Knives or wine glasses

Knives of wine glasses

  • Knives
  • Wine Glasses
  • Neither
  • Don’t care - as long as you have a corkscrew
  • Depends on destination
  • Depends on who else is coming

0 voters

When renting a house I always bring knives and wine glasses as I find what is stocked to be inferior. But what if you could only bring one?

Wine glasses! We never leave home without them!

this would probably depend a lot on the length of the rental for me. short rentals its very rare that i cook something complicated enough that i miss my knives, far more likely that im just opening a nice bottle or two. longer term, gotta have my knives. also far more expensive to get passably comparable versions of my knives than a glass I feel does justice to a nice bottle of wine.

Noo Yawkers always carry knives.

This
Both for anything longer than a few days.

Wouldn’t you do due diligence? I’ve never had to face this. Places (I’d say cottages more than houses) that we’ve rented usually have adequate glasses and knives but knives often in poor condition so I always take one or two with me. Glasses much less often. Oh, I don’t usually take super fine wines on vacation. Mid level Chablis, Cru Beaujolais, Younger Claret (10 yrs say) Rioja Gran Reserva, that sort of thing.
Also spice kit, corkscrews etc, decanter, filter and funnel, digital probe.

I’d say the places we’ve rented have been hit or miss. The place in Sonoma was wonderfully equipped and set up for those who love to cook with both an indoor and outdoor kitchen with professional ranges and a separate brick oven for pizza. But other places have had knives so dull there dangerous and glassware just a little bit better than red solo cups. Honestly, the knives bother me more. But what really bothers me is the 6 bedroom rental that sleeps 15 and has a single 30 inch 4 burner range and not a single pot over 3 quarts. So now I just bring as much as I can as I never know what will be needed.

Last summer (2019) we rented a house in Cape May. Got there on Saturday and started cooking a nice flank steak for dinner. We are getting the table ready and there was not one sharp knife in the house. The knife rack in the drawer was empty. This is the first time I did not bring utensils. Had to go to a neighbor and ask to borrow some. Called the realtor and they brought a whole butcher block full of knives.

Fast forward to this year, we rented the same place. The neighbors remembered us from the previous year with no knives.

It had decent wine glasses

I always bring my knife bag. Have traveled with it for 20+ years. When i had a specialized glass carrier i brought that too. However, now it is just the knives. Rationale is like much of the above, plus we tend to go out for dinner. Knives are an afterthought to most people and especially the rental market apparently. I also usually bring a sheet pan, a non-stick saute pan and kitchen towels. Throw everything into a Rubbermaid container that kind of serves as my kitchen setup. Easy to pack, tote and then pack up.

Knives. Though that might take second place to a rubber spatula.

If you’re talking Chef’s knives, definitely knives. If you’re talking steak knives, wine glasses. I love my Grassl glasses, but I drink Burg out of a Solo cup when necessary.

Knives, hands down. Take up very little space and make a world of difference. Most places are close enough to a store that you can pick up some quality (enough), cheap glasses around $10 each that we just leave there.

Knives. I can drink wine out of anything.

Glasses. I basically just grill on vacation. As long as they have some sort of steak knife set I’m golden.

Knives… but my travel set. In a rental cabin now. Wine glasses are weak but useable… knives are not. No cutting board either. Adding to my list if what to bring next time (my own non stick skillet, vegetable peeler, olive oil, balsamic, Diamond Crystal salt, etc, etc)

Definitely glasses. I can typically hack away at whatever I have cooked, even if it’s not ideal, with what’s on hand. However, drinking the great wines I sometimes bring out of a crappy glass would make me vacation-cranky*.

*Cranky, but only as much as one can be on vacation.

Not directly to the OP, but it struck me as funny enough to repeat on this thread.

We’re going to Cape May Point next week with my in-laws (everyone has had a COVID test in the last week, all negative) and my husband is making his packing list. It includes, among many other things:

  • a chef’s blow torch
  • fish tweezers
  • microplaner
  • duck fat
  • a whole pork shoulder
  • bonito flakes
  • ring molds

I tried to veto the last one. This is, of course, on top of both our knife roll and a dozen stems.

Hahahahaha, i can think of a dozen people I know who probably wouldn’t be sure what the use is for most of those items save the shoulder and fat…

Knives, easily. I can do with low-maintenance wine like rose and cava for a week with no problem. I can’t do with rental kitchen knives for week.

We have 2 plastic tubs labeled TRAVEL KITCHEN, so we don’t have to pack the basics for rentals over at the coast. Includes a citrus juicer, crab crackers, microplaner, cocktail muddler, grill tongs, baby kitchen tongs (the best!), electric tea kettle – but no fish tweezers or blow torch. Also includes cutting boards and a knife roll.

Depends on destination. But, for the most part, I’d bring the glassware.