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MM Pack's Top 10 Places to Buy Kitchenware

1. Chef's Toolbox: This tiny spot across from Central Market is the place to find those specialty tools and gadgets that separate the serious cooks from the sissies. We're talking space-age Japanese knives, garnishing tools, and pastry tips. Just viewing the offerings here will make you want to get serious.

2. Next to New Consignment Shop: You never know exactly what you're going to find in this big re-sale shop run by St. David's Episcopal Church, but it's guaranteed there will be kitchen goodies you can't live without. The displays of glassware, crystal, and china are always impressive. And how about a Penguin ice bucket, a green glass citrus reamer, or a good old cast-iron skillet?

3. Williams-Sonoma: Austin is lucky enough to have a location of this California-based purveyor of specialty cookware and supplies. The large selections of Wusthof and Henkels cutlery, Kitchen-Aid mixers, and All-Clad pots and pans are worth the trip.

4. TJ Maxx: This large off-retail department store has an astonishing array of originally expensive but way-marked-down kitchen and dining supplies. Although the inventory varies, you can consistently find copper cookware, Italian pottery, fine cotton dishtowels, and stainless steel kitchen utensils all reasonably priced.

5. Ace Mart Restaurant Supply: For those who love the accouterments of cooking, Ace Mart's two vast warehouse locations are the Toys "R" Us of kitchen supplies. It's all here. Check out the stainless steel baking equipment, from bowls of all sizes to measuring cups and spoons to flour scoops to pizza-making supplies.

6. ABC Restaurant Supply: Like Ace Mart, this barnlike place provides a huge variety of equipment and supplies designed for professional kitchens and dining rooms, but, also like Ace Mart, is open to the public. You can find anything from deep-fryers to heavy-duty tablecloths to boxes of industrial-strength wine glasses.

7. Breed and Company: Where else can you get everything from a Weber barbecue grill to the hardware to connect it, as well as French cookware to Portuguese pottery to Austrian crystal? They also have an impressive collection of cookbooks with an emphasis on local authors.

8. Central Market: The kitchenware department is compact, but the quality is high. The short row of shelves is packed with a surprising variety of interesting kitchen supplies, including cheesecloth, silver doilies, cute French breakfast china, canning jars, and stackable mise en place glass bowls in a variety of sizes.

9. Goodwill Thrift Store: The West Austin Goodwill location often has great finds in the kitchenware department, from baking pans to pasta machines. And you sure can't beat the prices.

10. Weekend Estate Sales: Although it takes some time and is always a crapshoot, the estate sales around town frequently contain the vintage cooking equipment and dishes you remember from grandmother's house. Recently spotted: a very cool wire fireplace popcorn popper, a mint-condition Waring blender, and a stack of Fifties Pyrex pie pans.