1. Toss & Chop - Mitch actually got this as an office gift exchange one year and we’ve been HUGE fans ever since. If you need to make a chopped salad, bowl of salsa, or chop veggies like onions, peppers or a host of others, nothing is quicker, easier or neater than the Toss & Chop. The powerful choppers work like scissors -- albeit razor sharp, double bladed scissors. This is no kid's toy (although it certainly is much safer than chopping with a knife). Want to make a chopped salad? Throw all the ingredients together -- vegetables, meats, cheeses -- then just cut until you have the consistency you want – right in the serving bowl! Ditto for making salsa, chopping onions, making cole slaw, etc. This is a powerful cutting tool made easy to operate by its solid construction and ergonomic design. Cleanup is just as easy -- just rinse under a faucet and lock the blades closed for storage. A touch of a button frees them for their next chopping chore. Made of high-quality, heat-treated stainless steel with micro-serrated edges that will never require sharpening.

2. Microplane Grater/Zester - Once you start using this handy multi-tasking kitchen tool you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it. Nothing is quicker or easier for grating citrus zest, chocolate, hard cheeses, or spices. A quick pass over the razor sharp grate and you have a neat little pile of finely grated whatever. Rinse off or pop in the dishwasher to clean.

3. Hand Held Citrus Squeeze - Whether you need a small amount of juice for a cocktail or a recipe, this little gadget does the job with ease and efficiency – so much so we got rid of our electric citrus juicer. We use this gadget so much in our kitchen, we have them in two sizes – one for small lemons and limes, one for larger fruits like oranges and grapefruits. Avoid plastic models as they’re not strong enough to hold up to heavy duty squeezing and opt instead for a heavy aluminum model like Amco’s enameled models, which are both functional and stylish.

4. Polder Digital Meat Thermometer - The easiest way to cooked-to-perfection meat every time is to take its temperature and this thermometer makes it easy to do just that. It even has a timer that alerts you when dinner is ready, a memory function that keeps track of the last temperature inputted, and convenient magnets that mount it to the oven door. Easy and functional and complete with a USDA chart of recommended cooking temperatures, there’s no longer an excuse for making over or under done meats.

5. OXO Good Grips Angled Measuring Cups - These ingenious angled measuring cups let you read the measurement from above, eliminating the need to fill, check, and adjust while measuring. Measurements are marked in metric and standard increments. To top it off the cups are dishwasher safe and come with OXO’s fabulous Good Grips handles. We like these cups so much we have them in the 1, 2, and 4 cup models.

6. Escali Digital Scale - Cooking, and especially baking, experts agree, the best way to accurately measure is by volume. The Escali Digital scale makes volume measurements effortless. We love the ease of use (even for the electronically challenged). A push of a button subtracts the container's weight to obtain the weight of its contents, and the stainless steel removable top makes clean-up fast and easy. In addition, the scale has five units of measure: cups, tablespoons, ounces, pounds plus ounces or grams; measures volume in cups and tablespoons for a wide range of ingredients from 17 types of flour to eggs, corn syrup etc.; and comes preprogrammed for precise volume measurements of more than 150 ingredients.

7. Messermeister San Moritz Petite Chef’s Knife - We didn't know we needed this knife until we had it in the kitchen, but now find ourselves using it constantly. Think of it as a compact version of its big brother, the classic chef's knife. This mini-version is especially handy for small chopping and cutting tasks like garlic cloves and fresh herbs. The smallest of the Meridian elite one-piece forged chef's knives (which also come in 6, 8, 9 and 10 inch sizes), this model gives those whose chopping skills may be less than stellar, and those with smaller hands, greater control. Made in Germany of high-carbon molybdenum/vanadium steel, the knives are some of the sharpest on the market and feature highly durable, comfortably shaped riveted black handles that won't shrink, crack or crystallize with age. The Petite Chef's Knife comes boxed and carries a limited lifetime warranty.

8. OXO Steel Salad Spinner - There’s nothing like a great salad, and nothing like a salad spinner to give you great results every time. Using a salad spinner you’ll have no more soggy greens that repel dressing, but rather crisp veggies that make your salads sing. We particularly like this model because of its stylish stainless steel bowl (which won’t eventually crack like the cheap plastic bowls of other models). It also boasts one touch spinning operation (the kids love to help with this) and its non skid base that keeps it steady on the countertop.

9. Pizza Stone and Pizza Peal Set - Anyone who loves good pizza needs a baking stone and pizza peal in order to do the job right. The stone, which can stay in the oven whether or not you’re making pizza at the time, helps keep temperature even and is also great for all kinds of bread baking. The pizza peel will also work for transporting all kinds of breads to and from the oven. These two accessories really can make all the difference between good and great homemade pizza.

10. Wusthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener - It just got a whole lot easier to keep your kitchen knives sharpened to perfection. This two-stage knife sharpener requires nothing but a few easy strokes to keep blades sharp. Its V-shaped cutting head with two crossed carbide blades puts a quick edge on knives. Simply place the gadget on a flat work surface and hold handle with one hand and the knife handle with the other. Insert the knife blade fully into the slot at a 90-degree angle to the sharpener and pull down and back three or four times to sharpen. After setting the knife's edge with the carbide side, use the unit's ceramic side to nicely finish the edge. The gadget also comes equipped with a built-in scissors sharpener. The E-Z grip handle and non-slip rubber feet help to keep the sharpener in place and safe to use. The Knife Life Sharpener is for both right and left handed use.