First off, I’d like to thank everyone who weighed in on “The Ideal Coffeemaker” piece from yesterday. We’ve gone ahead and bought a cheap unit for now while we save up for the one I ultimately decided on: the Bonavita BV1800TH 8-Cup Coffee Maker with Thermal Carafe
My friend Patrick Rhone offered up his thoughts on this particular machine on Twitter:
But this machine wasn’t the favourite. That went to the one I’d linked to in the post, the Technivorm Moccamaster Coffee Brewer With Thermo Carafe
Which leads me into some of the other kitchen items I’ve been looking at lately. Seeing as I am working from home (and for 3 of the 5 weekdays I am supposed to handle cooking duties), I’ve started to look for other things that I could add to our kitchen arsenal to make my time in there more efficient and effective.
Beyond the Bonavita and Sodastream, here are some other kitchen tools I’m looking to add over the next few months:
A Rice Cooker
We used to have one, but I never used it. That was foolish, especially considering the amonut of the stuff we like to eat around here these days. While I can’t justify the price tag of a high-end Zojirushi unit, the same company makes a 6 Cup Rice Cooker/Steamer/a>
A Griddle
I had thought about getting an electric one like my mother used, but I think I’d rather go with one that I can also take camping with us. Again, price has to be considered here (but not at the compromise of quality). That’s why the Coleman Cast Iron Non-Stick Griddle
A Quality Knife Set
I’ve gradually improved the quality of the knives we have at our disposal. along with teh advice of my mother-in-law to make sure we only wash them by hand, I’ve managed to toss the knives that just won’t cut it 2 and learn to make the best of what we’ve got. Still, a Sanelli Green Handle 6-piece set would be a great addition to the team. In fact, these knives would instantly become the star players of kitchen prep upon arrival.
A Conical Burr Grinder
Much like with the coffeemaker, selling my wife on a coffee grinder that is worth anything more than what she paid for our present one (not a burr grinder, by the way) is going to be difficult. So I’m shooting for the Espressione Professional Conical Burr Coffee Grinder
Some of these have a higher level of importance than others (that knife set ranks at the top, for example), but adding any of these to our kitchen would make it a more delightful place to be.
Then again, that long overdue kitchen renovation my wife and I are both craving would do the trick too.3
Photo credit: Jay Fanelli (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
1 Another suggestion that I’m intrigued about is the Clever Coffee Dripper
2 Pun totally intended.
3 All of the links to products in this post are affiliate links, so if you buy any of them I get a bit of a kickback…which will help me buy said items too.
