Item: Vitamix 32-Ounce Dry Grains Container
Price: $144.00
Overall Impression: Not essential but extremely useful

A Vitamix is a hefty (yet worthy!) investment and if you've taken the plunge, you might now be wondering whether you really need to spend more on an additional Dry Grains Container. How different is it from the Vitamix's Standard/Wet Blade Container? Here's what we found... 

Item: Vitamix Professional Series 300
Price: $559.00
Overall Impression: Versatile, powerful, and worth the hype! 

The Vitamix has achieved cult-like status, but I always considered this high-end blender outside my price range. Plus I never cared for the industrial design, which is functional but not particularly stylish. Well, after putting the newer Professional Series 300 model through its paces, you can call me converted. The Vitamix Pro 300 has quickly become an indispensable and beloved tool in my kitchen — one that I would buy in a heartbeat, and possibly save in a fire. 

Item: Espro Press
Price: $79.95 from Amazon
Overall Impression: An elegant way to make an excellent cup of coffee.

An Aeropress has long been the preferred coffee maker in our household, but it's not the best choice for brewing multiple servings. Many a dinner party has ended with one of us stuck in the kitchen, pressing cup after cup for each guest. So we like the idea of having a large Espro press, which is sort of a new-and-improved French press. Not only does it make an excellent cup (or cups!) of coffee, but it looks quite elegant on the table. 

Item: Hurom HH Series Premium Slow Juicer/Smoothie Maker
Price: $399.95
Overall Impression: This excellent juicer has gotten even better.

The Hurom Slow Juicer became one of my favorite kitchen appliances a few years ago, so I was curious to test out Hurom's new Premium Slow Juicer/Smoothie Maker. Would I want to ditch the old one in favor of this latest and greatest model? And what's this about making smoothies, too...? 

Item: Paprika Recipe Manager
Price: $4.99 - $19.99
Overall Impression: A simple to use, attractive and intuitive app for storing recipes you find both online and off.

Last year I talked about wanting to organize all my bookmarked recipes, which over the years had gotten scattered across a number of different systems (Google Reader, Evernote, Delicious), none of which really worked for me anymore. I decided to give Paprika a try and was happy to discover it has all the features I've been looking for in a recipe app, along with a few I didn't even know I wanted, but am glad to have.

Item: SodaStream Source
Price: about $150
Overall Impression: An elegant redesign of the iconic home soda maker.

In my household, we've been SodaStream users for years, first with the Pure model and then the Fizz. Although these home carbonators have been very functional for making sparkling water and soda, I've never really loved SodaStream's product design. That is, until designer Yves Béhar got involved. More

When we bring a new product in the kitchen, we don't go easy on it. Our writers use it every which way before writing up their thoughts, the good and bad. This year our product reviews ran the gamut from pans and iPad stands to food dehydrators and ice cream makers. Scroll through and discover which products we loved (and didn't love) this year. More

Item: Kitch + Table Gluten-Free Baking Mixes
Price: Between $6-$7
Overall Impression: The packaging for these gluten-free brownie and pizza dough mixes reads "so crazy good that you may not believe it's actually gluten-free." I couldn't have said it better myself!

I have worked various jobs in countless restaurants over the past 13 years, and in all my time in the industry I have seen plenty of diet fads come and go. So while I am sympathetic to those with food allergies and restrictions, I am also quite weary of the commercial exploitation that inevitably seems to follow. (Atkins, anyone?) More

Item: Cristel "L" 8.7-inch Brushed Stainless Steel Fry Pan
Price: $179.99; lids and handles sold separately
Overall Impression: A multi-functional, premium-quality pan that elegantly moves from storage to cooktop (or oven) to table.

Cristel cookware has long been available in France, and the company is finally entering the American market with its "L" line of pots and pans featuring removable handles. The collection includes stewpots, skillets, stockpots, and sauté pans, and we recently tested the 8.7-inch pan. More

Here's something that should go straight to the top of your holiday wish list: The 7.9-inch de Buyer spun steel frying pan. It could just as easily be the 10-, 12-, or 14-inch pan and based on what I've seen the 7.9 pan do, it won't be long before I add those larger versions to my own wish list. I have never been more impressed with a frying pan and I have to admit that I've seen quite a few over the years. Read on for why this pan is so impressive. More