If you want buy this knive to the right, you will have to wait and pay dearly. It is a Hattori KD series gyuto (chef’s knife), and according to the retail site, “Mr. Hattori has devoted all his energies, times, experiences and techniques to create these beautiful Chef’s knives, using ancient forging techniques of the swordmaking.”

They no longer accept online orders on JapaneseChefsknife.com but will accept e-mail messages to be put on a waiting list. The wait: well that will probably take a year or so as these knives are hand forged and made in small batches, and that is a good thing because you will need to start saving to cover the $1128 price tag for a 10-inch gyuto (chef’s knife). Merry Christmas 2012.

Sur La Table has this cheese knife set designed by Coltelleria Saladini in collaboration with Alberto Marcomini an expert ager of cheeses in Italy. The knife is forged using AISI 420 stainless steel and the handles are made from Tuscan olive wood. The price of this set is $2,000. Ouch.

If you like this set, though, you can purchase separate knives by the same designer at Formaggio Kitchen. Individually, the knives will cost $100+.

This lamp was designed by NEXT Architects for Droog Design in The Netherlands. Basically, the light source is immersed in soy fat and as the heat from the lighting element melts the fat, the light glows brighter in a warm, fatty, and comforting way. This process takes about 2 hours and once the light is turned off the fat returns to a solid state. There is something gross yet soothing about this lamp.

Marketing types probably sensed that a lamp made out of fat and called a ‘fat lamp’ might not sell, so it has since been rebranded as the ’slow glow’ lamp. You can buy it from Droog, but the lamp is not cheap; it costs $790.

I am hooked on Japanese knives today. This Misono UX10 Santuko Knife with dimples is still fairly rare in Japan apparently as the dimple thing has yet to catch on. You can buy it at JapaneseChefsKnife.com for a mere $216.80. What’s with the 80 cents? I am sure it is a currency conversion issue, but still round up or down on this one; it won’t make a difference. The knife will though. These Misono knives are well known as being one of the best in the business of cooking.

And one other thing. I know it says Swedish stainless on it, but it is nevertheless Japanese crafted with really good Swedish steel. You can read more about the steel and craftsmanship on the website.

This Shiki Santoku knife sold on japanesechefsknife.com is simply gorgeous. It is from the Japanese cutlery capital of Seki and designed by a relative newcomer to kitchen knives, Mr. Hiroaki Masui.  He previously made outdoor sporting knives, but in 2006 began making cutlery. Mr. Hiro has put his creative flourish on knife handles to make them beautiful and comfortable.  This knife is currently sold out, but it sells for $201.60.

This Lady Absinthe Fountain is really beautiful and is bordering on affordable if you buy the Two-Spout Absinthe Fountain from Amazon.com ($185), but then again it is just to dispense water and you have to like absinthe. And then you have to buy great glasses to go with it and some silver absinthe spoons too. You can’t put regular glasses under a fountain like this.

The four-spout version to the right will cost $245.

I am going to start posting great design items that deserve admiration but probably don’t deserve a purchase due to the high price. If you have the money go ahead, but for most of us we can just look.

From Theresienthal, Germany and an historic glass producer comes this Torino Pitcher (lemon). You can buy it from mossonline.com. The price is $315.