Decanting oil from a big tin into a bottle by the hob is one of those jobs that sounds simple until you try it freehand. Half of it goes in, a slick runs down the outside, and the worktop stays greasy for the rest of the week. The same goes for topping up a pepper grinder, filling a water bottle with a narrow neck, or getting leftover soup into a flask.

A funnel solves all of that, obviously. The reason most of us don’t use one is that a rigid plastic funnel is awkward to store and ends up rattling around at the back of a drawer, if you own one at all.

Why collapsible ones get used

The KongNai Kitchen Funnel Set is four silicone funnels, two large and two small, in red, orange, blue and green. They pull open into a cone when you need them and squash flat into a disc when you don’t. The listing claims all four flattened take up less room than one ordinary funnel, and each has a loop so you can hang them on a hook.

That storage trick is the whole appeal. If it lives somewhere you can actually reach, you’ll grab it instead of risking the freehand pour.

What’s handy about having two sizes

The small ones suit bottle necks: oil, vinegar, homemade dressing, vanilla extract. The large ones are better for dry goods like rice, lentils or sugar going into storage jars, where a narrow spout would just clog. Having a spare of each size helps too, so the one with oil in it can sit in the sink while you use the other for something else.

Where they fall short

Silicone is soft, so these flex if you grip them hard while pouring, and you’ll want to hold the rim lightly or rest it in the bottle neck. The listing gives a heat range of -40°C to 250°C, which covers warm stock, though I’d still let anything boiling cool a little first, since a wobbly funnel full of very hot liquid is asking for trouble. Oil leaves silicone a bit tacky if you only rinse it, so a proper wash with washing-up liquid (or a run through the dishwasher, which the listing says is fine) is worth doing.

None of that puts me off. For what they are, they do the job, and the KongNai set is here on Amazon if your worktop could do with fewer oil rings.