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When Martha Stewart reveals details about her home kitchen, you listen, which is why the audience at her Food & Wine Classic in Aspen seminar was mesmerized when the TV star, cookbook author, and entertaining icon began talking about the cooking tools she always has in her Bedford, New York home. While demonstrating how to make a summer clambake (and kicking the morning off with a few cocktails), Stewart shared her recommendations for items that home cooks should always have on hand, from the very cheap to the very expensive.

"You should have bench scrapers in plastic and in steel," said Stewart as she made sweet biscuits, which she later topped with strawberries. "This is the best tool." She used the scraper to keep her work station neat, and while kneading the dough, she also made sure to keep one of her hands clean. ("So you can answer the phone if anyone calls. Does anybody in this audience still get phone calls?")

To buy: OXO Stainless Steel Bench Scraper, $10 at amazon.com

To buy: Plastic Bowl and Dought Scraper, $5 at amazon.com

Stewart "insists" that people stock their kitchen with these handy little towels. "You can buy them online for like a dollar each," she said, adding that they make a good swap for paper towels and sponges in clean-up situations. "If you use a sponge, then your sponge is all full of flour, and you can never keep them clean. So these are really great."

To buy: Bulk Bar Towels, Set of 12, $14 at amazon.com

Stewart said that her favorite shape of ice cube for cocktails is round, and she freezes all sorts of liquids besides water for her ice, including juices and raspberry sorbet. So what might seem like a very niche device is something she ends up using quite often, if not every day. Martha Stewart's line of kitchenware includes a round ice cube mold, which is sold at Macy's for $19, but if you want to get super fancy with it, you can splurge on this gorgeous but insanely expensive $759 sphere ice-making machine. (Even Stewart acknowledged that the price was staggering: "It's ridiculous. Put it on your registry ... it's much more expensive than I thought. All the good bars have that.")

To buy: Martha Stewart Collection Sphere Ice Mold Set, $19 at macys.com

Stewart also said that every home cook should invest in sharp, high-quality knives. She uses a steel knife-sharpener so she can keep hers extra sharp. (Here are some of our favorites.)