Kitchen Favorites {Link Party}

Welcome to the Kitchen Favorites link party!  I have so many favorites in the kitchen - it was hard to narrow it down.

1.  Dish Towels

I have a mild obsession with dish towels...it's weird.  I just love the colors and patterns.  I store my dish towels in the second largest drawer in my kitchen.  I realized, as I was taking this photo, that is probably a problem.  I would have a lot more room for other things if I didn't have so many darn dish towels!  It's hard to tell, but they are stacked 7 or 8 high in the drawer.  My favorites are those from Crate & Barrel and Williams Sonoma. Tag also makes cute ones.  Tell me I'm not the only one collecting dish towels?

2.  Olive Oil

My kitchen would not be complete with out olive oil.  I use it almost every singe day for something or another.  It's kind of ridiculous how much olive oil I go through for one person.  Coming from an Italian family, it's something we have always used, long before it became the "healthy" oil to use.  I credit it for my *super* high levels of "good" cholesterol.  I buy it in these huge, 3 liter tins.  And then I keep the tins when I finish the oil.  They are too pretty to get rid off...

Oh look, here are a couple more...

3.  Cookbooks

Cookbooks, oh cookbooks.  Even though I find most recipes online now, nothing beats looking through a cookbook.  Of course, Martha occupies a pretty big portion in my collection.  See the one all the way to the left?  It's Martha's Healthy Quick Cook.  When I was in college they had an offer with Minute Maid to get the book free.  You had to save up UPC codes from the orange juice and sent them.  I didn't drink juice much, so I made my friend and roommate Ann, save all of her codes so I could send away for the book! Ha!

A few more favorites...

4.  Wood Spoons

Wood spoons are definitely my utensil of choice.  I just like how they feel.  And they get better with age.  I have spoons made in Poland, France, and Italy, and one from my Grandma's kitchen that is by far my favorite.  And of course, the left-handed spoon my Mom found for me.  I love it!

5.  Pastry Mat

This pastry mat really comes in handy for rolling out pie crust or pizza dough.  The circle templates come in handy too.  The one I have is from Mario Batali's kitchen line, but I couldn't find it online.  This one from Amazon looks similar.  If you bake often, you will love this!

6.  Le Creuset Cookware

My collection of Le Creuset cookware is tiny, but I really love it.  The butter dish makes me happy every time I open my refrigerator and see the splash of green.  And the baking dishes are awesome!  They are so nice to cook with and clean up like a dream.  The larger one is perfect for casseroles and the small one is just the right size for dips.  I am still dreaming of a Le Creuset Dutch oven.  I think that would be my dream kitchen purchase!

7.  Wine Glasses

See the wine glasses up there on the top shelf?  They are the Viv 13 oz wine glass from Crate & Barrel.  They are made in Slovakia and are quite a value at only $3.95 each.  Even though they are inexpensive, they don't feel like it.  So, you don't have to feel bad replacing them if you break one.  Not that I would know anything about that...

While we are sharing pictures of cabinets, I thought I would share a few more.

OK, enough of the randomness, on to the rest of my list.

8.  Mixing Bowls

As someone who likes to cook, I don't think it's possible to have too many mixing bowls!  I use all of these depending on what I'm making.

The green plastic ones are from Williams Sonoma; the green glass are Anchor Hocking; the clear glass are Pyrex; the stainless steel ones are a vintage find from my Grandma's basement.  Both the Anchor Hocking and the Pyrex bowels are made in the USA -  love that!  In fact, there are lots of products in my kitchen from these two iconic American brands.

9.  Corkscrew & Citrus Squeezer

My sister got me the citrus squeezer for Christmas one year.  I just love the thing.  It juices the heck out of limes and lemons.  I've never used a better one!

The corkscrew is from Crate and Barrel but it isn't on their website.  After going through way too many cheap cork screws I finally bought this one.  It's made in Italy and is good and sturdy.  In the winter, it gets a real workout around here...

10.  Kitchenaid Stand Mixer 

I was tired of waiting to get engaged so I could register for one of these!  So I saved up and bought it myself.  So glad I did because I really love this mixer.  I have had it for four years now and I am still so happy with it.  Makes baking so much more fun.  Here is a model similar to mine.

11.  All-Clad Cookware

I can't tell you how much I love these pans.  I got tired of waiting for these { refer to #10! } and so I bought them myself.  Honestly, these pans make me want to cook more!  I researched sets quite a bit before I bought these and decided to go with the 10 piece set from Williams Sonoma.  If I had to pick just one thing I wouldn't want to live without in my kitchen, I think the All-Clad pans would probably be it.  Although, olive oil would be right up there too!

If you are in the market for a set, pay attention to the sizes of the pans.  Lots of other stores carry 10 piece sets, but the sizes of the pans vary.  The Williams Sonoma set had the best sizes for me.  This set pretty much covers my needs, but eventually I would love to add other size sauce pans.

Those are my favorites, what are yours?

Party Rules:

You must add a link in your post back to this post to to link up with the party.  That way more people can join in the fun!

I'm looking forward to seeing your favorites!

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I've linked this post up to Centsational Girl's Kitchen Gadgets Link Party