Home Buying Guides
Our experts recommendations on the best desks, couches, kitchen knives, grills, coffee machines, air purifiers, cookware, gardening tools and more, all in one place.
Coffee
Drip & Espresso Machines
The best coffee maker is the one that fits your kitchen, budget and style, but never compromises on excellent coffee.
In this case, you can judge a book by its cover.
Skip a trip to the café with one of these at-home shot-pullers.
Pour-Over
We pored over the best pour-over gear.
Do you really love coffee if you don't have a gooseneck kettle?
Wondering why your pour-over coffee is bitter or watered-down? Wonder no more.
Coffee Accessories
If you want to make good coffee at home, you need a coffee grinder. These are the only ten you need to consider.
No right-minded barista on earth would brew coffee without a scale to measure both beans and water.
The best coffee mugs you can buy are largely dependent on taste and utility.
Investment in homemade espresso doesn’t stop at the machine.
Coffee Beans
Because fresh coffee shouldn’t be a guessing game, these services have made its effective delivery a science.
Buying coffee beans from any one of these roasters will be an instant improvement to your morning cup of coffee.
Bags of coffee are more than just pretty packaging.
Cold Brew & Canned Coffee
Stop the French presses.
What tastes good hot isn't necessarily what tastes good cold. More at 11.
Canned coffee has come a long way from the sickly sweet and milk-powdered coffees of the 20th century.
Bedding & Sleep Essentials
Sheets & Pillow Cases
We tested 35 different bed sheet sets to find the best bedding for every type of sleeper, at every budget.
Holy sheet, Amazon has some pretty good bedding.
Flannel isn't just for shirts and grunge rockers.
Listen up, bedheads: you deserve a better pillowcase to sleep on. Buy one of these.
Blankets & Comforters
Moisture-resistant, warm, odor-resistant and more, wool is the best choice for a warm winter blanket.
If you’re having trouble sleeping, a weighted blanket could help. Here’s what you need to know before buying, and the best ones to get.
Made using sleeping bag materials, these products are perfect for casual camping and fit right in around the house too.
For those who need to be under the covers, even when it's hot as hell.
Beds, Mattresses & Pillows
Looking for a mattress online but feel like you’re drowning in options?
You'll never go to bed angry knowing you're sleeping on one of the best bed frames on the market.
You snooze, you win.
Don’t blow up over unexpected houseguests.
Home Office & Productivity
Desks
Each has been selected for its design, ergonomics and ability to toggle between sitting and standing positions.
Just give in and buy one of these cheap desks.
Create a workspace you'll actually want to work in.
You can make space for any of these desks.
Office Chairs & Seating
Everything you need to know to find an office chair best suited to your needs, including ergonomics, price, aesthetics and features.
Starting at $75, here are six chairs that will keep your back in check over the next few months.
You can't just upgrade your desk and call it a day.
The origins of the racer-style gaming chair, and why you should probably not buy one.
Desk Tech
Contrary to popular belief, mechanical keyboards don’t have to be loud and flashy.
You're still taking a lot of video calls and your computer's built-in camera stinks. It's time to buy an external webcam.
A better wireless mouse can help you be more productive. Get one that works for you.
Pens & Pencils
There’s an endless selection of pens available, ranging in price from a few cents to over $1,000.
A good pen should write well, and its ink should last for a long time. So why do people love $50 pens when $1 ones do the same thing?
Take it from people working in one of the few industries people still regularly use and abuse writing tools.
Desk Accessories & Notepads
Desk pads are the humblest of workspace accessories, but they can significantly improve your desktop cleanliness and organization.
Distance yourself from your phone's Notes app and get back to physical notebooks.
The best desk lamps at every style and price point.
The best gear for the deskspace provides everything a place to go and looks good doing it.
Furnishings
Chairs
A collection of the best reading and lounge chairs you can find on the internet, at every price point and in every style.
Sometimes all you need is a standout chair to spruce up a room.
Lean into a nap.
The Eames Lounge Chair is the Holy Grail of furniture, with a price tag to match.
Couches
A guide to the most important piece of furniture that's not your bed.
From Ikea to an Eames icon, these are the best leather sofas and couches you can buy right now.
Being forced to sleep on the sofa used to be a punishment.
Shaving your sofa is a thing, I swear.
Other Furniture
You'll never go to bed angry knowing you're sleeping on one of the best bed frames on the market.
A media console should show off your system so that it looks good, it might even inspire a few family listening sessions.
Getting to know our staff a little better through the books they keep on their coffee table — or elsewhere.
Coffee tables are an important part of any living room.
Furniture Shopping Advice
Add to cart: toothpaste, snacks and ... a sofa?
Vintage furniture shopping goes digital.
Buy furniture without ever leaving your sofa.
Where you shop once you are officially post-Ikea.
Furniture Shopping Advice
Cut a rug on a really nice rug.
From Ikea to Herman Miller, this is your survey of the best outdoor and patio furniture at every price point.
They don’t have to be shady.
Ray and Charles Eames. Wegner. Noguchi. Nelson. These are the mid-century modern icons everyone should know.
Fans, Heaters & Purifiers
Bringing the heat in more than one way.
The "out of stock" signs are telling — everyone's looking for an air purifier. These are the models to buy for every situation.
Easy, breezy tower fans that save on space while still circulating that cool air you love.
The best humidifiers you can buy turn desert-like rooms (no, really) into easy-breathing spaces. Here's what to consider.
Knives & Kitchen Tools
Chef & Kitchen Knives
After years of testing, these are the kitchen knives worth spending your money on.
You don't need to spend a fortune to get a great kitchen knife.
All-purpose chef’s knives, single-focus slicing tools and everything in between.
Japanese Knives
Japanese chef’s knives are coveted by chefs the world over. But where do they buy them?
The mythic and weirdly specific world of Japanese kitchen knives, explained.
Steel hardness impacts how well a blade can hold an edge.
Don’t buy a Japanese-style chef’s knife made by a European manufacturer.
Other Kitchen Tools
There are no gear testers more rigorous than the commercial chef.
The rubber cutting board has the upper-hand on the wood and plastic board in almost every way.
Absolutely everything you need to get cooking, at every price point.
These handy accessories are hardwearing, essential and altogether overlooked.
Cookware & Grilling
Cast-Iron Skillets
If you’re scratching your head over which skillet size is right for you, fret not.
Others Pans & Cookware
In cookware, one size does not fit all.
Cheaper cookware for chefs on a budget.
Used by chefs and clever home cooks for years, carbon steel cookware has earned a spot in your kitchen cabinet.
Spoiler: your trusty non-stick couldn’t sear properly if its life depended on it.
Grills
From Weber to Napoleon, we've tested gas grills that cost less than $100 up to grills that cost more than a used car.
The absolute best pellet smokers, whether you’re on a budget, tailgating or setting up your backyard dream kitchen.
A small space shouldn’t limit your capacity to grill.
Plants, Gardening & Tools
Indoor Plants
New roommates for even the most neglecting people.
Your home will turn into a jungle in no time.
If you can't make it to your local nursery, there are some great websites that sell and ship plants directly to your door.
It takes more than a green thumb to keep your indoor plants alive and thriving.
Gardening
Make your garden the envy of the neighborhood with these essential gardening tools.
These are the essentials for beginning your foray into horticulture.
Just say no to weeds!
Plant your seeds today for a greener tomorrow.
Tools & Lawn Care
The grass is greener when you have a self-propelled lawn mower.
Stop tip-toeing when a stepladder can take you higher.
Leave the rake inside and blow away the pine needles, leaves and sawdust.
Nine better ways to get the job done.
Pantry Essentials, Meal Kits & Food Storage
Condiments & Snacks
Your favorite hot sauce cannot hold up to any one of these chili crisps.
If you think hot sauce begins and ends with Sriracha and Tabasco sauce, you don’t know the true meaning of spicy.
Snacks count as gear, right?
Food & Drink Subscription Kits
"Wow, fruit," said no one ever.
Even the world’s best home cooks need to call in the cavalry sometimes.
From all of us without a wealth of liquor stores, beer bars and wine shops near us, thank you.
Food & Drink Storage
You don’t need to know the 25 best vessels to store leftovers and carry food to and from home.
Meal prepping has grown from a frugal-minded niche chore to a weirdly encouraging corner of social media culture.
Looking to hide some sandwiches and 85 cans of beer from a bear?
A home pantry can easily become disorganized.
Bathroom, Home Fragrance & Cleaning
Bathroom Upgrades
The two biggest brands in electric toothbrushes go head to head, er, tooth to tooth.
Your bath mat is covered in bacteria.
Don't let mask wearing be an excuse to forgo proper oral hygiene.
These aren't your regular plush bath towels, but that's why they're so great.
Home Fragrance
They’re not all the same.
Once you realize the humble oil diffuser is basically a safer, reloadable candle, you understand its charm.
Cooped-up adventurers, take note: being inside can be an experience that transports you.
Not your average aerosol.
Vacuum Cleaning
These vacuum cleaners suck, but in the best way possible.
The boring old basics in one tidy, necessary list.
Racks on racks on racks.