20 Top Picks For Everyday Home

Like most of you, I’ve spent more time at home this year and found it more important than ever to surround myself with comfortable, yet practical things to improve the stay at home experience.

From the best coffee makers to the best tech, here’s 20 top picks for everyday home usage:

Table of Contents

 

Aeropress

This little device has been my go-to coffee maker for the past 10 years! It makes the perfect espresso, americano, latte, or however you like your morning brew.

The clever design extracts all the flavor out of the beans while leading to an easy cleanup. What’s even better is how small and portable it is - perfect for a busy traveler like myself.

On top of it all, I’ve had the same Aeropress for 10 years so you know it’s built well.

 

Kalita Wave 185 Dripper

For a more nuanced coffee, a pour-over is the way to go. I love the Kalita Wave 185 Dripper for its ceramic, ribbed design which has the best heat retention and gravity assisted coffee flow.

This pour-over is directed at those who have advanced a bit further in their coffee pour-over technique since it takes a bit of babysitting during the pour.

 

Chemex

This iconic pour-over, featured in coffee shops all over the world, is a great way to make coffee for a group of people. It makes delicious coffee and is a great design piece as well.

In addition, it’s great for RV’s and Campers! If you’re interested, here are some more great coffee makers targeted at RV’s and Campers.

 

OXO Brew Coffee Maker

For those who want a coffee maker that’ll both make great coffee and keep it warm for hours, the OXO Brew 8 Cup Coffee Maker is the perfect choice. It has a programmable start time and a pre-infusion cycle that some other drip coffee makes don’t have.

 

Krups Coffee Grinder

krups.png

I’ve used this simple coffee grinder for many years with great results. For most people I’d say this grinder will yield great coffee. It’s small, portable, and dependable but a bit loud when in operation.
Krups® Black Coffee Grinder

 

OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

For an upgrade pick, a conical burr coffee bean grinder is what most high end coffee shops and coffee enthusiasts use to make their coffee. You’re able to control things like grind size in a very precise way. This is important for different brewing methods such as pourovers, Aeropress, French Press, espresso machines, and more.
Amazon.com: OXO BREW Conical Burr Coffee Grinder: Kitchen & Dining

 

Angels Cup

If you’ve ever wanted to develop your taste palate for coffee, Angel’s Cup is the way to do it. They send a monthly box of unlabeled coffee beans and a tasting card so you can mark down the tasting notes of each one. Over time the program will reveal to you which kinds of coffee you like based on your own tasting notes. It’s a really fantastic way to lean into the world of specialty coffee and how to enjoy it more.

 

iPad 8th Gen

One of the best entry level tablets in the market today, the Apple 8th Gen iPad has a beautiful 10.2 inch Retina display, lightning quick A12 chip, cameras on front and back, stereo speakers, and up to 10 hours of battery life. If you’re already in the Apple ecosystem, this tablet is a no brainer pick if you’re in the market for a tablet.
https://amzn.to/37SKAGL

 

iPhone 12 Pro

As a travel photographer, sometimes I don’t have my big camera with me to catch the moments. Thankfully, the iPhone 12 Pro camera has improved so much over the years that it’s a great backup for those times. Plus, it’s way lighter than my Nikon! The low light feature is also quite amazing - through computational algorithms it can capture handheld night shots that look sharp and not too noisy.

Building on top of the iPhone 11, video will be auto stabilized after recording, which is a godsend if you don’t want to carry a big stabilizer.

I also love having three lens to pick from - wide, ultra wide, and telephoto. It really improves my photography and videography to have these options in the palm of my hand.

In addition the A14 Bionic chip is a giant leap forward for speed and efficiency - no smartphone in the market comes close. The iPhone 12 Pro is fast, battery efficient, 5G capable, and a great phone for most people.
Buy iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max - Apple

 

Sandisk Extreme Pro SD Card

I’ve relied on Sandisk Extreme Pro SD Cards to store my photos and videos for the past 10 years. They’re always super fast, dependable, and have never failed on me like other brands have.

Also, the Sandisk Extreme Pro line is able to handle 4K UHD video and constant burst RAW photos at ease.
https://amzn.to/3n7Bv3m

 

1Password

With our world becoming more intertwined digitally, it’s very important to have hard-to-break & unique passwords for each of our many accounts. It’s also quite impossible to remember all these passwords, so a password manager like 1Password is a godsend.

It runs on almost any browser, OS, device, and computer and has a nifty feature that recommends if your password are weakly composed.

The user interface is really easy to understand versus some of the competition, which is what wins it for me.

Prices run at $36/year for one person and $60/year for a family of five.
Password Manager for Families, Businesses, Teams | 1Password

 

Surfshark VPN

Since I’m constantly connecting to public wifi hotspots like coffee shops, airport lounges, and hotel lobbies, it’s important to keep my data safe with a fast, privacy-centric VPN.

Surfshark doesn’t keep any user logs, uses 256 bit encryption, has Double VPN hops, CleanWeb ad block, and has been reported to even work in China to get past their Great Firewall to the outside world.

They also have over 800 servers in over 50 countries, so you’ll be covered wherever you are in the world.

They usually have great multi year deals where you end up paying only $2 a month!

Their app works on Mac, Window, Android, and iOS. You can even install it on multiple devices with just one subscription.
Exclusive: save 83% on VPN - Surfshark

 

AirPods Pro

I’ve been become inseparable with my AirPods Pro wireless earbuds since they cancel out outside noise and are so convenient without wires. They integrate very nicely with Apple products but also can be used with all devices. With the right setup, they stay in my ears during workouts outside also!

The wireless charging device is pretty great as it charges your AirPods but keeps you from losing them!
https://amzn.to/2W3Ozeg

 

Bose 700 Noise Canceling Headphones

The best ever noise canceling headphones that Bose has ever produced, the Bose 700 headphones are both comfortable and customizable. You can choose between 1-10 on the noise cancellation scale, in case you want to let some outside noise in. Battery life is about 20 hours, plenty for a long haul international flight.
Bose - Headphones 700 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-the-Ear Headphones - Triple Black

 

Kindle Paper White

I’m a total book nerd obsessed with libraries and bookstores but since I live in a small space, I ditched most of my physical books and went digital. The Kindle Paperwhite is how I read most of my books now. It’s backlit so you can read in the dark and the white background is nice during sunlit conditions. It’s also waterproof so you could technically read it in the bathtub or in a complete downpour, but that seems kinda weird lol.
https://amzn.to/2VZ5PBe

 

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 Bluetooth Speakers

This ultra portable bluetooth speaker has surprisingly good vocals and bass for it’s small size. It’s also IP67 waterproof rated but floats on its own. The battery life lasts about 8 hours which is good enough for a day at the beach or park.
Amazon.com: Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2 - Deep Space: Electronics

 

A future proof wireless router with the latest Wi-Fi 6, dual bands for faster throughput, embedded security software, solid range, beam forming, MIMO, and a great user interface - the TP-Link Archer AX20 (AX1800) is a great value for all the technology it packs in to the device.
https://amzn.to/3qMCZlB

 

OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner

No one likes wet salad or herbs watering down your dish. The OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner figures all that out with a clever design that wrings out all the water from your greens and keeping it in a nice bowl for your meal prep later. It’s one my most used devices in the kitchen.
https://amzn.to/2ICfVVH

 

Adagio Ingenuitea

ingenuitea.jpg

For those of you who prefer loose leaf tea over teabags, the Ingenuitea is one of my top recommendations. You put the tea leaves in, steep with hot water, and then simply place the Ingenuitea on top of the mug. It’ll drain automatically into the mug for fresh and convenient tea!
https://amzn.to/376113u

 

Nations Photo Lab

If you want to print out your own photos, make greeting cards, or make albums, Nations Photo Lab is one of the best at combining value, quality, and ease of use. They also offer a great color correcting service for your photos in case your monitor is color calibrated differently from their printers.
https://shrsl.com/2oh30

Henry WuComment