Kitchen + Gear

I have a decently-sized, U-shaped kitchen with a terrible Whirlpool propane gas cooktop that I rarely use, a NuWave single countertop induction cooktop that is used daily, a shitty Whirlpool oven that I never use, a countertop Brevile oven that is like angels singing and has totally replaced our regular oven, and a zillion other kitchen gadgets. 

The cleanest the kitchen will ever be, right before I moved in

My house was flipped and has terrible granite countertops that I hope to cover in epoxy in a future project, but until then the pictures will be extra shitty. I also don't pose things for pictures, my kitchen is never all that clean, and you can guarantee there are always dirty dishes in the sink. 

I live in my house: it serves me, I don't serve it.

These are things from my kitchen that I use most, NO affiliate links. 

Circulon 13-piece hard anodized cookware set $199 (Costco)

These pans replaced all the Calphalon and other random pans we've collected over the years. I was on the fence about these for a couple years and finally bought them and AM SO GLAD I DID. Nothing sticks to them. You don't need a ton of oil to cook things. Food doesn't burn, but instead cooks evenly. The only con is that the pourable lids on the sauce pans make them not seal tightly, but otherwise, no complaints about them.

Brevile Smart Oven air fryer pro $399 (Best Buy)

Another thing I was on the fence about was a small countertop oven to replace an old toaster oven I've had from my bachelorette days. I bought this because it boasted that you could fit a 9x13 dish inside of it and I was like, SOLD! We haven't used our full sized oven since this came into our lives. It also cooks everything PERFECTLY. Definitely turn pans halfway through cooking since the fan is on one side only.

NuWave precision induction cooktop $60 (NuWave)

This came into my life via a family member who got a BOGO deal from QVC, and I put it in a cupboard for many years. In a fed up rage at my propane cooktop one night, I pulled it out and instantly fell in love with induction cooking. We do 95% of our cooking on this lil dude. It's pretty accurate temperature-wise. We hope to replace our terrible Whirlpool (sensing a theme here?) propane cooktop with an induction cooktop at some point. Until then, this gets a daily workout. It works great with the Circulon pans.

Sheet Pans from King Arthur Baking 

I wasn't a huge fan of these sheet pans until I stopped using them in my terrible Whirlpool oven where they burned everything. But these pans are magic. I have them in all the sizes and use them all the time for all the things. Nothing sticks to them, they're super easy to clean, and they seem to last.

Instant Pot (everywhere has them)

I bought mine many years ago and never really used it other than to cook rice or sweet potatoes, but now we use it for about 50% of our meals. It cooks soup so quickly. It's great with stews. Grains, egg bites, cheesecakes, etc. We find new things to cook in it all the time. It takes a bit to get used to cooking with it, but once you do, you'll want to convert your existing recipes to use the Instant Pot to save time.

KitchenAid Mixer (everywhere has them)

My mom had one of these when I was growing up and I acquired one of my own, which I still have and also service myself every few years. They are beasts in the kitchen, absolute work horses, and I use mine for most of my baking. If you bake a lot, these are indispensable. I prefer the Classic to the newer Tilt-head models.

Oster ExpressBake Bread Maker

I acquired this in my 20s and think it was a gift that cost about $50 at the time. These sell online for like $150+! I only use mine on the dough setting to knead dough, then I shape it and rise it again in a bread pan and cook it in the countertop oven. The bread maker gets used a couple times a week. You can also use a KitchenAid mixer to knead dough, but I prefer this one. 

I also have a smaller Zojirushi bread maker that I use to actually bake small loaves of bread - perfect for 1-2 people and easy to use.