I know epi's doing it, but what are your 5 favorite kitchen things?

Whoops! Forgot number 5 under functional!

5. My wonderful, old wooden spoons.....

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I know epi's doing it, but what are your 5 favorite kitchen things?

I have to agree with flourgirl, I do love everything in my kitchen and it is also the heart of our home.

So let's see. I'm going to split this up into aesthetics and function, since it is such a beautiful room, that feeds my soul and that we spend so much time in.

Function:
1. My Lacanche range!!!
2. My 8" Kramer Chef's knife
3. immersion blender.
4. Le Crueset dutch oven (I use them ALL the time!)

Aesthetics
1. My Lacanche range!
2. The view of our wooded back yard through the wall of windows.
3. The Blue Ridge and Jerusalem pottery I have hanging on the walls.
4. The shelves for all our cookbooks (it's an addiction).
5. Our beautiful cherry counters (which could also go under functional because they are tough! Although I do not cut on them.)

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Le Creuset and Its Imitators

I dunno, they may "chip, rust, and crack" as you say. But I have four pieces, which are used hard and almost daily. One of them is going on 25 years old, when they didn't enamel the bottoms. And it has neither chipped, rusted, or cracked. And believe me, that is saying something when you use them as much as we do, and have a husband who leaves them in the sink soaking for overnight or even a day. No rust. I love them.

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Non toxic oil for a wooden countertop

When we redid our kitchen two years ago, my husband put in some really beautiful American Cherry counters. I oiled them with pure Tung oil which is completely food safe, mixed with some citrus solvent, which is also completely food safe. It was a lot of work as you had to allow the tung oil to dry completely between coats for several days each and it took about 8 coats the first time. But since then, it's been two years, they're still absolutely beautiful, durable, just terrific. People come in and ask if I"ve just oiled them. But I know it's actually finally time for a light sanding and re-oiling. No rush though. I highly recommend the tung oil if you have the time and patience initially.

Here's where I got mine:
http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.html

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Need a Recommendation on a Tea Kettle

I have to second the copper Simplex, it's my absolute favorite, and I've had many kettles. I had my last Simplex kettle for 10 years, survived hard use, particularly by our cook in Egypt for two years. But alas, like a moron I was using it to fill the bird bath outside my kitchen window, and dropped it, full of water, one full story down. Goodbye precious kettle. I couldn't believe how much the prices had gone up in ten years, but I didn't hesitate. I have a new one now (shiny again!) and am very happy. I won't be using it to fill the bird bath!

My one (small) quip with the newer one is that the handle on the lid is plastic now. My old one was wood.

Ahhhhh, well.

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Chef Knife size considerations?

I have a wonderful 8" Chefs knife that I absolutely adore and want to get another one so that my husband will quit using mine! (it's a Kramer, had it three years now. It's wonderful, but took this long to save up for another!).

I'm trying to decide what size to get and suddenly realized that I don't really know the advantages of the 8" over the 10" or the 6". Is it strictly personal preference? I ordered the 8" we have now, because it was the middle size and it has really served us well. It's quite long and I'm almost a bit scared of the 10" although Hubby probably wouldn't be.

I can't help but wonder if would be a good idea to have the smaller one though? Seems silly to get another 8".

What do you all think?

Thanks.

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