Nearly everyone with even a modicum of cooking experience has struggled to separate two bowls that are stuck. It always seems to happen at the most inconvenient time, such as when the bowl is needed immediately in order to remove something from a hot pan.
There are a number of reasons why stacked bowls tend to stick. Similarly sized bowls frequently become mechanically jammed together when stacked. Bowls having different temperatures frequently stick when stacked because the bowls expand or contract at different rates as the temperatures equalize. Bowls also stick together when the weight of upper bowls in a stack force lower bowls in the stack into even lower bowls. In other cases a vacuum can be created between bowls such that the suction holds the bowls together. Bowls also get stuck when different shapes of bowls are stacked or when bowls made of different materials are stacked. In short, there are a number of reasons why bowls stick or jam together but, regardless of why they stick, it is nearly always maddening when it happens.
People have been known to employ a number of means in order to separate stuck bowls, some of which are extreme. The more moderate of these means range from smartly tapping the bowls on a counter in the hope that vibration will jar them loose to using an instrument, such as a knife or screwdriver, to pry them apart. It is not unusual when frangible bowls are stuck together for one or both of the bowls to be broken in an attempt to separate them. When metal or plastic bowls are stuck, efforts to separate them frequently results in bent edges or scraped surfaces.
A prior art method of preventing stacked bowls from sticking is to place a flat disk or similar object, such as a napkin or towel, in the lower bowl before stacking the upper bowl. Although this method works, it is not the best solution to the problem of bowls sticking together. While the problem of one bowl sticking to another may have been resolved, the new problem of preventing the bowl from sticking to the object inserted between the bowls must now be overcome.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a convenient device that can be used to stack bowls so they will not stick to each other or to an object inserted between them to prevent such sticking.