Kitchen Equipment

[itch22]

Where can one buy good, even professional, culinary equipment?

Burr grinders?

Foodmills?

Chef whites?

Conical sieves?

Also, does anyone know if a website other than GoldasKitchen.com, that sells good and/or professional kitchen/culinary equipment and delivers to Canada?

[Marlene]

I buy a lot of stuff at Williams Sonoma, but they're pretty expensive. And you can order on line and they deliver, but it's a convoluted process. I also believe there's a restaurant supply store on Queen Street in Toronto, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name

[malcolmjolley]

Embros on Yonge across from the Summerhil liquor store is a wonderful shop, but not cheap. Outfiiters to the kitchens of Rosedale, I'm sure.

Alternatively, the Kitchen and Glass store on Yonge two doors south of the Cookbook Store is great and consistently well priced. The staff there is excellent. They'll order anythng not in stock.

Marlene: maybe you mean the restaurant supply at Queen and Bathurst? A great place, too. They seem to encourage their patrons to haggle!

[itch22]

I buy a lot of stuff at Williams Sonoma, but they're pretty expensive.  And you can order on line and they deliver, but it's a convoluted process.  I also believe there's a restaurant supply store on Queen Street in Toronto, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name

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After a friend received a $100 gift certificate for Williams Sonoma, and found all that it could get him was a cutting board, I've avoided the place.

I am looking to get professional grade equipment, or where that is too expensive such as a $1500 espresso machine, at least good quality equipment. There is no place in Kingston I like. The Dansk outlet has very poor selection, and Cooke's stuff is poor quality. They wanted $75.00 for a blow torch that functions no better than a lighter. I prefer my Canadian Tire blow torch.

[Marlene]

Marlene: maybe you mean the restaurant supply at Queen and Bathurst? A great place, too. They seem to encourage their patrons to haggle!

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That's it!

After a friend received a $100 gift certificate for Williams Sonoma, and found all that it could get him was a cutting board, I've avoided the place.

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Well I did say they were expensive

[itch22]

Has anyone been here?

The Cook's Place

[rgruby]

  I also believe there's a restaurant supply store on Queen Street in Toronto, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name

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Nikolau's.

There's a restaurant supply place on King around Sherbourne that I can't for the life of me remember the name of. I also buy a fair amount of stuff at Fortune on Spadina just north of Baldwin - Kensington (ie west) side. Fortune is more geared to home shoppers, but you can find pretty much anything you'd need there as a home cook, and I find the prices are often as good or better than the restaurant supply joints.

[Wild Pegasus]

Have you tried Hendrix Equipment (http://www.hendrixequip.com)?

They have a store in Belleville.

[Wine_Dad]

From my experience I would stay away from Williams Sonoma unless you can't find it anywhere else. Most of their stuff is available elsewhere at much less cost and usually better quality.

Three locations come to mind. Nella's on Queen Street East, just west of the Don Valley on the south side is my favorite place. Good staff, nice selection of new and used equipement and pretty much everything else. If they don't have it - it can be ordered.

Dinetz on King St. East across from George Brown is also pretty good but they seem to have less stock and a bigger order desk.

Nicolau's (sp?) already mentioned in this topic, is also pretty good and has a huge stock of oods and ends, however, I've found them to be very expensive. They are on Queen West, south side between Spadina & Bathurst.

I've also been told that there's a pretty good place on Spadina near the north end of China Town but I've never been.

As for whites, I've always ordered on-line from Chef Works http://www.chefwork.com/ca/default.htm. They have produced custome made orders, complete with embroidery for me in less than 5 days. Very well priced as well.

As for Ottawa, Paradis comes to mind on Bank Street just north of Billings Bridge on the West side.

[jayt90]

I don't know what quality of knives will get you by, but in an outlying area, mail order from LeeValleyTools.com is always an option, They have a selection of Sabatier, Grohmann, and a few Japanese laminated blades. They introduced micro plane rasps to us. And now they have DMT diamond sharpening stones and steels (some portable). The shipping charge is $12 for $100. or more.

[J_Ozzy]

For restaurant and bar supplies in Kingston, I tend to use Jordash . It's more of a commercial equipment store, but it's open to everyone.

Apparently there's a Hendrix's here as well, but I have yet to go.

[piperdown]

I've used Jordash as well, and been pretty happy with the both quality and price. It's a tad sketchy looking on the outside though.

[rgruby]

Nicolau's (sp?) already mentioned in this topic, is also pretty good and has a huge stock of oods and ends, however, I've found them to be very expensive. They are on Queen West, south side between Spadina & Bathurst.

I've also been told that there's a pretty good place on Spadina near the north end of China Town but I've never been.

The place on Spadina is probably Fortune. They don't sell whites and I don't know about burr grinders either, to get back to the original question. Food mills and conical sieves, yes. As for Nikolau, you can haggle, tell him you're in the biz etc., and generally they'll reduce the price 10 or 15%. I've had them order me stuff they didn't have.

Perhaps we should also mention Tap (Tai?) Phong, a housewares place in Chinatown - well on Spadina actually a block or two south of Fortune, that has a wide variety of kitchenware, often at rock bottom prices (often times there's a reason for this - quality varies). Pretty sure they don't sell whites though, and not sure about the other items mentioned either.

[itch22]

Have you tried Hendrix Equipment (http://www.hendrixequip.com)?

They have a store in Belleville.

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Really? Their website only lists locations in Peterborough, Kingston, Ottawa, Nepean, and Brockville. Doesn't matter though, Kingston is very close and I go their for music CDs even. (47,000 and Belleville cannot even produce a decent music store, why? )

I know there is one place here in Belleville called the Trent Valley Dist. Centre and is a "restaurant supply store" but all they really carry is paper towls, cheap aluminum bowls, the cheapest brand of Henckles knives, and squeeze bottles.

Jayt90, thankfully I have knives taken care of. I have a set of Wustof classics. I am just looking for miscellanious stuff.

[Wild Pegasus]

Really?  Their website only lists locations in Peterborough, Kingston, Ottawa, Nepean, and Brockville.  Doesn't matter though, Kingston is very close and I go their for music CDs even.  (47,000 and Belleville cannot even produce a decent music store, why?  )

Oops! My mistake. Mistook Brockville for Belleville. Guess I should look a little closer when I'm surfing late at night.

[Gul_Dekar]

Perhaps we should also mention Tap (Tai?) Phong, a housewares place in Chinatown - well on Spadina actually a block or two south of Fortune, that has a wide variety of kitchenware, often at rock bottom prices (often times there's a reason for this - quality varies). Pretty sure they don't sell whites though, and not sure about the other items mentioned either.

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I was there today. They do actually sell chef whites, albeit those you see chefs at chinese restaurants wearing. The ones with the short sleeves. And they have all the other items mentioned besides the burr grinder (at least I didnt see it there). The quality is mostly ok IMO, altho it has more Asian (Chinese/Viet) kitchenware than anything.

[marlowe]

A new cookware store just opened on Bathurst Street north of Bloor, called Nella, I think. It was written up in one of the weekend papers a week and a half ago. A lot of professional equipement, as well as domestic. From professional slicers and fridges to sieves and knives. Worth a look.

[jayt90]

Maybe it is the same Nella supplying a knives service to the meat cutting industry.

The knives are serviceable stainless steel, and when they are abused enough Nella will send a truck to the shop to sharpen or replace the knife.

[Jake]

A new cookware store just opened on Bathurst Street north of Bloor, called Nella, I think. It was written up in one of the weekend papers a week and a half ago. A lot of professional equipement, as well as domestic. From professional slicers and fridges to sieves and knives. Worth a look.

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I've been to Nella on Queen St. E many times. Is this a new branch??

[itch22]

There also seems to be one in Mississauga.

[unreserved]

Ottawa: Ma Cuisine in the Market, but it is not as "industrial" as Paradis. I find it a bit pricey and more for the week-end chef - but it's okay to browse before heading for the farmer's market.

[Marlene]

What about other online cooking stores in the Toronto area other than Golda's Kitchen?

One of the things I'm looking for is a portable ice maker machine, and Golda's doesn't seem to carry them.

[francois]

C.A. Paradis in Ottawa offers reall excellent service. They go to great lengh to please their costumers. It is well worth a detour.

[Wine_Dad]

C.A. Paradis in Ottawa offers reall excellent service.  They go to great lengh to please their costumers.  It is well worth a detour.

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I'll second that. I buy all my Riedel there (I live in Toronto) thanks to their policy that if one of them breaks, they'll charge you the cost of replacing it rather than the retail like Ashley's or The Wine Establishment.

Something to consider.

[CharityCase]

C.A. Paradis in Ottawa offers reall excellent service.  They go to great lengh to please their costumers.  It is well worth a detour.

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I'll second that. I buy all my Riedel there (I live in Toronto) thanks to their policy that if one of them breaks, they'll charge you the cost of replacing it rather than the retail like Ashley's or The Wine Establishment.

Something to consider.

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I'll.."third" that as I've had really excellent service from C.A. Paradis. While you could easily spend a thousand bucks on a blender, you could also spend $3 on a spatula that never melts, as I did. Free knife sharpening too, no matter where you bought yours from.