What Cooking Stuff Do You Have?

[Jeekinz]

I have a thing for trays and platters. I love them. I use them, too. Anytime anyone eats someplace other than the dining table, I have the perfect tray for whatever they are having. And Fisher (who's 5) always uses a tray with high sides so that if he spills or dribbles or drops, it's easy to clean up. Trays are my passion.

But I have a very healthy attachment to shoes, too, PastaKing!

Ditto on the serving trays and platters. Dang things are expensive though.

I'm not a gadget person. I think the most 'gadgety' thing I have is a dough scraper or potato peeler. I have fetishes for aluminum sheet pans, stock pots and grills though. Everything else "Is What It Is" I selectively add to my All Clad collection. I want pots and pans that will me used, not hidden in the back of the cabinet. I like the handles on All Clad tools because they match the pans, but I don't think I'll be spending $45 smackaroos for a sieve anytime soon.

If you don't mind 'commercial type' kitchenwares, check out Bigtray.com for some great deals. Oooh, almost forgot, lay-off my ladles!

 

[suziquzie]

LOL!!

I moved 40 min from my closest relative for the soul purpose of being logistically silly to "borrow" my kitchen stuff!

 

[quicksilver]

When I moved down here I had to down size. I had a huge yard sale, which almost paid for the moving van. Most of the good stuff was kithcen stuff. I wanted to die.
Now I'm back to garage sale ing and seeing some things I had
and I want to die. Boy is it tough to have to turn away.
But some stuff you just have to have, or not give up,stuff you remember when you were a kid. That's the stuff I still won't say no to.
Keep the shoes, I'll cook barefoot any day!

 

[MexicoKaren]

I can certainly sympathize, Quicksilver. When we moved down here, we had some stuff shipped, but since we were paying by weight, we were careful about it. We had huge garage sales and gave so much stuff away. The KitchenAid mixer, Cuisinart food processor, espresso maker, toaster oven, crockpot and DH's mothers' pots and pans HAD to come with us. One thing we left behind that I still almost weep about: an oval dutch oven made of cast iron and porcelain with "Waterford" stamped on the bottom. My hubby bought it at Salvation Army for $3! Oh, I wish I still had it for making carnitas. It ended up back at Salvation Army. I hope someone is enjoying it........

 

[SHAMALICIOUS]

Women never have enough shoes.
Men never have enough tools.
Children never have enough toys.
Cooks never have enough stuff, either - and seldom have enough space to store all that they already have!

I'm constantly faced with the problem of seeing something I could use for something, something I would like to have for some reason, but faced with the reality of - Where would I put it if I had it and how often would I really use it?

I think as long as you use the stuff its worth it!

 

[ErikC]

My Pasta Machine is something that I just can't do without. Aside from Ravioli and other stuffed pastas, I far prefer making fresh pasta, and rolling it out by hand is just too hard.
I am currently negotiating for a mixer next, but most of the time it is books that I ask for or am given for gifts. If I can't be cooking or eating, then the next best thing is reading about it! (or posting about it!).

 

[Wart]

I have enough stuff.

No, Really, I do.

Wife shops at thrift stores. She brings home an Atlas pasta roller. Cool, we now have the machine to go with the manual that came mismatched with the Imperia roller we've had for several years.

It was $5, she couldn't say no.

I've begged her to stop bringing this stuff home because once I see it I want to keep it.

How can I say no to a squeeze the handle pancake flipper?

Or a set of consumer Henkles to go with the set of twins?

Or a Marquest bean pot?

Or, Or, Or .... !!!!!!

 

[Fisher's Mom]

Ditto on the serving trays and platters. Dang things are expensive though.

I'm not a gadget person. I think the most 'gadgety' thing I have is a dough scraper or potato peeler. I have fetishes for aluminum sheet pans, stock pots and grills though. Everything else "Is What It Is" I selectively add to my All Clad collection. I want pots and pans that will me used, not hidden in the back of the cabinet. I like the handles on All Clad tools because they match the pans, but I don't think I'll be spending $45 smackaroos for a sieve anytime soon.

If you don't mind 'commercial type' kitchenwares, check out Bigtray.com for some great deals. Oooh, almost forgot, lay-off my ladles!

Thanks for pointing me at BigTray.com. They have lots of goodies my local restaurant supply place doesn't have. I actually love commercial stuff. It's usually very durable as well as reasonable so I don't have to worry when the kids cook. I picked up a couple of very heavy, commercial stock pots at a junk shop a couple of weeks ago for $10. I was thrilled! And ladles are very exciting to me, too. Do you have a thing for spatulas like I do?

 

[Jeekinz]

Do you have a thing for spatulas like I do?

Naah. I'm a tongs kinda guy.

 

[kmarlec]

I'm a new "addict," I must say! I LOVE enameled cast iron cookware and the way it cooks. It's pretty and "makes me happy" looking at it when I cook I've recently spent a fortune on "good buys" including Le Creuset, Staub, Mario Batali, IKEA, and others. All of my pots have a special use, at least in my mind! Will I ever recover?

 

[college_cook]

I don't really like the gizmos and gadgets that are specific for just one thing... uni-taskers as Alton Brown says. I did get used to have a certain amount of equipment at hand when I was working in restaurants though, so I like to have large sheet pans, a FP with attachments, stand mixer + attachment (thats what I'm working on aquiring), a couple of pots and pans in various sizes, knives, utensils (whisks, spats, microplane, measuring stuff) , silpat, mixing bowls. Things like a garlic press or an egg separator or egg slicer? No thanks.

 

[meshoo96]

lolol!! Sorry lol. Nice to see I'm not the only crazy person with lots of cooking ware.

I WANT more cook ware, but have no more room. I see all you guys posting and I WISH I could be that crazy. When you go from a house with cabinets everywhere and countertops that seemed endless to a condo with 3 counters that are 3ft wide each and only 3 cabinets for cookware and "tupperware" you become quite limited.

 

[jet]

There are two places where I must exercise restraint: bookstores and cooking stores.
Right now I see a new knife on the horizon.

On the topic of coffee cups, where do you guys find enough coffee cups to have a collection? The last time I went looking, about the only thing I could find were jumbo mugs that could almost double as a stockpot.

 

[Blondelle]

I'm afraid there is no cure once you have the affliction. There are only periods of brief remission when you run out of funds or room. I'm writing this as I lovingly look at my own collection of Staubs and Le Creusets. The only solace is that most of us here have the same disease...LOL. With some women it's shoes, some jewelry, some clothes, but with us it's pretty cookware. One has to do in this life what makes us happy. Enjoy your addiction ;-)!

 

[Blondelle]

With limited space you have to be creative and think outside the box, or in this case the kitchen ;-). Do you have room for an armoire outside the kitchen? A nearby closet. An etegare inside the kitchen? What about a corner for a Le Creuset iron multi level rack for your cast iron? Do you have space for a hanging cookware rack? No one says everything has to be right in the kitchen. You can have your most used pieces there, and the rest nearby.

 

[Katie H]

With limited space you have to be creative and think outside the box, or in this case the kitchen ;-). Do you have room for an armoire outside the kitchen? A nearby closet. An etegare inside the kitchen? What about a corner for a Le Creuset iron multi level rack for your cast iron? Do you have space for a hanging cookware rack? No one says everything has to be right in the kitchen. You can have your most used pieces there, and the rest nearby.

Whoa! Truer words were never said!!! Our kitchen is so small we have go go outside to open the oven door. I have cookware and appliances all over the house. Our 18-quart electric roaster lives under the bed in a guest room. Same for waffle irons and such.

Buck is always amazed that I can remember where everything is. Don't know. It's just me.

As for hanging things overhead, our kitchen looks like a culinary stalactite wonder. Hey, it works for us. And, until the kitchen is remodeled - after winning the lottery, which we don't play - it will have to stay this way.

We really don't mind because it works so well. "If it ain't broke. Don't break it!"

 

[expatgirl]

kitchen stalactite----that's really a great mental image, Katie!!!! Um,,,, I never fill my drawers with totally useless junk ever......and I totally mean it........ever.........No you can't bring cameras into my kitchen..........ever..........

 

[vilasman]

Hi, I am a kitchen stuff junkie, is this the rehab thread, I have a lot of pyrex, and I am seriously thinking of getting more 9x13's (have 3 or 4) and 10x15's ( have 3 want 6 of each) after this past weekend and getting a second refrigerator to keep all that cooked food in. But then I do have 3 more of each at my moms house. And a worker freezer that isn't doing anything there as well... But beyond the casseroles I have, what would probably add up to 4 complete sets of the glass mixing bowels, I have the glass Pastry layout thingys that have circles on them so you cant cut pie crust to size. I have a lot of pyrex ramekins and so many pyrex pie plates that I might consider selling some at a yard sale. I have about 20. I caught a corning revere store that was going out of business.
I have a pretty complete collection of lodge cast iron
I have a pretty complete collection nissin thermos' to take coffee and left overs to work
I have about half of a complete collection of K/A small appliances. Need to get accessories for the mixer and the food processor, need to get a hand mixer and perhaps the K/A waffle maker, I am definitely getting another K/A slow cooker and a K/A griddle
And the steel Jar for my blender
I need a new deep fryer, dont quite know where I'll put it but so what

I bet I have something no one else has. A collection of about 300 quart and pint size mason jars just waiting to be filled. And If you have that, I even have a few gallon sized mason jars. Which we will say are hand me downs from my grandma. Even if she did die 10-15 years before I was born. She knew I was coming.
I have a set of anolon that I love, I am building a set of anolon knives that I love.

I have 4 different butcher block cutting boards. All are different sizes. I see 1 or 2 more coming because I am seeing that DW is lining them up next to each other on the counter and using them as the food prep surface. I think there should be more so that more counter top can be covered.

You know what I really want... that home soda making thing. That might be cost saving

 

[Leolady]

What color are your mason jars villasman?

I collect the aqua glass ones and use them for canisters. I would guesstimate I have over 130 ranging in size from one pint to 6 gallons.

 

[MexicoKaren]

Vilasman, how big is your kitchen? Wow, you must be a master organizer! If I had that much Pyrex, I wouldn't know where to put it or how to find it after I put it somewhere!