaner in this house, so it was useful to have his view. And he approved too.

And now it's firmly positioned in our washing up caddy which lives by the side of the sink. I said before I didn't mind the orange, looking at this caddy it seems I'm not the matching kind of girl I thought I was, more of one that's happy with any colour whether it's lime green, orange or pink - and even the washing up liquid is blue.

And I'm already trying to work out if I could borrow it once a week to take to work to give my mug there a proper clean. As carrying a silicone sponge will be way easier than bringing the mug home each time it needs a clean. And when I take it to work - you see, it's already a when - there's no way I'm leaving it by the sink, as I'm pretty sure I won't be the only one impressed by it.

I never realised that silicone could be quite so versatile, but it really seems to be. Who knew.

This is a collaborative post with Kuhn Rikon, but all views are my own.

These cute vegetable bottle stoppers are relatives of those pretty daisy silicone lids I showed you back in April. They're part of the new Farmer's Market collection by Charles Viancin which features artichoke, tomato and aubergine designs. And like the lids they're 100% air and liquid tight, although I haven't been quite brave enough to turn these completely upside down to check.

I had three empty bottles with those Grolsch-type stoppers, which I always had to think about before opening. Invariably I'd have the bottle the wrong way round or try and move the wrong piece. And so the bottles, which we brought back from France in 2009 full of fruit juice - I know it was then as I've recently found the photos, but that's another story - remained empty.

With my 2016 in 2016 challenge MOH kept pointing at them as obvious contenders to be chucked out, but I was less keen. I knew one day they'd come in handy, and I was right.

artichoke tomato and aubergine bottle stoppers

Vinegar bottles are now easy to spot in the cupboard too.

This weekend MOH prised the Grolsch-type stoppers out of the bottles and after a good wash in soapy water and sterilise in the oven (the bottles, not MOH) they were ready for my vinegar. There's white wine vinegar under the artichoke, cider vinegar under the aubergine and red wine vinegar under the tomato.

It's easy now to see when I'm running low, I thought I'd worked out the perfect way to remember which was which. And it was probably good - red wine vinegar under the tomato, but I was also pretty sure I'd forget quite quickly.

Maybe not as quickly as when I close the cupboard, but probably not too long after. So to avoid all of that - and trying to work out which was cider and which was white wine - I added some handwritten labels, I know it'll make it easier in the end.

And they make me smile every time I open the bottle cupboard which is right next to the hob.

There's lids too

Like the Marguerite daisy range, the Farmer's Market range has lids too. The tomato lid - or couvercle - comes in four sizes ranging from 15cm to 28cm, the one shown below is the largest size which I've used to cover a salad bowl. There's artichoke and aubergine lids too but they're 28cm and 20cm sizes only respectively.

The silicone lids are food grade silicone and ensure an air-tight and water-tight seal which keeps food fresher, can be used outdoors and prevents spills during cooking. I've used this lid in the microwave but it's also hob safe, oven safe and freezer and dishwasher safe. I like them because they're a much prettier alternative to cling film which I rarely use if I can avoid it.

The tomato lids, while giving the same benefits as the daisy lids have one thing that's different. Can you see it between eleven and twelve o'clock, so to speak in the photo below? Yes a small gap in the design which I think you could easily use to hang them up.

So if daisies aren't your thing, perhaps these veggies might be. What do you think?

This is a collaborative post with Charles Viancin but all views are my own.