Some people collect spoons, some people collect Trolls, and some people have nothing but coffee mugs strewn about. They’re all cute and funny, I’m sure, but how many of them can you say are both surprising and complimentary at the same time?

Thorsten van Elten’s China Dog Mug hides the grinning be-tongued muzzle of a cartoon dog on the bottom, so when you’re guzzling your coffee, you’re also providing those around you with a grin and a strong case of mug envy.

$17.00 at Rose and Radish

Lord knows I have little enough room in my kitchen for another specialty pot. My Revereware does triple duty and manages to make everything I don’t burn turn out exactly right, and my ultra heavy Le Creuset griller makes every steak a medium rare delight.

Now comes the Alessi Pasta Pot designed by chef Alain Ducasse, so it has a little something something going for it. Chef Ducasse says that the real way to make good pasta isn’t to boil the hell out of it and dump it into a colander before ladling sauce all over it. We’re supposed to cook the pasta in dry and saute it, then add the sauce ingredients to cook with the pasta, and finally the water or broth and cook it all together.

How this special pot helps that along is less clear, but it certainly looks good doing it! Comes with a spoon that sits in the handle, and a melamine trivet so you can present your newfound pasta perfection straight to the table.

$238.00 at Retromodern.com

Apartment living means saving space where you can, and modern living means saving energy, and summer living means keeping the place cool so you don’t have to spent the bucks and the CO² on the A/C. This little oven from Dualit will help you accomplish all that, plus bake a pie so you can sit back with a cup of coffee to enjoy all your good deeds.

The oven is only 17½” wide and just under 10” tall, so it should fit on your limited counter space easily. It has a maximum temperature of 450º, a 2-hour timer and comes with a roasting pan and a non-stick baking tray custom fit to work perfectly inside its tiny, hot innards.

$250.00 at Unica Home

What happens when you’re running out of counter space in your teeny tiny hideously expensive Manhattan studio but you absolutely cannot live without a hot, toasted bagel with your NYTimes on Sunday mornings?

Alessi, as usual, comes to your rescue with a toaster designed by Stefano Giovannoni that’s only 4 ½ inches wide and 16 inches long. It even comes with a snap-on bun warmer to, you know, warm your cold buns. Plus, its shiny stainless steel exterior will double as a mirror in your kitchen, so you know you’re looking good before you step out into the Sunday brunching throngs.

$199.00 at Unica Home

Remember the last time you wanted to re-enact the scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” where Marion has to drink some schlub under the table by downing shot after shot of what we can only assume was the undiluted essence of pure Mercury? But then you spent the whole time rinsing out your two shot glasses and they weren’t all scattered all over the table like they should be?

Problem solved. Here’s 13 shot glasses in every hue of the rainbow. Line them up, stock them with Tequila and disappear into your own personal Himalayan nightmare.

$129.00 at Generate.

It makes absolutely no sense to buy dinner plates that you’re not going to want to put any food on. These Inkblot plates designed by Kathleen Walsh are so lovely and, dare I say it, whimsical that putting anything other than a tasteless clear broth in them would be absolutely criminal.

On the other hand, maybe you’re one of those people who mounts their lovely china on the wall to admire rather than eat off of. And if that’s true, I highly advise that you add these to your collection.

It’s a set of four plates, and the descriptions around the rims (i.e. “an unlikely event - 1 winged porcine creature stands poised at the edge of a reflective pool”) are as fun as it will be staring at the inkblots to determine what particular darkness resides in your own soul!

$180.00 at Unica Home

Sometimes, if rarely, something comes along that’s just lovely on its own without necessarily being, you know, practical. The IBride Trays are a case in point.

I’m not generally enamored of stuff that looks like it’s been decoupaged, but these objet d’art make lovely use of nature imagery paired with some intricate leafy borders. It’s also nice to see some color for a change!

$59.00 at Velocity Art And Design

Why is it that when I need a bottle opener, I can never find one? Maybe it’s because I only have one, and it manages to fall to the bottom of my kitchen tools drawer under the turkey baster and the spatulas and the mushroom brush and I stand there while my cooling drink grows gradually warmer cursing my luck.

But no more! Poketo to the rescue with a set of Mood Bottle Openers that’ll use their little open mouths - shocked, crazy or happy - to pry off those accursed old fashioned non-twist caps and remain shocked (or crazy or happy) doing so. Each one available for $12, or grab the whole set and save a few bucks.

$32.00 at Poketo

Are you familiar with Bauer Pottery? You’re not? Excuse my incredulous look of disdain for a moment so’s I can educate you about lovely California dinnerware and the short, sweet history of Bauer.

No, you don’t want to hear that crap, do you? If you’re that curious, it’s what Google is for! All we do here is tell you what you should be buying, and on December 10th you should be online at the Bauer Pottery Holiday Sale. They’ll have factory seconds up to 60% off retail, and if you want to set your table in mid-century glazed beauty, this is where you want to be.

$?.?? at The Bauer Pottery Holiday Sale

I know it seems like I’m a schill for MoMA lately, but can I help it if they seem to be rounding up all the cool stuff for your home and person lately? I promise I’ll start looking elsewhere for more cool junk to unload your overburdened bank account, but in the meantime have a look at this here.

As an apartment dweller, and a small apartment dweller at that, I have a great respect for space. There just isn’t a lot of it to go around, particularly in the kitech, so when I find a solution that solves two problems, me likey! The Lukas Design Team has created this non-stick silicone baking sheet to make all those chocolate chip cookies you’re craving, and best of all you won’t have to keep it inside your cold oven. It rolls up!

$30.00 at MoMAstore

It’s not everyday that a teapot makes me stop in my virtual tracks and want to immediately make love to a smooth bit o’ white china, but in the case of the Mirza Teapot, I’ll make an exception.

From its smooth lines to its sleek, simple handle and carefully balanced metal lid, I fell in love with this beauty at first sight and recommend you take the deep dive as well. Even if you never drink tea, having this out on your counter space will elicit enough jealousy for a long while.

$135.00 at CLIO.

Do I seem obsessed with coffee lately? Maybe it’s the cold snap that we suffered through here in San Francisco last week, or maybe it’s just my own on-going desire to make and present the best possible cup of coffee here in my own abode that drives me. But whatever it is, aren’t you glad you’re paying attention?

This is the Nuova Point brown and white tulip-shaped Italian Café cup. This is the same classic cup you get to enjoy at the most discerning of coffee stops, so why shouldn’t you also enjoy it at home? The thick ceramic walls keep your coffee hot — not that you allow it to sit long enough to ever grow cold, but just in case — and the set of four cups comes with four saucers. Now you just need to perfect your crema.

$26.00 at Espresso Parts.

I have been looking for the “perfect cream and sugar set” for a while now, ever since the lovely green and yellow set I found at a roadside antiques store in Vermont (I know, how Martha of me!) was knocked unceremoniously to the kitchen floor by my cat, who apparently has no admiration of Franciscan Ware.

At last, I have found what I think fits the bill. You want stylish? You want practical? You want dishwasher and microwave safe and suitable for even the smartest table setting? Eva Solo comes to the rescue again with this milk and sugar set.

They match their coffee maker in style and include such smart features as withstanding temperatures from freezing to boiling and both feature drip-free pouring lips. Additionally, the sugar dispenser releases one level teaspoon of sugar with every tip, and the creamer features an airtight rubber seal so you can pop the remaining milk into the fridge rather than dumping it out. Loveliness and convenience in one package? Sold!

$59.95 at Cooking.com.

As long as we’re talking about weird, potentially useless but also curious and “I wonder if that would work?” bachelor-lifestyle laziness, here’s something I came across that I must confess I don’t own or use, but it sounds just weird enough to appeal to some of you tech-happy non-cooks who would love to be able to use their toaster for, well, everything.

Toastabags are made out of an “FDA-approved material” and can be re-used up to 300 times. They’re little woven fiberglass envelopes into which you slide your otherwise sloppy mess of a sandwich (e.g. grilled cheese, tuna melt or s’mores) and then pop the whole thing, kit-n-kaboodle, into your toaster. I shit you not. While the Toastabag is heat resistent, it allows the food inside to fall prey to your toaster’s intense heat and cook it all without spilling a messy, melting morass into your small appliance. The non-stick insterior means your food just slides onto the plate, and you can stick them in the top rack of your dishwasher to clean.

I look forward to the day when I can also launder my clothes while wearing them in the shower, and clean my catbox long distance using only a whistle and wishful thinking.

$5.99 for two at CHEF’S.

I was introduced to the consummate joys of Raclette by friends in Vermont. On the surface, it sounds absurd, but believe me that after you give it a shot with a few of your friends (and a lot of good wine), you’ll ponder more reasons to haul out the Raclette maker and call up your cheese-loving buddies.

In short, Raclette is a cheese, and ‘making’ Raclette means slicing off hunks of the hard, pale, slightly stinky wonder, placing them into tiny shovels, sticking them under a heated surface until they grow liquid and bubbly, then scraping the heap of melted cheese onto a plate and eating it with the accompaniment of crusty bread and, believe it or not, pickled onions, cornichons, roasted potatoes and grilled sausages. Like I said, it sounds weird in theory, but it’s wonderful in practice. Everyone can eat as much or as little as they please, and conversation continues unabated as people await their next batch of melted goodness.

Williams-Sonoma has their own Electric Raclette Maker available just in time for holiday parties with weird themes like “Hey, let’s all melt some cheese!” It comes with eight broiling trays and a convenient granite grill on top for keeping the sausages warm. You’ll have to make do with your own onions. This year forget the fondue, and rack up some Raclette.

$139.95 at Williams-Sonoma. Can’t find the cheese? Don’t worry, Williams-Sonoma has that, too. $24.00 for one pound.

Now that you have the right dishes, you’ll need to have some nice glassware for your pre-dinner conversations or your post-dinner drink fests. And, sure, you could go to Ikea and drop $20 for a collection of stemware that looks exactly like everyone else’s, but your different than that. You’re better.

So how about some handmade Italian crystal from Bibulo? Designer Angelo Mangiarotti must have been a little off-center when he dreamed up this glassware in 1985. It all looks as if the wine you’ve poured into the glass has turned it tipsy. The bowls are oddly shaped and distorted, the stems swerve and tilt dangerously, but the final effect looks as if your barware is dancing. Bibulo comes by special order, so if you’re planning on showing it off at your next party, plan on waiting 2 months to get it.

$270.00 to $510.00 for sets of 6 at Tart.

It’s not always easy to get your geek on for dining with the parents. You want to haul out the “good china” but so often it looks like everyone else’s dishes, or alternately you have to get them in odd, unappetizing colors or weird shapes. (Octagonal? I think not.)

The Green Circuit collection is based on everyone’s favorite silicon accessory, the green circuit board. The palette is lovely and makes your food look good, and the shapes and you can outfit your entire dining experience with the Green Circuit serving plates, rim bowls, salad bowls, dinner and salad plates, mugs… even salt and pepper shakers! The coffee service is particularly lovely.

$208.00 for 20-piece starter dinner set at notNeutral. Other pieces available.

Some day when I am rich from doing all these useless things online (or something), I will have a big house with a huge kitchen. I will require the huge kitchen not because I enjoy cooking overmuch, but to house all the specialty electronics I am sure to acquire because, for some reason, I just love specialized tools.

For example, I could just dump some eggs in water and boil them up and make my own delicious and mouth-watering egg salad, for egg sal-sands (which I heart) but why would I do that when I could buy an egg-shaped egg cooker instead?

This contraption couldn’t make cooking eggs any easier if all you had to do was add water. Because all you do is add water… and set a timer and soon your domed electric egg cooker will present you with seven hard- or soft-cooked eggs of even four poached ones to serve the other guests their own Eggs Benedict!

$29.95 at Williams-Sonoma

If you’e serious about home-brewed espresso — and by ‘serious,’ I mean you own something other than a Krups or Braun coffee maker and you spent upwards of $400 to make real crema espresso — than you’d better not be grinding your beans in one of those little cannister blade grinders, missy! You can’t possibly get the fine ground you need, and you may be burning your lovely coffee before you even get a chance to drink it.

Coffeeholics agree that burr grinding is the only way to get the perfect results. You don’t stand there with your thumb on a button waiting for the beans to stop sounding like small rocks in a blender, you press a button and your grinder knows exactly how to turn roasted coffee beans into roasted coffee treasure in a cup. This Capresso Infinity burr grinder is made of die-cast zinc, it’s short enough to fit under most kitchen cabinets, it has 16 grind settings (Turkish fine to French press coarse) and a built-in timer so you just press a button and let it go to work for you.

$139.99 at Amazon

I recently moved from one apartment to the other in the same building. Some friends wondered why I would go to the trouble — if you’re going to move, they reason, then move. But the upstairs 1-bedroom had lots more light and more privacy for a little more money than my cave-like studio. However, the bathroom exchange sucked.

My old bathroom was hugemongous! The new one, not so much. I am lacking storage for my gay-man sundries, and a gay man has a lot of sundries. When I started looking for cabinetry, nothing was very exciting (nor need it be for a rental, right?) But this caught my eye. The line is called Meta Plasma from Sieger Design. The cabinets are made of that bright clear plastic perspex that seems to glow on its own. This is exactly my taste; playful yet practical. With an impractical price, but you’re worth it.

Shown in “Hot,” also available in “Cool,” this one is called Meta Cube. 14.5” x 14.5” x 7” deep.

$454.50 at HomeClick.com.

Tea is such a cultured and civilized drink. It takes patience and a discerning palette to enjoy the subtle pleasures without drowning it in sugar and milk. And it deserves a special presentation.

Molo Design has aline of glassware called float, from which the Float Tea Lantern comes. It’s handcrafted in clear glass from a type that renders the container completely inert, meaning it can’t effect the taste of anything you put in it.

Place a tea light candle (and for the first time I understand the name of that) in the base and set the lantern with your tea bags (or loose leaf — a filter is included) on top. The double-layered glass creates a vacuum and keeps your tea hot — or icy cold, as you prefer. It holds up to 34 oz., and stands 13” high.

$199.00 at The Tea Haus.

Simplicity is a difficult commodity to find. A lot of the time, designers want to put a personal stamp on whatever it is they’re assigned to create, and although that’s not necessarily a bad thing, sometimes you just want the thing you buy to do one thing, do it well without compromise, and then sit there quietly until you need it again.

Olof Soderholm designed the Lamina cheese slicer from a thin piece of stainless steel. It’s angled perfectly to extract just one thing slice of cheese before you use it to get another one, because the first slice was so perfect. On those occasions when all you want is something easy, simple and satisfying, go buy a fresh-baked loaf of crusty bread, some stinky cheese and have at it.

$35.00 at Atmosphere Home.

These are so cute, I am almost gagging. Leave it to the Japanese to do something with little indoor plants to make them even cuter than they were anyway.

Me, I have no green thumbs or any other digits. I forget to water, the cat eats the leaves, I put them outside and they freeze or drown or who the hell knows? But I could probably handle these little growing treats because, as noted — cute!

Egglings come out of their boxes looking and feeling like extra large eggs. But crack the top of these ceramic pots with a spoon and add some water and the seed pack and soon your little white wonder is sprouting mint or basil (for cooking, even!) or lobelia, which is apparently some sort of pretty flower or something. Anyway, your cat will eat it.

$8.95 at Sprout Home.

One thing I assumed we’d probably taken about as far as we could was the art of toast. Toasting bread into toast is a fairly straight-forward and simple process involving heat and pushing down and popping up and that’s about it, other than remembering to clean out the crumb tray every once in a while.

But leave it to the Japanese to improve on toasting. Panasonic’s NB-G100P doesn’t have a heating element. No orange-glowing wires here — instead, it uses near- and far-infrared light that ends up getting hot immediately (up to 500 degrees) so there’s no pre-heating and toast and whatever else you put inside it (frozen hash browns, fresh bagels, toaster streudel, last night’s leftover pizza) cooks 40% faster than typical toaster-ovens.

You’ll need ample counter space for this contraption since it’s over 10 inches tall, but I can vouch for its simple controls and usability — and it manages to make toasting bread cool.

$79.99 at Amazon

Now that you’re being so careful about the things you place inside your house, it’s time to also start considering the things you put outside that everyone else can see. Case in point: the simple birdhouse. Sure, you can buy that quaint handmade miniature Victorian you saw at a roadside antique shop, but does that express the birdhouse inside you?

Of course not! You’re sleek and smooth and cool and satin-brushed steel inside! You’re Bauhaus, not outhouse! So here’s what Frank Gehry might make if you could afford him.

These stainless steel designs are water-tight, stay cool in direct sunlight, thwart predators because there’s no perch (the 1.25” opening is designed for tiny, cute chickadees, nuthatches and wrens) and reflect your innate sense of style and design.

$398.00 at Design Within Reach.

As long as you’re investing in a good set of sharp knives to make your cooking time more enjoyable (and dangerous, which is also cool!) you should also invest in a tool to keep your new, sharp knives their sharpest.

No doubt you’ve seen the usual sharpener, which is a sort of metal rod with indentations and you run the knife up and down, up and down, and it makes a very attractive keening noise and you tell yourself you’ve sharpened your knife. But those aren’t nearly as good as this. It uses extra-hard ceramic disks to contact more of the knive’s cutting surface. You add water to the compartment to keep the wheels clean and the blade cool as you sharpen. And you still get that cool keening noise!

$49.00 at Williams-Sonoma.

If you do any amount of cooking at home, you may know the absolute frustration of using dull-edged knives when trying to accomplish just about anything. From cutting tomatoes to flaying meat off the bone to just slicing open the plastic wrap on a salmon fillet, using a bad knife just doesn’t — you should excuse the expression — cut it.

You know who makes great knives? The Japanese. Maybe it’s from slicing all that raw fish and making all those pretty vegetable decorations or something, but the Japanese have perfected the art of turning metallic into marvelous.

This six-knife set, with its own shiny knife block, comes from Global. For those who get excited about knives, Global uses molybdenum and vanadium stainless steel, ice tempered and hardened with a seamless construction. The handles won’t break or crack, the knives are perfectly balanced and light for easy handling, and the blades are super duper thin. They carry a lifetime guarantee against breakage and defects and should be washed by hand in hot, soapy water.

$399.99 at Chef’s Resource.

Everyone has a collection of weird mugs. Or if you don’t, you should. Weird mugs are what separates us from the terrorists, and when there are no more weird mugs in the world, we’ll all call it a day and cash in our chips.

Gumby used to be big. Like, Britney big. Huge! Everyone knew and loved Gumby, but lately his star isn’t shining as brightly, what with that yellow sponge stealing all the glamour in the world of animated what the hell was that? So bring Gumby back (and his pony pal, Pokey, too!) with this weird mug with his mug on it.

$10.00 at fredflare.

I grew up knowing only two kinds of cheese graters: the rotary one that you load a hunk of cheddar into for tacos, and the tall, four-sided stainless steel kind for grating your knuckles when you stopped paying attention. Parmesan, you know, came in a green foil-covered carton from Kraft, and that was that.

But my friend and all-around food guy Pableaux Johnson introduced me to the microplane zester, a long, flat piece of metal with dimpled slits in the surface. When you hold a piece of hard, mellow Parmesano Reggiano in one hand and drag the zester across the cheese, you end up with the most perfect and delicate curly shreds to put on your pasta dishes. Plus, it makes cooking fun!

$12.95 at FoodNetwork Store.

You can certainly find a less expensive electric kettle than Rowenta’s Jasper Morrison designed model, but you will be hard-pressed to find a better designed and more handle model.

What sets this kettle apart from most other boiled water makers is that the heating element is smooth rather than a post you need to align the kettle with, so using it is effortless, and it just looks fantastic on your kitchen counters — virgin white, clean lines and an elegant, flawless look.

$125.00 at Fitzsu.com.

So you can’t afford an Eames recliner, so what? Why sit there feeling all forlorn and despondent when there are so many beautiful and comfortable (and cheaper) alternatives available?

Take blu dot’s Buttercup recliner, for example. Made of bent plywood (like someone else’s chair? right?) and sitting on satin plated steel legs (also Eamesy), Buttercup swivels and reclines and cradles you in style. I prefer the whitened white oak version shown, but if that doesn’t fit your bachelor pad décor, it also comes in opaque ebony ash.

$519.00 (free shipping) at 2modern.

“Clever” is a word that often comes to mind when I look at anything from Denmark’s eva solo line of housewares. From their glass carafe coffee maker wrapped in its own thermal zippered wet suit to their beautiful brushed steel outdoor grill that looks more like a scupture than a barbecue, I always love the design as well as the practicality of their products.

For example, the eva solo garlic press, when housed in its glass container (where you store the cloves) looks, itself, like a garlic clove. Rather than little holes you end up cleaning out with a toothpick, it has open slits which do a better job and are easier to clean. It has a lovely heft in your hand and you’ll want to display it on your kitchen counter instead of hiding it in your tool drawer.

$58.50 at Amazon.

Clocks hold a special place in my designer’s heart because they can serve two functions. They’re practical, first, showing you what time it is and how long you have to wait before Desperate Housewives comes on. Second, they can be aesthetically pleasing and artful. There are so many ways to display the simple functionality of telling time and so many ways you can express your own tastes with them.

Vitra is reproducing several of George Nelson’s simple and elegant clocks, including the Pill Desk Clock from 1954. Made from a sphere of polished wood atop a chrome base, this is a striking clock that will turn your design-minded friends covetous.

$325.00 (free shipping) at hive modern.

I’m sort of a towel snob — oh, hell, I’m sort of an everything snob. It happens when you decide that the couch-chair combo you bought at Levitz really, really sucks and you wouldn’t be caught dead in a Wal-Mart no matter how much cream cheese one can get for $1.00.

Towels, though, like sheets, are something you are surrounding your body in and you want them soft, full, fluffy and comfortable, not harsh, thin, scraggly and undernourished. Christy in England makes these towels out of “polished cotton” and they really do have a sort of sheen to them, but another thing the polishing does is make the fibers really, really soft. It’s like they blended cotton and silk together, and then washed them in Super Downy. Available in assorted colors (with delicious names like Rose Dust and Gingersnap). Treat yourself to a bath sheet, you won’t regret it.

On Sale! $5.59 to $31.99 at Bloomingdales.

First: Yes, it’s incredibly expensive. Second: Everything you’ve heard about it is true. Dyson’s vacuum cleaner is not only a nice looking piece of machinery, as if it was designed by Richard Rogers, but it does its job and it does it better than any other vacuum I’ve ever owned.

When you watch the commercials, you hear him talk about “constant suction” and “a million times gravity” or whatever, but let me put it this way: my Dyson vacuum grabs every last cat hair out of the carpet and furniture so that my allergic boyfriend can come over and stay the night.

How’s that for a true life testimonial? Honestly, this is the last vacuum you will ever own. It almost makes vacuuming fun.

$399.99 at Amazon.

No, those aren’t pretty, pretty jewels you see, they’re “freeze it cubes,” a collection of six liquid-filled glass cubes you put in the freezer, then drop into drinkies to keep them cold without diluting their alcoholic (or, I suppose, sweet and juicy) contents.

The set of six cubes come in assorted colors, so you can also use them, as the consummate host or hostess, to help your inebriated guests remember which G&T is theirs. Just don’t fling your glasses into the fireplace when you’re through drinking — or at least remember to take the cubes out beforehand.

$14.95 at cb2.com.

I’m starting to cook more — meaning, like, once a month rather than nonce — and did you know you need certain tools to get things done? It’s true! My living-alone tricks of re-using the plate from the take-out pizza for the doggy-bag leftovers won’t hack it when you’re making cookies in the same bowl you stored spaghetti sauce in last night.

Crate and Barrel Outlet has a set of five mixing bowls in retro yummy colors just like Mom used to have, only hers were made by Pyrex and these are made by the Portuguese. But what do you care? They’re perfect for any kitchen because they nest inside each other, and come in sizes from a petite 23oz. up to a massive 4qt. model. And they’re even pretty!

$24.95 at Crate and Barrel Outlet online.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re on the edge of leaving the harsh, cruel winter months and slide gently into Spring, and shortly thereafter come the mosquitoes, warm breezes and sole-burning asphalt streets of Summer. Why not get prepped now for one of the true joys of small electric appliances?

Homemade ice cream will always, always, always taste better than anything you can buy in a carton. Why? Because you pick the ingredients and since you’re making this for yourself and to impress your friends, you certainly aren’t about to use fillers and thickeners and fake flavors like vanillin, are you? No, you are not.

The Cuisinart Pure Indulgence maker will make up to two quarts of ice cream (or frozen yogurt or sorbet) in only 25 minutes. It has a lovely brushed chrome exterior and it’s fully automatic — just add the ingredients, turn it on and let it go.

$79.95 at Amazon.com

I like these cool vases from Canada in the shape of paper bags. I always like things that look like something ordinary and then you discover that they’re not exactly what you expected upon closer inspection.

These are handmade from porcelain and come in two sizes, but I prefer the smaller one. For one thing, it’s easier to store somewhere when you’re not using it, and secondly it seems more likely that I might use a lunchbag for a vase (or other container) than a grocery bag. Am I being too practical?

$35.00 at UncommonGoods.

When I was but a young man and I had just moved into my own apartment, one thing I knew I wanted was a Hibachi. For those unfamiliar with the item, Hibachi grills are small cast iron barbecues that are essentially good for cooking one steak at a time. My apartment had little storage and a littler outside deck, so the Hibacho seemed perfect, but it wasn’t great because it had no lid and the coals kept going out. Hassle!

Bodum is one of my favorite kitchen gadget makers, both for their design aesthetic and the plain usefulness of the stuff. George is their answer to the picnic grill, but it works perfect for apartment dwellers, too.

Big enough to cook for more than one, and built from aluminum and stainless steal with a big belly to keep the briquettes hot. You can also buy a grilling tool set to keep George clean and make barbecuing more fun (if that’s possible).

$59.95 at Bodum USA. Tool set available for $39.95.

You know those $300 toasters at Williams Sonoma? The 20 lbs. monsters in designer colors from France or Belgium or someplace exotic (assuming you’re not living in France or Belgium yourself, that is)? The ones that say “I’m a big toaster and I’m going toast your bread to perfection and there’s nothing going to stop me,” in teutonic tones like some Arnold Appliance?

This toaster won’t do that at all. This toaster says, “Hi! Good morning! Want some toast?” I mean, look at it. This is not some majestic toast machine forged from the minds of Germanic tribal Gods. This is the toaster Barbie wanted for her Dream House. (But Ken got it in the break-up.)

$60.00 at Wishingfish.com.

In 1993, a small group of typographers got fed up with doing boring work on commission, moved to a farm near Wilmington, Delaware and started making their own damned fonts, calling themselves House Industries. To support their newfound freedom, they also began producing a magazine, also called “House.”

There are now three editions available, covering such trendy and important issues as the film Return to the Planet of the Apes, The art of Shag, Japanese toys, Spaceage architecture, lounge DJ Dmitri from Paris and, of course, their own font collective. Issue One is sold out, but Two and Three are just waiting to be lovingly displayed on your Noguchi table.

$7.50 - $10.00 per issue at House Industries.

When you’re drinking espresso, you’re not just drinking coffee. Expresso — and cappuccino, natch — are coffee taken to the next level. Coffee², if you will. And espresso deserves a special presentation.

For 2005, Alessi has a new set of dining accessories designed by architects, including this gorgeous demitasse cup and saucer set by Fuksas, Massiliano & Doriana. Savor the flavor of your hottest caffeine shot in one of these sexy cups and you’ll never go back to Starbuck’s.

set of 2 for $70.00 at retromodern.com.

No one ever said your glasses have to be dull. If all you want is for your highball to sit on its coaster sweating, any old glass will do, but for those occasions when your not drunk enough to make everything funny, use these 17oz. keyhole glasses to spark some conversation.

A set of three in taste-tempting hues comes in a very gift-worthy box, and when was the last time your drink looked back at you?

$34.00 at Orange Skin.