For True Culinary Cred, Forgo the Gadgets

This reclaimed chef’s knife is the real steel deal.

Many people pursue kitchen supremacy through the purchase of ever-more-advanced kitchen gadgets. (We’re looking at you, frequenters of William-Sonoma’s extensive sous-vide section.) On our end, we’d rather spend hundreds on a dead-simple, super-high quality tool that’s too beautiful to ever end up covered in mildew in the basement after someone loses the instruction manual. That tool is one of Chelsea Miller’s chef’s knives, made from old farrier’s rasps and wood from an apple orchard near her childhood home. The blades retain some of the texture from their original usage, and the high carbon tool steel carries real heft. Miller encourages her customers to “experience the knives as living art,” but we think functional sculpture might be a better fit. [online at chelseamillerknives.com/]

Photos by Chelsea Miller Knives