When I think about the quality of pots, pans and skillets my wife Pat and I used starting out in the mid-1960’s I shudder. They had thin bottoms and sides and frankly they were junk. No serious cook/chef would have been willing to use them. The apartment stove was electric and not of high quality, which in simple terms meant it was all but impossible to do great cooking. Decent cooking, maybe. Great, rarely! A lot of foods must be cooked on a gas stove where heat control is instantaneous and with continuous temperature range from barely there to wickedly hot. We lacked key utensils and important powered equipment of top quality. This meant we were always improvising with utensils, which is not a good idea, and we always had a difficult time with our electric mixer getting superior results. We also lacked much knowledge. Neither of us had ever used or seen tools as common as a whisk. We didn’t even know what a whisk was!

This section discusses one of the three most important rooms in your home, and I leave it to you to figure out the other two. I cover cooking references, ingredients, equipment, planning, kitchen design and the storage and utility room. Overall, this section tells you how to get the most from your kitchen, including ways to enhance your enjoyment in doing cooking.