I love washed linen napkins. They are incredibly soft and absorbent and their rumpled look suits my casual style. They can be ironed if you want a crisper look, but they are truly beautiful if you just smooth and fold them when they come out of the dryer (or off the line). Their only downside is the price, which can run as high as $30 each. But if you're like me and also appreciate frayed edges, then you can have six linen napkins for half that price, with no sewing involved. Read on for how to make this happen.

Q: I'm going to college soon and looking to buy my own knives. Should I buy a knife block with knives or buy the knives separately from the block? I'm looking to spend around $100 total. The three knives I use the most are a paring knife, a chef's knife, and a bread knife.

Sent by Heejung

Oversized Artwork from ixxi

• $58 to $175
• Ixxi

ixxi is a Dutch company that lets you make huge yet affordable pieces of art. I love having art in the kitchen, and I hung a big print of Vermeer's The Little Street in my space. Huge pieces of art are often prohibitively expensive, but ixxi has this ingenious method of printing on small square tiles, that you then snap together with "i" and "x" plastic connectors (hence their name, ixxi - get it?). I was turned on to this company by Janel, who stumbled on them in the Amsterdam airport. I love having a way to do huge prints for a very reasonable amount of money. You can order from their image bank, like I did, or upload your own photographs for the ixxi treatment.

Q: We go through a fair amount of cheese at our house, and recently we started freezing the rinds. I know that we can simmer these in tomato sauce to give a nice flavor, and we've done that, but the problem is we go through WAY more cheese than we make homemade tomato sauce. 

Utility Stool from Schoolhouse Electric

• $130 to $180
• Schoolhouse Electric

You can't beat welded old-fashioned stools like these. Rubber feet protect the floors and keep them from skidding, and their square, classic shape is always in style. Really love the colors on these too! They come in 18-inch and 30-inch heights, and in persimmon, a military green, blue-gray, and white.

Q: I would like to buy a pair of solid fruit and vegetable reference books. I am debating between Chez Panisse Fruits and Vegetables and Nigel Slater's Tender and Ripe. Do you have any suggestions or thoughts on how they compare? Are they unique enough that it's worth owning all four books?

Silicups from Williams-Sonoma

• $24.95
• Williams-Sonoma

I've been making egg bakes in muffin cups for breakfast, and I've learned the hard way that they do best in silicone pans or in cups like these. I like these cups a lot, as they are versatile and can be used for many things. And of course they are reusable, which means less paper in the trash.

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. 

Hario Coffee Hand Grinder Skerton

• $39.99
• Amazon.com

This little hand grinder is a very effective way to get your French press coffee ground in the morning - wherever you are. It travels really well, so if you're a coffee addict and want to tote your coffee gear with you, this is a great grinder. It's good for the home, too, especially if you're OK with a little bit of a workout in the morning.

If the only time you think of pulling that jar of balsamic out of the cupboard is when it's time to make a salad, you're missing out. This sweet and tangy vinegar is one of my favorite secret ingredients, and I've found all sorts of ways that its presence will perk up my everyday cooking.

Hemp seeds. Yes, they're legal and, no, you won't get high. More importantly, these little nutritional powerhouses are rich, nutty, and delicious. 

Stainless Steel Stemless Wine Glass by RSVP Endurance

• $10
• Amazon.com

We were in Colorado this past week, and we had dinner with some friends who pulled out these stainless steel wine tumblers, laughing about how they couldn't keep wine glasses in one piece (especially with a new baby in the house). These stainless steel tumblers are certainly unorthodox, but they were so fun to use on a casual evening. They're pretty hefty, and they kept the wine (and beer) super cold. Yes, you miss seeing the color of the wine, but give me these over the red plastic cups at a backyard barbecue any day.

Since going gluten-free, I've had lots of fun expanding my arsenal of flours. My latest discovery? DIY sunflower seed flour. I discovered "sun-flour" while developing my recipe for Fruit Crumble with Oats & Dates and have started using this wonderful ingredient in other baked goods, too. 

Happy Cooking Tray from Alder & Co.

• $20
• Alder & Co.

Alder & Co. is my other favorite shop in Portland (I also mentioned Canoe in Monday's Daily Find). Carla and Rebecca have stunningly good taste and collect unique, beautiful things from around the world for this little shop. (Actually, it's growing a bit; they moved to a new location over the weekend! I'm excited to see what else they bring into the store.) This tray caught my eye, with its cheery message - the same one we send you off with every weekend. Happy cooking!

Cooks who work on marble countertops already know that marble is great for working with pastry and chocolate. When chilled, a marble surface is ideal for keeping dough from sticking -- particularly when you're not keen on adding too much extra flour. If you're an avid baker, it's an essential tool to have in your kitchen. And you can get one for around $30!

Cake Pedestal from CB2

• $14.95
• CB2

We can't let Dessert Week go by without looking at a cake plate, right? I have far too many cake plates already, but if I had room for one more, this ultra-modern, matte black piece from CB2 would be it. I love the modern take on what is often an old-fashioned or frilly item for tea parties. This would come in handy at parties, serving tea sandwiches or cupcakes, but it wouldn't be out of place on the weeknight table either. Great price, too.

Could there be anything better than a handful of pistachios? They're a snack on their own, they're a dessert when mixed with ice cream, they're a savory addition to our salads — I wouldn't be surprised if they could leap tall buildings and move faster than a speeding bullet, too. They're basically the superhero of nuts. Except they're not actually nuts. And with that bright green color, they're not exactly fooling anyone with their low-profile disguise.