I have used this particular lame (pronounced: 'lahm') for over two years and love it. As a home baker, I have tried using different knives and razor blades to slash my loaves, but nothing had all of the features which I was searching for.

It uses a standard, replaceable double-edged safety razor (the type which you can buy at any drugstore) and has a protective cover. It is made of food-grade plastic in France, and has a metal rib that can be bent into any curve which you might like (for creating little "scalloped" effects, etc.). This is the absolute best means of scoring bread.

My wife and I both work long hours, and getting dinner on the table can be a challenge. Often our window for doing so may be as little as 15-20 minutes from the time we walk in the door, otherwise the kids will start to get hungry and have a hard time settling down to eat. In the past year we’ve missed that window more often than I’d like, and if we have a half an hour or more of cooking ahead of us, we’ll usually end up ordering instead. In addition to being less healthy overall, this can cost us around $30-$40 per meal over the cost of what we would have paid for ingredients for dinner, even buying top quality ingredients at the farmer’s market.

At $400 the Sous Vide Supreme is pricey, but if it can prevent us from ordering out even once a week, it will literally pay for itself in four months. We used it five times in the first week.Time will tell if this is a novelty effect, but so far I’ve been overwhelmingly thrilled with the results. There’s been a lot of focus on 30-minute meals, but for a busy working parent or two, that can be an eternity. Pair the Sous Vide Supreme with a rice cooker with a timer and a microwave vegetable steamer and it becomes possible to get a completely freshly cooked dinner on the table with minimal work in less than ten minutes. Even without going to that extreme, it significantly cuts the amount of stove time required for a “regular” meal. It’s completely changed the way I look at preparing large portions of food in advance.

Sous vide cooking is actually pretty simple. You seal the food in a vacuum bag (like a Foodsaver bag) and then cook it in a precise temperature water bath at very close to the temperature you want the final product to be. When the food is done (at minimum, enough time for the middle to reach the equilibrium temperature), you take it out of the bag, sear it in a hot pan if needed (most proteins will benefit from a little browning to develop more flavor, but they really only need about 30-seconds per side in a very hot pan on the stove), and serve it right away. If you leave it in the water bath for a few extra hours, it’s no problem; the texture of some food will break down after an extended period of time, but for the most part, it’s hard to overcook things (fish and eggs are two exceptions - they’re more finicky about timing, but that still buys you a margin of an hour or two over). Because you can set the Sous Vide Supreme at 1-degree increments and it will stay at pretty much exactly that temperature, you can get exquisite results with very little effort, and if you get distracted, it’s no problem.

Sous vide cooking certainly requires some planning ahead - it’s not for quick dinners unless you start early, but you don’t have to really figure out how early to start - putting the bag in before you leave in the morning is just fine. It’s also a huge psychological boost, because when you get home, dinner’s already on the way to being cooked. When all you want to do is sit down after a long day and the kids are hungry, it really helps to have things already started.

We’ve done chicken breasts, steak, 30-hour country style pork ribs, carrots in butter - all pretty perfect. Soft boiled eggs and pork chops deserve special mention. Eggs do completely different things in sous vide, because the yolk actually cooks at a lower temperature than the white, and so it cooks first. A soft boiled egg in sous vide gets you a creamy but cooked yolk and a runny white. It’s strange, but entirely delicious. Hard boiled eggs were a little off, because cooking at a high enough temperature to set the white actually overcooks the yolk a little bit. I prefer 8-minutes in water just off the boil. Big fat scallops came out intensely creamy and tender.

The oven comes with a few recipes with common timings, but there’s little news there if you know what your target temperatures are for regular cooking; steak at 130F, pork chops at 135F, chicken at 142F, fish at 140F, etc… There is no shortage of recipes on various food blogs though some are meant for a more industrial setting. There are some extra safety considerations, but it’s mostly just common sense, and much of it doesn’t come into play in a home setting where you’re not storing the bags for long periods of time. You just have to be careful that you’re dealing with a somewhat anaerobic environment that can breed microbes that usually aren’t a problem in home kitchens. As long as you’re buying quality food, treating it with respect (understanding the rules of heating, chilling, and storage), and eating it promptly, you shouldn’t have any problems.

In short, this device is amazing, and it’s the future. For me, it fulfills every convenience promise of the microwave and the crock pot, neither of which I’ve ever been happy with from a culinary perspective. There is a small consideration of the extra waste in plastic bags, but I balance that against the amount of waste generated from takeout, which is far greater.

I can’t recommend it enough.

Over the past few years I've experienced everything from burnt caramel to undercooked turkeys and overdone steaks because of crappy thermometers. Most were either slow, inaccurate, or both, and it made for imprecise cooking.

I left that all behind a few months ago when I started using a Thermapen digital thermometer. It's fast, accurate (within +/-0.7 F), and tough (the newer models are splash proof, just don't fully submerge it). It turns on the instant the stainless steel probe is flipped out, and is ready to read in three seconds. It's got a professional thermocouple, and if you ever find it's become inaccurate (you can test with a glass of ice water, or a geographically determined boiling point) they'll calibrate it for free.

The quick reading time means that there is no need to leave it in the oven (or leave the roast out of the oven for that matter). My old $10 thermometer took 30-seconds to stabilize, which, when cooking a nice piece of steak, is the difference between perfectly cooked and over-done. Not only that, but the narrow probe is far better at determining the temperature of thinner cuts of meat without leaving gaping holes.

While it may seem like an extravagance to most, I've found this thermometer to be an essential cook's tool.

After reading the previously reviewed Wild Fermentation, I ended up getting this Polish-made crock pot. It has a lip you fill with water to keep unfriendly bacteria out. Note: If you want weight (recommended), get the 20-liter stone weights, not the smaller ones. Anyway, sauerkraut (great for digestion) is composed of: cabbage and salt, nada mas. Simple! First batch worked great. Centuries-old low tech.

For 30-years we had an electric stoneground flour mill. It finally gave out and I got a steel-ground mill, and is it great. I realize that stoneground is the better way to go, but the new mill is so fast (20 times faster), and a joy to use.

We're grinding most of our own flour for bread, etc. We grind organic California short-grain brown rice for cream-of-rice cereal. Easy to cook, delicious (a little butter, dark sugar, milk), and it's a meal of freshly ground whole grains. I also use it to grind whole oats (called groats) into flour to make sourdough pancakes. No wheat. They're delicious, and thanks to the sourdough, chewy. Fresh ground whole grains. Easy to do.

You've got chicken guts all over your hands, how do you wash up without contaminating the soap dispenser and eventually cross-contaminating all your food? The simplehuman Sensor Pump solves the problem by dispensing soap hands-free. Pass your hands under the sensor and you'll receive a quick squirt of soap.

The amount dispensed is adjustable to accommodate deferring viscosities of different soap products. An unexpected benefit is you'll likely find yourself using far less soap than you're used to using. It only takes a tiny bit to be fully effective, an amount actually difficult to apply using other dispensers or directly from a bottle. I take comfort in knowing what I'm spending on batteries (they last about a year), I'm saving on soap.

There's also an option for continuous dispensing in cases where you need more soap than usual, such as washing dishes.

The technology is not without one minor problem. Direct sunlight can prevent the sensor from detecting your hands. In locations where that happens occasionally, shielding the sun with one hand while activating the unit with the other gets around the issue.

The company makes several models, some smaller, some larger and in different colors to match your décor. The pump is also useful in the bathroom, another location where cross-contamination is an issue.

Dishwasher racks are made of cheap metal coated in a thin layer of plastic.  Over time, that plastic gets worn away and the metal beneath quickly rusts. Your dishwasher rack looks old and shoddy, and soon your spouse is demanding its replacement. You COULD replace the rack. However, try calling the manufacturer and you'll find the price for replacing the dishwasher rack is outrageous; most are well over $100.

For less than $10, Rerack is a plastic coating you can just brush on to restore the plastic coating.  It comes in a 1-ounce bottle with a brush built onto the cap and is very easy to use. Just paint it on where the rust is showing through and let it dry. It is dry to the touch in about half an hour, but you should wait overnight to use the dishwasher.
Here are a couple of tips:

1.  Don't get it on your hands. It drys quickly and is difficult to remove.

2.  If you've got a lot of those stick-up tines on your rack that all have the tips worn down on them, I found the easiest way to get a good result was to suspend the rack upside down about a foot over some newspaper. Then just hold the bottle upright under each of the spikes (which now point down) and raise the bottle up, dipping the end of the spike into the bottle. You can quickly go from spike to spike that way and by dipping you ensure a fairly uniform coverage. Gravity helps the end form as a nub of thicker coverage at the end as well, which has proved very effective.

The product is white, so if you've got a colored rack you just have to deal with that, but it is better than rust showing through.

By the way, I know there are many other plastic-dip products out there, often cheaper by volume, for doing things like dipping tool handles into and so on. Those may well work for this application, but Rerack is purpose made to withstand the environment inside that dishwasher. For under $10, it's worth the price.

I've been using these little Norpro silicone pinch bowls for about a year now. I picked them up on a whim at the grocery store and they are now easily one of the most useful and well loved items in my kitchen. Tiny, colorful and versatile with a seemingly never ending number of uses.

My family uses them for prep work in cooking (their intended lot), but also as dipping cups for any variety of condiments. I also use them to hold small servings of dried fruits or nuts to snack on, to hold screws in while doing simple housework, to mix spice blends in or when I need to ingest small amounts of liquids for taking medicine. They're flexibility of form allows them to fit into tight spaces and their durability allows them to be used without fear of breakage or wear. They are simply more attractive, versatile and easier to use than other small bowls of their small size.

We use these wine openers in the tasting room at our winery, as well as at home. They work. Better than everything else we have tried. We've been through most all the types out there. Some of our baby-boomer staff have arthritis and find that the "rabbit" openers are unusable, not to mention clumsy even for the most deft of hands. They also take up too much room and require an inordinate amount of force. The two step feature of the double-hinged model saves broken corks and sore wrists (we open 30-40 bottles of wine in a shift!). We use the bottom of the line version, but it is still very well made. It has a Teflon coated worm that far outlives the "rabbit" worms; sharp, easy to open, easy to use foil cutter, and tight hinges throughout.

They even work well with the accursed synthetic "corks". After engaging the worm, use the shorter of the two fulcrums to start the cork out. If the closure is stubborn, move your grip on the handle to the very end, increasing your mechanical advantage. After you start the cork moving, switch to the longer fulcrum. The Spanish manufacturer Pulltex makes some pricy elegant wood/chrome/brass models that I have not tried. And per the manufacturer's web site there are forgeries on the market. Caveat emptor.

When you take that 10-year-old bottle of wine to your favorite restaurant, and the cork disintegrates upon pulling it out, how do you separate the cork bits from your wine? With a wine filter.

This small wine pour spout has a filter at its base to separate the cork bits from your wine. Small, portable, and cheap. It also has a cap in case you don't polish off the bottle.

I've always thought that autoclave gloves would be tremendously useful tools in the kitchen despite only ever using them in the lab.

For one thing, almost all oven mitts are just that; mitts. They're unwieldy and often so thin you can't pick things up for more than a couple seconds before the heat passes through the material.

Autoclave gloves also allow for a vastly greater degree of articulation. They come in pairs and have individual fingers. And they stand up to heat (up to 450 F, or 100F more than the Ove Glove) really well, too. I've picked things up that were fresh out of the autoclave, so just a step below boiling, and even though I was holding a one liter glass flask full of completely scalding water, it was a good ten to fifteen seconds before the heat coming through the gloves started to get anywhere near uncomfortable. And unlike the previously reviewed Ove Glove these autoclave gloves protect your forearm as well.

My point is that these gloves are perfectly made for grabbing things out of the oven without having to worry about fumbling the pan because you didn't get a good grip with the mittens or because it got so hot you had to set it down immediately.

We have had a Dualit toaster for the past 5 or 6 years, and to this day, it works perfectly. My parents have had their Dualit toaster for at least 15 years, and it still works perfectly, too. These machines are manually-operated with levers (to move the bread up or into the toaster slots as it doesn't pop up with a spring), switches (to choose whether you have one or more of the slots heating) and dials (the clockwork timer to decide how long you want the elements to remain on), so there is nothing to go wrong, digitally. And if the heating element fails (something I've never heard of it doing), they are easily replaceable. The toaster we own is a 2-slice unit. You can also get them in 4-slice units, and you can purchase a basket for sandwich making that fits into the nice, wide slots for the toast slices. We have this sandwich basket, and use it often.

The Dualit isn't a cheap toaster, but it's well worth the investment. When our last "normal" toaster quit several years ago, my wife refused to purchase another until we could afford the Dualit. While they normally ran about $200 for the 2-slot unit, she found one on clearance in Kitchenkaboodle, and snatched up the last one they had. We've never looked back, and we've never regretted our purchase. The only thing my wife says she'd change is that, if it had been available on clearance, she would have purchased a red one. As it is, ours is dark blue. It still looks great!

Beware of look-alike imitations! If it's got spring-loaded slots, it ain't a Dualit!

I have used these cups for about two years and they are far better than other measuring cups because you can measure the amount from the top while filling. You don't need to stop and look from the side. This is achieved via a patented angled surface with clearly marked volume indicators. It is a simple, unique, improvement to something I use all the time!

I bought one of these large sculpting tools (used in ceramics for ribboning, fleshing, etc.) years ago and it hasn't left my kitchen. I found mine at one of the big box craft stores, but you can find one at Kemper as well. The ovoid blade is fantastic for deseeding and deveining peppers (like jalapeños), hollowing out eggplant and cucumbers. And it's become my go-to tool for pumpkin carving.

-- Benjamin Ellison

I had forgotten just how useful my box full of ceramics tools has proven over the years, with some of the most useful and kitchen-friendly including the following:

Wire clay cutter that is great for cutting large cakes.

Cleanup tool that works better than most potato peelers at getting eyes out of potatoes.

Finishing rubber which I use to clean up flour-cemented surfaces and is similar to the previously reviewed Norpro Deluxe Scraper.

-- Oliver Hulland

I have dozens of tools and gadgets in my kitchen. Years working in the
restaurant and catering world left me with an inventory of items that
I bought for this job or that party. Some were quite expensive and
most were probably only used once or twice (I'm looking at you, Mother
of Pearl Caviar Spoon!).

But there's one tool that cost me less than $2.00 at a restaurant
supply store over 10-years ago that I still use on a fairly regular
basis, at least during the summer. Anytime I need to core a tomato or
hull a strawberry I reach for my Tomato Shark.

It's a simple little metal spoon with sharp teeth that digs into your
tomato or strawberry, removes the core or hull cleanly, and leaves you
with just the fruit to work with. Unless you have super sharp knives
and great paring knife skills you are probably used to coring a batch
of tomatoes for sauce being a time-consuming and sometimes messy job;
the Tomato Shark makes this job easy, tidy and quick.

This is one of those items where you should buy the actual Tomato
Shark brand. I've found similar items just don't hold up over time:
the teeth get dull quicker, and you just don't need to spend the extra
money on a fancier version (unless you have problems with your hands
and need a plastic handle for ergonomic reasons).

One Amazon reviewer called it the "sharpening tool of the century." I won't argue. My knives have been getting progressively duller over the years but I'm not about to try to sharpen them myself with a stone, nor am I taking them in anytime soon for expensive professional sharpening. I've been content to use them as they are. Then I came upon the Accu-Sharp somewhere and read the Amazon Reviews and decided to pony up $9.10 for one.

Amazing would be an understatement for the ease of use once I figured out I was doing it backwards. I cannot recommend this tool highly enough after seeing the results obtained from a few swipes of the device along the blade. There are probably many who would tell me how I'm wrecking my knives (Henckels 5-Star) by using a $10 sharpener, but you know what? There's an Arab proverb for that: "The dogs bark, but the caravans move on."

-- Joe Stirt

After reading Joe's review I ended up ordering an Accusharp to see if I could magically improve my inherited collection of dulled knives. Some of these knives had so little edge that they would turn tomatoes into a mushy watery mess on a cutting board.

After a few swipes with the Accusharp I could cut tomatoes into perfect slices, and it took a measly 15-minutes to clean up the edge on almost every knife I own (it even worked on my breadknife!).

The sharpener is a simple device built around two pieces of carbide that form a "V" in a plastic handle that when run along a blade shaves the edge to a sharpened point. Unlike a whetstone, the carbide pieces will eventually wear away and lose their ability to produce an edge, but the Accusharp is designed so that the carbide can be flipped or replaced. I've had mine for three-months and see no sign of wear, and Amazon reviewers say that they get a few years of sharpening before they need to replace the carbide.

For $10, this sharpener was able to rejuvenate most knives in my kitchen. The few it couldn't sharpen were blades that had been bent or misshapen beyond simple repair.

-- Oliver Hulland

This 18 oz Thermos water bottle is terrific. It claims to keep beverages cold for 12-hours, and often I'll find ice in the bottle from use the day before. It features a wide mouth construction which makes it easy to fill, even with ice cubes. The cap sports a nifty hinged pop-up top that can be opened and closed with one hand and doesn't require removing the lid. It offers an adult "sippy cup" spout. It also features a safety latch to insure no spills during transport.

The stainless steel does not sweat so it won't leave rings and the rubber mid section grip has a good "hand feel". It's great for the gym, the beach or the car, and fits most cup holders. For liability issues, it's advertised for cold beverages only, but many of the BB reviews say it work just as well for hot beverages.

It is perhaps the most stylish and utilitarian product I use on a daily basis. At $15 on sale from both Walmart and Amazon it's a little more than a standard steel water bottle but it offers so many features it's well worth it. I have two, and will probably get several more as the summer progresses. All in all,it's one of my favorite things, and its hard to keep it out of my kids hands

This electric wood-smoke grill is by far the best purchase I have made in a long time for a number of reasons.

Since this grill is electric powered, I can legally use it on my apartment patio because there is no open flame. The grill works by slowly smoking wood pellets and using the heated flavored smoke to cook the food. It is small enough to fit on my patio, yet still holds plenty of food. It can hold two full racks of ribs with some space to spare if needed.

The quality of the grill is superior to others I have used, and the customer service is amazing. Technical support is open 7-days a week if you are ever having issues with the grill. I called them on a Saturday afternoon to troubleshoot connecting the grill to my car at a tailgate. The guy walked me through everything, and saved the day. I was making chicken wings and burgers for about 15 people. The grill fits comfortably in the back of my SUV, and has wheels on the bottom for easy transport.

Lastly, the food is amazing. Cooking with smoke has changed the way I look at grilling. The food usually takes a bit longer to cook, but once the grill is firing on high, burgers can be cooked in 10-15 minutes. And for things such as chicken, ribs, and brisket, you can still cook low and slow. Honestly the chicken that comes off my Traeger rivals any I have ever tasted.

This grill has opened me up to a new hobby and gets me excited to cook. I will more than likely upgrade to a larger model when I have more space, but I will always have a Junior because of its mobility and size. I got mine on sale for $375. I would have paid $500.

I happened across this Cool Tool at the local library, and the subtitle ("Everything you need to know about setting up and cooking in the most ridiculously small kitchen in the world: Your own") caught me instantly. The cute cover suggests charm over content, but the book itself doesn't waste a paragraph. It's pithy, insightful, inspiring, and entertaining.

Justin Spring grew up on a boat, with a kitchen even smaller than mine -- essentially a camp stove, an ice chest, and a bucket. He has huge insight into the problems of small kitchens, including the 'shut-off point' where clutter stops most food preparation and the local takeout place gets a lot of business.

He is not hesitant to make solid, practical suggestions, and includes websites for sourcing. He weighs in on everything from the best tool cabinet to repurpose for a kitchen, to the best sources for cheap, lead-free, by-the-stem crystal.

This is a truly holistic guide to getting the most possible use and enjoyment from a tiny kitchen. It includes 100 recipes tailored for the small kitchen ("one-pot, toaster oven brownies").

I have only had this book for a week, but it has inspired one full day of kitchen cleaning (!) and doubled the number of meals I eat at home. It is not comparable to anything else I've seen, either on the web or in print: no glossy photos of gleaming granite countertops, no vague, sentimental, market-friendly prose. The closest thing I've seen was Mark Bittman's guide to stocking a minimalist kitchen, but that was four pages and this is over two hundred.

If you are struggling with a tiny kitchen and have almost given up on eating at home, this book is a lifesaver. If you want to eat well, eat healthily, entertain occasionally, and generally live like a normal person despite your itty bitty kitchen, I can't recommend it enough.

The Presso is a minimalist espresso maker that requires no electricity or CO2 canisters (like the portable MyPressi). All you do is pack the grinds into the filter, screw in the filter under the business end, pour in hot water, pull up on the levers, and then crank 'em down. The amount of pressure on the grinds depends on how much force you apply. Therefore, if you're an aspiring coffee scientist trying to master precision extraction, this $150 device is probably not for you. The reviews on CoffeeGeek range from ecstatic to "eh" with an overall score of 8/10. My take: If you live off-grid, enjoy car-camping, or simply want a no-frills espresso maker, it's solid.

I'm not a scientist, but I dabble. I own a Chemex, as well as the previously-reviewed Yama Vac Pot. I grind my beans with an antique Zassenhaus. For almost a year, I've turned to the Presso nine times out of ten for churning out a single-serve espresso or Americano almost every morning. The Presso still performs like a champ. Clean-up is a breeze: Dump the grinds, rinse the filter. 

Working from home, I find the process of grinding my beans, heating the water, then cranking out a cup to be a relaxing indulgence. The Presso doesn't require much muscle, but the physicality is a nice bonus. 

At Costco, my wife and I happened upon one of those salesman wearing a headset a-la-Madonna. He was demoing a blender. As we stood and watched, I commented to my wife that all these people were just waiting to try a smoothie; and there was no way this guy would get one of these suckers to pay $350 for a blender. A BLENDER!

But guess who walked out with one? Because of Costco's liberal return policy, we figured it was worth a shot. So for the next month, we used it...and used it...and used it. Every time, I thought to myself, $350 for a blender!? But man, this thing is an incredible MACHINE.

I once believed that a blender only needed two speeds: Off and High. I was wrong. With ten variable speeds, it makes short work of anything and everything we've ever put in it. We use it every single day, often multiple times. The 1380-watt motor surprisingly quiet on low, and a barracuda at high speeds. Clean-up is incredibly quick: Add water, a bit of soap, turn on high for ten seconds, and then rinse and dry.

The 64-ounce Lexan pitcher is amazingly tough. I always figured plastic was plastic, but this stuff is really tough. If you do happen to somehow break it, the company will replace it free of charge through its seven-year warranty. After that, you can simply purchase parts/replacements.

So we extended our 30-day trial to 90-days, since I still thought it was a lot of money for a blender. Ultimately -- after using it EVERY day, usually multiple times a day -- I realized it's worth $350. I hesitated to send this review, because of the considerable expense. Anyone who uses a blender regularly will find this to be the best blender they ever own. My previous $45 blender, which I once thought was pretty good, now sits gathering dust. I've been spoiled.

I've used this manual drip cone for a year now. It adds yet another twist to the seemingly simple task of brewing coffee. I've used the previously reviewed Melitta cone as well as everything from the previously reviewed Aeropress to a French Press.

This drip cone is, well, clever. It combines the ease and cleanliness of drip brewing with the long extraction of french press brewing. The difference is a spring loaded stopper on the bottom of the cone. To brew coffee you add a paper filter, coffee and hot water. Instead of placing the cone over your cup immediately, the spring loaded stopper keeps the coffee inside until you place the cone on a mug to lift up the stopper and drain your brew.

This difference allows you to directly control the immersion time of the brew to your taste. The result is a wonderfully rich and full cup of coffee. Previous versions were lacking one key feature: a lid, and required you to place a plate or saucer over the cone to keep the coffee hot while it brewed. The newer version is perfect with a built in lid.

I didn't think I needed yet another tool for brewing coffee, but I'm hooked on the Clever Dripper now.

--Tim Hollosy

The Clever Coffee Dripper works like the other previously reviewed cone filter drip coffee makers except for one variation: it also acts as an immersion brewer. A simple gasket on the bottom of the Dripper enables the brewer to immerse the water and coffee together for as long as they would like before they begin the process of filtering.

In my opinion being able to control immersion makes for a superior cup of coffee compared to other available methods. I used the previously reviewed Aeropress for several years, and find that I prefer the Clever Coffee Dripper for my daily coffee ritual. I even prefer the cups that I have made to the cups that come out of the sophisticated (not to mention expensive) Clover machines, but that could be my own desire for strong coffee not being met by the barista who uses the machine.

There are different opinions about the amount of coffee, immersion time, amount of water, and water temperature that make the ideal cup of coffee. I find that I prefer a very strong cup, and use less water then recommended per gram of coffee, and immerse the coffee and water together a bit longer than recommended on Sweet Marias. A scale + grinder + clever dripper can get you brewing amazing coffee at a very affordable price point with the added bonus of complete user control over the brewing process.

--Aaron S

I never go anywhere without my portable pepper mill. I have one stashed in my desk and another in the glove box, and still another couple in the kitchen. Trader Joe's sells an outstanding disposable model for a couple bucks, but by far my favorite is the thumb-operated pump mill made by Vic Firth.

The sleek designed cylindrical metal and glass device stands 5-1/2-inches tall, and you can tell from its weight that it's a serious tool. Fill the tube with peppercorns, push the plunger, and presto! Delicious, calorie-free pepper.

Here's the thing about pepper. It improves just about everything: Steamed vegetables, salads, brown rice, popcorn (try it!), cheese, meat. Whatever you're eating, it will get a real pick-me-up from fresh ground pepper. The stuff that comes out of ordinary pepper shakers bears no relation to pepper, and it might as well be cardboard.

I don't go anywhere without my pocket pepper mill. My husband cracks wise that I should have a holster for my pepper mill. Not a bad idea! My son's girlfriend has even taken to calling me "Pepper Mom".

I make at least five cups of tea daily. Some at home and some at work. Over the years I've learned to appreciate nice loose-leaf teas that brew best in a basket that gives them room to "breath." While I'd love to use a beautiful teapot, it's not always practical. The usual solution is these tiny mesh tea balls, but they don't allow the leaves to really expand. There are also tea tumblers with baskets, but I found most of their baskets tiny and hard to clean.

Luckily, I stumbled upon these Finum Goldton Filters. They are perfect for making a single cup of wonderfully brewed tea in whatever mug or cup is around. They have ample room and the tea infuses really well through the fine gold chamber. It's really easy to just spoon the tea in, no wrangling with stray leaves like with a tea ball.

Unlike traditional mesh, the gold walls are very easy to clean and I hardly ever have to pick stray leaves out. They also come with a cap that can allow a stronger brew as it keeps the temperature more constant. I recommend this simple Adobe Air app Tea-Timer to prevent over-steeping. After brewing the cap doubles as a stand for the filter, which keeps it from dripping all over the place. Another advantage of brewing a single cup at once is that I can serve guests any type of tea they want instead of sharing one single pot of tea. I originally got these for work, but I bought some for home and use mainly these instead of a tea pot.

This flour duster allows for remarkably light and even dusting of dough or a work surface. You simply squeeze the wire handle, which expands the spring bulb so that the wires have space between them. Stick it in a bag of flour, stop squeezing and the spring bulb closes around a golf-ball-sized wad of flour. Then, shake it over a work surface squeezing gently -- I tap it over my free hand ala David Byrne's "Once in a Lifetime" -- and voilà: A very even dusting is achieved. I've used this flour duster for five years, and have found nothing else that can compete.

I have had this Volcano stove for 6 months, and I am amazed with what it can do. It allows you to cook most meals (and lots of meat) outdoors without having to purchase a huge grill. Outside of being a grill, the stove is designed to accommodate a dutch oven, large skillet and wok.

One of the stove's best features is that it can use three types of fuel: wood, charcoal or propane. It can also be used as a smoker to boot. Outside of cooking, the stove collapses to 1/3rd its size, has a small footprint and feels really well built. The company, Volcano Cook Stoves, has excellent customer service, and fast delivery. For my money this is the best hybrid blend of high-end grill and hibachi.

We've been searching for an efficient way to store spices for ages. Those rotating towers are too large, and we didn't want to devote kitchen counter space to a separate rack. I finally came across this horizontal filing system on Amazon. It's the perfect solution. The whole thing is sized to fit inside standard kitchen cabinets; the dimensions are 7.75"H x10.85"W x 10.75"D. It takes both large and small grocery-size spice bottles. Also, it comes with labels for the front of the drawers. After several months, my only reservation is that the plastic feels as if it could eventually be prone to breakage at the hinges. Nevertheless, for now, it's holding up just fine.

I am the kitchen staff in our household: cook, dish- and pot-washer. We are suspicious of non-stick cooking surfaces, so all of our pots and pans are steel, enameled iron or cast iron. No matter how much care I take in seasoning pans or paying attention to my cooking, I invariably end up with something stuck to the bottom of something at least once a week. Witnessing my frustration at having to soak, wipe, and then scrape with tools designed to do other things besides remove cooked-on food, my wife said, "Why don't you get one of those plastic scrapers like my mom used to have?" I scoffed at first, never having heard of this kind of thing (growing up as I did surrounded by Teflon).

We found a scraper at an upscale kitchen store and gave it a try. This first scraper (Norpro 239) was cheap and flimsy and visibly wore down over a month of vigorous scraping, but it was still a revelation. Then I found this thicker scraper and I am quite impressed by its simple, sturdy functionality. After almost a year, it's just starting to wear, and it kicks potwashing butt on almost a daily basis. It also comes in fun colors!

Unlike other, similar products, this scraper is significantly thicker in the middle than at the edges, making it rigid in use with a little bit of flexibility where the edge meets the pot or pan; it also has a rounded handle along the top edge (mimicking the handle of a European dough scraper) that fits securely along the inside of your index finger. These two features give it a really nice hand-feel, which is something I appreciate in any tool, even a mundane pot scraper. Its best feature, though, is the gradual curve on one scraper edge and the sharp curve on the other, making it useful for saucepans with rounded bottoms as well as square-bottomed pots or brownie pans.

We bought a bunch of these (they are pretty inexpensive) and will often give one to friends, house guests, and family members who express even the slightest curiosity. The gift is invariably met with a quizzical look, but almost every one we give one to contacts us later to tell us how amazed they are that they lived this long without it.

In spite of my rhapsodic description of this tool, removing kitchen gunk manually always requires elbow grease. This just makes it so much easier. And if combined with the previously reviewed Bar Keeper's Friend (though not good for cast-iron), it's the kitchen-sink equivalent of throwing dynamite into a clogged-up cement mixer: the caked-on mess practically flies off the pan.

Elizabeth Yarnell has developed an easy, tasty, and fast method of one-pot cooking she calls "infusion cooking." More or less, it's the opposite of slow-cooker cooking. The ingredients are layered in a two-quart cast-iron Dutch oven, which is covered and placed in a 450F oven for 45 minutes. I've found that I can assemble one of Yarnell's meals in the time it takes the oven to heat. That makes two servings: one for a couple or, in my case, one for lunch and dinner. Although the recipes in Glorious One-Pot Meals need a bit of spicing up, after making a couple, you get the idea and improvisation is easy.

Yarnell recommends an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven. Although it's not enameled, I've found the Texsport two-quart Dutch oven ($25 at Amazon) to be my favorite. It's pre-seasoned and easy to clean and use. Most of the two-quart Dutch ovens are squat and short. The Texsport is narrower and taller, which seems to work best for this method of cooking (I've tried several different ovens). Plus, when it's filled to the brim, the Texsport is actually 2.5 quarts. The extra room is useful if you're including leafy greens. If you have your heart set on using an enameled pot, I recommend the Staub 2.25-quart round cocotte ($100 at Amazon) instead of the Le Creuset dutch oven ($140), because the Staub is higher quality and better made.

I picked up a pack of these medical-grade silicone rubber bands for cooking at my local commissary. They work well for my original intended purpose of trussing chickens. Since they are made out of silicone they are safe up to 600°F and elastic enough to easily stretch around a 5-lb chicken and still hold the wings tight. And they clean up easy for reuse.

What makes them a really cool tool to me is the fact that while they have the elasticity of a similar sized rubber band they don't degrade like rubber bands. I have had my initial pack for over a year and have found no degradation, the only broken ones were cut. I have used them for many things, lashing together a broken drying rack, bundling together bags, holding mesh filter on a racking cane.

My only complaint would be the price. I found them for $5 a 20-pack at the commissary, though online they sell for $10. For this reason I use them when I need a long term rubber band or when cooking. The rest of the time I just use generic rubber bands scavenged from newspapers and vegetables.

My granny bought this for me when I first left for university, and I've taken it with me everywhere since. I love baking, but proper scales are either too heavy or too delicate for my semi-nomadic lifestyle. This cone like cup is absolutely perfect - it measures liquids and dry ingredients like flour, sugar and lentils quickly and accurately, and creates a minimum of mess.

Every time someone wanders into the kitchen when I'm baking, they'll stop and comment on how useful it is. (I swear Tala should be paying me commission; I must have recommended it to several dozen people by now.) It's very light and takes up hardly any room, but it's proved to be surprisingly sturdy - mine's getting a bit battered by now, but it's served me well for years and it hasn't leaked yet. The best bit is that it measures in metric, imperial and cups, so there's no more need for irritating trans-Atlantic conversions.

There are many salad spinner devices out there that do a fine job of shedding water from freshly washed salad greens (like the previously reviewed OXO Salad Spinner), but most are costly and take up a lot of space. None are as efficient, portable or cheap as Spin 'n Stor.

You simply place freshly washed greens in the bag, twist the top of the bag closed, make a fist around the twist and spin the bag vigorously a few times quickly. Water is automatically collected into a reservoir at the bottom of the bag and drains out from a channel running along one side. Works as well as any salad spinner I've ever used.

Both the packaging and the website have excellent illustrations to help you do it right the first time, but it's kind of obvious once you see the bag and there are brief written guides and arrows printed on the bag itself. It's so ridiculously simple that once you've done it, you'll never forget how.

Perfect for travelers because it's just a cleverly designed plastic bag that you can fold up and take with. It stores anywhere, even a pocket or tucked in a corner of a briefcase. Because I sometimes travel on a moment's notice and frequently make my own salads, I keep one stashed in every travel case, tucked inside a small zip lock bag.

The bag can also be used to store the greens. Just fluff the greens in the bag, use a twist tie to close and it keeps greens fresh in the refrigerator much longer than the bags they come in from the market.

A further advantage of Spin 'n Stor that I've discovered is that it can also be used for drying freshly washed fruits and veggies without risking bruising the delicate ones, which would occur in any other kind of salad spinner.

My wife brought home a pair of bamboo toast tongs from a "Pampered Chef" housewares party, and I've been surprised at how useful they are. We have a standard toaster, and also make homemade bread in small pans. I hadn't realized how many times I'd been burning myself on the toaster or what a hassle removing smaller slices had been until I started using these.

I guess I find the concept more useful than any particular implementation as I imagine that the adept use of chopsticks would serve the same function.

Nothing in my entire house so perfectly combines utility, simplicity, sustainability, beautiful design and tradition as my set of inexpensive, generic bamboo steamers.

I use the two-tiered, six-inch set daily for steaming small servings of fresh vegetables (over boiling water in a cheap wok--another cool tool). Potatoes steam to mashable softness in about 12 minutes.

The big twelve-inch set accommodates a whole batch of steamed buns, masses of vegetables, or even a plate of leftovers to be gently reheated--and it's fantastic for carrying pies and cookies to parties, and so much more attractive than plastic ware.

These common everyday items of Asian cookery are craft works of real beauty, with their woven-bamboo lids, their curved and stitched side walls, and their beautifully slatted and fitted bottoms. They darken as cooking heat caramelizes the sugars in the bamboo, but they last a long, long time (I've been using mine daily for four years with no sign of failure), and when they do finally give up the ghost, I can burn or compost them, and easily afford a replacement.

Unlike other splatter screens made of mesh or metal, the OXO is made of perforated stainless steel. This renders it nearly indestructible, even when teenagers are involved.

Two concentric rings center and secure the screen so it stays put on all our pans. Steam easily escapes through the perforations, avoiding sogginess. The sturdy handle folds for dishwashing and easy storage.

Before we found the OXO, a typical mesh splatter screen would last about nine months before inevitably getting damaged. What tends to happen is the mesh comes loose from the frame, either in use or during cleaning. I've used the OXO screen on a near-daily basis for the past year. The OXO splatter screen is so superior, it reinvents the tool.

I first used this bottle scraper twenty years ago while boarding with a family in the Netherlands. At the time, Dutch pudding came in glass jars similar to traditional milk bottles. This spatula was the only way to get out the last drop. Since then, I've thought wistfully about the bottle scraper every time I've tried to get gooey foods, sauces or peanut butter out of a bottle or jar.

Unlike most spatulas, the long handle reaches the bottom of tall bottles. The small silicone head bends to enter small openings, then re-opens inside. The curved head fits snug against interior bottle walls, making it easy to scrape the contents out.

On a recent trip to The Netherlands, I made sure to purchase one for my home kitchen. Of course, travel isn't required. They're sold online at Fante's Kitchen Wares Shop.

Storing food in plastic containers is an imperfect solution. Not only is there the likelihood of the plastic deteriorating and contaminating the food, but it also tends to stain and retain the taste and smell of whatever was last stored in it.

After years of frustration with plastic containers I recently picked up an 18-piece kit of SnapWare Glasslock, a glass-based alternative to plastic food storage containers. As their name implies, the glass containers come with a rigid plastic top that snaps shut with four hinges. This coupled with a durable silicone seal renders the containers leak-proof (something I definitely couldn't do with my old plastic ones). I have biked with one filled with soup and arrived at my destination without a drop missing, and I didn't have to waste another bowl in order to microwave it.

The biggest downsides to this container solution is the expense and added weight. Plastic containers are cheap, near-disposable, and almost weightless. But I'll happily tote the extra ounce or two of glass if it means I don't have to worry about plastics leeching into my now unspilled soup.

The containers themselves are freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe, but are not recommended for the oven. I have read many accounts of people successfully using them in the oven, but I do not believe they are made with the same borosilicate they use in Pyrex, so it is at your own risk.

The 18-piece set is enough for my partner and me, but may not be enough for a family of more than two or three (given how fast some people go through containers). I bought my set at a Costco warehouse where they are sold for quite a bit cheaper than elsewhere. I believe the Container Store has a near identical solution for comparable prices. Finally, for those not concerned about using plastics, SnapWare recently released a near identical product with BPA-free plastic.

My kitchen is on the small side, which means every inch of space must be efficient and tidy. While most funnels are bulky and take up valuable room, this one is compact enough to fit in a studio-size kitchen or be a welcomed addition to any camping pack.

The accordion-style pleats not only allow you to collapse the silicone funnel so it fits neatly even in a shallow drawer. The pleats also allow you to adjust the height and width of the funnel for pouring into various-sized containers.

Since the funnel is made of high-quality silicone, it is dishwasher safe and heat and cold resistant, making it more durable and longer-lasting than plastic funnels. Other potential uses: changing your car's oil or adding washer fluid. If you plan to use it in the garage, of course, I'd recommend getting a second one.

I try to bake by hand as much by hand as possible, because it's a nice contrast to working in front of a computer everyday. But one part of baking I never used to enjoy was the mixing of the dough. At first, it gets all gummed up on the spoon or spatula. Then, once the dough comes together, it doesn't seem as if you're mixing the ingredients so much as pushing a big ball around the inside of the bowl.

For year, I'd seen the dough whisk in the King Arthur catalog. I never ordered it because I thought the wire part looked a bit fragile. I finally decided to give one a try, figuring I'd send it back if I didn't like it. Well, I'm never sending it back.

The whisk's wire is extremely stiff. I've yet to encounter a dough it doesn't slice through with ease. I don't know how much thought went into designing the twists of the wire, but it's amazingly efficient at bringing a dough together. When I made a double batch recently, I was worried I might have given the whisk more than it could handle. Nope. Mixing took no more effort than a smaller batch.

Clean-up is a breeze: Only a little bit of dough adheres to the wire, which is easy to dislodge with a wipe of the fingers. After that, it goes into the dishwasher.

So far, I have the large model, but I'm planning to buy the smaller one to use in smaller mixing bowls. I suspect that once I also have the smaller one, I'll never have to order another, unless it's for a gift. I've seen similar-looking whisks on Amazon for a few dollars less, but I don't know how well they're constructed. King Arthur's whisks have their logo on the wooden handles and feel very, very sturdy.

Everyone knows the worst part about baking bread: Having to clean up the sticky, floury mess from counter tops, bowls, and utensils. The gluey mass refuses to come out of sponges, and gums up anything it touches.

I recently discovered a solution: The netting that onions and other vegetables come packaged in. By cutting up the stiff netting into about 6-inch squares you can make reusable super scrubbing tools. A few bags will produce more than you'll need. When you're finished scrubbing, just rinse off the gunk, recycle the netting, and marvel at your flour- and cheese-free sponges.

This simple plastic cone coupled with a filter is the best tool I have found for quickly making great tasting coffee. I have tried a French press but found the coffee to be gritty and bitter never quite figured it out. Automatic drip coffee makers are expensive and don't provide much control over water temperature, not to mention the amount of wasted coffee when all I really wanted was a single cup. And honestly, I initially picked up this cone because it was affordable when compared to the previously reviewed Yama Vac Pot or Aeropress.

This cone is so simple that it almost defies the need for an explanation. Put a #2 cone coffee filter in and fill it with the desired amount of ground coffee (I use extra-fine), and pour as much hot water over it as you like. You may need to refill it if you like larger cups of coffee. In less than 60 seconds you will have made a fresh brewed cup of coffee that tastes better than any from an automatic machine, or the bitter stuff from Starbucks that's been sitting around all day.

The one thing I don't love about this cone is the need for a filter. Despite that, the filters are cheap and can be found in most grocery stores.

I was really convinced that these cones were the best when I went to Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco and watched professionals make great coffee this way. They use a more expensive ceramic version, but the basic idea remains the same.

Small, simple, easy to clean, and cheap. Cool.

A couple of years ago, I used a Dremel tool to grind off the twin spigots on my espresso maker's portafilter. (Here's how to make one.) The result is called a "naked portafilter" (also called a "bottomless portafilter" or "crotchless portafilter").

Why make a naked portafilter? Four reasons:

1. You can observe the changes in color of the liquid espresso as it comes out of the filter, which is useful for timing your shot.

2. The espresso looks beautiful as it comes out (see some photos here).

3. It will accept a "triple shot" filter basket.

4. It's a good way to learn how evenly you tamped your coffee grinds into the filter basket -- if you did a poor job, the espresso will come on in multiple streams.

I'm not a very good tamper, and often a tiny spray of espresso will squirt off to the side, hitting the counter, the machine, or me. It's a big mess. My friend Kent Barnes, also a naked portafilter enthusiast, suffered the same plight, but unlike me, he did something about it. He found a silicone cupcake liner that fits over the filter basket and cut a hole through it. Now the errant streams are reigned in, without losing the benefits of the bottomless portafilter.

Kent bought his silicone baking cups at Daiso (a Japanese "dollar" store chain), but any silicone cupcake liner with a top diameter of approximately 3-inches will do. You can trim off the top until you achieve the diameter needed to fit the filter basket.

I've always had at least one of these on hand over the last four years. For small amounts of liquid ingredients in recipes, like vanilla extract and soy sauce, it's much easier than trying to fill a measuring spoon to the rim. For mixed drinks, it's more precise than a jigger, albeit a bit slower. If nothing else, it makes a perfectly serviceable (and somewhat geeky) shot glass.

The measurement markings are in fluid ounces, milliliters, teaspoons, and tablespoons. A few different companies make them, and while they're available online for $3-$5 a pop, I've seen them cheaper in brick-and-mortar stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and Target.

It may be a terribly long and unwieldy name, but it is far and away the coolest can opener I have ever used.

Why? The blade cuts into the can *below* the rim so the lid never falls into the food, and the blade doesn't touch the food either. You can use it to open "pop top" lids as well. A can opened with this tool will have no sharp edges. Apparently it works for both righties and lefties (not tried). Best of all you can challenge your friends by handing them the opener and a can and watch them figure out how to use it.

I hate most kitchen gadgets with a passion. Seeing things like an avocado slicer, mango corer, or left-handed inverted egg whatsizinger give me the hives. For the longest time, I prided myself on being able to do the most with the least in the kitchen.

I'm saying all this because I wanted to convey just how hard it was to buy the Smart Stick a year ago on the recommendation of my wife. Normally blenders are hard to clean, bulky, loud, and can only be used for low-viscosity liquids; if the mixture is too thick, the blade just whirs uselessly.

The Smart Stick solves all that. It takes up virtually no space. It is easy to clean. Instead of scrubbing out a blender, you just pop off the Smart Stick's head, so it can be cleaned in eight seconds under running water. It's impressively powerful and can be jammed full force down into a glass of ice to chop it up quickly. Yet, it's still much quieter than a blender. The measuring cup it comes with is also well designed to break up the vortex the blender creates.

The Smart Stick is the cheapest and most basic hand blender I could find. Others come with whisks and choppers and brushed metal finishes, but I think the regular head works just fine. I found that the Smart Stick did 150% of what I've used a blender for and 75% of what I used a food processor for.

It's very versatile. No more "pour boiling hot broccoli soup into blender to cream it, then pour back into pot." You can use the Smart Stick right inside a stockpot on the stove. You can use it on thicker foods because you can stir and mash while blending, continuously bringing new material into the blade as opposed to a stand blender's reliance on gravity to find unblended parts.

Making hummus, salsa, applesauce, and pesto went from "giant mess" to "easy." Making smoothies went from "big production" to "two minutes." Guacamole and whipped cream turn out wonderfully smooth. Margaritas can be made right in the pitcher. Almond butter can be made without too much trouble. I imagine this would also be a lifesaver for making baby food.

There are some downsides: It only has one speed (high!), so you have to be careful and use it in bursts if chopping ice, as it will happily sling iced coffee circumferentially around your kitchen in a ten-foot radius if you get too enthusiastic. You also have to be careful using it with plastic bowls as the metal head can punch through the bowl bottom if you push it too hard. The blade is SHARP. It's not really suitable for use by children (or klutzy adults). If you need to clean around the blade's backside with a finger, REMOVE the head from the motor first.

Again, I really really wanted to hate this thing and didn't buy one for the longest time because I considered it useless. Now it's the only electric kitchen tool that remains permanently plugged in on my counter other than a Kitchen-Aid six-quart mixer.

After screwing around with grocery-store sheet pans for years, I went to a restaurant supply store and bought three plain metal sheet pans (technically "half-sheet" at 13x18, but true "full-sheets" are only used in commercial ovens). I've used them for over three years now, and am totally convinced that they are awesome.

Here's why people buy grocery store sheet pans: they're cheap, non-stick coated, and easily found at the grocery store. And here's what's wrong with them. They are flimsy metal, so they warp in the oven if you use them at high temperatures (over, say, 425F). They come in non-standard size, so you can never be sure that a cooling rack will fit into them. And their fancy-schmancy non-stick coating means that you baby them.

Here's why plain old restaurant-grade sheet pans are awesome:

They're not much more expensive than the cheap stuff you buy in the grocery store. Going from a $7 grocery-store pan to a $12 restaurant-grade pan is a significant percentage markup, but it's only $5. If you have a restaurant supply store near you, you may be able to get the restaurant-grade pans for basically the same price as the grocery-store pans.

They are heavy metal, which means that you can toss them into a 500 degree (F) oven to bake bread on them and not worry about warping. And they don't have any non-stick coating to worry about. I have used my sheet pans for everything from crafting trays to putting them under gardening flats when starting seedlings. No matter how nasty and dirty they get, I know that I can just take a steel wool pad to them and they'll come back to like-new.

You might think the lack of a non-stick coating is a minus, but seriously, you just spray the pan with non-stick or use baking parchment or silicon mats. It's not that hard. Every baker I know backs up "nonstick" pans with non-stick spray or parchment anyway, so it's not like there's any change in your cooking process.

The link below is not to the exact item I own (sorry, I bought it at a restaurant supply store and can't find it online), but it looks like basically the same thing.

So you've decided to make pizza at home. But you quickly discover there's no substitute for a crust baked on brick or stone. No problem: You get a pizza stone! But then you find out that sliding a 12" pizza from a peel onto a 14" stone or wooden board is possible, but just not so easy. After multiple messes, overshoots and fold-overs, you retire the stone. :(

Now, suppose you had a peel with a built-in conveyor belt? The Super Peel is, as difficult as it is to picture, exactly that: A baking peel with a conveyor belt that lifts the delicate, sticky dough from a surface and transfers it onto a board for easy transport.

Place the corner of the pizza onto the peel. Then, slowly retract the peel while pushing the board forward and -- voilà! -- the sticky dough simply slides on. To put it back on any surface or stone, simply lower the board until it touches and reverse the process.

Don't get it? I didn't either at first, but this short clip is worth thousands of words:

More video of the Super Peel in action can be found at Breadtopia.

This tool definitely prevents needless baking and pizza disasters.

These drain screens are a great way to avoid extra visits from the plumber and the use of noxious drain cleaners. I originally bought these stainless steel sink drain screens at an Asian grocery store. They seemed like a cheap solution to a recurring problem in our house: slow and clogged drains.

They perform only one task--prevent particles of stuff from going down the drain--but they've been doing a perfect job every day for the 10+ years I've been using them. I put these screens (which come in varying diameters) on the bathtub drain, bathroom sink drain, kitchen sink drains. We haven't had to snake out our pipes in over a decade or even pour boiling water down them. My husband had been using an industrial-strength drain cleaner before we started using these screens but we no longer need to given their effectiveness. If you use these drain screens and avoid pouring meat grease down your drains they'll function well or as well as can be reasonably expected given their age.

I throw mine in the dishwasher from time to time, or hand scour using baking soda and a toothbrush. These screens don't rust, and have withstood over 10 years of occasional scrubbing. Much easier to clean than the strainer-stoppers with the rubber gasket commonly found with American kitchen sinks.

I received these Coverflex Silicone lids as a gift from a friend who had been using them for years. I think she noticed how much I coveted these clear silicone stretch lids, which grab and seal anything in a mug, bowl, or on a plate. The pack she gave me has 4 lids of graduated sizes: 9, 11, 16, 21 cm diameters.

Finally, a truly airtight seal with a lid that is NONSLIP and infinitely reusable. I use my [lidless] stainless steel work bowls for food prep daily, and had to put a plate loosely over the top to store in the fridge--not so great if you're not into desiccated noodles or your entire fridge smelling like salsa. I refuse to use plastic food film. Ick.

That 9 cm CoverFlex lid prevents your roommate/spouse/children from spilling that half-cup of coffee in your coffee mug, the one you placed so carefully atop that yogurt tub the day before.

These 100% food [grade] silicon lids can be frozen, refrigerated, microwaved and the label further claims that these lids do not deteriorate over time. For longest shelf-life I plan to wash these by hand, though I suppose you could wash them in the top rack of your dishwasher. I am phasing out use of plastics in our food prep, storage and consumption here at home. Goodbye plastic snap-on lids and bowls, goodbye polybisphenols! The Europeans regard silicon as safer, and I'm inclined to agree.

I've used Bon Ami cleaner for a year and a half. I have yet to find something that it won't clean to perfection. I've used it to remove tarnish and other corrosion on metal, wax, grease, glued-on paper, soot stains and permanent marker from nonporous surfaces. It removes engine grease, wet oil paint and food coloring stains from skin, but isn't gritty like Lava soap.

It also works great as a kitchen-cleaner. As it's nontoxic, it is ideal in this role.

After a year of regular use, I'm still struck by how much of an improvement this collapsible colander is over traditional ones. For small apartment or galley kitchens this colander brings serious space savings.

The bowl section folds flat and the legs swing under, clicking into place. When collapsed, the colander is 1.5 inches thick. It can be easily stored upright like a book between cupboard items or behind a counter-top appliance. It even has a hole, if you prefer to hang it on a rack.

Though the colander is compact, it's well-designed. The legs are set broadly apart, making it extremely stable. The tall legs give ample clearance underneath the colander, which can be handy if there are dirty dishes in the sink and the pasta needs to be drained right away. The wide handles offer a solid grip. Also, it's dishwasher safe.

The only benefit to another colander would be volume. I rarely cook for more than a few people, so the 2.5-quart Dexas suits my needs fine. If you're cooking larger portions, I'd recommend one from OXO.

My Aunt Lee bought several of these popcorn poppers and gave them away as Christmas presents over 20 years ago and I am so happy with the one I received that I still use it today.

It makes the best tasting popcorn with very few "old maids" in minutes. Put just a splash of oil in it, add a couple of kernels of corn, turn the stove to Med-High, wait for the few Kernels to pop, add a half cup of popping corn and turn the handle. They seem really cheap because they are made from very thin walled aluminum but that's why they work so well as they transfer the heat instantly.

You get light, fluffy, wonderful popcorn every time and virtually all of it pops. I can make a batch of popcorn during a commercial break and never miss a beat. You use very little oil so it's better for you than that microwave stuff and tastes much better than an air popped batch.

If you enjoy fresh popcorn, the Whirley-Pop Theater Stovetop Popcorn Popper is the best way to make it.

This $5 iPhone app contains all the content of Mark Bittman's original book. Since the information is stored offline, unlike many other recipe apps, you can access it whenever. In addition, there are useful features including a recipe timer, fast searchable index (by main ingredient, cook time, vegetarian, etc.), an emailable grocery list from recipes, and reader-recommended recipes. I have used it almost every day since it was released. It's what a cook book for the iPhone should be.

The Jaccard SuperTendermatic 48 blade meat tenderizer is simply the best tool I have ever found for turning tough but flavorful cuts, like flank steak and skirt steak, from chewy and hard to eat into tender and easy to bite and chew. To use the tenderizer you simply place it over the piece of meat on a cutting board and push down like an ink stamp forcing the blades through the meat. I am a professional chef and serious foodie from Texas, and I simply cannot imagine making either a chicken fried steak or a good fajita steak without it.

I spent years perfecting a marinade for beef fajitas, fine-tuning my seasonings, timing, cooking, and carving. I wasn't satisfied with the finished product until I found the Jaccard tenderizer. I now a have a beef fajita that is tender, delicious and moist. When you take a bite it separates instead of pulling the whole piece of meat from your fajita. Likewise, my chicken fried steak was a real challenge. Traditionally a steak is run through a cuber which "tenderizes" the steak using a pair of rollers with interlocking grids to mechanically crush the steak. In my opinion this method smashes and "mushes" (highly technical term there) the meat without tenderizing. Yes, it does result in a "softer" mouthfeel, but it does absolutely nothing to create a steak that is easier to bite through and chew. The Jaccard, by cutting through the muscle fibers and connective tissue, actually creates a steak that is easily bitten off and chewed without the smashed / mushy mouthfeel.

To be fair, we do use a hammer-style tenderizer to flatten and shape our chicken fried steaks, but without the Jaccard you can pound a flank steak until it falls apart without making it any easier to bite or chew. However, if you smash it flat and use the Jaccard the same piece of meat will fall apart in your mouth. This tool is so superior to the traditional hammer-style tenderizer that I use it on almost every beef, poultry, or pork cut I cook, and I cannot stress enough how awesome it is.

Techni Ice Gel packs are high tech ice packs that are literally very cool. A full sheet is made up of 4 x 6 2" cells with the full size of the sheet at 11"x16". The main difference between these sheets and the usual ice bricks are that they cover a significantly larger surface area, they flex so you can wrap them around things, they occupy less vertical space in the cooler leaving more room for cargo, and they just hold the cold longer. The best part is that they really do keep your items ice cold even after they have begun to soften after a long day. They can be used to maintain a freezer at home in a super-cold state, and can even be microwaved to keep things hot. Another bonus is that they are flexible enough to drape around sore muscles or a sports injury while either hot or cold.

Techni-Ice gel packs arrive completely dry and flat. In order to get them prepped you submerge them into a sink half full of warm water and knead the individual 2" cells for a while, or let them sit for a time after which the cells will swell to a thickness of about 1". After this, you simply put them into the freezer and use them when frozen. Though the gel packs can reach temperatures far colder than traditional ice packs and can be used as a replacement for dry ice (they are usable down to -190C or -310F) in order to get them exceptionally cold you would have to use other methods besides your standard freezer.

I first learned about them from Joe the Fish Man at a local farmer's market in Phoenix. He needs to keep his fish frozen all day in temperatures that reach 110F in the shade and 140F in an enclosed vehicle and he does so with the help of his Techni Ice Gel packs.

One word of caution when buying these online. There are several different models. The type you want to buy are the new three color (blue, red and yellow printing on white background as pictured above) 4-ply full sheets. If the seller does not explicitly specify, find someone who does. Some will try sell older models using outdated technology, disposable 2-ply sheets, and even partial sheets so buyer beware.

The OXO Steel Strainer is the best Hawthorne cocktail strainer I've ever seen. It dispenses with the useless handle, and features a nice little rubber pad to put your index finger on as you strain. It's a joy to use.

I'll still use a julep strainer for any cocktail with tons of floating herbs or fruit stuff, but this is also excellent for straining canned food instead of the previously reviewed Can Colander.

We have two active kids who are experts at breaking all manner of things. We also have been a bit concerned about plastics and, in particular, microwaving food in plastics. These lovely glasses solve both problems elegantly. We've had the Gigone (nested or stackable in French) glasses for about 6 months and I absolutely love them. Although they are “for the kids,” I find that I use them the most. Beautifully shaped and feeling great in the hand, these are my go-to glasses for wine now. Something about the shape, size and heft makes them special. The impressive durability of the tempered glass is a wonderful bonus. They're good for hot and cold drinks.

We've dropped them several times on our hardwood floor without breaking them. I can say that other glasses have broken on our floors, precisely the reason we sought these out in the first place. After 6-plus months of dishwashing, they look brand new. I haven't tried their other glassware, but I have it on my list to try for sure.

You need a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. One that really works well rather than one that looks really good. Most fire extinguishers that easily put out a kitchen-type fire use a mix of chemicals that are not food safe. Cleaning up the sticky powder left after a short blast for even a small grease fire will be quite a chore. The benefit of this new Kidde extinguisher is that this regular 3-pound, high power, dry powder class B/C fire extinguisher is packed with only sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda. It will extinguish fires as well as equivalent models, but the deposit left is not only edible, but a cleaner in its own right. While testing this extinguisher in our kitchen I had no qualms in tasting the discharge: it was indeed just bicarbonate of soda. Put out the test pan fire, too.

I used to buy soy milk from the store in cartons. Aside from the fact it's heavy (I transport groceries without a car), it comes in a tetra-pack, which is difficult to recycle. More importantly, commercial soy milk tends to include a number of ingredients I can do without, like chalk (calcium carbonate) and guar gum.

Unless you really like mucking with cheesecloth and lots of pots covered in soy scum, you owe it to yourself to buy a soy milk maker. After some research, I settled on the Joyoung CTS1048. This "filterless" model is a major improvement compared to earlier soy milk makers. Other devices require filter cups, which tend to get clogged with gummy okara (soy pulp) and are a terrible headache to clean. Instead, the CTS1048's immersion blender head is contained inside a small steel cage. From there, the milk strains through a second, basket-style strainer. Clean-up is no harder than what's required by a food processor.

Since the Joyoung makes 1.6 Liters per run, there's plenty to serve up hot and/or store in the fridge. It doesn't take long either, so you can always run it twice. Plus, it only costs around 15 cents a batch. I drink four times as much soy milk now, so the machine paid for itself in two months.

If you've never had fresh, hot soy milk, the way the Chinese like it, you're missing out; it's rich, foamy and all-around delicious. I always enjoy a warm glass as soon as a batch is done. Bonus: Aside from soy beans, you can add other ingredients. The Joyoung makes excellent coconut milk, for example, which eliminates an often preservative-laden canned good from the kitchen.

During my research, I discovered that most of the more-expensive soy milk makers are just rebranded Joyoung appliances, making the Joyoung the smart and economical pick. This is that rare product I can recommend with no reservations.

As I got more serious about cooking, I splurged and bought myself a very nice Kai Shun santoku­ like the previously reviewed Tosagata Hocho. I used its preternaturally sharp edge with joyous dispatch for about 6 months, until I woefully cut some citrus with it and left it dirty overnight, eroding that wonderful edge. I've never been able to get that magic edge back, even with pro sharpening.

On a visit to a local Asian market, I found a series of Thai-made Kiwi brand knives. In the store, they were nearly free: The large tapered chef's knife (model #21) that soon stole my heart cost around $4; the paring knife was $1.50.

These knives are very sharp and schuss through veggies and meats like it's nothing. Don't go hacking at bones with the thinner models, but Kiwi also makes quite usable cleavers for around $8. The miraculous part is, the knives hold an incredible edge for months with proper use of your steel, and they take a new edge with aplomb after a few strokes on a stone.

I have owned knives by Wusthof, Kyocera, Calphalon, and Ikea (::shudder::) and the Kiwis are the most consistently sharp, most durable, and have the most effective shapes. I've bought or suggested them for all of my foodie friends, and people can't get over how wonderful they are. They don't look like much, but they're well-balanced, very sharp. It doesn't hurt that I could have picked up a full set for less than my crappy block-o-food-manglers cost 10 years ago.

As far as longevity goes, I've had my main chef's knife for about four years, have steeled it every time I used it and given it a few good hones on my Spyderco Sharpmaker. It's still wicked sharp, and while I haven't babied it, it looks none the worse for wear. I used my paring knife to whack the lid off a persnickety glued-shut can of Lyle's Golden Syrup, and in my zeal, the tip bent over almost double. I thought, Oh no! But then I bent it back in place with a pair of pliers, and it's basically good as new.

They're definitely the Jeep Wranglers of the kitchen. I suggest buying them locally if you live in an area with Asian markets; if not, they can be picked up online at generally higher prices.

My daughter loves pickles and has expressed some interest in making her own, so I'm thinking of getting her the Leener's Pickling Kit, which can be used to make either dill pickles or sauerkraut, and includes a 2-gallon lead-free ceramic crock made in the U.S.

After breaking two glass carafes while living in the middle of nowhere, I knew there had to be a better answer to the standard French press. The Frieling is; made of all stainless steel parts, it's insulated and has no plastic anywhere. It is awesome.

Some people think that allowing the grounds to sit in the bottom of the Freieling for an extended period of time (because the water stays hot) will make the coffee bitter. My experience is that it doesn’t. Even if you choose not to let coffee sit in the press for the two hours that it’ll remain hot, the insulation still makes a difference in the initial four-minute brewing period. Though the temperature of the water in a typical glass French press will decrease immediately, the water in the Frieling retains its heat while my coffee is brewing.

The only downside of this outstanding pot is that I don’t get to watch the brewing process. I’ve found it well worth the trade-off. It’s beautifully designed and not easily broken - dishwasher safe, too. I've had my Freiling French press for almost two years now, and the mirror finish still looks great except for a dent or two. It doesn’t scratch easily, and it still looks and performs just like it did out of the box. It’s the best investment for my kitchen I’ve made in years.

What's truly superb about this countertop pail -- aside from its fun design, reminiscent of a classic galvanized trash can -- is that it's made of stainless steel and is dishwasher safe. We fill ours daily with kitchen waste -- messy coffee grounds, used tea leaves, aging cornmeal mush, soggy cucumbers -- but a quick cycle in the dishwasher and it looks almost as good as new. Years ago I used a plastic bucket designed to perform the same task, but it was difficult to keep clean and less rugged for trips to our backyard compost bin (the lid kept breaking). Since it gets banged around inside the house and out, I prefer this stainless steel, one gallon-capacity model to its ceramic lookalike.

Yes, there are many clever ways to repurpose some other household container into a waystation for outbound kitchen waste, but I haven't seen one work as well as this sturdy, ventilated design. The charcoal filters keep rotting smells in check, while allowing for airflow. Frequent trips to empty a simple Tupperware container would be fine, but our bin's about 30 feet from the back door. With this one-gallon pail, we only end up heading out there every other day.

I've had this for less than a month, but have used it to take two pies on a bus out-of-state, and hope to use it a lot in the future. I finally realized: Four or five times a year I schlep some pie.

What it enables me to do: Easily carry two pies at once. Or two casseroles in a square or round dish; or a casserole and a pie. The basket is 12 inches in diameter, so make sure your casserole dish will fit before you buy one.

The tray referred to in the item’s name is a legged, stained, 1/4 -inch plywood board, which sits in the basket over the bottom pie and forms the base for the top pie. The lid is stained quarter-ply as well.

I wouldn't say that my pie basket is necessarily the very best among those available, because I haven't tried any others (the price of this one is among the lowest), but a pie carrier basket is hands-down the best thing for carrying a couple of pies at once.

It's never apparent that it's full of homemade baked goods, and it therefore doesn't elicit stupid observations in public. Also: It's not more plastic to try to store; it's a handcrafted object, attractive enough to rest on a shelf and look good doing it. It would definitely work for two tiers of cupcakes, too.

In 2008, Williams-Sonoma released a line of exclusive All-Clad flared roasters. They are expensive, but well worth it if you use your oven a lot. The unique design makes for very even cooking, especially if you don't have a convection oven. The lower sides give good heat exposure, so you get excellent browning on the underside of roasts. The aluminum core provides outstanding heat distribution.

Last year, I cooked a 27-pound Thanksgiving turkey in the extra large roaster, and I've since used this pan for all kinds of dishes. Since it's basically a very large saute pan, it works great on the stove as well. I've used it to cook a huge portion of mac & cheese (mixing the roux/bechamel right into the pan on the stove). I also use it regularly for large batches of braised lamb shanks and short ribs. The roaster's low and wide design encourages a lot of reduction of the braising liquid, which yields a more flavorful sauce.

Warning: The extra large size is unwieldy. Before buying, make sure it can fit in your oven and sink. Although the curved design makes it very easy to clean with a brush, this size barely squeezes into my sink. Though it's a bit of a beast to handle, it's nevertheless indispensable if you need the capacity.

If the large version also seems a bit much, there's now an even smaller and cheaper version for roasting chickens. This has quickly become my standard everyday pan for most things. It also comes with a suspension arm for cooking a chicken elevated.

I've experimented a bit with the suspension arm. In my oven, which is not a convection oven, breast-side-up is a disaster. Not enough heat reaches the bottom, and the white meat gets overcooked while the thighs stay very undercooked. However, breast-side-down gives outstanding results. Time after time, I've gotten evenly-cooked, very tender and juicy meat with crispy skin. And here's the best part... without adding oil or basting; just salt and pepper or a dry rub. Out of the box, the suspension arm was a little testy: If it's jostled too much, the whole chicken will fall into the pan and it's a bit of work to get it put back up. I was able to fix this by bending the prongs with a pair of pliers. Once adjusted, it yields good results.

Regardless of which size is right for you, these are great roasting pans. The images are pretty deceptive with respect to the size differences and just how big they actually are. It's worth a trip to the store to see which size is best for you.

As much as I like cooking from any of the several cookbooks in my library, I often look for new recipes online. It's not an easy task. I'm amazed at the number of ad-riddled pages I find by Googling the name of a dish. I do have an online subscription to Cook's Illustrated (previously reviewed), and there are a handful of other individual free sites I turn to for recipes and technique info. However, as a research librarian, I'm always keen to execute a search in a manner that maximizes the number of relevant results by querying a specific set of targeted resources. For scientific queries, I use freely accessible databases such as Public Library of Science or PubMed, or I use one of my library accounts to access subscription-based databases such as Wiley InterScience or Elsevier's Science Direct. When I put my home-cook hat on, I approach recipe-finding with a similar set of expectations. Though there's no shortage of recipe information online, there's not really an equivalent set of databases for cookery. Here's a round-up of the best recipe aggregation resources I've found.

Epicurious is my go-to recipe site; I've used it for four years. One of the aspects I like most about it is the user comments. Because the site is older, most recipes have at least a handful of comments, and I've found that most users leave really helpful feedback (usually suggestions for how to scale or tweak recipes). However, it's also very easy to ignore user comments if you just want to stick to the original recipe. I usually cook from printed versions of the recipes (rather than bringing my laptop in the kitchen), and Epicurious offers several options for the size of the printed page, whether or not images are included, and even the option to print a separate shopping list.

Most recipes come from Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines (the site is owned by Conde Nast). Some come from cookbooks published by Random House, with whom Epicurious has some kind of republication agreement, it seems. Some have also been reprinted from other cookbooks, with permission. In addition to the 25,000 recipes from these professional resources, they also boast 50,000 member-submitted recipes. Epicurious is the online food site to beat.

Cookstr publishes recipes by professional chefs, including Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, Jacques Pepin, Michael Recchiuti, Mark Bittman, and on and on. In addition to recipes, the site also provides informative profiles for each chef. Features are fairly minimal, with a video section still under development, but I do like the simplicity of the site. Site registration allows you to save and comment on recipes. Although Cookstr only has a few recipes from each chef, it's the closest thing to a massively cross-cook[book] database I've found. I hope it grows.

I learned about Food52 when the New York Times ran a round-up of new, crowd-sourced food sites. The hook of this site, founded by two food writers, is that every week there's a theme-based competition; after a year of these contests, the winning recipes will be collected in a book. Any registered user can compete in the competitions, the founders select finalists and post slideshows of them testing the recipes, and then users vote for a winner. The focus of the site is the contests, and all recipes submitted for the contests are accessible, but registered users can upload any type of recipe. Although there is a pretty sizable diversity of recipes on the site, I most often use it when I'm looking for inspiration to try something new, not when I have a few keystone ingredients I'm trying to hang together.

Serious Eats is another curated food community with some social features, including a set of forums, and original video content in addition to a large collection of recipes. Recipes come largely from featured cookbook writers and chefs, but also the wider community base (in the forums). It's more inclusive than Food52, because of its forums, and it's more polyphonous because its cast of contributors is quite long and revolving. However, it's less inclusive in the sense that the Recipes section of the site is limited to those curated by contributors (mostly recipes from featured books and chefs).

Foodbuzz is a network of foodbloggers (more than 10,000). They offer a set of services for "featured publishers," including ad management and other perks, as well as several social networking-type features for individual users. Foodbuzz is one of the few sites I've found that actually aggregates recipes from across the web. You can submit links to recipes to be indexed, and you can also submit recipes for direct publication at the site. It displays some characteristics of a curated site in as much as it highlights recipes from members of its featured publishers network, but overall it's quite open since anyone can submit a recipe or recipe link.

Epicurious, Cookstr, Food52, SeriousEats, and Foodbuzz are my favorite recipe aggregators. To reduce my search load even further, I've created a custom Google search engine that queries these sites in addition to a few of my favorite individual sources.

A really great chef's knife is insanely sharp, yet retains its edge easily and feels well-balanced and welcoming in your hand. These days, a decent high-grade chef's knife can cost $100-$200. Several cooking publications, including Cook's Illustrated, recently tested a bargain $30 chef's knife that rated just about as good as the $100-plus knives. It's the Victorinox Chef's Knife; the one we use.

The Victorinox is a hybrid of a thin Japanese blade with a 15-degree edge (western knives have a 20-degree edge), but with the longer, broader blade of European knives. It is lightweight, nicely-balanced, and lethally-sharp. It has a comfortable, grippy handle that won't slip even when wet. There are five cooks in our household. This is the knife they all grab first. It may not be quite as super great as some of the other previously-reviewed chef's knives, but considering the price, it can't be beat.

The Polder timer/thermometer features a 43-inch cord running from the thermometer to the probe, which allows you to take active readings without opening the oven. I really like being able to adjust the cook time or reset the finish temperature on the fly. Plus, there's a magnet on the back, so you can attach the thermometer to the side of the oven.

The Polder also allows you to preset a desired high/low temperature simultaneously. When either temperature is reached, the unit's beeping alarm sounds. It's helpful for remembering to check on liquids and meats. My 8-year-old son has even used ours to check the temperature outside: You can insert the metal probe underneath your window, and it's quite accurate.

The timer, which counts up or down, is very handy for a range of other household uses, such as, "You have three minutes to pick up your room before I come in with a trash bag that's headed for Goodwill!" Best of all, the thermometer is amazingly durable. We've had ours for at least four years and have dropped it many times.

Lastly, it can be set to display in Celsius or Fahrenheit, which proved to be a huge help when we spent some time living in Ireland. I had my American recipe books and was able to use the Polder thermometer to convert temperatures for a Celsius-based oven.

While googling my way around the web in search of a suitable $50-$60 machine to replace a broken blade grinder, I ended up at CoffeeGeek and learned about burr grinders. These little machines are a revelation.

Most lower-priced grinders are not grinders at all; they’re bladed choppers and their output is usually not an even grind of beans, but rather a mix of burnt bean dust and bean bits. A real grinder -- a burr grinder -- produces a true, even coffee grind. The taste difference is startling.

The little grinder that I settled upon, the Breville BCG450XL Conical Burr Grinder, is moderately priced and apparently a good representative of the breed. The machine is slightly larger (11 ¼ x 7 x 5 ¼ in.) than the basic chopper that preceded it, quite stylish, quiet enough (for a grinder), and about twice as expensive.

Ah, but its grind is in another league altogether. I now dial in an exact brew and expect a repeatable, clean, smooth-tasting cup of coffee. Since I'm a dedicated drip lover, I don't really test the finer grind output of this machine, but my guess is that it would be less satisfactory for espresso than what the pricier models produce. The more expensive burr grinders do better at what this machine does well. They produce extremely even grinds over a wider range of grind output with greater tuning of both the quantity and the fine-ness of the output.

For about 20 years, I had a small Donvier manual ice cream maker. It required no electricity (other than the need to store the base in the freezer), and only required mixing every five minutes or so. I could vary the amount of air incorporated in what was a very good ice cream. Finally, the dasher mechanism broke, and I was unable to order spare parts from overseas.

While I'd still recommend the Donvier, I found another manual model that is absolutely indestructible, and also freezes the mix faster. The Midas is an elegant-looking stainless steel double-walled container with freezer liquid in the lid and sides, so it freezes the mix from all sides at once. I scrape and mix only once in 15 minutes, using my Chef'n spatula. The Midas is dishwasher-safe, too. I expect it to last for a lifetime.

Some folks are comfortable leaving out the butter, as-is on the counter for days on end. For those who aren't, but still want the convenience and pleasure of a steady, safe supply of spreadable-yet-fresh butter: You'll love the Butter Bell.

Begin by leaving a stick of butter on the counter for an hour, or just long enough to soften it up. Place the butter in the Bell, then add a little water to the base. This creates an airtight seal around the butter, discouraging bacteria. Voilà! You'll never again be stuck trying to spread rock-hard butter on a piece of toast.

It's a design that's been around in various forms for centuries.

King Arthur's dispenser is a sturdy, reliable container that accommodates a five-pound bag of sugar or flour. You just slide in the bag, open it up, trim the bag top to the top of the container, and put the lid back on. A little flap inside the lid holds the bag open and keeps the sugar/flour from sifting down the sides. When sealed shut, the whole thing is ant- and water-proof. Another practical benefit is that the lid has two openings: One is a pour spout; The other is large enough to allow for scooping with a measuring cup. Since the spout is slightly flexible, I find I can squeeze the sides to crush any lumps or clumps.

Obviously, this is not a sexy matte-black high tech kind of tool. But using it makes me very happy. It's a solid, well thought-out product that makes working with and storing sugar/flour much simpler, easier and cleaner.

I could see the utility of a fireproof glove on a camping trip; I didn't want to take a "spondonicle." Nomex flight gloves looked to fit the bill. But before I could buy a pair, I came across the significantly cheaper 'Incredible Oven Glove' at the supermarket. It's a five-fingered Kevlar and cotton glove that's quite thick.

I used it for adjusting the fire and for handling my billy, utensils and metal cup. The glove worked admirably, giving plenty of mobility. I could hold on to very hot things for long enough for them to cool down without feeling any of the heat. It fits both hands (the one-size-fits-all was just adequate for my large hands). Mine was blackened from soot, but a run through the washing machine when I got back had it good as new.

Be careful, as the glove doesn't protect from hot water and steam penetrates a little. But if I intend to cook again while in the bush, the oven glove will come with me. I haven't used it in the kitchen yet but I see no reason why it would fail to work there.

I first saw this tool 15 years ago, when a friend who's a devotee of good coffee taught me how to use a moka-style espresso pot. Anyone who makes their own coffee -- and especially those who do moka -- knows a fine layer of grounds comes to inhabit the counter space where you fill your coffee pot. The difference between this dispenser and using a spoon is two-fold: the Dosacaffe isn't messy, at all. And it's much more accurate.

Just put the dispenser over the bottom half of the moka pot. Flip the lever 6 times, for a six-cup pot. (If you are having a rough day, bang the base of the pot against the counter to make room for a few more flip's worth of coffee.) Screw the top half of the moka to the bottom half. Make your coffee on the stove, and enjoy.

For 15 years, I have looked for this dispenser off and on, and finally found it at a small general store/online retailer in Vermont, which claims to be the first US supplier of the Dosacaffe. I can say that the thing lives up to its promise: mess-free grounds dispensing, accurate coffee measurements, and the elegant simplicity of a tool that does exactly one thing relentlessly well.

The cleaning is easy, just rinse it out between refills. I can't imagine any maintenance, though I bet the little springs will wear out eventually (I've had mine 3 months). Regardless, it easily holds a full can of coffee (12 oz.), so refills aren't inconvenient. It actually seems bottomless to me.

I just learned there is a sugar-dosing companion piece, too.

I've tried those insulated stainless steel mugs for keeping coffee hot, but the coffee never tasted right -- even though stainless is supposedly impervious. Recently, we discovered these wonderful insulated glasses made by Bodum, best known for its plunger coffee pots. They keep drinks hot, are cool to the touch, and are elegant looking. A latte made in one is rather spectacular, with layers of espresso and milk. There are a few sizes in the "Pilatus" collection, including glasses 6- and 4.75-inches high. Pricey, but high quality. Bodum's description:

"...a strong heat-resistant glass that weighs less than traditional glassware. Used to make scientific lab glass, borosilicate glass (medical grade glass) is stronger than traditional "soda-lime" glass.... Borosilicate glass substitutes boron oxide in place of the soda and lime used in traditional glassware. The boron oxide acts as a glue holding the silicate together and due to the small size of boron particles, the glass is held together tighter, resulting in a stronger glass."

I use the taller one every morning for fresh ginger tea.

Concerned with our household's waste-stream of plastic bottles and cans, we started using this counter-top soda maker to concoct our own soft drinks with tap water processed through a Britta. It's easy to use. The durable bottles are said to be good for three years. Best of all, Sodastream's proprietary CO2 cartridges can be conveniently exchanged either via mail or at accessible chain stores like Williams-Sonoma.

If you're looking to save a little money, you can build your own set up, like the previously-reviewed carbonation system. However, the Sodatream has the benefit of being plug-and-play; it's smaller and less clunky; and it's only about $30 more than the DIY set-up. Plus, the DIY set-up requires you to lug around a big scuba tank every time you refill the CO2. But hey, to each his own, no?

After the initial investment, the only things I ever need purchase are carbonator refills and new bottles of flavoring. So far, we've enjoyed Sodastream's cola, faux Dr. Pepper, tonic, and pink grapefruit -- all diet with Splenda instead of aspartame (They also sell sweetened syrups without hi-fructose corn syrup). I find the taste is excellent. The pink grapefruit is one of the best soft drinks I've had anywhere.

Aside from reducing our waste, we no longer have to lug bottles back from the store. I also like to think about all the energy we will save annually by not buying water that's been shipped from one part of the country to another.

Bamboo utensils are great for cooking with nonstick pots and skillets. Recently, I found an even better version: Bamboo utensils with rests carved right into the handles. Lay down the utensil, and the business end won't touch the surface. You don't need a spoon rest, and you don't need to clean a spoon rest either. Thus far, I have purchased a spatula and two spoons; I intend to buy more. I converted overnight. The other wooden utensils I'd been using for years? They're all gone.

I eat fruits and veggies, but based on everything I've read, the potential health benefits of juicing are too great to pass up. Unless you're an impatient person, the Omega 8003 is great for a beginning juicer. It not only handles apples, oranges and carrots, but won't get bogged down with wheatgrass, spinach and other leafy greens. Unlike a centrifugal juicer, which violently shreds what you put in it, the Omega 8003 uses what is known as a dual-screen, single auger. That means it doesn't cut or chew as much as it mashes pulp forward into the end of a cone using the pressure of a spinning auger. The juice yield definitely trumps my old Braun centrifugal juicer, which can't handle wheatgrass. The pulp I get from the Omega is drier and if need be, I can easily put it back through for a tiny bit more juice. I put the pulp from the Braun into the Omega and actually got several extra tablespoons of juice!

Of all the machines I've researched, tested and used, the Omega 8003 just crushes every piece of machinery, especially at this price. After eight months, I still use the juicer almost every other day and nothing has broken or malfunctioned. Juice extractors tend to be jet-engine loud. While the Omega's motor is strong and hums with authority, it's killer quiet. I can easily juice in the early morning or night without waking my wife or the neighbors. It's also not too large in size and the folding handle on top makes moving the machine around much easier than other machines. The construction is solid. Omega backs it up with 10-year warranty.

Juicing itself is relatively subjective. Some people want to process lots of fruit, and fast. While the Omega isn't as quick as some centrifugal juicers and while it can't handle soft fruit like bananas or strawberries quite as well as other juicers, it gets the job done. Plus, I feel the juice quality is better. The only other juicer in the same realm is the Green Star, which is harder to clean, bigger and almost twice the price! Since the 8003 has only a few parts, it is by far the easiest and fastest juicer I've seen and tried to clean. You can also use it as a food processor and grinder for coffee beans, flour, garlic, etc. There are also several optional attachments if you wish to make nut butters, baby food, frozen desserts, pasta and other things.

For those who are concerned about heat destruction of enzymes, the Omega's auger turns slowly and doesn't appear to generate much heat. Granted the process of crushing and squeezing the vegetable matter through a small screen will cause friction, but I don't feel it's a big deal for the average user. Same goes for oxidation. All juicers introduce some oxygen into the juice because of the mechanical process of extraction. With some fruits and vegetables, however, this machine does a noticeable job of reducing the amount of foam. Using two carrots from the same bag, I juiced one in a centrifugal juicer and one in the Omega. There was a lot less foam with the Omega, and the color of the juice was also darker and richer.

Overall, I'm thrilled with my Omega 8003 juicer. I paid about $229 for mine, plus shipping. I feel that's a very reasonable price to start changing my life and health.

Unlike traditional measuring spoons resembling those intended for stirring and eating, these stainless steel Spice Jar Measuring Spoons are rectangular in shape with a narrower profile. Translation: They fit easily through the small opening of a spice container. Bonus: If the container's opening has a straight edge, you can level the scoop as you withdraw the spoon.

In addition, the set contains two sizes that aren't normally included with the average measuring spoon set: 1/8 and 3/4 teaspoons. I find the 3/4 spoon particularly handy in that two 3/4 teaspoons equals 1/2 tablespoon, a measurement I frequently encounter after scaling down a recipe.

After three years of daily use, I've found no down-side to using these sturdy spoons for all my measuring needs -- liquid or dry. Given their advantage with small containers, I see little reason to use traditional measuring spoons other than a slightly lower cost.

Unlike the previously-reviewed Starfrit Securimax, this opener is electric and sits on your counter, so it requires very little exertion or physical dexterity. Since the blade cuts along the side of the top, it never cuts or touches down into the can -- i.e. no dirty blade contaminating the can contents, no metal shavings fall in your food, and no contents oozing out over the dust covered can top. Also, since the cut top is slightly bigger than the body, no cut lids fall into the can -- and after opening, the top can easily be placed back on the can. For short term storage in the fridge, I use some tape to keep it in place.

Best of all, the opener leaves a lid and can that have no sharp edges -- even with a pop-top. I don't know about the rest of the country, but most communities in New York State require recycling, and all recycled food containers must be clean. Our household goes through many cans in a week, and washing out cans opened with a traditional can opener can be treacherous because of the sharp edges.

Hamilton Beach sells almost a dozen models of can openers, but only one uses the "Smooth Touch technology." I'm baffled, since after using this one it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to return to a traditional style opener. You operate it, more or less, as you would any electric counter-top opener. Just wedge the can between the two rotating discs and push down on the lever to grip the can. Press the lever a little more to rotate and cut the can. You do have to hold the lever down throughout the operation, which can be mildly annoying for a large diameter can. Some time-pressed people will also miss the automatic shutoff of other electric can openers. Certain brands, notably College Inn tend to require up to two revolutions to open. But the time, effort and caution it saves when we're cleaning the cans is certainly worth it.

This glass siphon brews a smooth, strong cup of coffee with little to no bitterness. I started using one recently and right away the taste was just awesome. It's really an excellent, efficient brewing method, provided you want to get involved. You put the water in the bottom "globe" and coffee grounds in the top, then put the bottom unit on the stove with a medium flame. Once the water begins to boil, you place the top globe onto the bottom one, which allows the water to travel into the top chamber to begin brewing the coffee. You give the coffee a quick stir, cover the top with the lid and after maybe a minute, take the whole unit off the burner. As it cools, the coffee is siphoned back down into the bottom through a cloth filter, which helps extract most of the moisture and flavor from the grinds via a natural vacuum effect, rather than the force of a standard French press (step-by-step photos are available at Stumptown's site -- click on the link to "brewing guide"). You can also see vac pots in use at the Blue Bottle location near the Chronicle building in San Francisco. The $20,000 system they have there is just a fancy vac pot. While researching a coffee maker called the Clover, I went from addict to obsessive, so in addition to the vac pot, now I kind of want a Chemex and I definitely want a Burr grinder; once you notice the difference in taste, it's easy to get sucked in. Personally, I love this method. If you spend money on good beans, it's well worth the extra effort to brew a cup that tastes that much better.

This microwave popper is simplicity itself: 1/2 cup of corn, a little oil (or not), and a little time in the microwave yields a low-cost, low-cal snack you can eat right out of the popper. Unlike other poppers or Tupperware containers, the Nordic Ware's top cover has nifty ridges that facilitate comfortable removal -- i.e. when everything is very, very hot (If you don't remove the cover immediately, the popcorn gets too moist).

I've tried a variety of devices on my long march to the perfect popper... table-top poppers often made a mess (and big noise) and they're not machine-washable. Some microwave poppers require pads that deteriorate with use and need to be replaced, but are difficult to find. The stove top method, I just could never fully master: burned pans, burned corn, mess to clean. Lastly, microwavable bags of popcorn: If you eat a lot popcorn, you'll be spending exorbitant sums and -- depending on which brand -- consuming chemical additives. The Nordic popper does not require oil, so the end-product is essentially the same as an air popper. The Nordic can go in the dishwasher, or just be wiped clean. Plus, the Nordic is perhaps the least expensive one out there. As of late, we've been producing popcorn five nights a week.

I've seen a few incarnations of the convenient scoop-clip mashup, including a version that's stainless steel. Normally I wouldn't opt for plastic -- especially if I can avoid it -- but this twofer has one unique benefit: two scoops, one tsp. and one tbsp. If I were a baker, I'd use this for flour or sugar. So far, ours remains tethered to the coffee. While my approach to brewing isn't terribly scientific, I'm getting there.

This very portable, lightweight knife sharpener is easy to use and gets the job done quickly. I found it at a kitchen store in Arizona and have been using it for about a year on all types of blades: kitchen, Toolman, hunting, serrated. I've used several sharpeners over the years. The problem with most manual systems is they require getting the blade at a precise angle, and I just can never get it right. This is by far the easiest sharpener I've used, and it works. Just put the knife in the diamond-coated tines, give it 5-10 pulls, and it'll be sharpened. No fussing with exact angles. Other sharpeners I've tried that are easy to use don't seem to put as good an edge on. This one works. Your hands stay well-protected from the blade during use. Plus, the sharpener folds up neatly and easily fits in a backpack.

The Blender Bottle is a shaker bottle with a free-floating surgical stainless steel wire ball inside. A total boon for anyone who mixes formulas, shakes, mixes or other powdered drinks. Not unlike a kitchen whisk, the ball moves freely within your drink, breaking up clumps and further mixing the mix as you shake it for a smooth, totally grit- and clump-free serving. I use protein powder and creatine . Previously I had normal shaker bottles that always, regardless of how much shaking I did, left clumps of mix, especially at the bottom of the shaker. I even once spent about 20 bucks on a shaker bottle with a battery-powered mixing wand built into the lid, but the device really didn't mix any better than a normal bottle, kept falling apart inside my gym bag, ate batteries, and had to be hand-washed since you couldn't run the mixing attachment through the dishwasher. I've been using the Blender Bottle for about four months now after seeing an ad for it in a fitness magazine. The whisking ball is really ingenious, but this is also the first bottle I have ever owned that I can shake without holding onto the lid at the same time. The spout is that secure. I've used the Blender Bottle for cold protein powders and other sports nutrition products. The web site lists other uses including pancake batter, salad dressings, eggs, and gravy.

I've been using this 9-tray dehydrator once or twice a week for the last three years to make dried fruit, veggies, jerky, dog treats, and dried bread crumbs. Other uses include re-crisping crackers, cookies, and chips, and thoroughly drying wet photographs and flowers.

Overall, this is truly the most flexible dehydrator I've found. The thermostat is adjustable (85-145F), so you can customize your dehydrating. The removable trays allow you to experiment with sizes, quantities and varieties of foods sorted by temperature range. If you group shorter-term items by tray, you just remove those trays first, then keep the remaining items/trays inside a bit longer.

Other units heat unevenly from the bottom, require you to manually rotate trays, and -- in the case of cheaper units -- don't let you control the temperature. Along with a thermostat, the Excalibur has a fan that distributes heat more evenly; it also features a timer, so it will automatically turn off at a desired time whether you're around or not.

All of the dehydrators I've used generate noise (I now use my Ronco and Home Essentials models exclusively for making dog treats). Since the Excalibur isn't quiet, I keep it in our craft room. It's very easy to clean. I enjoy not throwing out spoiled food. We always have healthy snack alternatives for us and our grandkids -- and they enjoy contributing to the process as much as they eating the rewards. Ever since we moved to a property with grapevines, they've helped us make copious amounts of raisins.

Tips:

1) To make fruit yogurt leathers or work with items high in moisture content, you'll need ParaFlexx non-stick drying sheets. Excalibur provides a pretty good guide on how to work with different foods.

2) If you buy direct from the manufacturer, it may be slightly more expensive, but I understand they'll guarantee the unit for 10 years; otherwise, you can purchase a 10-year extended warranty.

-- Chris Lewis

I have experience with both the Excalibur and the more recently-reviewed Nesco, a smaller and less expensive dehydrator. The Excalibur is a superior product if you are a heavy user and tend to be drying large batches of produce at once. It has quite a bit more capacity due to the design (no center hole and square racks make a big difference). The horizontal airflow system does dry large batches more uniformly. Although you can add racks to the Nesco, it dries less efficiently, and once you add in the cost of extra racks you are approaching the same price as the Excalibur.

Having said that, the price on the Nesco has really dropped and the top-down heater/blower is a nice upgrade over the older bottom-fan models. Heck, you could almost get three of them for the same price as an Excalibur, although that would take up a lot of storage space and use more energy to power 3 units.

-- JC

We avoid clutter in our kitchen, so all towels, pot holders and oven mitts live in a drawer next to the stove. Accessible, but nowhere near as handy as this apron that literally puts two padded mitts at your side, right where you need 'em, whenever you need 'em. So simple, so elegant. The slits lessen your below-the-belt coverage, of course, but the convenience is a worthy trade.

For any salad lover, the spinner is perhaps the most elegant and useful invention of all time. Known for years as that cool, design-minded brand that manufactures everything from garlic presses to tea kettles, OXO has taken the reins of the salad spinner market.

Instead of a crank arm and string pulley, the OXO model sports a pump-action plunger-like mechanism. Click a button, and the pump springs up from being flush with the lid. Depress the pump a few times to get the sucker spinning real fast. Then, a push of the brake button stops the spinning in seconds.

The plastic is non-porous, so it's much more resistant to odors. To top it off, there's a rubber rim around the bottom, which keeps the bowl from slipping as you enthusiastically spin your Cocard or Rouge d'hiver.

For several years, the Zyliss was the gold standard in salad spinners. They first replaced the traditional crank arm design with a pull-string that reduced time and elbow strain dramatically. But eventually they changed their design just enough to make a once-elegant device clunky and annoying. Since the Zyliss doesn't spin freely (it stops when the string gets reeled back in), the parts are yanked to a stop, which puts a lot of stress on them.

The OXO beats the Zyliss hands-down. I've been using mine almost daily for a year. I haven't found another spinner quite like it. I grew up in a family that graduated from keeping a small garden to an actual farm, so I have always eaten copious amounts of salad, even when it wasn't bursting out of the ground chez nous. Needless to say, I really appreciate a good salad spinner!

This filleting knife does not rust, does not dull easily, is easy to sharpen, and the handle is sanitary, comfortable, and good in cold conditions. Most importantly, the blade is flexible, thin and the shape is just right for filleting.

I've used mine for about eight years. It came razor-sharp from the factory and stays sharp for a good deal of time. These days, I usually sharpen it a little bit before every use. A couple laps on a 220-grit Japanese waterstone does the trick.

There are plenty of fancy fillet knives you can get. This one is not particularly expensive, and it's the brand I see most commercial fishermen using. There's also a plastic scabbard you can buy. Dexter's filleting knives come in a few varieties of size/length, etc. There's the 9-inch narrow one, for instance. Personally, I find that one a bit bulky, so I use an 8-inch narrow.

Cilantro cravings run deep in our house. But there's always the persistent annoyance of feeling compelled and rushed to consume before it spoils. For the last six months, this plastic container has really helped stretch out the life of some of our herbs. The goods are housed in a plastic pod that inserts into a water dish, which keeps the stems immersed. The pod itself creates a nice, moist microclimate for the leaves. I was skeptical at first. However, we did a side-by-side comparison with our usual cilantro wrapped in a paper towel in a plastic bag. While the paper towel cilantro started to wilt after about a week and half, a batch from the same bundle kept for an additional *two weeks* in the Herb Savor. We've tried parsley (success) and basil (nope). The device seems to work only with stalky herbs. Maintenance is easy: Refill the dish with water every few days. It'll take quite some time before we've made back our money in herb savings. The satisfaction in not having to compost unused herbs is enough for me. It looks super modern perched in the fridge door and makes a great conversation starter when we're hosting dinner parties.

I wanted to try roasting my own coffee but was reluctant to plunk down $100 just to try it. The solution: a hot-air popcorn popper. Sweet Maria's web site has detailed instructions on how to use a popcorn popper to dry roast coffee beans. I already had a popper (a $3 "Presto" I got at a thrift store), so I ordered a pound of green beans. Turns out it's very easy. No tinkering, hacking or rewiring necessary.

Measure the beans as you would popcorn. Same amount.

Tilt back the popper a little so the beans won't bounce out.

As the beans roast, the chaff separates, so it's important to point the popper towards a sink or garbage can. You can also do it outside and the chaff just floats away in a slight breeze.

Time it for 6-8 minutes, depending on how dark you like your roast. I usually timed mine about 7-7.5 minutes, but a few trials will get you to a place where you like it. Experiment! Roasting doesn't produce a lot of smoke, but does produce enough to set off a smoke detector. Be sure to disable it while you're roasting inside.

Half a cup of fresh-roasted coffee (above) is enough for two days in our house; I store it in a tight-sealing mason-type jar to keeps it fresh.

Sweet Maria's recommends cooling off the beans so they stop roasting. I do this by shaking them in this jelly-making collander, but really, for my simple tastes, it's not completely necessary.

It's best to wait 12 hours or so before brewing. This allows all the gasses from the roasting process to escape. Again, to my simple taste, it tastes the same. In the photo below, the beans look like they are different colors. This batch (below) was from a blend of different beans. Normally, if the beans are the same, they will all be the same tone of brown.

As you can see, it's a bit of work and requires clean up, but for me, it's well worth it. Coffee roasters have to be cleaned as well, so either way, the process is not for someone in a hurry. Once I figured out that I was going to stick with roasting (who wouldn't? it tastes so much better), I bought the previously-reviewed Fresh Roast Plus Coffee Roaster. It's quieter and has it's own chaff collector. Sweet Maria's has more elaborate roasters. They even have one with a catalytic converter so no smoke comes out. If I had more money, I might buy a better one. But for under a $100, the FreshRoast Plus 8 is great. If I hadn't been able to afford it, though, I'd still be roasting with my popcorn maker. It worked great and tasted great. It fills the house with the lovely aroma of coffee. It also makes for a great conversation piece for people who never have ventured beyond their local coffee house in search of that excellent cup.