Wedding Registry Question

The future Mr. sweetsalty and I started our wedding registry today. We don't really *need* anything, so we have a lot of room on our registry for more luxury/fun items.

I have two questions for all of you- what are the 1-3 things you registered for that you have found absolutely indispensable? Conversely, what are the 1-3 things you registered for and never, EVER use?

Thanks in advance for any advice (and for potentially saving us from ourselves!)

I have a set of 11 nesting glass bowls from Williams-Sonoma that I use every time I cook. I wish we had registered for a good pepper grinder.

Great question! I was just thinking about this today as we had company over and I was reviewing what we did (and didn't) use from our wedding gifts.

I think going for quality over quantity is a great idea. My wife's family and friends are very working class (and I'm no blueblood) so we registered for a bunch of cheap stuff so as not to insult her family and friends and provide lots of inexpensive gifts for the obligatory wedding-showerpalooza. Now, a lot of that stuff has been consigned to the ashheap of history.

If you have family and friends who are either 1) willing to blow a lot on a wedding gift, and/or 2) willing to pool resources for a few gifts, consider yourself lucky and register for some high quality staples: great glasses, great knives, great pots/pans, great platters, a great coffee maker, great mixing bowls, great mixer, whatever fits your particular cooking style. Not all of this has to be super-pricey: good mixing bowls don't have to be really expensive and will usually get used every day. Also, if you register for pots and pans, you can forego the sets and choose different styles for different items, which I think many cooks prefer. It takes more upfront research from you, but it can lower the price a little for the guests and give you a more versatile collection of utensils.

Our best gifts were a calphalon wok, our everyday plates (fiestaware) and our china. We don't use the china too often, but we love it and love to use it, especially since we inherited my grandmother's silver to use with it.

The least-used included the fondue set (donated last year) and the wine and other drinking glasses we picked out. We just didn't spend enough time or have enough knowledge at the time to pick out good glasses. If I could do it over, I would either eliminate glasses altogether or have devoted much more time to making selections that we really liked. Besides the glasses, the most disappointing choices were some large, somewhat ornate platters from that store with the initials "C and B." Platters are very handy things, and these were cracked and spent in a couple of years.

It's always best to think about what you do and don't use now. So, if you are already an avid baker, a standing mixer is a great gift. If you use cakemix and pre-made pie dough (which there is nothing wrong with!), give a long hard think before you register for the Kitchen-Aid. Thinking back, based on the type of cooking I do, I can't believe we didn't register for a good knife set. On the other hand, it made for a done-in-one Christmas gift from the mrs. a couple of years later.

My favorites from mine....

- Good Knives. I registered for a couple of nice knives rather than a whole set/block. Very happy with what I got.

- Measuring cups/spoons. Really, even if you have some, can you ever have enough of them?

- Gadgets. I love kitchen gadgets, and registered for quite a few (garlic peeler tube thing, the adjustable measuring cups & spoons, different types of peelers, different type of garlic press from my usual, etc.). Nice because other gadget geeks were exciting about purchasing them for me, and it gave people some more options on how much to spend.

- Cuisinart Mini Prep - even if you have a full-blown food processor, the mini is really nice, doesn't take up as much counter space and it's easy to throw the bowl & blade in the dishwasher.

- Nesting mixing bowls. I've got plain glass ones and Pyrex ones with lits. I usually at least one from each set every time I cook. That's also something to think about... some stuff may seem fun, but make sure you can store it before you put it on the registry!

General registry thoughts - I love Target, but I keep hearing (and seeing) horror stories more and more. Be fully prepared to get two of items (or in the case of a recent shower... three) and I've heard their return policy is not fantastic. Also for Target, be aware that they turn over their selection of merchandise rather quickly for some stuff (my cousin had to re-register for pretty much all the bathroom stuff she originally registered for at Target.... she did her registry about a month before invites to the shower went out and by then, they didn't carry the stuff anymore).

And... only because I've seen it in increasing numbers lately.... be kind to the people who have to buy off your registry. I've seen way too many registries full of nothing but expensive items, or registries that are at places that aren't accessible to everyone (online, specialty stores, etc.). I'd really enjoyed the people I love telling me they had fun shopping for me, and I've sat in the audience at showers where everyone sat there and grumbled about how difficult it was to shop off the registry.

Also, I'm all for registry "peaking". If you don't want to, ask someone else to keep an eye on the status of things. It's also horribly frustraiting when someone's registry has pretty much been purchased up when you're doing last minute shopping. IMHO.

PS. Congratulations, sweetsalty! We're coming up on the 10th anniversary of the best decision we ever made, ourselves!

I don't remember our registry, but I'd agree - we registered for an awful lot of inexpensive stuff, and can't remember a darn thing. The only things that occur to me are the filler pieces for the Fiestaware set I'd been building. I could not believe the generousity of our friends, most of whom were in the arts at the time - many bought several gifts. Knowing my love of cooking, we got a lot of stuff we hadn't asked for but I still use - notably, my favorite pan ever, a Calphalon paella pan. We also got a lot of decorative pottery that I love.

I also remember getting (I'm sure I mentioned this before) a solid sterling cheese-knife set from Tiffany's. Obviously, the very kind and thoughtful people (who hopefully don't read this forum) who gave us this gift had no clue about our lifestyle...we returned it and used the proceeds to pay our rent that month, a very welcome present, indeed.

are things that I reach for all the time in the kitchen:

1. Good knives, including a couple of paring knives and a good chef's knife
2. Measuring cups -- I leave some in the flour/sugar, and have another set for miscellaneous stuff
3. A 3-1/2 quart saute pan
4. A good roasting pan
5. At least 2 different sized frying pans
6. Crepe pans (I love crepes. Not really a necessity, but...)
7. Ceramic baking dishes with unglazed bottoms
8. Penzy's spices!
9. A Kitchen Aid stand mixer AND a Kitchen Aid hand mixer.
10. A champagne set, with a pliers, and 2 stoppers. (Not really a necessity, but I like using it...)
11. Tongs & whisks. In my mind, you can never have too many!

And I recommend a small electric cooking device, like a roaster (or slow cooker) or a toaster oven, or a convection microwave. It's just nice to be able to have oven-based food when it's too hot to heat up the oven.

I second Penzey's spices! This was an unexpected gift for us but we loved it so much it's become a gift-giving staple for us.

Also:

-A large bamboo cutting board
-User-friendly, highly illustrated cookbooks
-Nice cookie sheets
-Fiestaware juicer (it's margarita season, after all)

Things I rarely use, Kitchen aid mixer and all the components, every now and then I use it to grate cheese. Same with the Cuisanart. I seem to prefer the hand held zyliss grater when having pasta. I love my waterford crystal salt and pepper shaker. My wiltonware platter for turkeys and roasts. Large cutting board with grooves for meats. I use all my crystal, china and everyday ware. Things that I got for showers, that I was glad I didn't have to buy, towels, coffee pot with stainless carafe, and sheets.

The B2B and I were able to find a ton of items, or similar at the Wilton Tent sale this year. So, we might still keep them on the registry and use any proceeds from returns to purchase the more expensive items we've picked out.

FYI - Batali's enamel coated cast iron dutch oven was only $50, Lasagna pan only $40. I decided that I could live without the $200 Le Creuset and took this as a replacement.

Flip

I agree about a couple of good knives.

Also, if you entertain, you need a lot more glasses (wine and otherwise) than you ever think.

We also didn't NEED a lot of things when we got married in 1989, however, we had a wedding guest list of more than 300 people (from a variety of budget-levels), so we tried to be as creative as we could. We registered to replace a bunch of kitchen gadgets that we had - so we got new peelers, spatulas, spoons, etc. I'm also a believer that you can never have too many pot holders, dish towels and dish cloths, so we registered for a ton of them. People could buy just one set or several sets, based on what they wanted to spend. There were also some glass tumblers and highballs that we saw at C&B for $5 each (a lot in 1989), so we registered for 12 of them - thinking it would be easy for someone to do a $20 gift by buying four of them. We received 20 of each and didn't return any of them. After 18 years, we still have service for 8!

For the things that I shouldn't have registered for, I would put the asparagus steamer and fish poacher on my list. While space isn't a huge issue for me, I decided I'd rather use the space to store my favorite glasses and extra towels, potholders, etc. than uni-tools like the steamer and poacher.

The thing we didn't register for and received (thank goodness!) - a large, and I mean LARGE, cutting/carving board. We use it every day!

We did register at Fields and C&B which both had very generous return policies, so we returned some duplicate items and pooled the $$$ together to purchase some of the more costly items that were on our list. The extra 11 Krups coffee grinders were returned for some really nice Calphalon cookware, for example...

Hi,

we did an unusual registry...we registered for wine. I'm not sure if it's up your alley, but it's our favorite thing we registered for because:
-there's a whole range of prices
-you can cellar them and have them on anniversaries
-people like to give something they KNOW you will use/love

I recommend the Italian Wine Merchants based out of NYC. They were super helpful and they have a good website.

I hesitated to register for the pots I wanted because I thought they were too expensive, but each one was bought. So, don't hesitate to really pick what you truly want because there might be people that spring for that kind of stuff.
My husband wishes he registered for more tools.
I second the advice about Target - my sister just had a terrible experience with them. However, Amazon was wonderful for our experience, and we got things on there that range from a tent to the Fawlty Towers DVD's
Lastly, congratulations!

We made sure to register for things in a wide range of prices. We did have people who got us one set of $6 dish towels, and some people who banded together to get us a largish appliance.

Thanks for all the advice so far, everyone! It's been really helpful.

My fiancee and I are working on our wedding registries. We both love to cook and were wondering what people found to be truly wonderful, can't-live-without-it wedding gifts for the kitchen. Also, which ended up just taking up space and never getting used?

We both brought a good amount of fairly decent kitchen gadgets and cookware into the relationship, so we're mostly looking to upgrade or add some less obvious pieces/appliances. We already have our KitchenAid Professional mixer and a fairly high end Cuisinart food processor.

At the top of my wish list are the block set of Henckel Twin Cuisine knives and a 7-pc. set of All Clad stainless cookware we've already added. Thoughts on these? Anybody use the Calphalon non-stick stainless cookware? My better half likes those...

Also, what attachments are worthwhile for the KitchenAid? We bought the ice cream maker last year and have been disappointed. Do others perform well and are they useful?

I'm not married, but certainly have a lot of kitchen gear!

One suggestion...rather than register for the 7-piece All Clad set and the Henkels set, register for individual pieces. Inevitably there's a piece in sets that you're less likely to use. Plus, registering for individual pieces gives guests more present options at a lower price point.

That's actually one of the dilemmas we've been having. On the one hand, the sets are pricey. On the other hand, 3 open stock items from either set seems to equal the price of the entire much larger sets. We did choose the smaller All-Clad set and added open stock for individual pieces we knew we'd use rather than selecting the larger set. For the knives, we do tend to use most of the ones we have in our current block set and since we're often cooking together/with friends, the whole "you only need 3 knives" doesn't often work.

A number of LTHers have pondered these selfsame dilemmae:

Wedding Registry Question

How shall I break in my new KitchenAid mixer?

Kitchen Gadgetry, Etc

Enjoy, and congratulations! Marriage is a wild, bumpy, fabulous ride!

Mhays, Thanks for point out those other posts -- I should have guessed that the question was pondered previously!

blipsman wrote:Also, what attachments are worthwhile for the KitchenAid? We bought the ice cream maker last year and have been disappointed. Do others perform well and are they useful?

I've gotten great use out of both the grinder and pasta roller attachments, though what they'd mean to you obviously depends on how you cook. For the former, I love being able to control my own fat level for ground meats, and running pancetta through the grinder sure beats fine dicing it when I'm doing a quadruple batch of Ragu alla Bolognese. If you make sausage (I don't, habitually) that makes it a total no-brainer.

As for the pasta rollers, I resisted for a very long time. I had one of the old hand crank rollers and felt a little dirty going to a powered version. But I make fresh pasta for a crowd fairly regularly, and it's a world of difference. So much easier, and I also find I end up with better pasta since it leaves me with two free hands to wrangle pasta dough. Of course, if you're not into making fresh pasta with some kind of regularity, there's no point in owning this. But I can attest that if you do, it rocks.

blipsman wrote:My fiancee and I are working on our wedding registries. We both love to cook and were wondering what people found to be truly wonderful, can't-live-without-it wedding gifts for the kitchen. Also, which ended up just taking up space and never getting used?

I find the three microplane graters (two ribbon graters and a zester/grater) to be indispensable, especially the medium grater with the small attachment to hold the food and protect your fingers.

The calphalon commercial non-stick (discontinued line) Wok was useless. I make stir fry about twice a year and the pan with handle take up a lot of space. After 7 years of almost non-use, it's in the charity/garage sale pile.

Kim

blipsman wrote:That's actually one of the dilemmas we've been having. On the one hand, the sets are pricey. On the other hand, 3 open stock items from either set seems to equal the price of the entire much larger sets. We did choose the smaller All-Clad set and added open stock for individual pieces we knew we'd use rather than selecting the larger set. For the knives, we do tend to use most of the ones we have in our current block set and since we're often cooking together/with friends, the whole "you only need 3 knives" doesn't often work.

A fair argument, but...looking at ChefsCatalog.com, I see that the All-Clad set is probably about $425, and the Henkel's Twin Cuisine sets start at about $200 and run into the $1000 range. At the risk of sounding crass and commercial, do you have a lot of guests who would spring for gifts at that price point? (And do you have other must-have gifts--such as high-end crystal, china and silver pieces--that also might approach the same price?) Because if you don't have many who could afford those prices for gifts, you need to decide what are the one or two pieces you can't live without, otherwise you run the risk that you might not get any of the expensive items. (Also, remember that you can register for individual knives and pans, then exchange several items for a set that might make you happier. Then you can still honestly thank your guest for a knife or pot you love, without mentioning that you happened to get a few more knives or pots as part of the deal.

(I recently attended a wedding in Holland, and before my trip I bought them a gift off of their registry. When I got to Holland I learned that stores don't actually deliver the gifts to the couple...they just provide them with a list of who bought what and a gift card for the total value of the presents purchased for them!)

This is going to be a controversial post. We have been married for 24 years and I would like to say that the more expensive the gift, the less we have used it.

Favorite Gifts:

1) A serving tray that someone made with our names on it that we use to cart food down to the living room.

2) One of those serving trays that you can use in the bed.

3) Crock pot.

4) Old mixing bowls (like grandma used to use)

5) Cassearole dishes



Less useful gifts (and ones that I asked for)

1) Cusinart - used maybe 10 times. By the time I set it up, I have everything chopped.

2) Kitchenaid Mixer - haven't touched in 10 years, used maybe 20 times.

3) Spices - the rack is great but you never use what comes in the bottle.

4) Fine china, stemwear, silver - rarely used, take up a lot of space. To think that we spent hours discussing this topic - Lenox vs. Noritake and we never use it ...

5) fancy serving dishes - We always plate the food in the kitchen so these are rarely used.


One more comment. I do NOT want people buting me either knives or cutting boards. The people will either buy me cheap junk or grossly overpay for knives that I do not like.

jlawrence01 wrote:4) Fine china, stemwear, silver - rarely used, take up a lot of space. To think that we spent hours discussing this topic - Lenox vs. Noritake and we never use it ...

Not only do we not use our china, we have moved 9 times in just over 8 years of marriage and have hauled 16 place settings all over the country and all over Chicago. Even now that we're more or less settled, it is a huge waste of space. Clearly one of those things that we registered for because we were young and stupid and it's what our parents did and there was some vague notion that it was what we were supposed to do.

On the non-stick Calphalon v. All Clad debate, we finally just switched out our Calphalon commercial nonstick that we registered for and had received as a wedding gift for a set of All Clad stainless to supplement some All Clad open stock, Le Creuset, etc. we had picked up over the years post-marriage. I would strongly recommend against getting the non-stick. Even if the non-stick technology and finish is more advanced now than it was then (and it is) and there is less flaking of the surface, you will still have to replace it at some point in the not too distant future. We probably went with our non-stick a year or two longer than we should have; i retrospect, I much would have preferred to get the All Clad for our wedding as I'm sure it would still be going strong. Get what All Clad you can, supplement it as necessary, and buy a couple of non-stick skillets at Target or Costco and replace them every year or two.

We chose not to register for fine china. We got a new set of "everyday" dishes, and a set of nicer dishes (but definitely not formal china). As of right now, that decision is looking pretty good. Actually, I think our favorite gift at this point might be a $25 air popper.

Matt wrote:Not only do we not use our china, we have moved 9 times in just over 8 years of marriage and have hauled 16 place settings all over the country and all over Chicago. Even now that we're more or less settled, it is a huge waste of space. Clearly one of those things that we registered for because we were young and stupid and it's what our parents did and there was some vague notion that it was what we were supposed to do.

Hear Hear! I've tried to talk so many of my friends out of registering for fine china and have told them to just register for everyday dishes that they love. Most of the time, my words fall on deaf ears. I think wedding china is a tradition so ingrained into the "ideal" wedding process, that it will never go away despite the fact that we, as a culture, tend to be much more casual and entertain differently than we did 50 years ago.

I have used my 12 place setting Mikasa fine china 3 times over my 7 year marriage. When we remodeled our kitchen 4 years ago, I had to allocate one 30" upper cabinet and 30" lower cabinet to house it all. Frequently, I look at that area of the kitchen and think "What a waste of space".

Kim

If it were up to me, we'd hold off on the china but the future missus insists. Given the lack of storage space we have and can expect to have in the next 5 years or so, plus the fact that the parents will be hosting the big holidays for years to come...

As for the knives and All-Clad, they are the only real bigger ticket items on our registries -- the china, stemware, etc. can be bought by the piece and we didn't register for any real silverware.

Mrs. AS and I got married about a year ago. Useful things:

1. Pepper and salt grinders.
2. pezny's spices.
3. Dishes, bowls, etc. We skipped china entirely but got nice neutral white dishes. They are great.
4. Calphalon stuff.

We already had a nice le Crueset 7.5 quart dutch oven. I think it is indispensible. Put it on the registry. If you go to William/Senoma you can return stuff and get a 10% discount on things on the registry after the wedding. So put lots of stuff on there, you can return stuff and exchange for a discounted Le Crueset pot. Your grandchildren will thank you for it when you hand it down to them.

Not needed:
1. Stemware. At least the dozens of pieces we got. We usually use my 50 cent bistro glasses.

Matt wrote:Not only do we not use our china, we have moved 9 times in just over 8 years of marriage and have hauled 16 place settings all over the country and all over Chicago.

The problem with these gifts is as much as I would LOVE to get rid of some of them, it is hard to give away a gift from your late aunt or your mother. I know that sounds kind of goofy.

As for everyday china, my wife bought a combo glassware, china, flatware set for eight for about $60. The glassware broke in the first two years but we have used the rest for 20+ years. Then my wife, in her infinite wisdom, started hitting the garage sales and thrift stores and have eight more settings (over the past ten years). I think that in 20+ years, we have broken one dinner plate and one bread plate.

Was married about 2 years ago and cook almost everyday. My advice is to register for quality everyday items. Here are my tops:

1. All Clad stainless pots/pans
2. Le Creuset dutch oven
3. A good quality, large nonstick frying pan and omelet pan
4. Good quality wooden spoons / utensils
5. basic bakeware - sheet pans, cake pans, muffin pans
6. Cutting boards
7. Basic serving platters
8. Roasting pan (for turkey and chicken)

It goes without saying that you should register for a 12 piece everyday plate set and settings for entertaining - matching wine glasses (although rarely used) are important when you have 8+ people over for the holiday parties. I would stick with a classic design in the event you break something, you should be able to find a replacement. They will also stand the test of time. You can go trendy on serving platters or bowls.

Knives and specialty gadgets (pepper grinders, corkscrews, etc.) are best left up to your personal preferences. A food processor and mixer are nice but rarely get used. I use a small food processor more but that's only about $20-30.

BTW, we registered at Crate and Barrel and Bloomingdale's Home and both were fantastic.