Tools & Equipment News

Do you know where chocolate milk comes from? The seemingly insulting question is a valid query, as a good chunk of people are supposedly in the dark about where chocolate milk is sourced from. (Spoiler alert: It’s not brown cows.) The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy‘s Undeniably Dairy, a group representing family dairy farmers, conducted a survey on a thousand participants to explore dairy consumption habits and beliefs.

I live in what is, by all reasonable standards, a very small apartment. I say this not to complain — I like my apartment! — but only to suggest that I am not necessarily in a position to devote an entire cabinet to an ice cream maker that I have never used. But there it sits, a full-sized ice cream maker, in a cabinet above my three-quarter sized fridge, where it has rested, untouched by milk or sugar, for approximately six years.

Plastic water bottles are a waste of resources and damaging to the environment. But with consumption of bottled water on the rise, sustainability becomes a big issue. Now, a sustainable packaging startup has created a water blob that eliminates the need for plastic. London-based Skipping Rocks Lab introduced their innovation, called Ooho, in 2014, but it only now is going viral. The concept is simple: Package water in 100 percent plant-based biodegradable materials.

KitchenAid stand mixers have a reputation of their own in the cooking world. They’re famous for being a “must-have” tool in every aspiring and professional cook’s arsenal, and they’re notorious for coming with a hefty price tag. But for those who cook on a regular basis or experiment in the kitchen, the mixers do so much more than whip up a batch of cookie dough.

Whether you choose to DIY or hire a pro to help guide your dishwasher into its new nest, there are a few things you should do to ensure everything goes smoothly. Prep for installation by turning off the water-supply line and power to your existing machine. Taking the time to do this before the delivery guys come (about an hour in advance) will give the line a chance to drain and ensure that the installation will be as quick (and as safe!) as possible.

As if picking a KitchenAid stand mixer color isn't hard enough (there are more than 86 to choose from!), the company has just announced four new options.

Congrats on your fancy new appliance! That is very exciting. Just know that you'll have to do a few things before you can get cooking.

Your knives may be more dangerous than usual if you own Calphalon brand products. The company announced a recall of 2 million knives in the United States and 7,100 knives in Canada. The recall took place after more than 3,000 cases of knives breaking and 27 reports of consumers suffering from finger and hand lacerations, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The knives — retailed at stores like Kohl’s, Macy’s, Amazon, and J.C.

Do you have a couple things lingering in your Amazon cart that you’re not totally ready to commit to? Today just might be the day to spoil yourself. To celebrate the fact that Amazon got the number-one position in a reputation ranking poll — with a record score of 86.27 — they’re rewarding their customers with a sweet deal. For today only Amazon is offering shoppers $8.63 if they spend $50 or more. All you have to do is enter the code “BIGTHANKS” at checkout.

If you guessed wood, you’re only half right! They’re made from recycled wood and plastic bottles. The new KUNGSBACKA cabinet fronts — available now — are made out of recycled wood scraps and laminated with a plastic film made from recycled PET bottles. The result? Daring matte black kitchen cabinets that are both sustainable and beautiful.

When it comes to cult foods, bacon is high on the list. Few other foods have inspired so many ardent expressions of love. There are some people, however, who feel that cooking bacon can be a pain (I’m not going to call these people lazy, but use your imagination). Sure, there are plenty of bacon cooking hacks to go around, but for the gadget-obsessed, the Bacon Express Crispy Bacon Grill might be too fun to resist.

If you grew up helping Mario and Luigi try to save Princess Peach, the radish may become your new vegetable obsession. The Ravanello radish shaper helps you whittle your radish into the shape of a mushroom and carve little white dots into the pink-topped flesh. That’s right — it looks exactly like a Super Mario power-up. This is totally ridiculous and, at $11.

LG Electronics recently announced that they are expanding their line of fridges that come with the popular InstaView feature, which lets people peek inside their fridge without having to open the door. Consumers simply knock twice on the glass panel to illuminate the interiors of the refrigerator and receive a clear look of what’s inside.

Turning waste into wine is one of early 2017’s gifts to humankind. There’s recently been a ton of buzz about the Alchema at-home fermentation system, which turns your unused fruit into wine, cider, and mead. You simply pour in the ingredients (measured by an internal scale and tracked by the accompanying app), push the button on the app, and let the Alchema do its thing.

Cookies are not hard to make. Sure, there are recipes that call for special ingredients, or ask you to brown butter in advance, but most recipes require nothing more than the simple stuff you probably already have in your pantry. And if you’re feeling extra lazy, there’s always the frozen cookie dough sleeves that require almost zero effort (using a knife to cut into the dough counts, right?) Yet somehow, here we are.

I remember the exact moment that began my lifetime of collecting wooden spoons. It was 20 years ago and I was hanging out with my friend Trudy as she cooked on her Garland, a commercial range which was rarely seen in home kitchens, and was the mark of a very serious cook. Just to the side of the stove, there was a canister crammed with all kinds of wooden spoons: light, dark, tall, short, fat-handled, and fragile-looking. I pulled one out that had a squat handle and long flat bowl.

I was absolutely fascinated when I heard that General Mills was introducing its first new cereal in 15 years. Can you believe it has been so long since their last product launch? With feelings of nostalgia brimming in my heart, I couldn’t wait to give it a try. Here’s what I thought. The packaging is cute and easily recognizable among a sea of busy and colorful boxes.

With all the information about food and recipes available online, it can be a tough decision to actually buy a cookbook. Some of them are certainly worth the investment, but eventually a line needs to be drawn — and I’m curious if Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen’s new cookbook falls within it. Would you be willing to lay down $200 to learn how to eat like this not-quite-Paleo, mostly vegetarian, world-famous duo?

Using plastic wrap in the kitchen is certainly convenient, but it’s not exactly great for the environment. Thankfully, a brilliant team from The National University of Singapore has created a substitute that everyone can feel good about using. The two-person team discovered that chitosan, a polymer extracted from the shells of crustaceans, can be combined with grapefruit seed extract to create a material that looks just like plastic wrap — but is better in every way.

You’ve probably seen this little kitchen gadget making its way around the Internet. Yeah, it’s pretty much unnecessary. Yeah, people are probably just buying it as a gag gift. Yeah, the reviews are pretty funny. But three posts about it, BuzzFeed? What are you up to? As an aside, let me just say that one of my daily responsibilities as The Kitchn’s Social Media Manager is to find something trendy and buzzworthy in the world of food news to share.

If you’re a fan of NBC’s dearly departed hit series 30 Rock, then you’re probably also a fan of the completely entertaining, completely memorable, if not completely lovable, Jack Donaghy. I know I am, and I have to confess that it’s not often that I snag such an exclusive, elusive interviewee as the mostly fictional character played by Alec Baldwin.

KitchenAids are big and clunky, but that’s not a bad thing. The weight comes from a powerful motor, and the clunkiness … well, I can’t think of a better shape for such an appliance. It is what it is, which is why I can’t quite wrap my head around the appeal of the mini version that KitchenAid will soon market to millennials and boomers. So what, exactly, do they mean when they say “mini”?

How do you feel about unitaskers? Those single-serving gadgets that seem to multiply in your kitchen drawers, and never seem to work as well as you want them to? While there might be some that are truly worth having in your kitchen (I swear by my cherry pitter), there are plenty out there that we’d probably just be better off not spending our money on. Luckily, Alton Brown feels the same way, and he’s properly (and comically) outraged.

Who: Pyrex What: Iconic glass kitchenware Where: Charleroi, PA From the moment you step through the gates of the sprawling Pyrex factory complex, on the banks of the Monongahela River, glass surrounds you. You feel it crunching under your feet and see mountains of sparkling glass shards in the distance — building-high piles that seem as if they’re guarding the old lines where Pyrex’s distinctively colored Opalware was produced from 1936 to 1986.

There is a strong segment of the breeding population that believes children should always be given the same food as adults. They say putting food designed or altered specifically for small people in a kid’s lunchbox—think sandwiches cut into cars, rice balls with panda faces made from nori, heart-shaped cucumber slices, or selections from the now-extensive catalog of “healthy” prepackaged snacks, no matter how nutritious—is a travesty.

Want your dinner party guests to be more likely to enjoy the meal you prepare? Invest in a set of heavy flatware. Researchers at Oxford University did a study to determine whether or not the heft of the silverware made any difference in diners’ enjoyment of their meal. They discovered that the heavier the utensils were, the more guests liked their meal, and the more they were willing to pay for it.

There are few things worse than being stuck at a barbecue or picnic with bottles that require an opener and no opener in sight. Luckily, you can MacGyver almost anything into a bottle opener. Buzzfeed recently shared a video showing how 11 items you might find in your purse can be used to open that brew. Everything from chapstick to nail files to your vitamin bottle can help you out in a pinch. Our favorite? The eyelash curler. Finally, a way we’ll actually use it!

As part of Japanese retailer Muji’s quest to simplify the design of our home goods, the company has recently released a few new kitchen appliances that fit with their minimalist aesthetic. You can now own a tea kettle, rice cooker, and toaster designed by Naoto Fukasawa for Muji. All three appliances have a simple boxy design and are almost entirely white, aside from buttons and a few metal details. We can’t wait to see them in person to test them out.

Every March we herald the release of the newest KitchenAid stand mixer colors. While many specialty kitchen tools have fans and promoters, none seem as ardent as stand mixer fans: they’re a baker’s essential, as many readers pointed out here, and oh-so-pretty. So, in an ode to this iconic piece, here are 15 stand mixers pulled from our tours. To paraphrase from Dirty Dancing, nobody puts this baby in a corner. (Actually, totally not true.

Who cooks and eats here: Allen Coin and me, Lisa Pepin! See the kitchen: What It’s Like to Search for an Apartment (and a Good Kitchen) in Hanoi, Vietnam Where: Hanoi, Vietnam Rent or Own? Rent Living near a restaurant supply store is a dangerous thing. If you’re like me, you’ve gotten good at justifying buying too many loaf pans (they’re only $5!), too many little one-use tools (I can make that dessert I saw on Pinterest!

Who: Lodge Manufacturing What: Seasoned cast iron and seasoned steel cookware Where: South Pittsburg, TN Lodge Manufacturing has been in business since 1896, and they are the oldest manufacturer of cast iron cookware remaining in the United States. The company continues to make classic, long-lasting skillets and other tools in a manufacturing process honed by both age and necessity.

Love fresh, homemade tortillas but don’t have the time to make them? Flatev wants to change that. The Flatev machine use dough-filled pods to create “fresh” tortillas. Similar to the Keurig, you simply insert a single pod into the machine and push a button and out comes a tortilla! In a rather hilarious video, Flatev is marketed to people who want to entertain but don’t want to spend too much time making the kitchen messy.

The angle: You’ve got a cast iron skillet. Now use it. Recipes for right now: Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes, Baked Spaghetti, Smoked Salmon and Scallion Frittata, Lamb Chops with Garlic-Mint Sauce, Tasso-Spiced Shrimp with Grits, Cottage Cheese Dill Bread, Apple-Pecan Clafoutis, Maple-Coconut Oatmeal Pie Who would enjoy this book? Anyone who appreciates the power of cast iron cooking. Also, anyone who can’t get enough classic American cuisine.

Just before Christmas — or was it just after? —our microwave broke. Actually, I’m not sure it was broken, but it made a big spark and that was enough for me. We paid around $60 for it nearly nine years ago, so we’ve gotten our money’s worth. We never had a microwave before we moved to this house, and we managed just fine, but I sure have gotten used to the convenience. So I’ve had to make a few changes since the death of the microwave.

Who: Brandi Shelton of Just Add Honey Tea Company What: Custom-blended loose-leaf teas, cold-brewed teas, and accessories Where: Atlanta, Georgia While studying fashion design and marketing in London, Brandi Shelton fell in love with the daily ritual of a cup of tea, but was less enamored of the traditional flavors. “I thought I could add a spice here or a fruit there to make a more flavorful cup,” she tells us. And that’s how Just Add Honey, her custom tea line, began.

Who: Andrew Elia, Jeff Appareti & Geoff Jensen What: Genuine Bread Co. Where: Santa Barbara, California What other gig demands feeding people daily, staying up late, waking up early, even leaving parties to check on things? If you think I’m talking about parenting a small child, you’re not far off. This is the “baker’s life” of Genuine Bread Co.

Modernist Cuisine’s baking steel is actually a partnership with Baking Steel, a company founded by Andris Lagsdin that makes — you guessed it — recycled steel baking surfaces. (We reviewed them here.) Langsdin was inspired to start making baking steels after reading in Modernist Cuisine that cooking pizzas on a metal slab was the way to make them perfectly burnt and crispy. How so?

There is no lack of tips and tutorials for seasoning cast iron, but very few of them actually explain the science behind the process — which is a shame, since knowing a little more about complicated-sounded scientific terms like “polymerization” and “drying oil” can help you choose the best oil for creating a hard, smooth, impermeable non-stick surface on your cast iron cookware.

If you’re looking for a clever yet easy-to-understand Italian cooking app, we think we’ve found it. Sara Jenkins’ New Italian Pantry is built around the idea that once you have 16 basic Italian ingredients in your pantry, you can create almost any meal with whatever other ingredients you have on hand. Picked up some gorgeous greens at the market? Have a little pork you’d like to use up? Just plug in what you have, and the app will show you what you can do with it.

Today West Elm launched West Elm Market, and boy, are we excited! The new store (the first of which will open in Brooklyn on October 25th) specializes in what West Elm is calling “your total tool homekit” with categories for Kitchen, Garden, Care + Repair, and Personal Care. We’re clearly especially excited about the new kitchen collection, which includes everything from Smeg refrigerators (in 10 juicy colors!) to Ittala cast iron pots.

What is espresso and how did it ever come about? These questions are at the heart of Smithsonian Magazine’s recent dive into the history of the espresso machine, which is a fascinating read for any coffee lover.Contrary to what you might think, espresso is not a roasting method, or bean or blend. Rather, it’s a method of preparation so precise and molecular that no discussion of espresso could exist without discussing the machines and how they changed the whole business.

When money and storage space are tight, buying a new kitchen gadget like a food mill or a pressure cooker is never an easy decision. Will it take up too much space? Will you use it enough to justify the price? What if you want to try it out first? A neighborhood in Portland is working on a smart solution to this problem: a community kitchen tool library.

Have you ever suspected the decades-old Pyrex baking dish you received from your grandmother is a lot more durable than a modern glass dish? You might be right. Earlier this year Consumer Reports published findings that the glass bakeware currently sold in the U.S. is more likely to shatter than its European counterparts. Since then, the magazine has received over 140 more reports of glassware unexpectedly shattering, with about half resulting in injury. What’s going on here?

There’s a hierarchy when it comes to outdoor cooking. At one end you have toasting marshmallows on a stick you found in the woods, and at the other end you have Kanz kitchens, stoves and pantries. They’re as functional as they are pretty and they win the bear resistent seal of approval — no really, that’s a thing! There’s a cool green seal and everything!

The Kitchn tested Fuego’s Element Grill a while back and summed it up as a “really, really pretty” design with a small footprint and an “easy, straightforward” cooking surface. A similar design approach extends to the rest of Fuego’s product line, which includes a new portable grill and a modular outdoor kitchen.

Lodge is finally getting in the color game! It’s been a while since we perused the Lodge Cookware website and were excited to find several new (to us) colors on a recent visit.We really like the bright and bold color palate they’re playing off of here. The primary colors feel inviting and playful. We particularly like the Apple Green color on the L-Series dutch oven and the gradated Island Spice Red on their traditional oven.They do carry a few earthier colors.

When we included pasta measuring tools on our list of 10 Most Useless Kitchen Gadgets, many of you chimed in that you actually find them helpful. Well, if you own an iPhone, here’s a tool that allows you to measure pasta without cluttering your kitchen drawers.Pastatime is an easy-to-use spaghetti measuring app for one to four portions. The measurement changes as you toggle from standard to longer length spaghetti.

Ever since our sunny yellow teakettle bit the dust, it feels like a little cheeriness has been absent from the kitchen. In our search for a new kettle, we’ve come across a whole spectrum of gorgeous colors. There’s something to suit every kitchen, from vibrant teal to retro green. Here are some that have caught our eye…TOP ROW• 1 KitchenAid Porcelain Enamel on Steel Curling Teakettle, $26.40 at Amazon.com • 2 Le Creuset Enameled Steel Whistling Tea Kettle, $69.

In our kitchen tour last week, we highlighted one of our favorite small space solutions: an over-the-sink cutting board. Use it any time you need extra counter space, whether it’s for chopping vegetables, mixing a cake, or holding a cookbook (just don’t turn on the faucet!).While it is not necessary to use a cutting board specifically designed for over-the-sink use, we like the built-in colanders offered in many models.

Perhaps relic is too strong a word; after all, the one above is currently for sale at Williams-Sonoma. But we think of electric knives as a convenience gadget from the 80s that has slowly been replaced by well-made chefs’ knives. Maybe we’re wrong. Do you use an electric knife in your house?We’ll admit we have a family member who is still wholeheartedly devoted to his for cutting meat. And if you want thin, precise cuts, it’s a great tool.

We learned the news yesterday when the NY Times called asking for permission to use our photo of Jim Ades, the famous carrot peeler of Union Square (and occasionally other parts of the city.)He was known for his bravado and his enthusiasm for the peelers he sold. He never was officially part of the Greenmarket, rather choosing to park himself on the fringes of the market, capitalizing on the traffic, but never obtaining a vendor’s license.

To Contest Page & All Entries(note: deadline has been extended to Monday, April 16th!) Name: JessicaLocation: New York, NYSize & Type: 45 square feet (not including dining area) in a 1 bedroom 5th floor walkup Favorite resource: The local thrift store, to get rid of kitchen miscellaneous stuff. To make everything fit easily, I got rid of most of our kitchen stuff. What we do have we use daily and for multiple purposes (eg. small French tumblers are used for both juice & wine).