Favorite Equipment

It turns a hard block of parmesan or a stubborn nub of nutmeg into a soft drift in seconds, and it takes the zest off a lemon without ever dragging up the bitter white pith. Nothing else in the drawer does one job this well.

Zesting citrus for cocktails and dressings, snowing parmesan over pasta, and grating garlic and ginger straight into the pan when I don't want to reach for a board. Rinse it the second you're done — dried-on zest is the only thing that dulls it.

Double-wall insulated stainless steel, so it goes painfully cold in your hand and stays that way — and it never sweats a ring onto the counter. The lid seals 100% leakproof, which means you can shake as hard as you want without ice water running down your wrist. This is the one every lemon drop on this site gets shaken in now.

Build the drink straight in the tin, add ice, screw the lid down tight and shake hard for ten to fifteen seconds until it's frosted over. Pop the cap and pour through the built-in strainer — no separate Hawthorne, no towel, no mess.

This thing does practically everything but pull the mug out of the cabinet for you. Single, double, and quad shots of espresso, drip coffee in a range of sizes, cold brew, cold press — it grinds the beans, froths the milk, and has its own water reservoir. America's Test Kitchen didn't give it a glowing rating and honestly that surprised me, because I think it's fantastic. We actually grabbed ours at Costco, but it's the same machine on Amazon. It's the reason espresso martinis became our weekend thing.

Weekend mornings, this is the first thing I turn on — a fresh shot for an espresso martini, or just a good cup to ease into a slow day. It's genuinely easy to use and easy to clean. My one wish is that I could hook it up to a water and drain line; it goes through water quickly, so you're refilling the reservoir fairly often. A higher-end machine might solve that, but for everything else, it more than earns its counter space. Buy the knock box alongside it — knocking the puck out is weirdly satisfying and keeps cleanup mess-free.