Kim Rachmeler

This cake decorating turntable is my favorite because the cast iron base keeps it rock steady no matter how heavy my cake is or how much I press when scraping off icing. It's easy to clean and holds up to abuse, just what you want in a workhorse tool.

I followed Stella Parks' blog Bravetart for years before she came out with her baking book and I'm happy to say it's a winner. Parks takes all your best known desserts and comes out with variations that let them really shine. From Brown Butter Carrot Cake to Blueberry Crisp, there's something here for everyone. And she includes the history of the item too, which is just a delight to read. I return to this book again and again because her instructions are clear and the results are reliably great.

A half sheet pan is the workhorse in a baker's kitchen. You use it for cookies and pastries and to catch drips from pies and cheesecakes. It needs to be thick enough to carry a lot of weight and not warp in a hot oven. I have five of these so that I don't have to wait for one to cool down before I can scoop out the next set of cookie dough to go in the oven.

When we were in the middle of the first Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020, I discovered Cloud Paper, a company that ships you toilet paper made from bamboo. Seemed like a good idea to have TP on hand so I ordered a box. It's great: bamboo is much more sustainable than making TP from trees and now with my subscription, I don't have to worry that the next time I go the grocery store for a roll, the hoards will have already cleaned them out.

I just purchased this air filter on the advice of Wirecutter because my allergies were driving me crazy and it also seemed likely that we would have another smoke season this summer. So far I couldn't be more pleased. It's easy to set up, very quiet when running, and has an ECO setting that senses the level of particulates and only runs when necessary. The carbon filter lasts 6 mos and the HEPA filter last a year with ordinary usage.

This small food processor is so convenient for making quick work of simple tasks like pulverizing graham crackers for a pie crust or chopping up chocolate for ganache. Really easy to clean too. I like it so much I bought an extra bowl and blade so that I can chop different ingredients separately if necessary for the same recipe.

Aluminum cake pans are the way to go for even browning and easy release. Fat Daddio pans are sturdy, long-lasting, and easy to clean. I have them in five different sizes I like them so much. Get the ones with 3" sides to make sure even your biggest cake recipes don't spill over.

I got one of these for Christmas and I'm really impressed. It's comfortable, adjustable, well-made -- it even has built-in pot holders! I'm not even someone who wears an apron on the regular but I put up a special hook in my kitchen to make this one easy to access.

I switched from dryer sheets to the wool dryer balls too, specifically Friendsheep Cozy Grey Eco Dryer Balls. They make a soft thumping noise as the dryer runs and my socks stick to my microfiber cleaning cloths but other than that, I don't see any difference from dryer sheets so I'm putting them in the win column.

I have a lot of spatulas for different uses but this one gets pulled out much more than the others. GIR stands for "get it right" and they certainly did: it's strong but flexible, easy to clean, and works on everything from meringues to cake batter to bread dough.

I had a problem with my dishwasher smelling even after cleaning the filter on my Miele. Cleared it right up by using Glisten Dishwaster Magic Liquid on the sanitize cycle. Now I use that once every six months or so as a preventative measure.

It's that time of year when the effort to get a cut Christmas tree to stand upright, straight, and secure threatens to crush the joy of the season. This Swivel Straight stand makes setting up a tree fast and easy. I can put up a tree three feet taller than I am in less than five minutes all by myself. The stand holds a lot of water too making it less work to keep the tree fresh.

My French Bulldog Bertie doesn't like wearing coats. Even if it's miserably cold or wet outside, he would prefer to go without. With a normal raincoat that fastens with velcro, he will skootch along rubbing himself up against furniture (or trees or the ground) until he scrapes it off. But not the Hurtta coat: it fastens with a snap buckle around the waist so it's staying on regardless. You've been foiled my boy! Who's got the big brain now?!

I use Instacart because I like their navigation and because they deliver from Costco for those bulk resupply runs. I like their UI better than some of their competitors.

I have a lot of rolling pins but the two I have from JK Adams get the most use. These pins are cut to roll out dough at exactly the right height: 1/4" for cookies and 1/8" for pies. They're very sturdy and wide enough for large recipes. I also have rings that you can put on a regular roller to get the same effect but the convenience of just pulling out the right roller and using it immediately wins every time.

Do you cringe when the recipe says "line the pan with parchment paper" because you don't want to wrestle with a roll that will never stay flat? The solution is pre-cut half sheets. Pull them out, lay them down, get on with business. And after they're gone, the big resealable bag they come in is useful for keeping fondant or cake lace from drying out while you're working with it.

It's a classic because it works on everything from dough to meringue. I prefer the tilt-head model because I find it easier to change the beaters but you won't be disappointed by the larger bowl-lift model either. The hardest decision will be picking the color!

Chocolate tempering is easy and reliable with Mycryo freeze dried cocoa butter powder. You melt the chocolate, add 1% Mycryo by weight at the appropriate temperature, then mix and let the chocolate cool to the appropriate use temperature and voila!, you've got tempered chocolate to use for bonbons and candies. I've tried lots of other methods and tools to temper chocolate and this is by far the easiest. And since you only use a couple of grams at a time, a single container lasts a long, long time.

My French bulldog Bertie is an indifferent eater, the only dog I've ever owned who was like this. Makes me crazy when he skips a meal because he's pretty skinny to begin with. The only food that's consistently made the grade for him is NomNom, a "fresh frozen" offering with four different recipes to choose from. Single serving packages get shipped once a month in boxes with easily recyclable insulation.

These covers for a half sheet pan are really handy. You can pop one on when you need to chill cookies before baking or when you want to keep cupcakes from drying out before you frost them. Makes it easy to stack baked goods to make room on the counter when you've got a lot of things going at once.

Still the most elegant bundt pan out there and if you apply cake release, not a problem to get the cake out of the pan in one piece.

After buying this beater I've never used the one that came with the mixer again. Having flexible silicone edges to scrape the sides of the bowl makes all the difference, especially for cake batters. You get much better distribution and mixing of the wet and dry elements with much less need for stopping the mixer to use a spatula to scrape down the edges.

The ability to see the level in the cup from above is a game changer. No more bending down to squint at the numbers on the side == happier knees and back. One downside: it's harder to scrape out things like corn syrup or honey but other than that, this measuring cup is a 100% winner. If you only get one, the 2 cup measure is a good choice but you'll likely also get a 1 cup size and a 4 cup size because you won't want to be without.

If you want to improve your baking game, you need to start using a digital scale. Accurately measuring the amounts you add to your recipes will vastly increase your ability to achieve repeatable good results. This particular scale has a nice feature where you can pull the display away from the base, making it easy to read when you're weighing things in a large bowl.

When you're making cookies, there's nothing like a graduated scoop to make parceling out the dough easy. Oxo's version is sturdy and comfortable; you should get all three sizes because you'll end up wanting them.

These containers are my pantry favorites. Their airtight seal means everything stays fresh and that even brown sugar doesn't get hard. The pop top is easy to open without any special hand strength. I have them in many different sizes; the 4.4 quart size is perfect for a 5lb bag of flour.

After my French bulldog had back surgery, I didn't want him jumping up onto his chair anymore so I bought these foldable steps. They're sturdy and look good enough to keep in the family room. And the carpeted treads mean that his paws don't slip going up or down.

The Philips SmartSleep is a lifesaver. It gently wakes you up by slowly getting lighter in the morning right before you need to get going. You can control the level of display brightness too so that it's not annoying to be next to you on the nightstand. I swear by these for waking up in our dark winters.

Are you tired of having to cut off 20% of your cake to level it off because it domed so much? These silicone cake pan bands will help with that. By making the edges cook more slowly, they diminish the cake dome, leaving more cake for you and yours to enjoy. They fit a 9" pan so I use a big paper clamp to pinch them down for smaller pans.

If I have a half-sheet pan I have to have a silpat for it. They make baking and cleanup so much easier. And when I use a half-sheet pan underneath a smaller one to catch any potential spills or overflow, the silpat keeps the small pan from slipping as I move them in and out of the oven.

Unlike any other dog I've ever had, Bertie occasionally gets tired of his food. I rotate the flavors but it doesn't always work and I worry when he doesn't eat. But now I've discovered a food topper that gives his meals that extra oomph: Magical Dinner Dust. I sprinkle some over his regular food and boom!, instant enthusiasm. I've bought a couple different flavors just in case he gets tired of this too.

I love Sterilite storage bins because the handles are attached to the bin, not to the lid. That means when you lift the bin, the handles hold the lid even tighter. When the handle is attached to the lid, lifting the container can pop the lid off leading to unfortunate events. Ask me how I know ;-). These bins come a wide variety of sizes; I use them mostly to store cookie cutters and chocolate molds.

Being able to know immediately whether my cheesecake is done or my sugar has reached the soft ball stage or my chocolate is cool enough to use makes a big difference in the success of my baking projects. And the Thermapen is tough, reliable, quick, and accurate. I'm told it's great for checking whether meat is done too but since I don't cook I'll have to take that on faith.

I use these goggles when trying to sleep on planes. They completely block out light which is nice but even better, they have little sponges inside the eye cups. You wet the sponges before putting them on and your eyes are protected from the desert-dry air on the plane. I won't do a long haul flight without them.

This harness by TrueLove works well for my Frenchie. It's adjustable, has clips front and back, and it doesn't have a strap across the shoulders which makes it more comfortable for him.

I've used Britescape for both landscape lighting and holiday lighting and they've been great to work with: fast and professional. Next year in addition to putting holiday lights on my house I'm going to have them wrap the maple out front!

Lewis managed to slip a small accent wall job into his schedule for me -- they were fast, clean, and did beautiful work with crisp edges.

They do it all from cheap IKEA rugs to expensive antiques to wall-to-wall carpeting and it always comes out great.

Did my extensive house remodel -- incredibly detailed bid, high quality work, lovely people.

Mita is so careful and detail oriented. After she's done, my windows are so clean it's like the glass has been erased!

I broke the very large single mirror over the double sinks in my bathroom. Herzog gave me an estimate from a photo, came out to take measurements, fabricated a new mirror, removed the old broken one, and installed the new one, within very tight tolerances too. Showed up on time every time and cleaned up after themselves, done and dusted!

Came on time, took care of a variety of jobs quickly and cleanly.

Peter Lavagnino is a sole proprietor master gardener/landscaper. He selected and planted all of my new landscaping. If you've ever been to the Lambda Legal Garden Party, Peter did the plants on those grounds as well.

I recently had all my trees pruned by Renaissance Tree Care and they did a fine job. They also bolted and cabled a large maple that was in danger of splitting; I sleep better now that that's done.

My ancient lath&plaster living room ceiling collapsed from an undetected leak in an upstairs toilet. Mike from S2S Drywall stabilized the plaster, taped and mudded the repair, and gave me a smooth surface you would never know had had any problems. Cleaned up every day after the work too. My dog Bertie loved him and he has very high standards ;-).

Celina at Gene Juarez works with my sad thin nails to get great results!

She listens and knows how to work with short curly hair.

Charlie at VM Sports Medicine Clinic helped me solve a hip problem that had been bothering me for almost a year -- I do what Charlie tells me and I get better.

Carina had taken care of both of my Frenchies since they were puppies -- they love her!

Did a bouquet for me that looked like a Renaissance still life -- gorgeous!

Maven Meals is a local, female-owned business that delivers pre-made, portion-controlled food right to your door. You can order as much or as little as you like and select entrees, side dishes, breakfast foods, salads, etc in a wide variety of recipes each week. I don't cook so I am delighted to get tasty nutritional food at an excellent price point from them every week.