Knives Vs. Cookware Vs. Kitchenaid

Q: Ok, I wanted to solicite some opinions. I am thinking of making a serious addition to my kitchen. Sorta thinking of my own christmas present for this year. The choices are: 1) Knives. I want a set of Henkles four star knives. I would probably buy a nine peice set or possibly just the same dollar amount of peices I really want. The sets I have been looking at run in the 350 dollar range. 2) KitchenAid. What can i say. I think I "NEED" a kitchenAId. The thing is that I do not bake so much. I know they are useful for other things. Right now I am thinking I might get more use from a nice set of knives. I am interested in either the professional or at least the heavy duty model. also in the 350 dollr range. 3) New cookware. I think I have convinced myself that what I want is a new set of stainless All-Clad. It may not be exactly what I need, but it is what I want. This will probably run me in the 400-450 range. I am trying to keep in mind that my current kitchen is pretty small, but I may be moving around the first of the year. Of these things, what would you go for first. I am just curious what others would do if facing these possible choices.

A: There was a great piece in (I think) the NYT magazine a while ago. While a fancy kitchen became a major home feature (carrying with it major bragging rights) in the 90s, few owners of such kicthens actually *cook* in them. Most, it seemed, were owned by wealthy people who hired catering staff for parties, and ate out often. I am starting to suspect that there's an inverse relationship between gadgetry and cooking.... I would go for the knives first. You will use your knives more often than anything else so you're better off getting the set of knives that you want first. As for the other two, it would depend on what you have now. I ended up getting my KitchenAid mixer before I got good cookware -- mostly because I wanted a heavy, duty mixer to help me make sausage (...I don't use any of the attachments -- just the mixer...). I managed to get by with my Revereware. Now-a-days, I find that I use my cookware far more often than I use the KitchenAid so, if I had to make the choice today, I'd go with the cookware.

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