Nice Jugs

This post is by way of an appeal.

I love good kitchen equipment. I bought some ICTC Cuisinox saucepans in John Lewis in 1986. They cost a freakin' fortune, but they are still going strong, still look good, still do the business. Twenty years. Growing up, my mother would buy a new set of pans every couple of years, no kidding. That so-called Prestige stuff: rubbish. With the ICTC, the frying pan alone costs £95, and you have to pay £40 for the lid! The key with a saucepan is to look at the way the handle is attached to the body of a pan. If it's riveted, forget about it. It won't last. If it's welded, make sure there are several spot welds, as with the Cuisinox range.

These are key things. A saucepan should be heavy-bottomed, easy to keep clean (preferably in a dishwasher) and have handles that don't wobble and fall off.

Moving on, a teapot should be capable of brewing a good cup of tea and pouring it out into a cup or mug without dripping tea all over your kitchen counter.

A measuring jug, in my opinion should give a clear indication of the amount of liquid in it, preferably in millilitres and fluid ounces. And you should be able to pour out the liquid from the jug into something else without spilling half of it onto your kitchen counter. I have a Pyrex jug that measures adequately, but whenever you try to pour from it, no matter how careful you are, you end up with spillage. Lots of spillage. To the point that, say, bothering to measure out 300ml or something is a complete waste of time, because at least 50ml ends up on the side.

I had an opaque jug by Conran from Sainsbury's, but it only did ml, and it wasn't very strong (cracked) and because it was opaque, it was too hard to measure accurately.

I have an Oxo jug with a clever slanted measurement system, but it only does ml and cups, and it's not big enough (only half a litre), and it's plastic, so it looks scored and cracked by now. If they did the same thing in toughened glass, with fluid ounces instead of the useless cups, it might be okay. Except it's not a very good pourer. Some spillage.

Does anybody know of a decent measuring jug that does what it's supposed to do?