Buy Adam

I love All-Clad. Although I don’t have this particular model, a small frypan is kind of a no-brainer. At $20 from the Friday Sale, this is the time to get a few of them to give away as gifts.

All All-Clad pans I’ve used heat very evenly, handle well, and are durable. If you need a small frying pan, you can’t go wrong with this one. Use it for browning a small amount of chopped onions, one or two eggs, or melting butter if you don’t have a small saucepan handy.

Buy the All-Clad LTD 7.5″ Frypan from Amazon.

It’s pricey, but it makes great coffee, and there’s nothing like having a fresh pot ready when you wake up. It grinds with a burr grinder immediately before brewing, so you get the freshest cup possible. It really makes a difference, and I find this far preferable (cheaper and more convenient) to going to a coffee shop every morning.

Before settling on this one, I also tried the Cuisinart auto-grind model, and was unsatisfied with that, to my surprise (I’m very happy with most of the other Cuisinart tools I have). It used a blade grinder, and wound up with a lot more fine coffee dust. It was harder to clean, but most importantly, it made a much weaker cup. The Capresso succeeds in being able to make a full pot that’s almost as strong as I like it (and it’s perfect if I do 8 cups of water to 10 cups of coffee).

I was recently reminded of just how much I love this machine, when I was separated from it for a whole five days (the heating coil burned out after about six years of everyday use, and the entire machine was replaced by Capresso very quickly for a nominal fraction of the cost). Thumbs up to Capresso for stellar customer service.

Buy the Capresso Coffee Team Luxe from Amazon.

I have this juice machine, and I like it a lot.

It makes short work of most fruits and vegetables (you can juice pineapple without removing the skin), works very fast, has a very wide feed tube and has a pulp ejector for continuous jucing. The pulp ejector also lets you save the pulp if you want it for cooking (carrot cake) or composting. It is a very good value for a powerful juicer.

There are two drawbacks I’ve found. The seal on the pulp container isn’t perfect, so after long usage, there’s a small line of very fine pulp spray on the back of my counter. Also, it sounds like a jet engine taking off. Very powerful, but this sucker is loud.

Buy the Breville Juice Extractor from Amazon.

Okay, it’s somewhat predictable. It seems like everyone’s talking about the Dyson vacuum cleaners these days.

But you know what? They’re right. There are a few new models on the way, but this is really the workhorse upright (and according to their website, is actually more powerful than the newer DC14). I’m relatively convinced that it doesn’t matter which one you get - they’re ALL far better than other vacuum cleaners.

Even after six months - I want to use it more often. I have a few complaints, but minor ones, and they’re dwarfed by the good things. There’s no cord control, but I guess that’s just an extraneous piece to break. There are extra tools that don’t have “a place” on the main unit. They’re extra, and optional, but they don’t fit anywhere. Again, this is minor, but I’d have preferred it if the extra brushes couldn’t get lost.

And now - the good things. It cleans well, it actually “doesn’t lose suction”, and you get visible feedback on how much dust/paper/cat hair/whatever you’re actually picking up. No bags or filters to replace, and it’s easy to empty. Every piece is well-engineered, and all of the connectors are solid. Just about every bit of the suction path can be opened in case something gets stuck, and all of the sections fit together with satisfying clicks, so you know when you put them back where they’re supposed to go. The extension brushes have vents so they don’t get caught in fabrics.

I sold two previous vacuum cleaners to try this one, and I’m glad I did.

Buy the Dyson DC07 from Amazon.

Riedel is famous for having introduced glasses specifically shaped for particular kinds of wine. Now, they’ve introduced a series of wine tumblers, that are just the bowl without the stem. They are perfect for that glass you’re supposed to have every day. They’re easy to wash, less prone to spillage, and a pleasure to hold and drink out of. They come in sets of two.

I’ve tried the Cabernet / Merlot (good general), the Syrah / Shiraz (large tall bowl), and the Chardonnay / Viognier (very cute! - the scale of the images below is very off):

(Main link and mage above are for the cabernet / merlot glasses. Click the image to buy from Amazon.)

There are others, also available at Amazon.