Cookin’: Recycled Gourmet Appurtenances

Honestly, I want to like this place, but I can’t. It’s expensive for used stuff. The owner is a rude old woman who constantly plies me with her offensive political views, and they barely accept credit cards. Last time I went in it was a $ 20 minimum and I didn’t have cash. As far as I know, that’s against the rules. And, yes, her dog smells and is generally gross. I mean, a dog in a cooking store. Yuck.

Wakeup Call To The Owner ! I Love this Place, But not the Owner. I been shopping @ this store for many years and I just had it. I was in the other day and not much has change ! I feel Bad for most of Your Clients. People come in and your Always Rude and Bitter to them including me .What exactly did you Accomplished by been mean to you clients? . On my Last visit one of your clients walked out because you had a fit ! That is not Acceptable ! To start When Entering your store your stinky Dog is always in the middle of the Walkway Wich is narrow and a fire Hazard. I almost tripped the other day and if I had fallen and gotten Hurt I would had Sued ! Why don’t you have your Dog in a place were there is less heavy traffic and Safe? Its seems Like you Don’t care if you Dog gets Hurt? You seem to have so much Anger Inside? Have you thought about going to Anger management? The reason I still shop @ your store is Because you have a great Eye for Kitchen Appurtenances — I admire that much about you. This place its any cooks wonderland ! Other wise I would not come back. It seems Like you are your worst Enemy ! I Really Feel Sorry for You !: (Get your self some help !
— A Concern Client

Completely cluttered, slow service, and amazing at the same time.
Come here when you have time to explore a neighborhood shop.

Be Ware! The products are over-​priced and the owner does not give cash back for returns, only store credit. The baking dish I bought I found for almost ½ the price on eBay. The meat thermometer I bought was an older style — I should have guessed by the well-​used box, did not give me the constant read-​out I needed, and cost almost as much as the best meat thermometer at Sur La Table. I wasn’t informed of the ‘no return’ policy or I would have done more research before buying this thermometer.. . usually small shops give you one to two weeks to return items. Be careful to choose wisely if you shop here.

I’ve spent money in here before but never again after today.
The owner, a woman, is usually pretty nice, but her male employee today told me to go to hell when I asked him if he could hold a pot lid for ten minutes so that I could go to the ATM. I’m reporting you guys to all and any relevant authorities. I’m also buying my cookware on Etsy and eBay from now on — while I like patronizing local shops, I’m not patronizing one that basically has employees that need anger management classes and acts in a threatening manner towards women.

When you first walk in, this place can be a bit overwhelming. Pieces are roughly organized in piles, but I was afraid to pick up anything to look at for fear that the pile would come crashing down. There is very little space to safely walk.
I was initially drawn by one of the photos of the huge cast iron selection. I have been collecting and studying for awhile now, so IMHO I know what to look for. All of the pieces were extremely overpriced. And if you did but one, it would have to be stripped and re-​seasoned before you could use it. Used bundt pan was $ 50 with a broken handle. #5 Lodge was $ 40, and a #14 was close to $ 200. If you are a CI snob, stick to flea markets and yard sales.
A few prices I did think were fair, I ended up picking up a griddle spatula for $ 16.
The gentleman working there greeted me when I walked in the door, the owner acted like I wasn’t even there.

Unless you are a hard-​wired masochist, DO NOT patronize this rude, arrogant shrew whose obnoxious attitude is as extreme as her prices in this dark, dirty, Dickensian cave of cast-​offs.
She’s held on a long time, I’ll give her that, and like every true compulsive hoarder overvalues both her offerings and her taste. Save yourself the sturm und drang as well as your «hard-​earned» and buy this stuff at yard sales and flea markets for less than half of what this curmudgeonly scalper charges.

I’ve visited Cookin’ several times since moving to SF a couple of years ago. While I felt like a kid in a very cluttered candy store the first time around, I’ve since lost much of my reverence for this place.
It does house a decent variety of kitchen/​dining appurtenances, but one must be aware of the following:
1) Not everything is vintage. In fact, many items are fairly new and with visible signs of wear and tear (i.e. heavily scratched non-​stick baking pans).
2) Several items are over-​overpriced.
3) If you’re looking for something specific, it’s best to just ask whoever is at the register (usually the somewhat cranky old lady), rather than trying to maneuver and sift, Mission Impossible-​style, through mounds of fragile items.
To be fair, I have made emergency trips to Cookin’ to pick up random equipment that I thought I had. I’ve also made more leisurely trips to Cookin’ and have collected vintage-​y items that I certainly didn’t need but have managed to find a use for.

If you know what you’re looking for, this is the place to go. Yes, the place is run by an old eccentric woman that can occasionally be curt, but it’s really no big deal. She just can see through you. When I first moved to NoPa and was ‘browsing’ shops to see what was in my hood, she was standoffish. I’ve since come into this shop about 5 times now, and her attitude changes depending on the kind of vibe I put off. When I come in knowing what I want or what I need to do, she is incredibly sweet, helpful, and talks me through my options.
Her collection is absolutely wonderful. It’s a pleasure in and of itself to just go through the aisles and see cookware from the early 1900s to beyond. A great collection of enamelware and cast iron. Some overpriced, some not — definitely some hidden gems if you know what you’re looking for. Also has some key modern cookware at retail prices (microplane, etc) She just knows when you’re there to mess around and just ‘look’. Don’t let these reviews put you off on coming to see her shop — truly great stuff. Just don’t look like a helpless yuppie, and she’ll be more than friendly.

I sell vintage. I did it full time for six years (part time now). I know what these things go for and I understand the market. I also have a food blog and prefer vintage kitchen supplies to their modern day counterparts because they are just simply made better.
However, when I have tried going into this store for more than 5 times and it’s closed during normal shopping hours ON A WEEKEND, I should have known something was fishy.
Finally my blog cofounder and I walked in to this place when *gasp* it was open, and we spotted a wilted looking women behind a counter piled high with stuff up to her neck. We said hello and got nothing. We were looking around (actually stepping around, because there is stuff all over the floor) and talking about what we should buy, if anything. I was in the market for a larger vintage enamel frying pan and there were TONS. But wow, my first enamel pan that I worship cost me $ 10, and these were $ 60! The enamel was faded or scratched and not really worth paying that. Also, everything is covered in dust and I was afraid to touch anything. The small sauce pans were $ 25 but who would pay $ 25 for a pan that is literally 3×3 inches??!
There is stuff hanging from the ceiling and stuff on the floor, and loaded up on tables down the middle of the store. Every time I would pick up anything I felt that woman’s eyes on me. And did I mention that it sounded like a library? Everyone was whispering… is that a rule? It was super awkward.
We walked to the front to make our way out and I complimented the woman on her selection and she scoffed. I asked a couple other questions about what I was interested in and she asked me if I was going to buy anything and I said not this time, and she said «of course you aren’t.»
Well, now I’m really not. Good luck lady with your overpriced culinary museum library. I’ll stick to the flea market where they are nice to me.

Not rude, just brusque. Give her a minute before you storm out. This is the best place for kitchenware in all of California. The pricing is more than fair – it’s cheap!

This place has a lovely selection of eccentric kitchenwares, but the prices are insulting. $ 96 for a mismatched cake platter with dome? $ 40 for a rusty knife that’s been sharpened until most of the teeth are gone? They have some hard-​to-​find items, for sure, but their basics are unconscionable.

Not sure what all the fuss is about, I had a wonderful shopping experience here. I found the proprietor to be intelligent, witty, and engaging. The shop is full of old treasures. I grabbed a few pieces that I love, and will be back for more. Whiny bitches please stay away, more room for me.

I knew what to expect this time and after browsing around for 10 minutes unsuccessfully I went up to the counter and asked where I could find pie tins — not non-​stick. I knew that if I wanted these pie tins it was either Amazon or Cookin’ because everyone else is obsessed with non-​stick (though I’ve never had a pie stick to my aluminum pans — I mean isn’t that an advantage to having all butter crusts?).
And I wasn’t wrong. They have a whole stack of pie tins. Not in the baking area, but instead in the back left on top of a black/​white stove. Non-​stick, aluminum, tinned steel, perforated, you name it. Starting as low as $ 3 and up to $ 15. I ended up getting two — yes, two — perforated tinned steel pie tins for just $ 4.50. What a steal!
As I said before, great place to look for «vintage» or nonstandard stuff.

I have never been more rudely treated in a store in my life. When I apparently broke the owner’s rules by reaching for a bowl on some stairs near the front, she snapped at me. When my partner said we were sorry, she exclaimed «No you’re not!» I was shocked, gave her a piece of my
mind and stormed out. This encounter put a shadow on a perfectly good day of holiday shopping for my family.
Not only is she rude, the dusty pottery I was looking at was mis-​labeled as the more collectible Bauer pottery (Pre-​Fiesta), which it clearly wasn’t… But the prices sure were. This woman doesn’t deserve your business. She isn’t surly, or a curmudgeon or cranky as other reviewers have noted. She is RUDE… And if this wasn’t a family review site, I would use much more colorful language. Stay away.

Omg. I love to cook and I loooooooove this store. They don’t make cookware like they used to. For context, when I was little my mom used to get us up at the crack of dawn on weekends to go to flea/​antique markets. Also, she was/​is one the best cooks on the planet (this is a fact supported by anyone who has eaten her food). ANYWAYS, my mom instilled a real appreciation for food and antiques. As a result, I feel like a kid in a candy store in here. Also, when my grandmother (on my father’s side) passed away, all my cousins went straight for her jewelry — I went straight to the kitchen where I procured, amongst many things, a cast iron skillet that’s older than my father and smooth as a baby’s bottom and well seasoned for decades and a vintage kitchen aid mixer. Workhorses I tell ya. And that’s exactly the kind of stuff you’ll find here. The best cookware that stands the test of time.
At any rate, I didn’t purchase anything bc of just moved to SF and dollars are a bit tight as I haven’t landed a job yet, but you bet I’ll be back. I have been lusting over vintage Michael lax Copco Dutch ovens and they have a few here!
ppl complain about the shopkeeper. We didn’t really chat, but I’m still coming in bc she sure knows how to pick em.

I love this store! Piled to the brim with fantastic kitchen items. It isn’t inexpensive, but you’re not in a thrift store (even though it feels like one). I picked up a couple of terrific enamel pots.
The woman who owns the shop and the man who works there are not overly social so if you have pathological need to make friends with shopkeepers I’d advise you to go elsewhere. I have enough friends so Cookin’ suits me just fine.

Salty or crusty … eccentric or rude … opinionated or condescending … a character or overbearing.
I guess it is all truly in the eye of the beholder.
In my opinion, she is simply an older woman that has been in this city long before most of you have been born, and definitely before your stock options kicked in so you could afford to move into the city. It is places like this and people like her that give the city character and make living here interesting. If you want sanitized experiences everywhere you go and perfect customer service, then go to Nordstrom’s or Sur La Table. You want to experience San Francisco, you go to places like this and get to know the people that run these shops. If you take the time to get to know them, you will learn they are a wealth of information that you may not be able to find on Google or Unilocal.
Yes she is a little abrupt — but so are half the people that go in there, just in a different way. I have been there 5 or 6 times and each time I witnessed both sides of the exchanges. I have seen patrons who demand perfect service and expect this old woman to search the store for them and have seen her equally abrupt responses. She has never given me any issues and all my interactions with her have been fine. The only issue I have with her dog is that the gray color blends in and I almost stepped on him/​her. I took my 70+ year old parents in there and they interacted with her wonderfully. We have found unique items in there as well as old school cooking tools that are hard to find.
Yes, the prices are a little high for some of the things, but so is rent in San Francisco. Her store is on a street that is going through transformation and upscaling. She is getting squeezed more as the transformation works her way. Divisadero has changed a lot in the past 10 years and I would guess her rent has increased as more upscale or trendy places move into the area (Vinyl, Ragazza, and JP Kempt are on the same block; Wine Kitchen and Bar Crudo just 2 blocks away — all opened in the past five years).
The used items are at a lower cost than a similar new item at Sur la Table. There are many items there that you won’t find anywhere else. And to be honest, there are some items in the store I want, but not at her prices — that is up to me. So if the set of four small «Rolex» promotional spoons cost me $ 10 that I plan on using as teaspoons, I am ok with that because I sure won’t find them anywhere else.
This area used to be down to earth, filled with long time residents and local businesses. So some of these «old-​timers» have earned the right to be here and are getting a little fed up with the younger crowd that moves in and acts like the area should be exactly as they want it.
So:
1. If you are walking down Geary and see a rough looking 60+ year old tattooed man walking his yorky and you stop to say hi and talk to him, you will probably like Cookin’. BTW, his name is Gary.
2. If you are one of people that walks down mid-​Market Street or through the upper-​tenderloin and comments that these people don’t belong in «our city», then you probably won’t like Cookin’.
3. If you like to politely engage a salesperson and talk to her about the type of thing you are looking for and want to hear her suggestions, then Cookin’ may be just for you.
4. If you want to walk up to the store person and tell her exactly what you want and ask her to go find it because your time is so important, then Cookin’ is not for you.
5. If you want orderly shelves where everything is clearly labeled, stacked, and organized and you want to find exactly what you are looking for in brand new pristine condition, then you won’t like Cookin’.
6. If you don’t mind (or enjoy) looking through piles of old stuff (in this case cooking stuff), are looking for items to repurpose, and always on the lookout for new treasures, then you will enjoy Cookin’.
Just don’t step on the dog.

Felt like a return to European flea markets with a smattering of newer kitchen goods all tossed into one store. I overheard the man working say the owner was in Paris buying more for the store.
I will be back, but perhaps when I have an idea of what I am looking for. The clutter can be slightly overwhelming, particularly the signs blocking off customers from more piles of goods stacked precariously.

I don’t like clutter so that part of this store made me quite anxious. However, beyond the clutter, this place is incredible. There is so much useful and/​or neat things to be found and potentially purchased for yourself or for gifts for loved ones.
I did not encounter the crass service that many other reviews imply. We were greeted and treated quite nicely.