We’re Ben and Betsy. We started this site because we got tired of not knowing what our kitchen was made of.
It started with pizza. We were making it every weekend and went looking for a proofing box for the dough. Everything that came up was aluminum or plastic. That was the moment: we kept picking up new hobbies, we loved them, and finding equipment we could actually feel good about was turning into more work than the hobbies themselves.
What we found was a lot of fear and not much help. Half the internet says everything is poisoning you. The other half is a brand telling you their pan is “non-toxic” without saying what that means. Nobody was just sitting down and answering the question: what should I actually buy?
So we started answering it for ourselves. Then for friends. Then we built this.
What we do
We find the healthiest version of the kitchen equipment people actually use — the bestsellers, the things in every cart — and we tell you which ones are made of clean materials and which ones have a cleaner alternative for about the same money.
Every product gets a score from 1 to 5. We publish exactly how that score works. No black box.
Why hobbies
Most sites like this organize by product type: cookware, bakeware, storage. We organize by what you’re actually doing.
For us that’s pizza and sourdough most weekends, and tweaking the recipe until it’s just right is half the fun — this week it’s focaccia. When the garden is producing, it’s pickled cucumbers and canned tomatoes. When the weather’s good, Ben smokes ribs; for our godson’s birthday it was party ribs instead of the usual rack. And no matter what, the day starts with coffee. That part is non-negotiable for Betsy.
Our dog is part of this too. About a year ago he started slowing down, so we started making his food at home. He went from limping to acting like a pup again. We tell everyone who’ll listen.
So when we put together a sourdough setup or a pizza kit, it’s the setup we’d actually use, with every piece checked. Real hobbies, safe equipment. That’s the whole idea.
What’s in our kitchen
We score other people’s equipment, so here’s ours, scored the same way. Not all of it is a 5. None of it is leaving.
Inside
- Lodge cast iron skillets — Score 5. Most of what we cook, most days. Bare iron and seasoning, nothing else.
- Challenger bread pan — Score 5. Bare cast iron built for bread. The pan the sourdough bakes in. Start with bread.
- Baking Steel XL — Score 5. A slab of solid steel that lives in the oven for pizza and focaccia. The pizza guide.
- KitchenAid stand mixer — Score 4. The bowl is stainless, a 5. The flat beater and dough hook that come with most models are coated aluminum, which is the 4. A stainless flat beater is a cheap fix.
- Stainless mixing bowls — Score 5. A nested set. Dough rises in the big one; every recipe on this site assumes you have them.
- Pyrex containers — Score 5. Tempered glass for leftovers. The plastic lids never touch hot food. The food storage guide.
- Wood and bamboo cutting boards — Score 5 and 3. The wood board is the one that gets used. Bamboo boards are strips glued into a slab, so they score a notch lower. The cutting board guide.
- Half-gallon mason jar with a pour-spout lid — Score 4. Our fridge pitcher. Glass jar, plastic spout, cold water only, so we don’t sweat it.
- Pakkawood spatula — Score 3. Dyed birch veneers bonded with resin, the same category as laminated bamboo. Fine for flipping; it doesn’t sit in a hot pot. The next one will be plain maple. The utensils guide.
- LloydPans Detroit-style pan — Score 4. Where the Detroit pizza and the focaccia happen. Anodized aluminum with LloydPans’ PSTK finish; we’ve asked LloydPans exactly what’s in it and will update the score when they answer. The pizza guide.
- Joydeem auto-lift tea maker — Score 4. Glass body, stainless basket, plastic lid rim. Betsy’s daily tea, and the best thing on our counter for the money. The coffee and tea guide.
- GreenPan Valencia Pro, 8-inch — Score 3. The pan for eggs. Hard-anodized aluminum under a ceramic coating. Our honest review.
- Technivorm Moccamaster — Score 3. A copper heating element and a glass carafe, but the brew basket and outlet arm are plastic, and hot water passes through both. When it dies, it becomes a Chemex.
- Gaggia Anima Deluxe espresso machine — Score 3. A metal boiler and a plastic brew group. It makes a good cappuccino. It isn’t what we’d buy again, and it isn’t worth throwing out either.
Outside
- Gozney Arc XL — Score 5. Propane oven; the pizza sits on a cordierite stone floor. The pizza guide.
- Weber Genesis gas grill (Special Edition) — Score 5. Ours has the stainless steel grates, so nothing but steel touches the food. The E-series models with porcelain-enameled cast iron grates are a 4: glass fused onto iron, fine until it chips.
- Pit Boss pellet smoker — Score 4. Porcelain-coated cast iron grates: glass fused onto iron, fine until it chips. Where the ribs happen. Burn plain hardwood pellets, not the flavored ones.
- Blackstone flat-top griddle — Score 5. Rolled carbon steel you season like a skillet. Nothing else touches the food.
That last line is the whole idea of this site. Buy the cleanest option when you replace something. Don’t throw out what works.
What we’re not
We’re not doctors, chemists, or a testing lab. We read the research, we read the manufacturer disclosures, we look for independent tests, and we make a judgment call. When it’s a judgment call, we say so.
We’re also not here to scare you. If you’ve been cooking on nonstick for twenty years, you’re fine. We’re saying there’s a better pan, it costs about the same, and here’s which one.
How we make money
When you buy through a link on this site, we may earn a small commission. It doesn’t cost you anything and it doesn’t change what we recommend — here’s the full disclosure. We don’t run ads and we don’t sell your email.
Where we are
Maryland. Real kitchen, real garden, real dog.
Say hi
Got a product you want scored? Think we got one wrong? Email hello@thesafepantry.com. We read everything.