I know lots of attorneys who also love to cook. As useful as the iPad is in the office, it can be just as handy in the kitchen. There are tons of great cooking apps so you might use an iPad in place of a physical cookbook, or maybe you just want to have a video play on the iPad while you are in the kitchen, or maybe you just want to keep your e-mail open while you are in the kitchen. Just prop up the iPad on a stand in your kitchen and you are all set — until the moment when you need to touch the screen and you realize that you have been using your fingers to prepare food. You don't want to get cookie dough on your iPad screen, but you also don't want to take the time to wash your hands every time you need to tap or swipe.
The Chef Sleeve is a great solution to this problem. This is a thin, plastic bag that is a perfect fit for a first or second generation iPad. The Chef Sleeve is thin enough that the iPad has no problem recognizing your fingertips, but it provides some protection so that anything on your fingers just gets on the Chef Sleeve, not the iPad itself.
The Chef Sleeve is almost invisible when it is on your iPad; it just makes the screen a little more shiny. I used a flash when taking this picture which makes the Chef Sleeve more obvious, but remember that you won't see it nearly as much in actual use, which is a good thing:
When you first take a Chef Sleeve out of the box, there is a flap on one side. You slide your iPad in the sleeve, then remove a thin white strip to expose a sticky part on a flap, then you fold the flap back over the iPad. This creates a seal to protect the iPad in the Chef Sleeve. It's not water-proof, but it certainly makes it water-resistant.
You can easily open the flap and remove the iPad and then reuse the Chef Sleeve at a later date. The sticky substance on the flap is akin go a Post-It Note; you can remove it and reapply it many times. When the Chef Sleeve gets dirty, you can wipe it off to reuse it, or you can dispose it or recycle it.
You get 25 Chef Sleeve in a box, and the box itself is worth discussing. The box is shaped like a prism, and there are perforated lines on two of the slides. As a result, not only can you use the box to store your Chef Sleeves, but also the box itself can act as a stand that will hold the iPad in the portrait position. It's not the most sturdy iPad stand in the world, but it works in a pinch, and is a clever way to make the box useful.
The manufacturer primarily advertises this as a device to use in the kitchen, but Chef Sleeves can be useful elsewhere. Being the father of two young children who love to use my iPad but who often seem to have sticky fingers, I can definitely envision protecting an iPad in a Chef Sleeve before letting them use it, although I admit that I haven't actually done so yet. The Chef Sleeve website also promotes using the device in a hospital, on the beach, or in any other location where your hands might get greasy or wet. (I'm not sure about beach use, though; how are you supposed to see an iPad screen with that much sunlight?)
I have heard of people doing something similar by just placing an iPad in a gallon size Ziploc bag. That works too (and the thicker Ziploc bag is probably easier to clean and reuse), but the Chef Sleeve is perfectly sized for the iPad, and the thinner plastic is a plus for ensuring that the iPad recognizes your fingers.
The manufacturer sent me some free Chef Sleeves for this review, and I've been showing them to others over the holiday season. The most common critique that I heard is simply that it seemed weird to touch an iPad through a plastic bag. I agree to a certain extent, but that is the trade-off to protect the iPad, and I myself never considered it a major problem. I wouldn't want to keep the Chef Sleeve on my iPad all the time, but in a situation where I want to protect my iPad from food, moisture, etc., this seems like a great solution. If you are looking for quick and easy protection for your iPad in the kitchen or elsewhere, the Chef Sleeve works very well.
Click here to get the Chef Sleeve from Amazon (box of 25 for $19.99).
