surfisup1000:

timmmay: Nothing really geeky at all, just quality tools.

I also have some nice knives, nothing too high end. I sharpen with a standard steel, which is annoying and not super effective. Any better suggestions?

We have all Circulon non-stick cookware - three pans, three pots, baking trays, etc. It works very well. The only thing that seems to stick to it is rice noodles when I cook Pad Thai, I may have to buy a wok, but they don't work so well on standard stove elements. I suggested getting a standalone gas cooker (with a small bottle of gas) that can sit on the bench, but my wife doesn't like that idea.

Love my Bosch dishwasher.

knives are interesting -- we bought a $400 set of knives from a good brand. 

But, the $10 knife bought from walmart in the US (for a camping trip) seems to do just as good a job if not better as it seems to stay sharper for longer. 


And, non-stick frypans -  no matter the price , they always wear out even if you look after them. We bought the woll titanium non-stick pan from the food show for $300 or so.   It lasted longer than the normal teflon but it is nearly 3 years old and has lost much of the non-stick surface .  This has never seen a dishwasher and only cleaned using a water, detergent, and dish cloth according to the instructions. 

It has a lifetime warranty but they will no doubt invoke the 'you did not take care' clause and it would end up in an argument which I don't care to take with them. We did use this on fairly high heats but there were no warnings against doing this due to the high quality construction.