Carol Whitfield
Carol Whitfield
Food & Cooking Writer · WanderSavvy
I spent about twenty years cooking for other people’s weddings, birthday parties, and Sunday dinners before I started writing about it. Home catering teaches you things no cookbook does, mainly that equipment either holds up or it doesn’t, and you find out which at the worst possible moment.
These days I cook mostly for my husband Dale and whoever shows up at the house. My son Josh still comes over most Sundays and we work through things together, which is how I end up testing most of the pots and pans on this site. My daughter Lily runs the beauty side of WanderSavvy down in Austin. My other daughter Megan calls from Charlotte and asks me to ship baked goods, which I do more often than I should admit.
My kitchen was renovated in 2016. L-shaped, butcher block island, a matte black six-burner gas range I refused to compromise on. The cast iron lives on the back left burner. I write from here, which means everything I recommend is something I’ve cooked with in this exact kitchen, not something I held for thirty seconds at a trade show.
If something almost made a list but didn’t, I usually say so. That’s not a disclaimer, it’s just how I write.
Background & credentials
- 20+ years as a home caterer, Nashville TN
- Tested cookware, kitchen tools, and food products hands-on since 2022
- Every product reviewed has been used in a real working home kitchen, not a test lab
- No brand partnerships or sponsored placements — affiliate links only, disclosed in every article
How I test
I don’t run a lab. What I run is a real kitchen, used hard, most days of the week. When I test a pan I cook eggs in it on a Tuesday morning and a stew in it the following weekend. When I write about a pet product, it’s because something in this house has actually used it.
I keep notes. I note what annoyed me after a month, not just what impressed me on day one. If something warped, cracked, or became a pain to clean after regular use, that goes in the review. I’d rather give you one honest answer than five optimistic ones.
Products that almost made a list get a mention. They usually almost made it for a reason worth knowing.