Grub Street’s 2014 Gift Guide: 21 Kitchen Tools for the Home Chef
For those on your list looking to play Top Chef at home, we’ve collected 21 kitchen items big (an 11-piece set of pans designed by Thomas Keller, a Breville blender with a dedicated “Green Smoothie” button) and small (a rosemary stripper to speed up herb-chopping, a marble rolling pin that keeps dough chilled). Click ahead to see those, plus a retro-designed toaster, a pour-over kettle for newbies, and more.
*This article appears in the November 24, 2014 issue of New York Magazine.
Related: The Complete Holiday Gift Guide
Let’s get this out of the way, for the skeptics: Tempered glass is explosion-proof. Watch your fusilli jump around and peas brighten as they blanch.
Fits in the palm of your hand, in bright colors that contrast pleasingly with veggies; from Gesu.
Baker-aesthetes will appreciate that the naturally cool marble keeps dough at the perfect temperature.
Holes of varying sizes will lob off rosemary, thyme, and tarragon leaves, respectively. Make sure to insert the stem root first.
Designer Stephanie Radenac’s bone-shaped beech tossers.
With a knife for cutting limes, a rolling cutter to chop mint, and a muddler to mix it all together.
An 11-piece set of everything from a rondeau to a sauteuse, made by All-Clad and specially designed by the chef.
These resin tongs are just what your kale salad needed.
Your blender and microwave will be jealous of this Italian-designed Smeg toaster that offers six browning levels.
Unlike those bright-white cereal bowls and black-doodle-decorated coffee cups, this enameled-steel saucepan doesn’t scream Ikea.
Made from a high-tech metal alloy, this VMatter knife was designed to keep its edge longer than steel, and it’s lighter, too.
Breville’s Boss blender has two claims to fame: a two-horsepower motor to pulverize almost any ingredient, plus a dedicated “Green Smoothie” button.
For those who are new to the world of pour-overs, the skinny gooseneck spout is specially designed to keep the pour hot and precise.
Season an açai bowl with these marbled ceramic shakers from Sunset Park–based clay tosser Helen Levi.
Up someone’s Le Creuset game with a reissue of the 1958 Coquelle French oven designed by Raymond Loewy.
These gold-plated slicers ship from London with a matching counter block.
Serve ice cream with artist Stefan Rurak’s scooper, made from purpleheart wood and stainless steel.
This Scandinavian electric grill lighter focuses an intense column of heat on your coals, no lighter fluid required.
Cut a banana into perfect cereal bites in one deft motion, and teach your toddler the basics of division.
Each Berti knife is crafted by a single artisan in the Italian countryside. What 110-year-old skill have you mastered lately?
The design icon bought this beaut — meant to be worn by a prosciutto slicer and made from more than a thousand aluminum links — from the Milanese curi...
The design icon bought this beaut — meant to be worn by a prosciutto slicer and made from more than a thousand aluminum links — from the Milanese curiosity shop G. Lorenzi.