There are a million cooking tools, appliances, and household goods available to us at the touch of the return button. But which ones are good, which are unnecessary; which ones are worth the money, which ones are outstanding?
Here I recommend my favorite tools for your kitchen, chosen for utility, value, and quality. I receive a small affiliate fee if you purchase using the Buy Now button. But please know these are the kitchen tools that I truly love and use.
This is my favorite knife company, and my favorite set. Truly all you need for anything you do in the kitchen is a chef's knife and a paring knife.
The only other knife you need besides a chef's knife and a paring knife is a proper bread knife. I stick with Wusthof.
Never really satisfied with pull-through home knife sharpeners, I splurged on this electric model. It really works and I highly recommend. Nothing beats a professional wet-grind service, but to keep your knives sharp throughout the year, this is the best choice.
Mom surprised me with a truly remarkable pepper mill. One crank delivers five times the pepper as one turn of a conventional mill. A tablespoon of freshly ground pepper takes but a moment. Best pepper mill I've ever used.
A kitchen essential for most cooks for uniform slicing and julienning. I don't know a single professional cook who doesn't own one.
One of the best ways to improve your cooking and your comfort in the kitchen is to use a large, heavy, wood cutting board. This is the one I use.
While most sautéing should be done in a stainless steel pan, nonstick pans are a must for things like eggs and fish. This is the one I use.
One of the best, most useful sauce pans I own, a 2-quart pan from All-Clad.
Like knives, you need a big one and a little one. I stick with All-Clad because the quality can't be beat. If you need a large, all-purpose skillet, this is the one.
This is the perfect small sauté pan.
A standing mixer is a big-ticket item that all serious kitchens should have. Kitchen Aid makes the best mixers and they will last a lifetime if you treat them well.
This is the Rolls Royce of blenders. You'll find one in any good restaurant kitchern. An invaluable appliance.
When I had to replace our food prcessor several years ago, this is the one I bought. It's perfect.
This 7.25 quart Dutch oven is one of the most useful pots in the kitchen, everything from making stews on the stove top, braises in the oven or even for baking bread..
This 3.5-quart Dutch oven is great for smaller households. A perfect gift for a young couple.
If you're going to mix cocktails that include liquids of different viscosities (a spirit, a liqueur, simple syrup), a proper shaker and strainter (below) are a must.
The best all-purpose strainer for both mixing glasses and Boston shakers.
An elegant mixing glass for stirred cocktails. You'll also need a strainer like the one above and it's nice to have a bar spoon like the one below.
This is what you need to properly stir your cocktails.
This is the jigger you'll see on most good bars. I like the sleek design and easy-to-read measurement markings.
This is my favorite style of jigger, a little less common than the Japanese jigger.
Great martini glasses that don't break!
Almost every time I serve a cocktail in one of these glasses, people invariably say, "Such a pretty glass." It is. It's, like, the perfect cocktail glass.
These go beautifully with the cocktails and Cribbage!.
When we're not traveling, Ann and I love to play Cribbage with our evening cocktail. A reader asked for one we recommend, so I wanted to include it here!
This has been our best friend in the morning for years now. It's a terrific, simple-to-use drip coffee maker. It drips into a thermos so the coffee stays hot without cooking it, the way burner coffee machines do. Good coffee is important!
This is the coffee we love, Peet's Major Dickason's Blend--we it love so much we have a subscription to receive 3 pounds each month. It's the best.
A hand-blender is a fabulous tool in the kitchen whether for pureeing, beating eggs, making vinaigrettes. This model is half the cost of most hand-blenders and I like it because the blade is low which makes good for making mayonnaise.
Whether I want to use the juices and not the fat, or just the fat to make a roux, I love a good fat separator.
Scales make cooking, especially baking, so much easier, cleaner and more accurate. This is a great, heavy duty scale, you'll find in a lot of professional kitchens. Worth the money if you use a scale often and have the room in your kitchen.
If you're just starting out using a kitchen scale, try this one. I haven't used it, but the price can't be beat and scale technology is not complicated so I'm sure it works for most home needs. And that's true for just about any kitchen scale, so choose the one that looks right for you!
A must for any kitchen for zesting fruit, nutmeg, hard cheese.
We store our salt on the counter in these--makes it easy to grab the kitchen's most important ingredient while you're cooking.
A solid, all-purpose water kettle. I use this almost daily for tea. It's also great for quickly heating water to add to soups and stocks that are over reducing (rather than adding cold water).
When my oven went out in my tiny NYC apartment, I bought this and it works great. Can roast a whole chicken in it. I now store my pots and pans in the unworking oven.
I love that these are excellent ladles that also serve as measuring devices.
These are essential in the kitchen, not only for measuring but also mixing and storing food in. Batching cocktails? Use these!
Every kitchen needs solid, reliable measuring spoons.
Ann loves a smash burger--so I bought her this last Christmas. Love it.
One of the most versatile tools in the kitchen.
An easy way to strain sauces and stocks, or anything for that matter.
This is great for straining larger quantities of stock and refining creamed or pureed soups
This is the sous vide device I use. Love that I can control it with my phone.
Good whisks, or whips if as they're called in restaurant kitchens, are essential
Sturdy tongs are a must (not the flimsy ones with silicone grabbers). You should be able to pull a sauté pan from the oven with your tongs.
These are what I use in my little NYC kitchen.
I relie on this for cooking standing rib roasts and perfectly rare beef tenderloin.
A good instant read thermometer is a must.
Budget pick for a reliable instant read thermometer.
A good all-purpose meat grinder for sausage making and all grinding.
A crank stuffer is the best way to stuff sausages.
Unless you're deft with a sharpening stone, this is the best way to keep your knifes sharp. (Dull knives make cooking dull and more difficult.)
I recieved this as a gift, and it's been a game changer. I do not like to drink luke warm coffee. This keeps it hot. And a large cup of tea in the afternoon, stays hot.