The Everyday Kitchen
Honest note: no ads, no Amazon affiliate. Affiliate and referral links are always marked. Full disclosure.
The tools I actually reach for, most of them not fancy, all of them earning their place. If it’s in here, it’s because I’d buy it again.
Epicurean cutting boards (the Kitchen Series)
These are the boards I grab on a weeknight: thin, light, dishwasher-safe, and easy on my knives, which is more than I can say for the pretty wood ones I’m scared to put in the sink. The Kitchen Series are my workhorses. I keep the black ones for meat and the lighter ones for everything else, in a few different sizes, so raw chicken never touches the board my tomatoes do. They’re made in Wisconsin out of a paper composite, so they’re a little easier on the planet too, which I don’t mind one bit.
Where to buy: Epicurean Kitchen Series, direct · WebstaurantStore
Lodge cast iron
Nothing I own works harder for less money. Lodge is American-made (Tennessee, family-run since 1896), it costs a fraction of the fancy stuff, and if you treat it halfway right it’ll outlive you and annoy your heirs about seasoning. A 12″ skillet and an 8″ skillet do about eighty percent of my stovetop cooking.
Where to buy: Lodge, direct
Grow lights — cheap shop lights (Amazon honesty)
You do not need fancy “grow lights.” Full honesty: I use plain, cheap LED shop lights, and my seedlings have never known the difference. This is a plain Amazon link because that’s where the cheap ones are and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
Where to buy: LED shop lights on Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing)
Seeds — Burpee, Johnny’s, Outside Pride
My three go-to seed sources. Johnny’s is the one I’ll point out is 100% employee-owned, which I love; Burpee is the reliable classic; and Outside Pride is where I go for the more unusual stuff (especially flowers and cover crops).
Where to buy: Johnny’s Selected Seeds (employee-owned) · Burpee · Outside Pride
NOTE: Why you won’t see Baker Creek here. I’ll be straight with you: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Rare Seeds) puts out a gorgeous catalog and genuinely stocks rare heirlooms you can’t find anywhere else, and I understand the pull. I don’t buy from them, though, and since this page is about who I’m glad to send you to, I’d rather tell you why than stay quiet. In 2019 they booked Cliven Bundy (a man on record suggesting Black Americans might be “better off” under slavery) to headline their spring festival, and only uninvited him after public outcry. That, plus ongoing criticism of how their marketing has handled race and of heirloom varieties with Indigenous roots being sold without credit, sits wrong with me for a blog built on food justice and giving credit where it’s due. Reach your own conclusion; I’ve reached mine. When I want the unusual, story-rich varieties folks go to Baker Creek for, I go to Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (Southeast-adapted heirlooms; they actively steward and credit African American and Indigenous seeds) or Truelove Seeds (culturally rooted varieties that pay the small farmers who grow them).
Where to buy instead: Southern Exposure Seed Exchange · Truelove Seeds
Watering Timers — Orbit B-hyve
The system that runs my watering. The trick with B-hyve: you buy the hub once, and after that you can keep adding more B-hyve timers that all connect to it, so you’re not re-buying a hub every time you expand. I run a 4-outlet timer in the back and a 2-outlet in the front
Where to buy:
Orbit B-hyve system overview · 4-outlet (back): with hub · without hub (orbit-24634) ·v2-outlet (front)
Drip irrigation — Dripworks
All my irrigation tubing comes from Dripworks. The setup: 1/2″ line for the mains, then 1/4″ lines off of those running to the beds and containers. Dripworks has the tubing, the fittings, and the drippers/emitters, and their stuff actually fits together, which is more than I can say for cobbling it together from a big-box store.
Where to buy: Tubing · Fittings · Drippers & emitters
Ideas & the occasional splurge — Gardener’s Supply
I always check Gardener’s Supply when I want something. Full honesty: they can be pricey, but they run good sales, and just as often I’ve gotten a great idea from their site for something I then went and built myself. (They’re also employee-owned, which is a nice bonus.) Worth browsing even when you don’t buy.
Where to buy: Gardener’s Supply Company (employee-owned)
Hand tools — pruners, a hori-hori, and gloves I like too much
The stuff that actually goes in the dirt with me.
Pruners (Fiskars). All my pruners are Fiskars, picked up at Home Depot, and they’ve never let me down. I run a bypass-and-lopper combo for the big jobs, but the real workhorse is the little 6″ titanium Micro-Tip pair. I own three sets on purpose, one for the garden, one for the kitchen, one for the office, because once you’ve harvested herbs with a sharp micro-tip you’ll never go back to a knife or your fingers.
Hori-hori knife (Barebones). If you only add one new garden tool, make it a hori-hori. It’s a digging knife, a trowel, a weeder, a twine-cutter, and a root-slicer all in one, and once it’s on your hip you reach for it constantly. Mine’s the Barebones Classic (a Bob Vila pick, and it earns it).
Gloves. Full confession: I am a sucker for a pretty floral pair, and I’ve got several I’ve grabbed at Home Depot and Walmart. Mine are thorn-resistant, which matters if you grow roses or wrangle anything with a temper, but honestly, buy the ones that make you happy to put them on. It’s not a lifetime-tool category for me; it’s a small joy.
Where to buy:
Pruners: Fiskars bypass + lopper combo · Fiskars 6″ titanium Micro-Tip shears (the workhorse)
Hori-hori: Barebones Hori-Hori Classic
Gloves: floral thorn-resistant gloves at Walmart · or whatever pretty pair catches your eye at Home Depot
The little touches — plant markers & a garden sign
Not essential, purely a pleasure, and both from Real Steel Center (laser-cut steel that holds up outdoors). I mark my rows with their steel seed/plant markers, and the entrance to my garden wears a dragonfly monogram sign that says “Kara’s Garden.” Does the garden grow better because of it? No. Does it make me happy every time I walk in? Absolutely.
Where to buy: Real Steel Center plant markers · dragonfly monogram sign
Frost Cloth & Shade Cloth — whatever’s on sale
When a late frost threatens the seedlings, frost cloth (row cover) buys you a few critical degrees. I’m not brand-loyal here at all: I buy whatever’s on sale at Home Depot when I need it. It’s a commodity; don’t overthink it.
Where to buy: frost cloth / plant covers at Home Depot
Bird Feeders — Droll Yankees
If you’re going to feed birds, Droll Yankees is the source. Yes, they’re expensive. Yes, they’re worth it. They survive the Georgia weather, and when they say squirrel-proof, they mean it. My favorite is the Classic Sunflower feeder with Ring Pull Advantage (A-6RP), a $65 feeder and worth every dollar: the ports are stainless steel, so a squirrel can’t chew its way into the plastic and destroy it, and they’re too small for a squirrel to yank the seed out. You can add cardinal rings to it, too. (I bought mine at Pike’s, but good news, it’s on their own site.)
Where to buy: Droll Yankees A-6RP, direct · Duncraft or The Audubon Shop (birding specialists) · Droll Yankees, all feeders
Bird food & a basic feeder — from Chewy
A trick worth knowing: hot-pepper bird food. Squirrels won’t touch the hot stuff; the birds genuinely do not care. Paired with a basic nugget feeder, it keeps the squirrels off the seed. (I’ve also got a couple of decorative feeders, little lighthouses with bronze roofs, from an arts-and-crafts festival years ago.) For plain seed, I just grab it at Costco, Walmart, or whatever garden store I’m standing in.
Where to buy: C&S Hot Pepper Nuggets (on Chewy) · C&S Wild Bird Nugget Feeder (on Chewy)
Weck jars (the tulip jars, specifically)
Half my fridge lives in Weck jars, and I’m not even a little sorry. They’re glass, so they don’t stain or hold onto last week’s chili-crisp smell, they stack, and they’re honestly pretty enough that leftovers feel like a plan instead of an afterthought. The tulip jars are the ones I reach for again and again. Here’s the trick that makes them actually practical for everyday storage, though: skip the rubber ring and clamps for the fridge and use the plastic keep-fresh lids instead. Snap on, done. The glass-ring-and-clamp setup is for canning and for looking nice; the plastic lids are for real life.
Where to buy: Weck tulip jars · Weck keep-fresh plastic lids · Boston General Store (independent shop, worth supporting) · Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing)
Rubbermaid storage containers
Here’s where I keep it real: not everything in my kitchen is glass and gorgeous. The Rubbermaid Brilliance and Easy-Find-Lid containers are what actually hold the leftovers and the make-ahead stuff, because they’re light, they seal, and I can find the lids, which is more than I can say for every other set I’ve owned. Unglamorous, dependable, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
Where to buy: Rubbermaid, direct · The Container Store · Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing — and honestly the easiest place for these)
The little glass bottles (500ml Marasca, by the case)
If you’ve ever looked closely at a mise en place on this blog, you’ve seen these: squat little 500ml Marasca bottles, the kind good olive oil comes in. I buy them by the case and decant the things I use every day into them, oil, vinegar, soy sauce (regular and dark), cooking sherry, Chinese cooking wine, and the rest. I’ll be honest, it’s maybe a little precious. But mostly it’s practical: I buy those staples in gallon and half-gallon jugs from H Mart, Buford Highway, and the food wholesaler, and those big jugs live in the overflow pantry under the stairs. The small bottles live in the built-in pantry by where I cook, and they’re just far easier to handle and pour from when a recipe wants two tablespoons of something. Half of mine wear an OXO pour spout with the little rubber cap on the tip; the rest get cork stoppers. I also bottle my homemade limoncello in them and give it as gifts, which is where the cork caps really earn their keep.
Where to buy: Burch Bottle 500ml Marasca (case of 12) (the price I’ve found is hard to beat) · California Bottles (alt supplier, sells pour-fitment caps) · OXO pour spouts
As seen in: nearly every mise en place on the blog; also the homemade limoncello.
Knives (Shun — a chef’s and a paring, never a set)
I don’t own a knife block and I never will. I own one good chef’s knife and one good paring knife, both Shun, and I keep them sharp. That’s the whole knife drawer that actually matters. Please don’t buy the fourteen-piece set for the steak knives you’ll touch twice a year; buy the two you’ll pick up every single day, and put the money there instead.
Where to buy: Shun / Kai USA, direct · Cutlery and More
Steak knives (Messermeister Avanta — the one set I’ll defend)
I’ll die on the “never buy a knife set” hill for chef’s knives, but steak knives are the exception, because good ones genuinely change dinner. A dull steak knife saws and shreds; a sharp one glides, and suddenly the steak you babied on the Kamado tastes even better because you’re not fighting to eat it. The Messermeister Avanta set is forged, sharp, handsome, and worth every penny. Good steak knives are worth their weight in gold, and I mean that.
Where to buy: Messermeister, direct · Cutlery and More
Sheet pans (Nordicware Naturals — half, quarter, and eighth)
Aluminum, made in Minnesota, and they won’t warp and buckle in a hot oven the way the cheap dark ones do. I keep half-, quarter-, and eighth-sheet sizes and reach for all three constantly (the little eighth-sheets are the unsung hero for toasting a handful of nuts or roasting for one). The Naturals line is the one; buy the sizes you’ll use, not a novelty bundle.
Where to buy: Nordicware Naturals baking sheets · Naturals half-sheet with oven-safe grid · Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing)
Mixing bowls (WebstaurantStore stainless, nesting)
Restaurant-supply stainless: nesting, light, cheap, and basically indestructible. Stainless because it doesn’t stain, doesn’t hold a smell, and you can knock it around forever. I use the big heavy-weight set; there’s a smaller five-piece if you’re tight on cabinet space. This is the set I’d hand anyone setting up their first real kitchen.
Where to buy: WebstaurantStore — 10-piece heavy-weight set · smaller 5-piece set
Wok (WebstaurantStore carbon-steel, flat-bottom)
Flat-bottom carbon steel, so it actually sits on a home burner and gets ripping hot instead of wobbling around. Once it’s seasoned, it’s one of the fastest weeknight tools I own. This is the wok behind the Beef & Broccoli post.
Where to buy: WebstaurantStore — 16″ carbon-steel flat-bottom wok
As seen in: Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry.
Kitchen scale (WebstaurantStore digital portion scale)
A flat, wipe-clean digital scale that reads to the gram and handles up to fifteen pounds. I weigh my espresso, my bread, and anything where “one cup” is a polite fiction. If you bake or pull shots, this is the cheap tool that fixes the most problems.
Where to buy: WebstaurantStore — CDN 15 lb digital portion scale
As seen in: My Espresso Machine Wasn’t Broken (I Was).
Fish spatula (WebstaurantStore, rosewood handle)
The most useful spatula in my drawer, and it almost never sees a fish. Thin, flexible, slotted metal that slides under anything, an egg, a smashed burger, a delicate piece of tofu, without tearing it to pieces. If you’re only going to own one spatula, own this one.
Where to buy: WebstaurantStore — 6×3 slotted turner, rosewood handle
Tongs (OXO Good Grips)
Tongs are just hands you’re not afraid to burn. I actually own two of the 16-inch pair: one lives out by the grill, and one lives in the kitchen, because at 5’4″ it’s also the best tool I’ve got for wrestling things down off the top shelf. A good kitchen tool is a multi-use kitchen tool. The 9-inch nylon-tip pair rounds things out for nonstick and everyday stovetop work. OXO Good Grips because the spring lock actually locks and they don’t rattle apart on you.
Where to buy: 16″ stainless grilling tongs · 9″ high-heat nylon-tip tongs
Microplane (the classic zester)
For citrus zest, garlic, ginger, hard cheese, and whole nutmeg. It’s a small tool that quietly upgrades about ten different things you already cook, and the Microplane is the one that actually stays sharp instead of shredding your knuckles by month three.
Where to buy: WebstaurantStore — Microplane Premium Classic zester
Mandoline (Benriner Little Beni)
The Benriner is the little Japanese mandoline every restaurant kitchen keeps for a reason: paper-thin, even slices in seconds. It’s how the cucumbers, onions, and radishes on this blog get that consistent, pretty cut you can’t quite manage by hand. Two hard rules, from someone who has bled: use the hand guard (this thing does not care about your fingers), and store it with the blade covered. The Little Beni comes with three blades and does everything I ask of it.
Where to buy: WebstaurantStore — Benriner Little Beni, 3 blades
Silicone spatulas (LorisArm — yes, from Amazon, and I looked)
Full honesty: these are the best rubber spatulas I’ve ever owned, and Amazon is the only place I can find them. I looked, and I’ll keep looking; if they ever turn up somewhere better I’ll swap the link in a heartbeat. But I’m not going to pretend I don’t use them just to dodge an Amazon link. Big, flexible, heatproof enough for real cooking, and the wooden handles feel good in the hand.
Where to buy: Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing, and honestly the only place I could find them)
Kitchen towels (the workhorses and the pretty ones)
Two kinds, two jobs. The workhorses are Choice blue-striped herringbone dish towels from WebstaurantStore, a 12-pack for about eleven dollars; I’ve bought at least four packs, and I use them in place of paper towels as often as I can. (Full honesty: we still keep paper towels in the house because our housecleaners prefer them, so I’m not going to sit here and pretend we’ve gone paperless.) For the pretty duty, hand-drying and hanging on the front of the oven, I use the Williams-Sonoma classic striped towels; they get softer and more absorbent with every wash (do not use fabric softener, it wrecks the absorbency). The trick with those: I never pay full price. I haunt the Williams-Sonoma outlet and grab a set of four for around twelve bucks. I don’t always get the color I wanted, but at that price I’ll live.
Where to buy: WebstaurantStore blue-striped herringbone towels (12-pack) (the workhorses) · Williams-Sonoma striped towels (watch the outlet)