As much as I like to throw my money at new kitchen tools and gadgets, I’ve learned to tame my enthusiasm and rethink possible acquisitions. Kitchen and pantry space is a precious good in our apartment and cluttered shelves and drawers are a pain in the ass. Let me list my favorite new additions (and some failures, too):

Pepper Mill(s)
We have used the traditional shaped Peugot pepper mills for a very long time. The huge black one has already retired, yet I feel bad about throwing it out. It has done a great job in annoying the heck out of us for more than eight years. It has never worked the way we wanted it to, the pepper was either too fine or much too coarse. I stopped counting the times I tried to adjust its top screw and while fiddling with the little bugger, I accidentally rotated it too much and lost it in a pot of pasta sauce. I’m already getting bugged again just typing this! Two substitutes were acquired this year, the first one (again from Peugeot) has a neat magnetic top to make refilling comfortable and five different grinding grades that are easily adjustable. Works like a charm and beats the old dude hands down. The second new aquisition I had to have because of its design. I love the Pantone branded products, so I asked dear friends to bring it from the US. We shared two fantastic months together. Then from one second to another its grinder stopped working and when I emptied it, I found a loose piece of broken plastic from the grinding mechanism. The latest product reviewers seem to have experienced just the same. Let’s see, if I can get a replacement? (The wooden one in the picture was a gift from my aunt years ago and I use it for rose pepper. The silver one was a fleamarket find and is only used on the table.)

Small Wüsthof Santoku knife
I think most kitchen work can be done with two knifes, a large santoku knife and a small paring knife. Since my better half is always on the hunt for a great addition, we’re anything but short on the knife front. Yet I always had the feel, that his favorite santoku was a tad to enormous for my hands, as I needed a knife with a different center of gravity. One afternoon at Kustermann it happened out of the blue – love on first sight. An elegant white Santoku knife, just the right size for my small hands. Myyyyy precccciousssssss ever since.

Soehnle Digital Scale
My old one felt bulky and as soon as it developed a loose connection (I had it for… let me count… 12 or 13 years), I started looking for a replacement. Requirements: digital, tara, imperial/metric conversion. This was my first candidate, but our relationship wasn’t supposed to last. I accidentally pushed the oddly placed OFF button to many times when working with it, loosing the results. My second choice charmed me with looks and potential, and it came with a huge stainless steel bowl (rubberized bottom). Probably among the top three most used tools in my kitchen. Love the retro touch.

Nordic Ware Bundt Pan
These baking forms have been recommended to me by friends or colleagues so many times, I simply had to give in. They don’t compare to anything else I own, they are really heavy (seem indestructible to me), but the cakes mmmmh, the cakes! The have the most uniform crust, almost shiny. The cakes bake very evenly, releasing them is a piece of cake and I’m already planing my next purchase. And the next.

Le Creuset Stainless Steel Knob
What took me so long to make my Le Creuset fully no-knead-able compliant? I don’t know.

Riess Enamel pots and pans
Maybe this is a nostalgia thing, my grandma had a lot of enamel cookware. I just cannot resist these sweet pastel colored pots and casserole dishes. I have my favorite stalls at Auer Dult, where you can get them almost for half the price… but ssshhhhhhh, don’t you tell anybody.

Cleaning Cloth House Doctor
Cleaning is never fun, yet my kitchen looks like a battlefield almost on a daily basis. So why not brighten your mood with a couple of cute cleaning cloths? These are made out of microfiber and if you throw them in the washing machine they come out like knew. Super-cute & ecologically sensitive, I cannot imagine my kitchen without flower power anymore.

Now you! What were your most treasured acquisitions over the last year? Or planed ones for the new year?

Disclaimer: All paid by me. Me. Me. Me. No compensation whatsoever.