In the two years that I've had this Chicago Metallic cookie cooling rack in my kitchen, I've probably used it a good fifty times. Of those uses, maybe two have actually been to cool cookies—instead, I pair this infinitely useful metal grid with a jelly-roll pan of matching dimensions to make a roasting workhorse. Into the oven the magic duo goes for crisping prosciutto, roasting cubes of butternut squash, caramelizing bacon-wrapped dates, dehydrating tomatoes, and a million other on-the-fly uses. And after being banged around, burned-upon, and (on one memorable occasion) left for half a day in an accidentally-still-on oven, it still cleans to a polish as bright as the day I brought it home.

Chicago Metallic Chrome Cooling Rack, $9.00 at Amazon.com