10 favorite kitchen tools (usually worth spending a little extra on)

A well made knife that you can sharpen like a razor is a great tool. I have accumulated some in the $40 - $100 range and they are great. You can spend thousands.

The best tasting coffee

A classic. The Lodge brand is inexpensive and once you learn to take care of it it is non stick (hint: don't use soap. Scrub it out, dry it and then use a paper towel to spread a light coating of Crisco. This keeps it from rusting and makes it essentially non-stick without the chemicals.). You can also put it directly from the stove to the oven or even on the grill which makes certain things possible.

I have had some cheap ones. I probably should have spent more but these let you buy food in bulk and freeze it. Also great for marinating food in combination with the Jaccard.

Improves the taste: made a bigger difference than I thought. Mine was under $40.

This does wonders for tenderizing lower quality cuts of meat. There are lots of knock offs but I am pleased with, and recommend, spending to get the original.

Cooking to internal temperature instead of by appearance or time is a great way to step up your culinary game. This is another product with many imitators where it is worthwhile to get the original.

This is great for grilling. I went through 2 junky imitators before I got this. The range of the secondary meter is nearly a mile. Great for smoking/slow-cooking things on the grill.

https://www.thermoworks.com/smoke-x/

I thought that this was unnecessary and while it is still technically unnecessary I use it every day to boil water for coffee, soup and cleaning.

If your lighting is already great you might not need a smaller light but we bought a light that gets used all day for chopping, cleaning, etc. without turning on the "operating room" overhead lights that we have.