I grew up with $20 walmart blenders, and hated anything that required a blender.
Recently bought a ninja and there is no going back. I’ll never use a crappy blender again.
Anything else like that?
Boots.
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. … A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
A cute little passage from Terry Pratchett, but it holds very true if you ever need boots.
Paying for quality boot work, especially the kind that can be re-soled, is worth it for anyone who has to wear boots with any regularity.
When I first got a job that needed boots I was using an old secondhand pair. It was hell. Eventually I saved up for a quality pair and was totally worth it. I’ve not underspent on boots since.
As for suggestions as to what brand to go with these days for that… I’m less sure on that because I’m researching new brands myself since Red Wings are a joke compared to what they used to be. Danner still seems pretty all right these days.
You don’t truly appreciate a good pair a boots till you park a 2 ton pallet jack on your toes and laugh it off.
I dropped a semi truck lift gate on my toes one time, and didn’t even notice until I went to walk away and realized I was pinned down. Red Wing doesn’t fuck around with their safety toe boots.
Safety boots with steelcap? That’s another category though. Don’t want to use them for a walk.
That hasn’t stopped me. Just think of it as training weights.
The shorter version of the Discworld quote is “being poor charges interest.”
Redwing still makes some good stuff, but they also make some “fashion” stuff that looks similar. Unfortunately happens with a lot of quality workwear.
Rose Anvil on YouTube cuts boots and shoes in half and explains how and why they are designed the way they are, and where corners are cut, and what to look out for. He’s a good resource for checking out a boot you are interested in.
Most of your “good” brands still have some crappy stuff in their lineup, but you might not be able to spot it by just looking at a web page.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll check out those vids.
Wearing a 16 year old pair of Redwings as I’m typing this. I haven’t even looked after them properly (e.g. greasing them frequently) and they’re still in good shape. Gave them a new sole a few years back.
I wear a similarly old pair of Chippewa’s that have also been poorly treated, and they are still good (though I don’t have a job that would beat them up anymore)
I second boots. I went through 3 cheap pairs of hiking boots (between £40 - £70) all promising the world and dry feet. In the end, sacked it off and bought all leather boots with a vibram sole. Requires maintenance of waxing them but they’ve had many miles in them now and just as good as day 1.
Yes, second to boots is getting quality boot wax.
Upvote for discworld quotes. Pratchett was full of good advice. Some of that advice may have required living in a world full of magic and dragons but it was good advice all the same!
Clothes in general. Sure, you can get and Old Navy T-shirt for ~$3-4, but they break down quickly. However, even a mid-level shirt from someplace like Land’s End or Eddie Bauer on sale can last year after year. Same with pants, jeans, coats, jackets, belts and other clothing. It’s also why it sucks to be poor. Needs need to be met immediately, but since you’re needing to keep food on the table and a roof over your head, so you buy what you can afford, even knowing that it’s more expensive in the long term.
I agree, but I also disagree.
A lot of people completely mistreat their clothes and have no idea how to wash them properly or mend them.
I have lots of cheap Old Navy tees kicking around in good condition because I wash t-shirts on gentler cycles and hang them out to dry.
With modern detergents, you can wash almost all clothing on 30 degrees C and a regular/gentle cycle, as long as they’re not visibly stained.
The dryer is the death of clothes. That stuff you pull from the filter used to be your shirts and pants.
Old old navy clothes were actually well made. The newer ones are definitely hit or miss.
I wish I could wear down my old navy stuff so I could replace it.
Georgia boots are the shit…
deleted by creator
Tires?
Anything that separates you from the ground. So a bed, shoes, your health…
your health…
:cries in American healthcare:
I can’t even afford the cheap shit!
Tires
Floors, carpets, stairs, your feet, a bicycle, maybe even your car, dirt, gotta invest in good walkable dirt, uhhh, what else here… socks, probably chairs, ladders, flights, if you’re flying always invest a lot in it, uhhhh. yeah probably some other stuff.
I dunno I guess the point of my joke is that I think this is one of those heuristics, or like, general expressions, that ends up taking longer to say than what it actually means. “invest in your shoes and bed” takes longer to say than “invest in anything that keeps you off the ground”.
Isn’t dirt a synonym for ground?
Kitchen knives, definitely. A good knife is a fucking godsend.
Quality underwear (once you’re an adult).
A good office chair (not necessarily one of those expensive as fuck mesh ones - I hate those… But something quality).
Also, I’d distinguish between pointlessly expensive and quality.
Idiots buy expensive gaming chairs. They feel like you’re sitting on plywood. I don’t care how many colors it has im going to be sitting on it for hours a day.
Put that into a good office chair, where they put research into making sure you’re comfortable for that entire time
I bought a boring looking office chair from an ergonomic furniture store about 10 years ago. I spent about $600 and it’s still just as good as it was when I bought it.
That’s a sharp contrast from the shitty $150 chairs I would keep buying from Costco and having to replace because the foam or seat started to collapse after a couple years.
Ironically as someone who is physically very large, (I’m well over average height, and like 250lbs) gaming chairs are some of the only chairs that I can comfortably spend hours sitting in. Every single ergonomic chair I’ve tried has been garbage, and I’ve tried the ultra expensive ones through my job. Hell, I’m sitting in one right now as I type this. But ergonomic chairs all suffer from the same issue, that they’re built with the average body size in mind.
I far prefer my Arozzi gaming chair, because it’s one of the only chairs I’ve used that has actually been comfortable for extended periods. The seat cushion is foam, but it has a mesh “sling” underneath which stretches. So I get the firmness from the foam, but the flex of the sling. So it doesn’t go flat over time like cheap foam-on-plastic/wood chairs, and it doesn’t fit my ass in weird ways like mesh ergonomic chairs. And the entire seat is designed with bigger people in mind, so the armrests are a little bit wider, the back is taller and actually reaches my head, etc.
When I started working at home due to COVID, I decided to buy a new chair. I was tired of having shitty chairs with “genuine leather” (aka leather spray paint) that would peel off over time. So I looked into chairs and landed on a nice gaming chair. Sure, it’s ugly, but it’s gotta be comfy right? Nope. Sitting in this thing for hours at a time has quite literally translated into a pain in my ass. I had to eventually get a seat cushion to sit on, because it was killing me otherwise.
In hindsight, I should have just gone with a traditional office chair.
Plus gaming chairs seem intended to be as uncomfortable to sit on as possible. They’re horrendous. The cheapest Ikea office chair for 130€ is worlds better than the priciest gaming chair you can find, since they all share the car seat form which is supposed to protect you during impacts, not be good for your back.
Allow me to sell you on my gaming chair that cured my back pain. I got a secret labs chair in 2020 because it was the only chair under a grand that could arrive in less than 3 days. It replaced a Herman Miller I used at work.
The Herman Miller can only be sat in one way. It’s very light so climbing around it is just going to tip. You pretty much have to use it in the hr approved ergonomic position. Doing that for 8 hours a day just hurts. My gaming chair however is heavy enough that I can press my legs against the wall, or kneel on it without wobbling, or crosslegged. I can also sit with my neck on one handiest and my feet across another. Sometimes I lie with my legs at the head resting my head at the seat cushion.
The best sitting position is the one you don’t stay in long, my gaming chair lets me do that and my back just stopped hurting. When the chair starts to age out I do plan on looking at ergo chairs as well, there seems to be a market for “weird chairs” that enable uncinventionak sitting but they seem to go a little too far as well, I do want to sit normally as well sometimes too. Gaming chairs really seem to hit my requirements of heavy, tall, wide and large armrests.
Anything OXO is tops in the kitchen
I wouldn’t buy their knives, though. Victorinox makes great knives for a reasonable price. I’ve had mine for ~5 years and I haven’t had to sharpen it, although I do hone it every once in a while.
Victorinox are literally professional-quality knives. They’re used in restaurant kitchens around the world. They’re that nice middle ground between “so cheap they’re almost certainly made out of pig iron” and “so expensive that only niche hobbyists will pay for them.” They strike a nice balance, where they’re quality knives and they’re cheap enough that a restaurant can afford to keep dozens of them on hand without going bankrupt.
A good office chair (not necessarily one of those expensive as fuck mesh ones - I hate those… But something quality).
Man, I get they’re not for everyone, but after having a mesh chair, I will never go back. Currently on my second one in about 8 years, so it’s not exactly BIFL material but the first one lasted longer than a ‘normal’ chair ever did, and neither were particularly expensive, as quality chairs go (I paid ~$150 for the first and ~$225 for the second, got both during sales, so I’m not sure what the regular price would have been but I’d guess $300 or so).
Yeah, I get so uncomfortably sweaty on my back if I sit on leather for long
It’s absolutely a choice of personal preference - I just wanted to be clear that the super trendy silicon-valley office chair company from a few years back isn’t necessarily best for everyone.
Mesh chairs can be extremely comfortable if you run hot.
I just wanted to be clear that the super trendy silicon-valley office chair company from a few years back isn’t necessarily best for everyone.
I agree that it’s possible to not like the style of a Herman Miller Aeron chair, or to not find it comfortable (if it’s the wrong size or not adjusted correctly), but you can’t deny that they’re incredibly durable (especially for mesh!). I’ve been sitting in mine daily for over a decade, and the mesh is still as tight and un-torn as it was the day I bought it – and it had probably spent years in a trendy dot-com company office before that!
Shaving razor. I don’t mean the big brand stuff but getting yourself something that isn’t the cheapest available is a godsend. Stuff lasts you an entire month or two instead of going dull after 2-3 uses.
I actually say the cheapest option is buying a good quality Safety Razor, and then packs of blades for pennies each.
It’s how I’ve shaved for years, and I’m never going back to the multi blade bullshit disposables.
I’m actually looking at going back as the safety razors don’t work as well for me as the multi blade stuff. I’ve been using double edges for probably 7-8 years now and when I have to use a disposable when traveling it just works so much better for some reason.
I’m actually surprised to hear this. To confirm, you mean the shave cuts closer with a multi blade? I can understand it being faster or easier to do, but I don’t usually hear that the shave is better compared to a DE
Yup. I’m trying to figure out what I’ve been doing wrong. It may be a time thing. I don’t have a lot of time to shave, but I can go over an area multiple times in the same direction and a disposible will work better. I usually don’t go against the grain as it irritates the hell out of my skin so it’s with the grain and the disposable cuts closer.
It’s most likely a time thing since I only have time to do a single pass and quite often with no extra oils, creams, etc.
It could have to do with the make and model of the razor. Some have a more aggressive angle than others. There’s also the blades. Have you tried feather blades?
Yeah I usually do 2 passes as well using only a staging soap(no pre shave oil). If you prefer to do things faster, I will say a fixed blade is usually faster. I personally don’t mind the extra time, considering it’s cheaper and better for the environment to use a DE (so long as you don’t give in to the urge to keep buying a bunch of razors, soaps lol)
deleted by creator
I’d highly recommend the Leaf razor. It’s like the best parts of a safety razor and a disposable razor combined. No guesswork on angles or anything.
Oh I’m pretty good with any razor just because I learned how to use cheap garbage razors.
Also, I’d distinguish between pointlessly expensive and quality.
This is big RE: the kitchen knives. Science/engineering has figured out how to produce good steel, so it actually does not cost much to produce a very capable, good knife. Maybe you had to spend a lot for a good knife 200 years ago, but not now.
I got a Mercer chef knife from a restaurant supply store years ago. Just looking it up, it costs <$25, and it’s designed to be used all day by professionals. The often recommended victorinox fibrox is similar. They are easily sharpenable, and can do whatever you need.
I also have a ~$200 chef knife I got as a gift. It’s super nice, but the only real non-cosmetic differences are that the edges of the back of the blade are rounded over to make it a little more comfortable to hold while choking up on it, and it has a long warrantee that includes sharpening.
I bought a nice sharp knife for my Mom because hers were dull. She has a utensil drawer she throws all the knives on.
From the drawer, into cutting the cardboard box, then the veggies, and straight into the dishwasher. And people wonder why their knives go dull so quickly.
Tbf, I keep my crappy box-cutting, hole pokinng Ikea knives in the kitchen drawer too. But if you do that to my good knives, I will stab you (with the Ikea ones).
I second the desk chair as a fat crippled IT worker that spends 10+ hours a day in a desk chair. I used to get a new $500ish chair every 3 or so years when it fell apart. This last time I saved up and dropped about 2.5k on a really nice chair rated for 24/7 use by someone much heavier than I am and it’s a life changer for my back, and this thing should last a lot longer
Really depends on what you need. I’ve been using a $500-600 24/7 rated office chair daily for over a decade and it’s still as fantastic as the day I sat in it on the floor.
The $700 one I have at my other desk is good, but not quite as good as the cheaper one, but I didn’t sit in it at the show room before getting it either.
Do you have a brand recommendation? I really need to replace my office chair
Yeah, the brand I went with was concept seating. I’m about 6’7” around 400 pounds - fat gut, big bones, decent amount of muscle - was a lineman before I got crippled. I am 100% a fatass, no excuse, but also big in other dimensions as well. Most chairs, even the big and tall ones from staples and the like, will get a bit of a gangster lean after a year or so of use as the chairs base plate slowly warps and tack welds come loose. You can grind it down and patch up the welds, but not much to be done about the plate warp. The concept seating chair I got has a massively thick base plate that seems like it will hold up to a lot more. One other thing I really like about the one I got is that it doesn’t have the most common failure point, the piston. Instead it has a fuck off huge solid threaded shaft that you use to screw the chair to the right height then lock it with a massive lock washer. Additionally it doesn’t recline or move in any other way other than to spin and roll. You can loosen bolts to adjust the fit then tighten them back up, but nothing is easily adjustable with levers and stuff which I love because those are just failure points and I’d much rather spend the time to set it up once Ave never worry about it again
Herman Miller or Steelcase.
I bought a pair of used (probably dot-com-era surplus) Herman Miller Aeron chairs for me and my wife over a decade ago for like $350 (don’t remember if that was for the pair or per-chair; either way it was a bargain) and they’re still going strong.
So, I should buy my kids cheapo underwear?
Absolutely, growing humans will almost never wear through clothing.
They’re just going to grow out of them.
Your kids should absolutely suffer the indignity of uncomfortable and itchy underwear.
It’s definitely that important. /s
Instead of an office chair, I opted for a loveseat, on risers, that I can pull fit inside of my desk.
Risers end up being necessary for a standing desk, if you have a loveseat, apparently, because a loveseat sits much lower than most good computer desks that I’ve found, so to get comfortable typing position, you need good risers. You’re also gonna need a couch that stands up higher than your loveseat’s feet, so you can clear the feet and pull the desk in far enough (it might still not be enough, frankly). You might wanna opt for castors, though, since then you can make use of a standing desk, if you have one, which is probably a good idea instead of sitting on the couch for too long.
And, you know, after all that, I get a seat that’s kind of frankly not that comfortable to sit on for extended periods of time, because nobody has engineered their couch for you to sit on for multiple hours. I would wager that’s probably a bad thing anyways. I’ve been looking into standing-to-sitting desks, in order to overcorrect from this problem of sitting in one position, and get a desk that I can sit on the floor with, and basically whatever position I want. But that also kind of sucks, because there are only two and they are both like 1000 bucks.
On the other hand, a loveseat is much better for spooning, than having two office chairs. So that’s a bonus, if you wanted to spoon at your computer. Or you could just cast your screen to the smart TV you probably already have and buy a bluetooth computer controller for like 20 dollars or less.z
I hope someone reading this gains some insight because of this. You should buy a regular chair. It’s expensive but just buy it please I’m begging you, don’t make my mistakes again.
What’s special about quality underwear? I bought a bunch of fruits of loom ones which is pretty cheap but I never noticed it being and issue.
More comfortable and better able to wick away moisture… Even after a fair amount of exercise your underwear shouldn’t feel damp.
Any brand recommendations to look in to?
Agree with the underwear, I’m still wearing pairs daily that I bought from 2015. Around $15 a pair.
Anything that separates you from the ground for long periods of time. Shoes, tires, mattresses, computer chairs, couches, etc…
🤯
I mean seriously… totally true and I never thought about it like that.
For most things in life I generally follow Adam Savage’s advice: “Buy cheap tools until you know what you really need from that tool, then buy the best version you can afford.”
However, when it comes to things that are related to safety or protect you from harm the more expensive/high quality they get, that advice goes out the window. Case in point, PC PSUs. You probably don’t want your newly built PC to burst in flames because you skimped on it to buy a poorly rated PSU.
Also a decent brand PSU will last and/or have warranty. My kids PC has a Startech PSU from like 2001 in it. I’ve used the same EVGA PSU in like 5 computers. Cheap ones die after a few years.
I sometimes buy pretty new (1-2yr old) premade computers from foreign exchange students at the end of a school year. They often sell them for the cost of just the GPU, sometimes lower. The number of garbage PSUs I’ve had to swap out is ridiculous. People buy like $3k+ computers and are content with $80 PSUs it’s amazing. I’ve had them pop on me after only a couple months use. Meanwhile the PSU in my current machine was a major purchase for me back in 2010 and thing still runs every upgrade I throw at it.
A PSU isn’t a tool, so I think his advice actually holds even here. /pedantry
nice catch, haha!
A low-quality one is a tool for setting houses on fire…
Escorts
It’s pronounced E-sports
It’s pronounced escrow
It’s pronounced escargot
Escar go where, though?
Which in America, we call snails with dirt.
It’s pronounced ex-spouse . . . Wait, what was the question again?
Pretty sure that it’s exposure. The question is “to be or not to be”
It’s almost always better to not buy a cheap sex toy. There’s no regulation of the industry and many materials in cheaper toys are just straight up dangerous. Here’s an article (it’s NSFW, there are pictures) that goes over what materials are and aren’t safe.
Like thinking you’re wearing a 100% silicon butt plus to an MRI….
For the unaware: A patient wore a buttplug into an MRI, because it was marketed as 100% silicone. It had a metal core. It was rocketed up into their abdomen. The patient survived with serious injuries.
Silicon is a crystal. You’re thinking of silicone.
Ouchie!
My first toy was hard plastic. After a couple years the painted coating was coming off. After that I only buy medical grade silicone, sometimes with hard plastic bullet inserts which can be replaced but never even touch my skin unless I’m taking them out for washing or replacing the battery.
100% silicon butt plug
Custom building a computer? Don’t cheap out on the power supply or you might end up with a smoke machine
Once you let the magic smoke leave, you can never get it back.
And if you pay for your own electricity it’s probably worth it over the long run to get something gold certified.
You got RGB but my PC is a smoke show
I’ll say a vacuum.
When I was a college kid in an apartment I bought the bottom-shelf, bagged Dirt Devil vacuums and dealt with it. All the clogging, hair in the brush, cheap quality/you get what you pay for, etc. Then I moved into a house I got a mid-range Bissell to help deal with all the pet hair. The thing was questionably designed, still got a bunch of the hair in the roll, and needed regular upkeep to make sure it functioned properly. When that one went out I wasn’t going to pickup the same thing even though it technically lasted for years.
I recently picked up a Shark Rotator and it sucks in the best way possible. Was it expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I can vacuum my whole house knowing I’m getting as much dirt, dust, hair off the floor as possible. And I’m not going to have to deal with even half the problems the low-end vacuums have. It pivots and gets right up against walls. There is a clear window to see the brush roll from the top. It also uses fins that just don’t collect hair anyway. The whole canister comes off in one easy motion and I can dump it without spilling all over the now clean floor. There are two roll speeds for hard floors and carpet. The brush roll doesn’t spin when it’s locked upright so it’s not flinging stuff around or grinding into the carpet while I try to clean corners or the couch. And even though it’s one of their “heavier” models it’s still lighter than the Bissell I lugged around for years.
This is a case that better design and features comes with a price. And those design choices can directly make your life easier. So if you can afford it, go for it.
I could rant about vacuums forever. So many people complain about vacuums not working well, but also never pull out and clean or replace the filter.
I picked up a karcher shop style vacuum for my home, cost a bit more than the cheapest home style vacs, but a lot cheaper than the expensive home style vacuum, and boy does this baby suck (in a good way). I feel like most of the home vacs are only expensive to make them small and maybe a little quieter. But if you don’t care about that, you can get a very good vacuum for relatively cheap.
If you’re getting a BIFL buy-once-cry-once vacuum, I’d go straight for the Miele cannister vac. I went into an ADHD deep dive on vacuums a year ago when my own Shark needed replacing. Splurged on one and it completely changed how I feel about vacuuming. Of course, I’m 4’11, so ymmv on that, but using a good cannister vac that is lightweight VS pushing around something big and heavy makes a world of difference.
Plus, I like that it uses bags instead of a cannister; I was tired of emptying the cannister and getting a face full of dog hair and dirt that I then also had to clean up (again). That may also be personal preference, though.
I believe in the adage of, “If it sits between you and the ground, don’t skimp”.
Shoes, socks, desk chairs, lounge chairs, sofas, car( seat)s, mattresses…
You spend too much time in or on all of these things to be uncomfortable.
I also see posted here the Adam Savage advice of buying cheap tools first, and then upgrade after you better understand your needs. I also think that’s great advice you can apply to most things. Just not the above things.
Toilet paper. Once you rip through cheap one, you’d pay anything to buy better one in the first plce.
One better: A bidet, leave the toilet paper behind and stop rubbing your butt raw with paper.
Butt how will I know that my butt is clean if I can’t make the paper look like the flag of Japan? 🤔
If your TP looks like the flag of Japan after wiping your ass, you should go see a doctor.
Wooosh
You still wipe, just once or twice instead of 14 or 15 times.
15 times? You have the time for that?
Once you start, you can’t stop… Hence why I got a bidet.
I too, second a bidet. Especially a heated water bidet.
My wife and I love ours. We’ve been having our home remodeled and have been hopping through AB&Bs. We’ve missed it a lot.
Not having a bidet is the worst part of going on vacation
This is the way. This way you use way less TP and get the good stuff.
I’d really like to try a bidet - as unmanly as that may sound. I’d feel much cleaner and my butthole could sparkle in the sunlight.
Cheap one ply toilet paper will make you question whether there really is a god or not. I’d sooner wipe my backside with a corn cob.
Cheap one play recycled plywood was exactly the thing my high school used to supply. It was real pain to shit in school. Literally.
My high school was worse - they had TP holders designed to only allow you to take like two sheets at a time, and they had absolutely awful 1 ply paper. It’s been over 15 years and I still remember that bullshit. I’d rather be in class, but instead I’m stuck here wiping my ass.
Actual plywood might have worked better (!). I hate one-ply and I have a whole shitload of it because I bought it on sale without realizing it was one ply. Only good thing I can say about it is, ---- OK there’s nothing good I can say about it.
Only good thing I can say about it is, ---- OK there’s nothing good I can say about it.
Apparently my parents prefer one-ply because it doesn’t clog their septic tank? I (being connected to the sewer system and using decent two-ply Costco-brand paper) feel kinda sorry for them, TBH.
It probably is better for the septic tank, but so would be wiping yourself with your bare hand for that matter. And I’m not sure you’d notice the difference from using one-ply paper.
For most things, imo, there’s a middle ground. I don’t think that getting the super-high end version of anything is worth it unless you truly use it enough to justify it, like for work or a serious hobby. But the cheapest option is usually junk that will do a poor job and won’t last; if anything you’d save money by spending a little more for something decent, even if it’s not world-class.
That’s why I went ahead and got one of those 49" Samsung displays. I use it probably 300 days a year and I’ll likely keep it for 10 years like my old ones. I could have saved money but this was a luxury that I can easily justify by how often I use it.
As in monitor, not tv, yea?
Yeah a Samsung Odyssey
Parachutes.
I guess this gets filed under “Anything that separates you from the ground for long periods of time.”
You’ll never make that mistake again.
I find orphans to test my parachutes so I can make as many mistakes as necessary for the advancement of science. Anyone want to test out my neurolink alternative?
Power supplies and motherboards for PCs
generally if either of them go the rest of your investment goes with it. Worst case scenario the power supply damages the motherboard meaning your cheap purchase made you lose more parts.
Yup, power supplies and batteries are also usually the first components to die. All the more reason to avoid cheap ones.
The current motherboard situation is a total clown fiesta though. There is no such thing as a cheap motherboard any more.
And you will have to upgrade them whenever you upgrade your CPU these days.
Almost like socket types aren’t a thing anymore…
What you said + nicer motherboards often come with bios flashback which should (IMO) be a mandatory feature for motherboards on platforms like AM4. Makes CPU compatibility much better since a supported bios version can be flashed anytime, no matter what CPU is currently installed (if a CPU is installed at all!).
Pretty much all kitchenware is worth getting the good stuff if you can afford it, even if cheap versions will work.
Probably safety-related items.
One exception is one particular chef knife. Most cheap knives you get what you pay for. But there is one, the Victorinox Classic Chef Knife, that is around $30 but is competitive in comfort and sharpness with very expensive knives.
Edit: I was incorrect on the model, it’s the Fibrox Pro 8" Chef’s Knife.
You’re right! Their santoku is very good too. These knives are used by professionals in kitchens. I used one for years. I finally got a Wustoff set and a JA Henkels Zwilling Pro, and I do greatly prefer using those, but if you only have $30 then the Forschner/Victornox knives are outstanding values for the money.
I’ll let you in on a secret: it’s not just Victorinox Fibrox; other cheap commerical-style knives (Mercer, Dexter-Russell, etc.) are decent, too.
America’s Test Kitchen also ranked Mercer highly, but dinged it for a handle that gets slick when wet or greasy. For the Dexter-Russell knife they tested, it was very dull.
I feel like there are too many exceptions to this rule. Maybe dont get the cheapest but you dont need to spend a lot to have a very good:
- Cast iron pan
- Carbon steel pan
- Enameled cast iron pot (seriously, look it up, I see people saying how much they love their Le Creuset all the time but I got one from KitchenAid of all brands at 50 euros in my local supermarket)
- Baking tray
- Cooling rack
- Baking bowls
- Spatula of any kind
- Peeler
- Electric mixer
- Kitchen scale
I could go on but I believe Ive made my point.
Enameled cast iron pot (seriously, look it up, I see people saying how much they love their Le Creuset all the time but I got one from KitchenAid of all brands at 50 euros in my local supermarket)
It used to be the case that cheap brands were prone to the enamel chipping off easily, so Le Creuset was considered “worth it” because it not only doesn’t chip, but if it does it’s got a lifetime warranty.
It seems like cheap enamel maybe has gotten better recently, though.
That’s interesting, I didn’t realize that! I think it may have, because I’ve been using my Cuisinart one that I picked up pretty cheaply at Marshall’s a few years back and it’s been pretty solid—no chipping at all. I had been wondering myself why I would shell out for a higher end one if the cheaper one is working, but that makes sense if the cheap ones used to be worse.
I do have a Le Creuset French press that I splurged on that I enjoy, but that’s neither here nor there.
I do have a Le Creuset French press that I splurged on that I enjoy, but that’s neither here nor there.
Yeah, one thing I’d say to be careful of (unless you just want it as a splurge) is not to be fooled into thinking that just because a brand is famous for being good at one thing, that everything else it makes is also high-end. For example, All-Clad invented stainless steel-clad aluminum cookware and is still the best at it, but you’d be a chump if you bought an All-Clad teflon nonstick pan instead of a cheap T-Fal one. Le Creuset non-cast-iron stuff might look pretty because it comes in the same colors as their enameled cast iron dutch ovens, but there’s otherwise nothing special or premium about it. Kitchen Aid made famously-durable stand mixers (until recently, at least), but doesn’t mean you should get a Kitchen Aid can opener or something.
You’re best off mixing-and-matching between brands according to what experts like ATK say is the best tool in each category.
Very good point. I’m still early on in trying to build my collection of kitchen implements, but that is something I’ve been learning very quickly.
I would definitely agree on the Le Creuset stuff, as far as the French press goes! It probably wasn’t worth what I paid for it, though the ceramic does keep my coffee a little warmer a little longer than glass ones and looks nice on my counter top. You could probably get one just as good/nice looking for much cheaper.
Cost doesn’t mean quality, but at the same time be sure you pick the right item. I have a subscription to America’s Test Kitchen, which has for the most part served me well. For more expensive items, they will often pick a favored item and a less expensive “best buy”. I honestly use them more for their equipment reviews than for their recipes at this point.
There is one thing I would point to for needing to go for the expensive option. If you want a high quality stainless steel skillet, you want it to be fully clad, aka triple ply. There are cheap skillets with an aluminum disc on the bottom, sometimes deceptively marketed as “fully clad base” or “tri ply bottom”. They perform poorly, scorching food and sometimes allowing the disc to detach. I have an All Clad skillet, but I hear Made In is also good.
Completely agree. Didnt put stainless steel on my list because of it.
Man I misread your comment as going in the other direction and I was about to go off about how good a cheap Lodge cast iron pan is.
