Kitchen

Vacuum sealers have a branding problem. The marketing photos show a raw ribeye, a sous-vide bath, a bag of frozen berries arranged like a still life. Nobody photographs Tuesday's leftover chili.

The apartment toaster oven is a machine built on a lie. Manufacturers sell it as a compact alternative to the full-size oven, a little box that reheats pizza and toasts bread without heating up the wh

The white crust that builds up inside an electric kettle is not a mystery or a manufacturing defect. It is calcium carbonate, and it comes out of the tap.

The first thing to accept about sous vide is that it will not make anyone a better cook by itself.

The deli case at the grocery store performs a kind of magic trick.

Pureed vegetable soup is the one place where the immersion blender has no rival.

The standard dish rack is a conspiracy against small kitchens, and it has been for decades.

The weekend baking night is a specific ritual with its own physics.

The countertop is the most expensive real estate in a kitchen, and most home cooks treat it like a parking lot.

The lowly sink strainer sits at the bottom of the basin, a perforated metal disc that most people ignore until the water starts pooling around their ankles. By then, the damage is done.