Chef Sleeve helps iPads surpass cookbooks

Cracking an egg on your iPad could spell disaster!

​Gadgets that require a million accessories (the cases, the screen-cleaners, the back-up batteries...etc.) are a little exhausting, but as whole shelves of cookbooks are being replaced by their digital counterparts--accessed by an expensive electronic equipment sitting on the counter dangerously close to spattering batter and other cooking hazards--protecting that equipment does seem necessary.

Santiago Merea noticed that his wife loved using her iPad to bake, but she worried about damaging it with flour and eggs. She tried covering it with plastic bags that were too big or too small so Mera decided to create Chef Sleeve, custom-sized, clear plastic sleeves to protect iPads. Now Mera (who, interestingly, is the brother-in-law of Michael Tankenoff, creator of the Funtoxication iPhone app) is using his Minneapolis-based product design company to market Chef Sleeve for use in the kitchen--or the beach or wherever else the gadgets might be exposed to perilous substances.

The Chef Sleeves can be recycled or wiped clean and reused and come in a package of 25 for $19.99. Surely it saves the hassle of washing and drying your hands every time you want to give the screen a swipe or tap, but is Chef Sleeve enough of an improvement on more inexpensive options--Ziplock bags, Saran wrap, a permanent protective cover, etc.--that it's worth an order?

Have any iPad-using cooks found drawbacks with those methods (i.e., diminishes machine's touch-sensitive functionality) that you'd consider ordering Chef Sleeve? Feel free to weigh in on the comments.