We’ve changed apartments through our years of living in Brooklyn, so admittedly this kitchen isn’t as “little” as our previous. We can now fit two chefs comfortably, but add a third and you better not move too quickly with the knife!

Since we’re cooking almost seven days a week, this is where we spend much of our time experimenting, creating, and tasting.

It’s what we love to do.

To give you a better understanding of our kitchen, below are a few of the tools we use to bring you the recipes on our blog (listed in order of importance by how often they need to be washed). Want to see more? Drop us a note, and we’ll happily add to the page.

Knives

The most important tool, and we have two: a chefs knife,  and a santoku knife. The knives that we use may be completely different than your preference, this is all about your personal comfort and style. That being said, we use:

Tojiro DP 8.25″ Chef’s Knife: This is the “everything” knife, and for good reason. A chef’s knife is designed with a long curved blade, making it extremely versatile and likely to handle anything that hits your cutting board. This particular knife has a very light yet balanced profile, composed of a very hard cobolt alloy that’s sandwiched between two layers of stainless steel. While not dishwasher safe, it requires minimal treatment and is easy to sharpen over time–and when it’s sharp, fuhgeddaboudit, it’ll glide through anything. You’ll likely not find this in a store, since it’s hand-sharpened in Japan by professionals before heading stateside. Sounds expensive, right? It’s under $100.

Wustof 7″ Hollow-Ground Santoku: The santoku has a longer, flatter blade that’s great for working with larger (or more cumbersome) foods where surface contact matters. Otherwise, choosing your knife really depends on personal comfort. Do you like to rock the blade back-and-forth when you work? If so, a chef’s knife may be all you need as santoku’s aren’t designed to rock. We primarily use this knife for chopping and dicing because of the contact area it covers, and we do *a lot* of chopping and dicing.

Sauté Pans

These hang above our prep station for quick access,  and they’re usually the first thing to hit the stovetop. Choosing what you’ll sauté with is incredibly important, not only for your food but (and almost more importantly) for your own enjoyment of cooking. So, after a few years of testing, we’re partial to All-Clad pans: two french style skillets, and one non-stick.

All-Clad Stainless Steel French Skillet, 11″ & 9″: A heavy bottom pan with even heat distribution, high side walls and a generous angle on the handle that facilitates easy flipping (and we do a lot of flipping). It can also move directly from the stovetop into the oven, which is great for building flavor into a dish before baking.

All-Clad 9″ Stainless Steel Nonstick Omelette Pan: This was a later addition when we went through an omelette phase, and now it’s used often for anything we want to heat with minimal oil. Though, if you’re into cooking eggs, this is the best pan we’ve owned for just that. It has a great coating that evenly distributes heat, and shallow walls that make it easy to get a spatula below the egg without breaking it.

Saucepans

From cooking sauces and soups to steaming vegetables and boiling pasta water, these two pans also get a lot of attention. A few years ago we received a Cuisinart saucepan as a gift, and now we’re fans for life.

Cuisinart Stainless Saucepans, 3 Quart & 1.5 Quart: These saucepans have a heavy aluminum core wrapped in stainless steel, which translates to efficient and even heat distribution with easy clean-up. If more of the flame is distributed through the surface, you’ll use less energy to heat the saucepan and are less likely to burn your food. They’re dishwasher  safe, but also wipe clean without much effort.