Relaxing is easy when you're surrounded by well-designed objects. Justin Fantl
Relaxing is easy when you're surrounded by well-designed objects.
Bear Cubes A boring old ice tray won't do when you can put a polar bear in your fridge. Pop his top, fill him with water, and let him ice up. He's adorable! But don't get too attached: You'll need to bang him on the counter to dislodge the cubes. Black+Blum Brrrrr Ice Tray | $20
Water Heater Designer Stefano Giovannoni's curvy Mami Kettle has a special magnetic bottom, which means you can use it on induction burners. Bonus: As your water boils, the whistle progresses through a series of three increasingly urgent tones. Alessi Mami Kettle | $200
Alternative Router Apple's redesigned Airport Extreme is much more than a router. It doubles as a backup drive and lets you share your printer on your home network. Of course, it'll also blanket your house or apartment with dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, thanks to its powerful beam-forming antenna array. Apple Airport Extreme | $199
Pot Head Kuhn Rikon's Smart Lids come with flexible silicone tiers that seal tightly to any size pot or pan. They also have heat-resistant tempered glass and a valve that can be set to trap or vent steam. It may be the last cooking lid you'll ever need to buy. Kuhn Rikon Smart Lid | $30
Like a Prayer Assembled in northern Pakistan, Losanges rugs are hand-woven using the ancient kilim technique—the same one used to create many prayer rugs—which makes them extremely light and flexible. And because each is made of hand-spun Afghan wool, they're all a little different. Nanimarquina Losanges Rug | $4,800 and up
Dark Crystal Sure, you could drink your stouts from a standard pint glass. You could also gulp down a 2009 Château Margaux straight from a crusty old boot. Designed in collaboration with Left Hand Brewing Company and Rogue Ales, these glasses accentuate the roasted malts of your favorite dark brew while preserving its frothy head. Spiegelau Stout Glasses | $25 for two , Stelton Cylinda-Line Coasters | $60
Air Conditioner Wine and oxygen, when mixed in the right quantities, are BFFs. Which is why no oenophile should serve a young red straight from the bottle. The Blade pourer spreads your wine over a greater surface area, adding more oxygen and mellowing out harsh tannins. Menu Blade Decanting Pourer | $20
Angles of Repose The design may be nearly 70 years old, but the handsome lines and geometric planes of Gerrit Rietveld's 637 Utrecht chair still manage to look modern. That was his dream: to reduce design to its purest forms so it would last forever. Cassina 637 Utrecht Chair | $4,100
Ball Lighting While the version below is just a prototype, the real 4 x 4-foot Tom Dixon Ball pendant lamp is massive. And with its 12 anodized aluminum panels, it kind of resembles the Death Star. Once turned on, though, the light inside will cast a soft, inviting pattern on the room. Ball by Tom Dixon | $9,700
Choose Your Weapon Based around a superstrong, ice-hardened powder-steel core, this 8-inch kitchen workhorse is wrapped in stainless steel and hammered with a damascus pattern. More important, its ergonomic nonslip handle ensures you're slicing food, not fingers. Miyabi Artisan SG2 Collection 8-Inch Chef's Knife | $200
Grape Preserves Oxygen is funny. A smidgen can enhance the flavor of your wine, but too much can flatten any leftovers. The Oxo vacuum preserver will help keep the O2 in check. Slip it over an opened bottle and extract all the air. Then stopper it to create a vacuum seal to preserve all those delicious flavors till you're ready for the next pour. Oxo Vacuum Wine Preserver | $15
Chamber Music It looks a lot like the Jony Ive-designed subwoofer that comes with the Harman Kardon Sound Sticks, but the wireless Aura speaker spits out more than just low frequencies. Packed with six mid- to high-range 1.5-inch drivers and a 4.5-inch subwoofer, the Aura will give you a full spectrum of room-filling sound. Harman Kardon Aura Wireless Speaker | $400
Counter Intelligence Cooking requires tools. Tools produce clutter. Solve this problem with the All-in-One Kitchen Tool set. You'll get a funnel, can opener, lemon juicer, spice grater, egg masher, cheese grater, egg separator, measuring cup, and lid grip all stacked into one space-saving bottle. Bin Akebono All-in-One Kitchen Tool Set | $40
Slow Cooker Sous vide cooking involves placing food in a plastic bag and then submerging it in a warm water bath. The Sansaire can help by maintaining a constant temperature within 0.1 degree. Clip it to the side of a pot and relax as your steaks cook perfectly medium rare and your salmon fillets remain translucent in the center. Sansaire Immersion Circulator | $199
Stand Your Ground Freshly ground salt and pepper are much better than anything that comes out of an off-the-shelf box of Morton. And what better way to expel these food-enlivening granules than from giant fluorescent exclamation marks? Tom Dixon Tower Salt and Pepper Grinders | $160
A Cut Above Arm your guests for battle against Sir Loin of Beef with this stealthy six-knife set. The chromium-carbon blades will provide years of sharp, swift cuts without needing to be sharpened. And their angular handles and black bodies will deflect any desire you may have to go vegan. TB Groupe Furtif Steak Knife Set | $336
Space Beater The last thing you need in your studio apartment's “kitchen” is an oversize, inflexible whisk. The Beater is designed to be collapsed like a very slim umbrella by sliding a center ring and will squeeze into just about any drawer. Ding3000 Beater Whisk | $18
Brewtiful Tea is as much about ritual as it is about taste. And ritual is as much about presentation as the tea. This spun-brass set is dipped in a warm gold wash for a matte finish and adorned with leather-wrapped handles, adding glamour to any gyokuro. Tom Dixon Form Tea Set | $822
Tastemaker Part tasting and mixing utensil, part iPad stylus, the iSpoon lets you sample your tablet-based recipes without caking your screen with ingredients. And when your culinary creation doesn't turn out like the one pictured, scroll to the next recipe with your spoon. Umbra iSpoon Kitchen Stylus | $7
Palm Reader The lovely shape of Bang & Olufsen's massive AirPlay speaker is only part of its appeal. You can also interact with your wireless music, running a palm across its smooth, shiny circumference to control the volume or resting it on the top edge to pause. Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A9 Speaker | $2,699
Speak Easy Having access to over 200,000 movies and TV shows and 100-plus games is nice. Finding exactly what you want by talking to your remote is amazing. Tell the Fire TV clicker what you're looking for—a movie name, a TV show, an actor, anything—and this black box loads it for you. Prime membership sold separately. Amazon Fire TV + Controller | $99, $40 for the game controller
Chairman of the Boards Level up your kitchen cutting surface with the Cut & Carve 100. An angled top drains liquids as you carve, while plastic teeth help keep your roast centered. For those really tough cuts of meat, rubber feet ensure that the whole thing stays on the counter. Joseph Joseph Cut & Carve 100 | $35
Sit Well From metal to fiberglass to polypropylene, the curved sitting surfaces used in Eames molded chairs evolved with modern manufacturing techniques. In 1950, wood was added to the mix, thanks to a new method of heating and molding thin sheets of walnut, white ash, and palisander. Herman Miller Eames Molded Wood Shell Chair | $649
Tray Cool The solution to wobbly glasses on a tray is simple: Slip a rubber mat under them. This handy tray from Ikea does just that. It even comes with a handle to hold it all up. Go ahead, give it a little swing. Those glasses won't topple. We tried. Ikea PS 2014 Tray | $13
Controlled Burn Pros can assess the doneness of a piece of meat with a quick finger poke. For the rest of us, there's this smart thermometer. Stick a probe into your bird and it will keep you posted on its cooking progress directly on your iPhone. You can combine multiple readings to monitor an entire buffet. Williams-Sonoma Smart Thermometer | $200
All Bunched Up The inspiration behind this wine rack comes straight from the source: a bunch of grapes. The Noe holds six 750-ml bottles, and storing them horizontally will keep their corks moist so your vino lasts longer. Alessi Noe Bottle Holder | $90
Sharper Image There's not a lot of 4K content out there yet. But with the Aquos Q+ series, you'll be ready for it. Packed with 10 million more subpixels than 1080p, this UltraHD-ready set will upscale existing 1080p images to make them look almost as good as the next-gen standard. Sharp Aquos Q+ TV | $2,400 and up
Good Heavens In the dark days before smartphone apps, stargazers relied on analog methods for navigating and labeling the night sky. With this plastic planisphere, you too can become an old-school star expert. All you need is your latitude, the date, the time, and a sense of celestial wonder. The Miller Planisphere | $16
Loafer's Paradise A word of warning: If you have plans that don't involve lounging around idly for hours, avoid the Swell. The sofa gets its name from a loaf of rising bread, and once you sink into its doughy embrace, you won't be leaving (or leavening) anytime soon. Normann Copenhagen Swell Sofa | $3,850
Squeeze Play Cracking a stubborn walnut can be hard on the fingers, even with a traditional nutcracker. This redesigned tool from Normann Copenhagen has a thick silicone grip that protects your digits while its aluminum teeth make short work of any unlucky shell. Normann Copenhagen Nutcracker | $53
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