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 · Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing)
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 skillet and a Dutch oven do about eighty percent of my stovetop cooking.
Where to buy: Lodge, direct · Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing)
Staub enameled cast iron (the love of my kitchen life)
I cannot believe I nearly forgot this one, because Staub is the love of my kitchen life, full stop. Here’s where I land in the great Staub-versus-Le-Creuset debate: Staub, every time (that black matte enamel interior sears and browns better than the light-colored stuff, and the little self-basting spikes under the lid genuinely earn their keep); though I’ll be fair, Le Creuset is also excellent and you won’t be sad with either. The pieces that actually live on my stove: the 7-quart round Dutch oven (mine’s blue) for stock, big braises, and bread; the 4-quart cocotte (mine’s cherry red) for everyday soups and stews; the 3.5-quart braiser (my “everything” pan, dark blue) that does the widest range of anything I own; and the stoneware baking dishes for gratins and casseroles. Now the money rule, and I mean this: I have never once paid full price for a piece of Staub, and neither should you. Watch the Zwilling site for sales (Zwilling owns Staub) and haunt the Williams-Sonoma outlet for the rest. Buy it on sale, then cook on it for the rest of your life.
Where to buy (all direct from Zwilling/Staub; wait for a sale): 7-qt round Dutch oven · 4-qt cocotte · 3.5-qt braiser · stoneware baking dish set · and the Williams-Sonoma outlet for whatever else you can catch on markdown
All-Clad d5 stainless (my everyday stovetop workhorses)
For everyday stovetop cooking, the stuff that isn’t cast iron, I’m an All-Clad person, specifically the d5 stainless (five-ply bonded, brushed finish). It heats evenly, it’s induction-friendly, it’s built to outlast me, and because it’s stainless I can be rough with it and not fret. I don’t own a giant matched set; I own the few pieces I actually reach for: the 1.5-quart saucepan for the small jobs (melting butter, a little pot of grains, warming milk), the 3-quart saucepan as my everyday go-to, and the 8-quart stockpot for stock, pasta, and big-batch soups. Same money rule as everything else in this kitchen, and I mean it here most of all: never pay full price. Haunt Williams-Sonoma, and sign up for the sale notifications on All-Clad’s own site; they run deep factory-second sales two or three times a year, and I keep a running list of exactly what I’m hunting for. If a piece on my list shows up at 60% off, I buy it on the spot. (Factory seconds are just cosmetically imperfect and cook identically; nobody has ever once spotted a “flaw” on mine.)
Where to buy (direct from All-Clad; wait for a factory-second sale): 1.5-qt saucepan · 3-qt saucepan · 8-qt stockpot · plus Williams-Sonoma and the All-Clad factory-second sales
Emile Henry pie dishes (all secondhand, all glorious)
The pie dishes that come out every Thanksgiving, and the reason there will eventually be a blog post around here called something like “Nine Pies for Seven People.” Here’s the part I’m proud of: every single Emile Henry pie dish I own came from a thrift store or Home Goods, never once full retail. I found a $65 dish for $12 at Home Goods one time and walked around the store clutching it to my chest like it was made of solid gold; I now have one in every color. They bake beautifully (even browning, no soggy bottom), they’re pretty enough to serve straight from, and buying them secondhand is the whole ethic of this blog in one dish: buy the thing that lasts, and buy it used when you can. Check the maker so you know what you’re hunting for, then go find it for a fraction at the thrift store.
Where to buy: Emile Henry pie dishes (to see the lineup) · but really: your local thrift store, Home Goods, and the sales rack
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)
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 two good chef’s knives and one good paring knife, all Shun, and I keep them sharp. That’s the whole knife set 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).
Spice/Coffee Grinder
This is just a basic grinder that does the trick that I have currently . But when it comes time to replace it, I’ll be getting this one with the removable, dishwasher safe bin. It may be a while becuase the one I have is probably 18 years old and still going strong.
Where to buy: Hamilton Mill Direct – basic / removable bin · Walmart
As seen in: Homemade Mushroom Powder
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)