I love my kitchen tools. Am I in love with them? Umm, no. But I’m at the point in my life where I depend and rely on the right kitchen tools to maintain certain cooking standards.

I’ve come a long way since these tools made my daily kitchen life, well, dreamy. If there is such an existence. I believe there is. Cooking in my semi-sophisticated kitchen here in Orlando is as sweet as a ripe Georgia peach in summer. It hasn’t always been that way.

When it comes to finding and buying the perfect kitchen tools, I’ve spent untold hard earned cash and energy finding the perfect kitchen tools. I’ve been swayed by marketing sales reps, company gurus, commercial restaurant kitchen experiences and just plain whim. For most of my home life, I’ve worked in tiny kitchens with four electric burners, some of which only two worked. In fact, that’s exactly the kind of stove I grew up working with in the row house on Southern Avenue in Pittsburgh.

Then my life experience as a owner/operator at The Wooden Spoon for ten years in Marathon, Florida was more about learning to survive and cook professionally (although some would doubt the merit of short-order cook/restaurateur as professional). There I built character with my equipment and kitchen tools. My money-making weapons of choice? Two six foot stainless steel flat-top griddles, a three pronged fork and small bowl to whip eggs into creamy, luscious mounds of happiness, a long flat spatula to toss and chop the Hungarian-style homefries, a six quart double-boiler for the endless demand for creamy grits and an egg poacher that became my enemy way before it was my friend and I mastered how to simmer and poach a medium egg into perfection.

So how and why did it come to pass that I started thinking about my favorite kitchen tools?

Larry and I were discussing moving. If I had to move cross country, or in my perfect dream world, move, to say, Italy, then which kitchen tools would I take with me?

Here they are. It wasn’t easy. And I haven’t even started on my cookbook collection.

Life can be like kitchen tools. We have to make choices.

How about you? What’s your favorite kitchen tool?