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All Reviews

All Reviews

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classic chrome french press coffee maker on wooden kitchen counter with fresh ground coffee
Review ★★★★☆ 4.6

Bodum Chambord 8-Cup French Press Review: The Classic That's Still Worth Buying

The Bodum Chambord has been on counters and in coffee shops for decades, and the 8-cup (34 oz) version is the one most people picture when they hear "French press." It's a polished stainless steel frame around a borosilicate glass beaker, and at around forty dollars it sits right between the cheap big-box presses and the pricier insulated alternatives. Bottom line: it still brews a rich, full-bodied cup, but you should know exactly what you're trading away before you buy.

~$40 Read review →
Japanese santoku knife with hammered tsuchime damascus blade and wooden handle on a wooden cutting board
Review ★★★★☆ 4.7

Shun Premier 7-Inch Santoku Knife Review: A Hammered Damascus Workhorse for Vegetables and Beyond

The Shun Premier 7-Inch Santoku (model TDM0702) is one of the most recognizable Japanese-style knives in the U.S. market — a hammered, walnut-finished blade with a thin geometry and a famously sharp factory edge. Bottom line: if you cook a lot of vegetables and want a lighter, more precise alternative to a Western chef's knife, the Premier Santoku is hard to beat at this tier — provided you treat it like a Japanese knife, not a hatchet.

~$200–$220 Read review →
Japanese Damascus serrated bread knife slicing crusty sourdough on wooden cutting board
Review ★★★★☆ 4.7

Shun Classic 9-Inch Bread Knife Review: Damascus-Clad Slicer With a Lifetime Edge

The Shun Classic 9-Inch Bread Knife (model DM0705) is one of the prettier serrated knives you can buy without crossing into custom-shop territory — and one of the few in that price tier that earns the looks with real cutting performance. It's not the right knife for every kitchen, but if you bake your own bread or routinely break down crusty loaves and ripe tomatoes, it's a tool that will outlive most of the gear in your drawer.

~$150–$180 Read review →
Chemex hourglass glass pour-over coffeemaker on a wooden kitchen counter
Review ★★★★☆ 4.1

Chemex Classic 6-Cup Pour-Over Coffeemaker Review: An Iconic Brew, With a Learning Curve

The Chemex Classic 6-Cup is one of those rare kitchen objects that genuinely earns its place in the Museum of Modern Art's collection. Invented by Peter Schlumbohm in 1941, it is still made the same way — a single piece of borosilicate glass shaped like an hourglass, hugged at the waist by a wooden collar tied with a leather cord. Eighty-plus years later, it makes one of the cleanest, brightest cups of filter coffee you can get at home. It is also fussy, breakable, and not the right brewer for everyone. Here is what to expect before you buy.

~$45 Read review →
red enameled cast iron square grill pan with grill ridges on stovetop
Review ★★★★☆ 4.8

Le Creuset Signature Square Skillet Grill 10.25" Review: Indoor Grill Marks With a Lifetime Pedigree

The Le Creuset 10.25" Signature Square Skillet Grill is what you buy when you want restaurant-style grill marks on a Tuesday in February and you do not want to drag a charcoal grill out of the garage. It is heavy, beautifully made, and priced like the heirloom it intends to be. Worth it for the right cook — overkill for plenty of others.

~$200 Read review →
tall wooden pepper mill on a wooden cutting board with cracked peppercorns
Review ★★★★☆ 4.4

Peugeot Paris u'Select 9-Inch Pepper Mill Review: Heirloom Grinder, Premium Price

The Peugeot Paris u'Select is what most cooks reach for when they finally get tired of replacing a $15 pepper mill every couple of years. It's a French-made beechwood grinder with a click-stop grind selector and a steel mechanism backed by a lifetime warranty on the mechanism itself. The bottom line: if you actually use pepper every day, this mill is hard to beat — but the price will sting anyone who only grinds a few twists at the table.

~$60 Read review →
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modern Japanese chef's knife on wood cutting board with chopped vegetables
Review ★★★★☆ 4.7

Misen 8-Inch Chef's Knife Review: The DTC Darling That Still Punches Above Its Price

Misen launched on Kickstarter in 2015 with a simple pitch: take the geometry of a Japanese gyuto, build it from genuinely good steel, and sell it for less than the Wusthof and Shun knives it was competing with. Almost a decade later the formula still works. The 8-inch Chef's Knife is sharper out of the box than most German blades twice its price, holds an edge better than the Victorinox Fibrox, and feels noticeably more substantial in hand than its competitors at the sub-$100 mark. It isn't perfect — the handle is divisive and the fit-and-finish doesn't quite match a Shun — but for under $100 it remains one of the easiest knife recommendations to make.

~$85–$94 Read review →
stainless steel sous vide immersion circulator clipped to clear container of water with steak vacuum sealed inside
Review ★★★★☆ 4.3

Breville Joule Turbo Sous Vide Review: The Pocket-Sized Cooker That Finally Earns Its Premium

The Breville Joule Turbo (model BSV600PSS) is the smallest immersion circulator you can buy that still cooks like a serious one, and the "Turbo" mode finally gives the price tag a real reason to exist. If you can live with running it entirely from your phone, it's one of the easiest ways to get restaurant-grade steaks, chicken breasts, and pork chops on a weeknight.

~$249–$299 Read review →
professional chef's knife on wooden cutting board with fresh vegetables
Review ★★★★☆ 4.9

Mercer Culinary Genesis 8-Inch Chef's Knife Review: The Forged Workhorse That Punches Above Its Price

If you want a real forged chef's knife but can't stomach paying $150 or more for a Wusthof or Henckels, the Mercer Culinary Genesis 8-inch is the most credible answer on the market. It's the knife that culinary schools quietly hand to students, and once you understand why, it gets a lot harder to justify spending three times as much.

~$45–$55 Read review →
red KitchenAid hand mixer whipping cream in a glass bowl
Review ★★★★☆ 4.5

KitchenAid KHM7210 7-Speed Hand Mixer Review: The Reliable Workhorse for Bakers Without Counter Space

If you bake often enough to be annoyed by your $25 hand mixer but not enough to justify a stand mixer eating real estate on your counter, the KitchenAid KHM7210 sits in the sweet spot. It's not the cheapest hand mixer worth owning, and it isn't trying to be. It's the one you buy when you want a hand mixer that feels like it was actually engineered.

~$70–$90 Read review →
modern high-end countertop blender with stainless finish on kitchen counter
Review ★★★★☆ 4.5

Vitamix Ascent A3500 Review: The Smart Blender That Earns Its Price

The Vitamix Ascent A3500 sits near the top of the company's consumer lineup, and it has been there long enough that the hype has cooled and you can actually see what it does well and where it stumbles. Bottom line up front: if you blend daily and want one machine that handles smoothies, hot soups, frozen desserts, and nut butters without complaint, it's worth the money. If you blend twice a week, you're paying for features you won't use.

~$349-$500 Read review →