I love this thread on the knives chefs use.
What are some other examples where the choices the pros make regarding their tools may not be what non-pros would expect?
Not tools or equipment, per se, but it seems like a lot of professional musicians have the rattiest old hi-fis at home.
You’d expect perhaps the finest audiophile components, but for the most part, it’s stuff like an old Kenwood receiver and battered old JVC speakers.
I have thousands upon thousands of dollars of construction tools, in trailers, joboxes and jobsites, and I can never find a simple *#%@#@$% screwdriver or drill around the house, ever. God damnit. Last week I put on a new electrical cover plate in my own house with a butter knife.
Sorry for the hijack, it’s a sore spot.
As to the OP, yeah, who’d think a residential contractor would use a butter knife. @#^%&!
Not all that surprising, really. Pro musicians prefer to play music, rather than listen to music. Consequently, they spend their money on their instruments and associated equipment.
For the OP: Not tools per se, but most people may be surprised to find out that at home, many professional cooks’ cupboards are stocked with things like frozen pizza, microwave burritos, and ramen. Say what?! It’s true, and the reason is twofold: 1) after cooking for eight hours at work, we don’t want to cook more at home; 2) once you’re accustomed to cooking with professional equipment at work, trying to cook on a typical home range is very frustrating.
On the music side, as a musician, I only had so much money to spend on my music habit, so it was gear or stereo stuff. I always picked gear. My friends would laugh - through high school and college I had maybe 10 - 20 albums total.
As for the cooks insight - perfect; exactly what I was looking for - I would’ve never thought that, given all the stuff I see about cooks and foodies…
Not the same thing, but most of the librarians I know buy a lot of books and have huge library fines. We’re not big library users because we want to have the books and keep them.