I am not a tall person. I level out at about 5 foot nothing, in my stockinged-feet. My hand are proportional to my height; they're small and square. For this reason, I've always avoided full-sized chef's knives, opting for smaller 8-inch knives. Full-sized knives make me nervous; can I handle them? Can I take advantage of their weight, or will they be harder to use safely? Well, chef Sara Moulton is petite herself, but she has a convincing argument. Yes, even small people need big knives. More

Serving a green salad with grace and competence is actually a tricky thing to do. Success ultimately depends on how comfortable you are with your salad serving implements. The classic salad server set usually consists of one spoon-like and one fork-like implement, but these days there are a dizzying number of options to choose from, including spoon, fork, and flat implements as well as the short, chubby salad 'hands'. And for some, a pair of tongs or chopsticks is the only way to go.

When Geoffrey Lilge agreed to help outfit Highlands Kitchen, his wife's award-winning restaurant in Edmonton, Canada, he had no idea it would lead to a new career for him. He became obsessed with finding the perfect cutting and charcuterie boards, which eventually led to OnOurTable, a collection of handcrafted wooden kitchen objects that Lilge makes in his Alberta woodshop. More

We're rolling ahead with video: it's time to start showing you all some basic techniques and we'll start with the onion, that pungent bulbous bundle of flavor, so essential to so many cuisines. Watch the video above, then click through for a quick run-down on onion types and the secrets to keeping your eyes dry while you chop. More

There's a blurry line between absurdity and genius, and in no place is that better demonstrated than the Chork. The Chork! A plastic fork-and-chopsticks hybrid. Oh spork, you look so quaint now. More

Several years ago, a respectable cooking teacher warned me to never use the sharp end of my knife blade to scrape whatever I was chopping off of the cutting board and into the pan or bowl. Instead, she flipped the knife and used the dull, upper part of the blade to scrape. Is this something you do too? Also, watch Taylor of Brooklyn Kitchen explain this in this short video.

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When a reader recently left a comment stating that they had made a great under-the-cabinet knife rack, I didn't think much of it until I saw the genius that it truly was. Instead of putting a rack on your backsplash (which still prohibits you from putting anything in front of it), check out this under-cabinet trick! More

As we've said time and time again, a chef's knife is a very personal thing. There is no one-size-fits-all. It's all about how that particular knife feel feels in your hand, whether the size, weight, and comfort is specifically suited to you. More

Nothing could be more basic or more important to your cooking than your knives. And nothing can be more confusing than separating out the truth from the hype when the time comes to add a knife to your kit. Lucky for us, Bay Area chef Samin Nosrat has put together an excellent primer that every home cook should read before setting out to purchase a knife. More

I'm not quite sure what's happening to me but it seems that some how color is slowly but surely making an appearance in my home (gasp!). Maybe it was my recent trip to the Rose Bowl Flea Market that got me loving color again — who knows, but I love it! More