practical wins, but it's rare if you can't find something that's also pretty!

In my kitchen the order of importance is practicality, durability, ease of maintenance, ease of storage, aesthetics.
I'm willing to wait until I can find exactly what I want. Sometimes that means fancy/pricey but usually it just means buying strategically, with a view to the future and the number of times an item will be used. Indestructible multi-taskers are well represented here.

The old saying about beauty & usefulness is from a lecture given by William Morris. The text can be read here:
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/24607/

The context of the quote is:

"Believe me, if we want art to begin at home, as it must, we must clear our houses of troublesome superfluities that are for ever in our way: conventional comforts that are no real comforts, and do but make work for servants and doctors: if you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it:

'HAVE NOTHING IN YOUR HOUSES THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW TO BE USEFUL OR BELIEVE TO BE BEAUTIFUL.' "

I have two basic rules about "stuff". Everything must have a purpose, or be useful. Second, I have so much that now, before anything new comes in, something old must go out. I like not having a bunch of clutter and such. No strictly ornamental anything. As for the Swiffer vs. Broom thing.. My question would be which does a better job, and then go with that one.

I don't want to have to replace my things every few years, so I am all about practicality and durability over aesthetics. Often though, you can find something with all three qualities if you look around a bit.

It took me a while to find a perfect set, but I'm using Martha Stewart's measuring spoons from Macy's and I expect them to last for ages. Her measuring cups will be mine next.

Practicality comes first, while clearly the goal is to combine the two. I have an ugly black coffee maker because I discovered that the awesome looking little French press doesn't work for my life.

But my vintage and inexpensive 60s era dishes I've picked up at various antique stores are beautiful and practical. Lightweight, well-made and a little smaller than their modern counterparts, I plan to use them for year. Same goes for my vintage pyrex. It's still useful, had much less eco-impact than buying new and looks great on display!

As for the Swiffer vs. antique broom -- may we all have space for a broom closet cause this is definitely another case where practical wins!

Those actually look like the ones that came with my son's kids cookbook years back. I loved them, because it was easy to always grab the right size.

I find that if something is made of metal or glass, and is designed the way it's supposed to be, it will always have an elegance that makes it beautiful. If I can hand it down to the next generation instead of seeing it become garbage, that makes it beautiful also.

I totally agree with Famous Amos' order of considerations. For me, practicality is beautiful, if not initially, then over time when I begin to appreciate how useful something is to me.

The things that I avoid buying because I find them ugly usually first fail one of the the other considerations listed above like durability or ease of storage.

If it's pretty but not practical, I won't use it. So practical wins, although I'd rather look for both for a bit longer.

Beauty is of very, very low importance for my kitchen tools. No one is going to taste a cake and compliment me on my pretty measuring spoons - I think I'd rather develop my cooking skills through practice, experimentation, and research and be an awesome cook than a cook with pretty things in the drawers.

Plus, who cares? Undoubtedly, aesthetics are important to us...but if someone (including myself) is more concerned with my kitchen tools than the products that come from it...someone needs their priorities straightened.

I just came back to tell a little story about functionality and problem solving.
My husband's grandmother had terrible arthritis in her hands. She loved potatoes, ate tons of them, but her hands got so bad she couldn't peel them anymore. My mother-in-law bought her an OXO Good Grips peeler, which was developed with arthritis and ergonomics in mind, but the handle was too big for her. Instead, she just started eating potatoes with the skins on. How's that for practicality?

Practicality, of course. A product needs to be useful-all the good looks in the world mean nothing if you can't use it as its intended to be used.

I am all about practicality, but I'm with Hanna on this one. Rarely is there a time where you can't find something practical that isn't also beautiful.

Plus, if something gets the job done... to me, that is beautiful. :)

I look for practical and lasting materials. So, in the case of measuring spoons, I have a couple of sets that look like the ones pictured, but ours are out of stainless steel (which will not melt if it gets left by a hot pan or burner). I generally look for glass or steel or ceramic or cast iron, as materials that last. And I have a set of kitchen stuff that ranges from before I was born (over 60 years old--enameled iron pots and pans that were wedding gifts to my parents) to 31 year old wedding gifts (like an iron wok and handmade pottery) to things we've bought in the past few years (a couple of sets of bakeware for casseroles and such). I admit I usually avoid plastics and anything else that can melt after setting a few things to melting on hot burners in my youth.

I think functional is beautiful as well. I have bought most of my cooking tools at chef stores, lots of stainless steel, wood, enamel, cast iron. Rest is white ceramic all timeless never had to replace anything except I am due for a new food processor but the new ones are so junky looking and feel cheap. I am kicking myself for not get white Dutch ovens instead I have red. I dislike anything plastic

these days majorityu of things are made with aesthetics and usefulness in mind so,..

I try for a mix of both. I've been avoiding plastic kitchen items because they don't last and I hate having to throw them away, however they have really cool designs and colors. But my ceramic measuring spoons are more durable.

For me, beauty plays a major role-- if I don't like looking at my kitchen tools, don't like the feel of them under my hands, I'm a lot more likely to order take-out. As Charlotte quoted, though, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful"-- clearly beauty is subjective, and I hold my vintage Corelle and Tupperware in the same regard as my hard anodized skillets and my stainless steel toaster. I'm still building a functional kitchen, donating what's proven to no longer be beautiful OR useful, but I'm building a kitchen that I find beautiful so I can crank out some tasty food, too.

Always functionality. Tupperware is ugly as sin, but I sure have a lot of it from back in the day-cause it still works great.

When I first started stocking up my kitchen years ago I tried for all matching pans and pretty utensils and things and quickly realized the more I cook, the more that just doesn't matter.

Growing up we lived in a home full of antiques. On the rare occasion we would have friends over they would refer to it as a museum. It was except it was more of an exploration museum.

We used 20th century silver ware as our daily "silverware", our couch was really a mahogany chaise from France ~1830s, our daily dishes were a hodgepodge of depression ware, yellow ware and vintage fiesta.

Some people would get upset seeing such antiques being "misused" by being placed in the dishwasher or by not being kept behind glass (we kept ours in an early 1900s pie hutch).

I believe that form can and should meet function and these are the only things I allow into my house now. There should not be a debate between having a kitchen full of aesthetic or practical things. Have both! It is very possible :-)

I actually lust after these measuring spoons. Sigh.

Must we choose between the two? Why does there have to be an either/or? The better product should embody both. Think Apple products, as in iPad and iPhone.

I believe in a marriage of the two. I refuse to buy anything for the sake of beauty OR practicality. Rather, I wait patiently until I find exactly what I want... this drives my husband mad! :)