While booking it through the Home + Housewares show yesterday in Chicago (there is so much to see), Faith and I passed these gorgeous pastel machines, and immediately stopped to ooh and aah. "Ankarsrum," I read on the booth sign. "Swedish quality since 1940." The shape of the machine was interesting, and we were particularly intrigued to see a few units lying on their side. What were we dealing with here? A stand mixer? Juicer? Blender? Meat grinder? Turns out an Ankarsrum machine is all those things, and more: More

The stand mixer market is really dominated by KitchenAid (earlier we showed you their new colors for 2013), with some competition from Cuisinart and Breville. So we were really fascinated to see a few fresh new options at the Home + Housewares show yesterday — most notably this stylish machine from Bodum, who is more commonly known for coffee and tea ware than small appliances. Want a closer peek? More

Yesterday Cambria and I spent a day in Chicago at the International Home + Housewares Show, the massive annual trade show where new products for the kitchen and home are introduced. There's always a dizzying array of stuff on display, much of it not worth mentioning, but we spotted a few gems we thought worth telling you about.

And we're starting with everyone's favorite little tidbit: the new KitchenAid mixer colors for 2013! Vibrant green, bubblegum pink, and read on to see a photo of the Watermelon... More

Although muffin pans are typically used for their namesake, there are many other breakfast items that can also be whipped up in a jiffy and cooked in one. Small premade breakfasts are great for making ahead and eating throughout the week. Here are a few new ways to put that old pan to use. More

I have a handful of kitchen tools that I really, truly use: a KitchenAid mixer, an espresso machine, an immersion blender, and a food processor. But other than that, we have a smattering of old wooden spoons, mismatched silverware, an odd collection of mixing bowls and an old mortar and pestle. Oh, and my kitchen scoop. More

Q: I baked a sweet potato on a cookie sheet and some of the sugar leached out and burned leaving me with a few black spots that are not coming off. I've tried Bar Keeper's Friend and soap/water, the black spots are still there. Any tips on getting the cookie sheet clean?

Sent by Amy

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.

Have you ever been uncorking a bottle of wine and, hey bingo, the cork breaks apart? You try again but now the cork starts to really disintegrate and all you have are bits of cork and dust for your efforts. What do you do? This is where my uncool kitchen tool comes in very handy. More

When I moved from a college dorm into an apartment, my mother helped me stock my kitchen, allowing me to use precious Greenbax Stamps to purchase a sleek white hand mixer. When she saw it, she asked to trade, offering me her Iona avocado green mixer, a wedding gift from my father’s college friend English McCutchen. The mixer was only 20 years old then, and in fine condition. 

Because I tout the simple, sparse life in the kitchen, it comes to the surprise of many who visit me in my cooking den that I own a garlic press. The love affair didn't happen overnight. It took me a while to proudly press garlic with a one-hit-wonder gadget, but now I use it all the time.

This single-use tool doesn't even have any sneaky alternate uses; the only thing it will do for your meal is crush garlic into the finest, most gloriously minuscule mince possible. More