Wirecutter Picks Can Be Expensive. Here’s Why.

Buyer’s remorse sucks.

We hate trudging to the store (or waiting for a delivery) to get something that we expect will make our lives better, only for it to turn out to be a dud.

That’s why Wirecutter is dedicated to rigorously testing everything from air purifiers to gourmet chocolates. We’re here to save you from shopping-related stress, as well as from the urge to utter expletives as you chuck yet another disappointing product into your garbage can. We recommend only the best.

Now, for us, “the best” is not always the most expensive gadget with the most whiz-bang features that most people will neither need nor use. “The best” means the best value.

Value is not necessarily about whether something is cheap or expensive; instead it’s related to how well an item performs in comparison with how much it costs. Sometimes our picks are an absolute bargain. Our pick for the best high chair, for instance, sells for a fraction of what many competitor high chairs cost. Other times, though, our picks can induce some sticker shock.

Take, for example, our micro-cut paper-shredder pick, which is almost twice as expensive as cross-cut paper shredders. Yet we recommend it because micro-cut shredders shred better and make your documents’ remains significantly more secure. “It’s worth it, because the whole point is to make sure no one steals your information,” supervising editor Ben Keough said.

Of course, our refusal to recommend low-quality stuff also means that sometimes our picks can seem too pricey for some people.

For them, we often recommend repurposing items (when possible), buying used items (or refurbishing things), or scanning our Deals page and newsletter to see whether our picks are on sale. Deputy editor Christine Cyr Clisset, who was sitting on a secondhand office chair when we spoke over Zoom, said she believes it’s often better for budget-conscious shoppers to make really good old items new again, as opposed to buying lower-quality new items. “The products we recommend in many categories are things that can be used by multiple people. They are made well, so you can pass them on.”

There’s a reason that “I’m too poor to buy cheap things” is such a well-worn aphorism. It often costs more to buy inexpensive items of mediocre quality—which you have to frequently replace when they break or disappoint—than to just buy the pricier and better thing from the jump. (See our guide on how to buy and sell used things online without getting scammed.)

Of course, we also try to recommend a budget pick in each category, when we think there’s a truly serviceable great value at a lower price. We can’t do this in every category. Often, we simply cannot find something that is both inexpensive enough to qualify as a budget pick and good enough to qualify as a solid value that we can recommend. But we strive to offer readers this option whenever possible.

Repurposing can also be a sustainable approach, and it’s something many of our readers have asked about over the years. Our sustainability editor, Katie Okamoto, will attest that sustainable choices don’t have to be expensive, either. (Read Katie’s piece on why you don’t need to buy silicone kitchen gear—you can just use a plate as a lid in the fridge.)

Not everything we recommend is expensive, however. A founding tenet of Wirecutter is recommending picks that offer great value for the price, Christine said. So we often recommend high-achieving products that cost less than the competition. Consider the value of various Dutch ovens. “The performance you get out of a $420 Le Creuset Dutch oven is actually not that much different than the performance you would get out of an $80 Dutch oven,” Christine said. “So we feature an $80 Lodge Dutch oven as our main pick because it will brown everything evenly, won’t chip, and you can clean it easily. It doesn’t look as nice as Le Creuset’s oven, and it scratches a little bit easier, but those aren’t important things to some people.”

The same goes for the picks in our best small saucepan guide: All-Clad’s saucepan is the gold standard, and it’s our upgrade pick. But our all-around top pick is a Tramontina model that is still fully clad (meaning it usually consists of an aluminum core sandwiched between layers of stainless steel), and it has nice rounded edges that make stirring sauces easy. At about $60, the Tramontina pan is a better value than the $130 All-Clad pan. But for people who really care about versatility and cooking more-advanced dishes, the upgrade to the All-Clad saucepan (and these other splurge-worthy kitchen upgrades) may be worth the investment.

It’s all a matter of what a reader’s priorities are. “Some people don’t want to have the best power cables or the best laptop, but they may prioritize having really nice sheets,” Christine said. L.L.Bean’s Pima Cotton Percale sheets, our pick for the best sheets, are well over a hundred dollars. But Christine said they’ve been our pick for years due to their durability. You spend more up-front, but these sheets will make your life better for years and years to come. And they are just as good as, if not better than, high-end sheets that cost two or three times the price. That’s value.

When appropriate, Wirecutter’s experts also do their best to tell you what not to buy, such as dedicated pet cameras (a standard security camera will do the trick) or foot spas (a bucket of warm water will work just fine). Ultimately, it’s about gaining and retaining reader trust. “We have to hold the line on recommending quality items,” Christine said. “If somebody buys something off of Wirecutter and it breaks, or it’s no good, we’ve lost a reader.”

This article was edited by Amber Angelle and Jason Chen.