The New York Times has an article by their food columnist titled, "A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks". Mark Bittman describes how he kitted his kitchen with everything he needs for cooking from a resturant supply store for under $300. His guiding principle is, "It needs only to be functional, not prestigious, lavish or expensive." Then he takes a little dig at all our loyal YuppieChef customers by saying, "people believe that buying the right kitchen equipment kind will make them good cooks".

You know Mark, you're probably right. Buying the seriously cool tools that we stock on YuppieChef probably won't turn me into a good cook, and yes a plastic handled-knife would do the job OK. But is that really how you want to live life? Do you also bicycle to work in the rain when you could afford to drive? Are you wearing the same green jersey that you got for Christmas 15 years ago? Do you drink wine from a box and consider McDonalds a nice meal out with the family?

Most of us who don't live on take-aways or microwave meals spend a decent portion of our non-working, non-sleeping hours preparing food in the kitchen. I know I'm not Gordon Ramsey, but using a plastic-handled knife rubs that point in a bit too much. I'm going to take some of my hard-earned cash and spend it on a Global Chef's Knife and a Smithfield Chopping Board, so that when I make my cheese and tomato sandwich I enjoy every minute of the process and feel like a million bucks.