Harrods department store said their pot, which contains 200 diamonds of various sizes, is "probably the most precious pot in the world."Selfridges' 144-piece solid-silver cutlery set was made with 4,000 diamonds weighing 74 carats and is made-to-order. "This wonderful cutlery set is catering to customers who have a passion for craftsmanship of the highest order where money is no object," said Kit Li-Perry, the head of Selfridges' home department. "We know this is exactly what some of our customers want from Selfridges and we are delighted to be able to satisfy their expectations."
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Kitchenware bargains at the fair

LOOKING for some assistance in the kitchen? Come to The Star Property & Home Fair 2008 where Sterling Store Sdn Bhd might be able to provide just what you need.It is offering among others a multi-functional mixer, the Kitchen Aid Artisan KSM150 stand mixer, dishwashers, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, hobhood ovens, microwave ovens and gas stoves from various brands at the fair.

Store manager Ong Seok Heng said the company would be selling the mixer at a pro-motional price of RM2,488 in-stead of its normal price of RM2,690.“It comes with all the acces-sories. We’ll also be demons- trating its use at the fair,” she said.The store will be giving away free gifts along with every purchase. It will also provide free deliver. Customers on the first day are entitled to free installation of the kitchenware. Check out also the refrigerators at the RiTech Audio and Electronic Sdn Bhd’s booths at the fair where newly released re-frigerators by Mitsubishi Electric, called Folio, would be showcased.Mitsubishi Electric’s Ivan Teoh said the refrigerators came with attractive features like soft free-zing, auto shelf and the paten-ted technology — Vitamin Factory.
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Kitchenware retained as Natural World goes into administration

Handling of the Rachel Allen kitchenware and textiles collection is being transferred to a new division of the Lambert Howarth Group after it put its Natural World business into administration last month.The group had been trying to find a buyer for Natural World but appointed Manchester-based administrator BDO Stoy Hayward after concluding that it could no longer support the business's trading losses.

Lambert Howarth says its brand development team is being extended to support its new, London-based Lifestyle division, which will be retaining some elements of the LHG homewares business. The Lifestyle team will continue to look after the Rachel Allen licensed products, which will be available throughout the UK and Ireland from the end of September. Natural World showed the Rachel Allen collection at June's Exclusively Housewares exhibition. The TV chef's products include oven-to-tableware, ceramics, chopping boards, utensils and textiles such as aprons and placemats.
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The point of knives

One idea, first proposed in 2005, is a response to a grisly mundane truth expressed by Met chief Ian Blair this week - that "the most common knife involved in these deaths is a knife from a kitchen". The proposal came from three emergency medicine specialists, and it's a simple one: getting rid of the points on the ends of longer kitchen knives. Drs Emma Hern, Will Glazebrook and Mike Beckett wrote an editorial in the British Medical Journal, suggesting that since "many assaults are impulsive", government action could "drastically reduce the availability" of a "potentially lethal weapon". So what would the effect have been if, in 2003, the government had persuaded knife manufacturers to offer a greater range of styles, with the pointed-end, long-blade design no longer the default?

Dr Beckett puts it simply: if long pointed knives had become less available, we would have seen fewer deaths from knife injuries. Of course, there would have been other effects. Other readers of the BMJ were quick to list dishes which need a pointed knife during preparation: butterflying a leg of lamb, carving a forerib of beef, and so on. The self-styled maverick American chef Anthony Bourdain went further, saying that for chefs, knives "are extensions of our arms, and in many ways, our personalities", adding "where there is no risk, there is no pleasure".
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Kitchenware retained as Natural World goes into administration

Handling of the Rachel Allen kitchenware and textiles collection is being transferred to a new division of the Lambert Howarth Group after it put its Natural World business into administration last month.The group had been trying to find a buyer for Natural World but appointed Manchester-based administrator BDO Stoy Hayward after concluding that it could no longer support the business's trading losses.

Lambert Howarth says its brand development team is being extended to support its new, London-based Lifestyle division, which will be retaining some elements of the LHG homewares business. The Lifestyle team will continue to look after the Rachel Allen licensed products, which will be available throughout the UK and Ireland from the end of September. Natural World showed the Rachel Allen collection at June's Exclusively Housewares exhibition. The TV chef's products include oven-to-tableware, ceramics, chopping boards, utensils and textiles such as aprons and placemats.
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Doctors' kitchen knives ban call

A team from West Middlesex University Hospital said violent crime is on the increase - and kitchen knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon.The research is published in the British Medical Journal. The researchers said there was no reason for long pointed knives to be publicly available at all.They consulted 10 top chefs from around the UK, and found such knives have little practical value in the kitchen. None of the chefs felt such knives were essential, since the point of a short blade was just as useful when a sharp end was needed. The researchers said a short pointed knife may cause a substantial superficial wound if used in an assault - but is unlikely to penetrate to inner organs.

Kitchen knives can inflict appalling wounds
In contrast, a pointed long blade pierces the body like "cutting into a ripe melon". The use of knives is particularly worrying amongst adolescents, say the researchers, reporting that 24% of 16-year-olds have been shown to carry weapons, primarily knives.The study found links between easy access to domestic knives and violent assault are long established.French laws in the 17th century decreed that the tips of table and street knives be ground smooth.A century later, forks and blunt-ended table knives were introduced in the UK in an effort to reduce injuries during arguments in public eating houses. The researchers say legislation to ban the sale of long pointed knives would be a key step in the fight against violent crime."The Home Office is looking for ways to reduce knife crime. "We suggest that banning the sale of long pointed knives is a sensible and practical measure that would have this effect."
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Fire Magic - Outdoor Kitchens – The Hottest Thing In The Garden

First it was the swimming pool, and then it was the hot tub; now the latest garden must-have is the outdoor kitchen. The discerning al-fresco diner wants not just a gleaming, state-of-the-art built-in barbecue, but also a full range of up-to-the-minute appliances, including fridges, power burners and bar caddies - all to hand in the garden. Sales are booming and Fire Magic, supplier of the ultimate in built-in barbecues and outdoor kitchen equipment, is reporting business up 440% (year on year) in 2007.Despite last year’s terrible summer, the company’s luxury built-in and portable barbecues continue to sell at an incredible rate – a trend Fire Magic Director Craig Ormiston believes reflects our growing passion for outdoor entertaining: “Since we introduced the Fire Magic range to the UK market in 2005, we have experienced phenomenal growth in sales. These premium products allow customers, architects and specifiers to design fully equipped outdoor kitchens. There is no doubt that there has been a shift to outdoor living here in the UK. We forecast our sales continuing to grow at similar levels as this trend continues”.

Fire Magic has been one of the market leading, premium barbecue companies in the United States for many years. Now in the UK, it offers the highest quality, next generation barbecues and an extensive range of accessories to create an entire outdoor kitchen. Constructed in heavy-duty stainless steel, with commercial grade burners, griddles and ovens, Fire Magic barbecues come with a lifetime warranty on all stainless steel parts, including burners. The company, based near Sevenoaks in Kent, offers the option of a full design, build and installation service. Fire Magic built-in barbecues can be set into granite work surfaces, stand-alone islands or specially designed enclosures. A full range of accessories, including stainless steel side burners, drinks caddies, rotisseries and cupboards, can be added, to create everything you could want in an outdoor kitchen.
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Top chef stabs himself with kitchen knife

Antonio Carluccio, the Italian chef famous for his restaurant chain and television appearances, has been taken to hospital after an incident in which he is said to have stabbed himself in the chest with a kitchen knife.An ambulance was called to the chef's home in Battersea, south London, on Monday night and Carluccio, 71, was taken to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He has since been discharged and allowed to go home.It remains unclear exactly how the stabbing occurred and whether or not it was an accident. Asked if it had been a suicide attempt, a spokeswoman for Carluccio said: "We don't know at the moment. He has been in hospital but any health issue is a private matter so we cannot offer any further comment. We do not have any further details."There had been fears when Carluccio was admitted to hospital on Monday night that he may have punctured a lung. He was transferred to a general ward before being discharged on Thursday. A source told The Sun: "No one knows exactly how it happened. It was initially a cause for great concern but he seems to have made a remarkable recovery." Carluccio, the son of a station master, was born in Vietri sul Mare in the southern Italian province of Salerno in 1937. He grew up in Piedmont and lived in Vienna and Hamburg before moving to Britain in 1975 to start up his own company, importing Italian wine.

In 1981 he became the hugely popular manager of Terence Conran's Neal Street Restaurant. He eventually took ownership of the restaurant in 1989 – by which time he had married Conran's younger sister Priscilla – and continued as its owner until it closed in 2006. Awarded an OBE last year, his rustic style of cooking heavily influenced the young Jamie Oliver, who began his professional career working under Carluccio at the Neal Street Restaurant. His wife opened up the first Carluccio's food shop and deli next to the restaurant in 1991, soon followed by a wholesale arm selling a range of Carluccio-branded regional foods from Italy. This idea was soon expanded into a chain of restaurants with adjacent delicatessens.The author of several books on Italian cooking, in 1996 the chef appeared in his own television series, Antonio Carluccio's Italian Feasts.His outlets have been one of the fastest-expanding high street eateries of recent times. With menus modelled on seasonal, well-sourced produce, last year the company's turnover increased by 18 per cent to ￡54m, with pre-tax profit up 66 per cent to ￡5.3m.
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Kitchen Tools Simplify Cooking for Those With Arthritis

People who suffer pain or a loss of mobility or dexterity because of arthritis can experience difficulty performing what once seemed like simple tasks – opening a jar or chopping vegetables – in the kitchen, said Mary Meck Higgins, K-State Research and Extension nutrition specialist.Arthritis is often associated with aging, but it can affect people at any age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 70 million people suffer from arthritis.There is good news, though. Food companies, kitchen and equipment manufacturers continue to develop new, easy-to-use product packaging and kitchen tools.People who are suffering from arthritis or other conditions – such as tendonitis – that may limit their ability in the kitchen, can benefit from new assistive devices and technologies. Almost everyone can, in fact, benefit from products that place less stress on joints and extremities, Higgins said.

When choosing new kitchen equipment or replacing utensils and small appliances, the nutrition educator offers these tips:Look for utensils that have easy-to-grip, non-slip handles. The easy-grip handles are larger – or bulkier – but the added size makes them easier to hold.For essential tasks, such as cutting, consider a rocker-style cutter or rolling pizza cutter that also can relieve stress on joints. Utensils with handles at 90 degrees may seem awkward at first, but they, too, can relieve stress on joints, Higgins said.* Opt for durable, yet lightweight pans with chubby, easy-grip handles on both sides of the pan. For cooks who have a favorite pan such as a heavier cast-iron skillet that they just cannot part with, Higgins suggested choosing mitt-like potholders for both hands.“Protecting both hands will allow a cook to steady a skillet or other single-handled pan while removing it from a cooking surface,” Higgins said.
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Experts name the essential tools for stocking any kitchen

Look around long enough and you may think there are more kitchen gadgets than people on this planet.
But do you really need goggles to prevent tears while chopping onion? What about that lethal-looking barbecue fork with the built-in thermometer? "Just because you see something on the Food Channel, it's not necessarily the most practical thing," said Susan Green, owner of Birmingham Bake & Cook cookware store in Inverness.But some tools and cookware are essential in any kitchen. They're often time-tested items that help anyone make consistently good food."Essential tools should make the kitchen an easier, more maneuverable place to be creative," Green said.Some kitchen tools considered essential today may have started out as gadgets, like the instant-read thermometer.

"They're important for food safety and to keep from overcooking," said Clayton Sherrod, a chef and owner of the catering company Chef Clayton's Food Systems.Time was when the fail-safe method of telling when a beef roast was done was to cook both the large roast and a small piece of meat in the same pan, Sherrod said."When the small piece burned up, you knew the big one was ready," he said. "We're past that now."This list of essential tools is drawn from Green and Sherrod, along with the cooking-oriented periodical, Cook's Illustrated, and the Web site eatdrinkbetter.com.Depending on how you cook and how many you feed, you may need more kitchen tools than these. But the items on this list will help you do most basic kitchen tasks.