My husband can fix anything. And to prove it, he has thousands of dollars of tools in the garage. I remember the first time we bought him nice tools — the kind that come with a lifetime warranty and of which his friends would be jealous. He almost cried. But I said, “Look. I’m tired of buying you cheap tools that break within a year. I want you to have good tools that won’t break on you when you need them most. It’s worth paying the premium.”

What, you ask, does this have to do with food? Well, I am by no means a professional cook. Nor do I have an extensive kitchen budget. But, sometimes having the right tool makes all the difference. Over the years, I’ve slowly been investing in my kitchen. These are the things I now believe my kitchen would be incomplete without, in order of most to least used (although all are used regularly!).