Like with everything else, you need to know what you need, how it is going to be used, and how long you want it to last … then, make an informed decision. Restaurant supply stores are great for things like non-stick pans, baking sheets, cheap knives, cast iron, whisks, spatulas, serving utensils, et al. Specialty stores are better for things like nice knives, All-Clad pots/pans, and similar higher quality items.

Cheer!

My mom would drag us kids to Upick farms and we would spend all morning picking and then all afternoon making jam. Definitely worth it.
All grown up – I bought my own stem remover. We buy strawberries from the store, occasionally. Probably not worth it – but I like the convenience of it still.

Cost alone means nothing and you proved my point. “…comparing prices alone means quite a bit when you’re comparing similar or identical items.”

You are making sure the quality is similar before comparing price. If quality didn’t matter, why not raid Wally World (Walmart) or the dollar store?

And sectioning your own chicken? You consider that the repertoire of an average cook? I put you, and that skill, above that. It seems your standard for average is a lot higher than mine.

BTW, you have a butcher’s cleaver? That what I use to take apart birds and remove the back bone, the extra weight makes going through joints and cartilage easier. Then again, I’m Asian so I grew up learning knife skills with the cleaver.

@18 TR

Man, I can already imagine how beat up aluminum pans would be after a few days, let alone a few months.

And totally agree with the non-stick from the restaurant supply store. If they’re going to break down anyways, why pay the premium to last only a little longer?

However I definitely agree that if the choice is between commercial and low-end home cookware, for utility, the commercial cookware is a much better bet since a thick aluminum pan conducts heat much better than the flimsy materials they use on cheap cookware.

The knife may be better/worse quality between stores, but I bet the others are 99% the same.

I don’t need an “insane edge” on my knives, but I do need an edge. If you’re an occasional cook or cooking for one or two, you’re probably using knives and pans a lot less than if you were cooking meals daily for a family (which is where I am). I can’t afford cutesy ice-cream scoops and I do need to sharpen my knives more than twice a year – not a good thing to try and cut up a chicken with a dull knife, believe me.

We shop Surfas for gourmet items and for things that – again – are hard to find or overpriced elsewhere. Like sheet pans, and eight-ounce ladles, and cast-iron skillets.

Actually, come to think of it, we haven’t been in Sur la Table since we discovered Surfas. Oops.

Having worked with the stuff we sell and the stuff you can buy at restaurant supply stores, I have to agree with Steven; kitchen supply stores are selling stuff that has a lifespan of at max six months in an environment like a restaurant; it’s cheap because it’s more or less disposable after extremely high heat and frequent use for that period of time. Yes, kitchen supply stores have really decent stuff, and most home cooks don’t ever match the workout supplies get in a restaurant kitchen so they will generally last longer, but there are points to buying the “higher end” cookware available at places like Sur La Table.

You spend the money on All Clad pans because you want pans that will last you a lifetime; you get restaurant supply store pans when you don’t mind replacing them depending on how often you use them. Figure you spend $20 on a frying pan at the restaurant supply store, but have to replace it once a year; you could have spent $100 on an All Clad (or other high-end brand name) frying pan and never had to spend money to replace it — they have lifetime warranties and the company will gladly replace them if anything goes wrong. Same goes for other high-end kitchen supplies that have nice warranties and company guarantees.

I don’t work on commission, by the way, nor have I been brainwashed I do appreciate restaurant supply stores for things like sheet pans, which Emmy mentioned: things like that wear pretty equally no matter the brand name, and you’ll get the same quality for $5 at the restaurant supply store (or even Amazon!) that you do for $20 at Williams-Sonoma.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09mini.html

Never said Sur la Table was top of the line.
Just trying to say that comparing prices alone doesn’t mean much. Like this line where he compares something made of steel to plastic “Not everything was cheaper at the restaurant supply store, however. For example, the stainless steel avocado slicer at Rose’s cost $12; the cute plastic Flexicado at Sur la Table was $6.” You’re comparing apples to oranges.

I mention material quality because I’m a materials engineer by trade, and with the few items I’ve run a chemistry on, the restaurant supply stuff is the lowest grade material. But, that just means it won’t rust as easily. In the home kitchen, aesthetics is more important because most people don’t want to keep rusted stuff around, so you need higher grade material to resist corrosion more to prevent rusting.

Also, the average cook isn’t doing a whole lot with their knives that NEED an insane edge. Honing prior to use is more than enough for the average cook as their knife skills are high enough to notice a difference.

I myself have one expensive knife for myself, and another cheaper knife that I have set out for others. I typically notice a decline in performance in about 3 months and sharpen them at that time myself. It all depends on how much you use it, and a million other factors (like stamped vs forged, material chemistry, hardness, etc.) that I won’t get into because it can go on forever.

I would say that buying a stack of hotel pans and a half dozen stainless steel bowls would work for any cook.

We have our knives sharpened professionally but also use bulk knives for day to day chores. A combination of inexpensive and quality works for most people.

@Steven – I don’t know what supply stores you went to, but I found the quality of of the items to be very good. We use our kitchen suppies a lot and pretty much everything I bought those 18 years ago is still in use and still in good shape.

It might just be that I’m used to baking with professional equipment, but I can’t deal with the cutesy, overprices stuff at sur la table and williams sonoma. Give me ugly and practical any day.

It’s also worth noting that Sur la Table is not the only nor the best source of supplies for the home cook. I highly recommend Lehmanns.

I’ve always used a disposable drinking straw for mass de-stemming of strawberries. Just push it up through the bottom and off it pops. A single straw can do dozens of berries in about a minutes. (you can even squeeze out the straw every few berries to catch extra fruit.)

I buy quite a bit at the restaurant supply store in Boston (Eastern Bakers Supply in the North End). However, one thing to be aware of is that restaurants have dishwashers as a job description (items may not be easy to clean) and chefs cook quickly over very high heat while paying constant attention to the food. Consumer grade pans are more forgiving.

One cheap tip – have as few pans as possible. If you make things in the same pan every night, it makes it much easier to sense when things are done and how high the heat should be. I’ve learned that I’m fairly fussy about my tools, so I really shop around – and have a very minimalist setup.

“Commercial” grade equipment doesn’t mean much, and restaurant “quality” supplies are actually crappier than supplies found at Sur la Table.

If you were comparing to Walmart supplies, then yes, you’re getting about the same quality stuff.

But stuff at Sur la Table is usually high quality raw material. I know they overprice things to look good as well, but it’s good stuff.

The reason you don’t find that stuff in real kitchens is the amount of use and abuse restaurant equipment goes through. The average home cook would sharpen their knives every 6 months to a year, where as restaurants should be sharpening them in a couple weeks and maybe a month tops. The additional cost of higher quality raw material wouldn’t end up saving the restaurant any money, unless you go to the very high end stuff.

Step inside a kitchen at a restaurant like TGI Fridays, and you’ll see the stuff from the restaurant supply store. Go into a Michelin 3 star fine dining restaurant, and you’ll see nothing but All Clad pots/pans and high quality steel tools.