Your dream kitchen tools and cookware

[Derek Wildstar]

My suggestion on bakeware:

Avoid cake pans with heavy bottoms and sides. They heat too quickly around the edges and cause excessive doming. Same goes for cookie sheets. If they are too heavy, the bottoms of yourt cookies will burn. Look for Chicago Mettalic for your pans - or any medium weight, aluminum pan. I like the Cushionair (sp?) cookie sheets. And by the way, congratulations!

[robyn]

Megaroo - I am 56 - and I have been through this with many family members and children of friends. They register for *everything* - tons of stuff I've never used (and I've been married for over 30 years).

Bottom line is what do you think you're going to do cooking-wise? With many younger couples I know - they both work - and neither is going to cook much of anything (just like my husband and I didn't cook much of anything when we both worked). And - if you are going to cook - what are you going to cook? You don't want a 5 pound skillet to cook eggs in (a $10 lightweight non-stick pan will work better). You don't want a 10 pound 8-10 quart pot for boiling pasta. On the other hand - you don't want a lightweight piece if you're braising a roast in the oven for 3 hours. Which is why I dislike "matched sets" of anything. Pick the things you need to make the dishes you're actually cooking.

By the way - the things we have used the most in our kitchen over the years are knives - cutting boards - and salad bowls. Get lots of cutting boards - and good knives (and get those knives sharpened professionally when they need sharpening). Robyn