A few years ago, I wrote about one of my favorite tools in the kitchen: my Martha Stewart 5.5-quart enameled dutch oven. Some thought I was drawing a comparison between this $60 pot and the $275 version from Le Creuset and, not surprisingly, found the Martha Stewart version lacking. I found it kind of funny, because it seemed to me there was an elephant in the room, the one that often lurks around conversations about cooking equipment: Sometimes people can't afford the best, so they buy the best they can afford. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I am lucky to have many shiny, heavy, ergonomically-designed, and brand-stamped pots and pans in my kitchen, mostly amassed from my wedding registry a few years back. This battered old pasta pot that my mom gave me after college sticks out like a sore thumb. I worry that the other pans mock it after I go to sleep, and yet, I can't let it go.

Multi-purpose wire organizers are cheap and easy to come by. You may even have one right now sitting on your desk or holding up books in your child's room. This idea brings that organizer into the kitchen and turns it on its head... well, on its side, actually. More

Q: I got a pizza stone with the convection oven I bought at Kohl's and online instructions said to 'condition' the stone first. But as it was heating, the smell was awful. It got worse, and started stinging my throat and eyes. After I turned the oven off, it continued to smell bad. This morning, my eyes are still burning! What could cause this?

Q: I have a Lodge dutch oven, about a year old. Fine cracks first appeared in the enamel on the bottom after about 6 months, and then one day as I was browning chicken, I heard a loud POP and pieces of the enamel had flown off! 

Recently on the Ancient Industries blog I recently spotted and lusted over the pancheon, a rough but sturdy bowl made of red clay and glazed only on the inside. Once a common farmhouse tool used for bread making and to separate cream from milk, the pancheon has become somewhat rare in modern times. They seem to be making a small comeback, however, but so far only with a handful of potters in the UK. More

Have you ever cut into a loaf of freshly baked bread and found a spot of gooey dough, right in the center? I have! I've also roasted rolls into dry, crumbly nuggets — never a good thing. The key, I've found, to baking really great bread and rolls is using my trusty kitchen thermometer to tell me precisely when the bread is ready. Read on for tips on using your thermometer to get just the right texture in your homemade bread and rolls. More

Q: I am looking for a "solid cast iron skillet" online. From what I am reading, many companies are making cast iron skillets that are not solid. They are made with several different metals. Can you help me find a sold cast iron skillet that is about ten inches in width?

Sent by Louise More

I am in the process of setting up a new kitchen, with all the decisions, indecisions, and rearrangements that settling into a new cooking space entails. Every time I start in a new space, there's fresh resolve to fix the things that drove me crazy in the last one. This time, for instance, I decided to create order out of the tangled mess of my measuring spoons. Here's how I organized them, and why. More

Q: For Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive my very first Le Creuset (4 1/2-quart French Oven) from my sister. Now I need recipes that will put it to good use. Help?

Sent by Jamie More