A folding digital kitchen scale that uses kinetic energy to help you go battery-free

If you don’t always measure ingredients in the kitchen, you might want to get a scale that doesn’t take up space or even needs batteries when it comes time to use it.

There are many things we take for granted until we realize we need them, and they are nowhere to be found. That goes for pens, blank sheets of paper, working batteries, or kitchen scales. Of course, these are also easy to purchase and keep, but you might not always need them all the time. One kitchen scale is designed to stay out of the way when you don’t need it and just work when you do, without having to worry whether it still has a battery inside when you need it the most.

Design: CASO

Kitchen scales come in all shapes, sizes, and designs, both the analog kind as well as more modern digital ones. In almost all cases, they take the same rectangular or circular plates that can take up precious shelf space. Digital scales, of course, also require power to function, mostly from batteries.

CASO’s Kitchen Ecostyle throws all that down the drain, so to speak. You might not even recognize it as a kitchen scale because of its unconventional design. It looks almost like a fat rectangular compass or protractor, with one leg that fans out to the side. This creates a gap where you can securely place a bowl that is too big to balance on the scale’s closed form safely.

Moving that leg also serves another purpose, though. It generates kinetic energy that is used to power the digital scale, at least for a short period. Not only will you no longer have to worry about batteries, but you also won’t have to be afraid of the batteries corroding over time when not in use. You can simply use the scale and then stow it away in a drawer or on some shelf without having to worry about a potential fire or chemical hazard in your kitchen.

The odd shape might need a bit of getting used to, but the benefits outweigh that brief learning curve. The CASO Kitchen Ecostyle’s unique form takes up less space than most other kitchen scales while also providing the power needed to use it. Along with its stainless steel construction, this makes it one of the most sustainable and environment-friendly kitchen scales you’d find in the market.