Heh, I've had three replies to this post so far (here, LJ, twitter), all taking me to task for knocking the garlic press. =)

I've been trying to be a bit more assertive in my writing and cut out much of the "in my opinion...", "I think that...", etc, but my blanket condemnation of single-purpose devices probably took that a bit too far. Really, it comes down to something like a space-to-utility tradeoff: does this tool take up more room in my kitchen than its usefulness justifies? The garlic press isn't worth it to me, but it certainly is to a large number of people.

As an aside, Martin Yan is one of my childhood heroes. I really like the garlic mincing technique he demonstrates here. =)