Best Kitchen Equipment

My grandma gave me a book entitled, Perfect Vegetables in August--a bunch of crazy and brilliant people cooked vegetables in every conceivable way to discover the best (and often, the most efficient) ways to prepare them.

In subsections throughout the book, they list their favorite kitchen equipment (listing here for convenience):

• Food mill: Moulinex ($15)
• Chef knives: Forschner (Victorinox) Fibrox ($30), Henckels Four Star, Wusthof-Trident Grand Prix (~$80)
  
• Inexpensive Balsamic Vinegar: 365 Every Day Value, Masserie Di Sant'Eramo, Fiorucci Riserva
• Jarred roasted red peppers: Divina peppers, Greek Gourmet peppers
• Cheese grater: Microplane grater
• Salad spinners: Oxo Good Grips ($26), Zyliss Salad Spinner ($21)
• Gratin dishes: Pyrex casserole dish
• Cutting boards: plastic boards
• Inexpensive nonstick skillets: Farberware Millenium 18/10 Stainless Steel 12-Inch Nonstick Skillet ($30)
• Vegetable peelers: Oxo Good Grips Peeler, Kuhn Rikon Peeler (wide strips good for celery root or winter squash)
• Supermarket Extra-Virgin Olive Oils: Davinci Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (best all-purpose), Pompeian Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (best mild oil), Colavita Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (best full-bodied oil)
• Herb choppers: generic single-bladed, two-handed mezzaluna represents only real alternative to chef's knife.
• Pepper mills: Unicorn Magnum Plus (huge capacity, awesome speed), East Hampton Industries Peppermate (detachable cup for measuring)
• Garlic presses: Zyliss press
• Vermouth: Gallo Extra Dry Vermouth (floral, fruity), Noilly Prat Original French Dry Vermouth (honeyed, herbaceous, woodsy)
• 3-4 quart Large saucepans: All-Clad ($140, but lacked rolled lips), Calphalon ($110, but heavy), KitchenAid ($119, but relatively short curved handle)
• Dutch Ovens: 8-quart All-Clad Stainless Stockpot ($150), 7-quart Le Creuset Round French Oven ($150), 7-quart Lodge Dutch Oven (cast-iron, $45).
• Grill tongs: Amco 16-inch stainless-steel kitchen tongs
• Canned tomatoes: Muir Glen diced tomatoes (packed in juice, not puree)
• Colander: Endurance Colander/Strainer
• Soy Sauce: Eden Selected Shoyu Soy Sauce (toasty, caramely, complex)
• Paring Knives: Wusthof-Trident Grand Prix ($28), Forschner (Victorinox) Fibrox ($6), Henckels Four Star ($20)
• Mayonnaises: Hellmann's (known as Best Foods, west of the Rockies) and Hellmann's Light
• Red wine vinegars: Pompeian vinegar, Spectrum vinegar
• Mandolines and V-Slicers: Progressive and Target slicers ($10, plastic V-Slicers), Bron-Coucke ($99, best classic mandoline)
• Black pepper: McCormick Whole Black Peppercorns (not in plastic bottle; sold as Schilling on the West Coast)
• Potato mashers: Profi Plus Masher ($16, silky spuds with little effort)
• Best large skillets: All-Clad Stainless 12-Inch Frypan (best overall); best-buys: Calphalon Tri-Ply Stainless 12-Inch Omelette Pan, Farberware Millenium 18/10 Stainless Steel 12-Inch Covered Skillet
• Dried pasta: Ronzoni (top finisher), DeCecco (best Italian pasta)
  
• Commercial chicken broths: Swanson Chicken Broth (and reduced-sodium). Broth in aseptic packaging tastes better than canned.
• Commercial vegetable broth: Swanson vegetable broth