Skip to main content

Step Up Your Kitchen Game: Ukiyo Home’s Readymade Weekender Dutch Oven

What’s the one kitchen essential that made you a cook?

When you’re out of the house, you might wonder how your dog is doing, or you might dream about that big, rumpled bedspread calling your name. But a cast iron dutch oven? Maybe — once you’ve seen Ukiyo Home’s Readymade Weekender, that is.

Weekender dutch oven by Ukiyo Home
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sure to be the centerpiece of your table anytime you want to impress a guest, the Weekender has the sturdy, stoic sort of beauty reminiscent of your grandpa’s hand-me-down cast iron pans. This is the kind of utilitarian nest staple you can’t help but consider as an art object while your dinner sizzles and crackles inside it.

Meat cooking in the Weekender dutch oven
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ukiyo Home’s central mission is to bring the craftspeople responsible for iconic Japanese design into the identity of each piece. Based in Chicago, Ukiyo’s studios span the globe with collaborators in Tokyo, Singapore, and New York City. They use multi-generational workshops bustling with people badass enough to employ molten metal for the purposes of handcrafting your home’s next great treasure. They’re all about style, utility, and joy.

Craftsperson in Ukiyo Home workshop
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Hailing from a workshop in Kurume, Fukuoka, the Readymade Weekender Dutch Oven is built with cast iron using a detailed pattern mold. You can set up shop on a charcoal grill, gas stove, oven, as a skillet, or — our favorite option — just tuck it into the campfire right around dusk for a meal with your travel mates. And a silicon heat-resistant finish means it’ll stay attractive even as it gathers character for years to come.

Recommended Videos

The Weekender comes in round or rectangular options, along with a smooth or geometric top surface. You can customize it further with a stainless steel and Horween leather lifting handle in mocha or burgundy that makes transport safe and easy. So if you’re a novice cook looking for the perfect kitchen tool that’ll tip you into becoming a home chef extraordinaire, you’ve found it.

Megan Freshley
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Megan Freshley is a freelance copywriter and poet living in Portland, OR. She's studied at Antioch College and the Esalen…
These dive bars don’t care about trends—and that’s exactly why we love them
Top dive bars
Dark bar with three empty barstools

Here's to the lowbrow watering hole. These practical establishments don't need bells and whistles like house-made tinctures and custom light fixtures. No, they've given us enough as it is, from that Cheers-like hospitality to that vintage dive bar smell.

Here's to the dive bar. The temple for regulars where a jukebox is preferred to a playlist, a sticker-covered bathroom is the norm, and a regular spoon, not a bar spoon, will do just fine for mixing drinks. Oh, and the drinks tend to be strong.

Read more
I tested Hestan’s ProBond Luxe line — why it’s a smart investment for everyday cooking
Hestan ProBond

After using Hestan's NanoBond cookware for a few months, I've found myself cooking almost exclusively with stainless steel pans. Why? It was the brand’s durability and performance that quickly won me over. So when the new ProBond Luxe line launched, I was curious to see how it would stack up, especially as a more accessible alternative to Hestan's higher-end collections.

Released earlier this month, the ProBond Luxe cookware is made from tri-ply stainless steel and was designed in collaboration with professional chefs. I tested one of the pans in my home kitchen to see how it handled everyday cooking — from weeknight meals to weekend experiments.

Read more
Beyond burgers: The underrated steak cuts perfect for tailgating
The cuts that turn a parking lot grill into a five-star pregame
Grilling at a tailgating party.

Tailgates are supposed to be a party. Friends circled around a cooler, the smell of charcoal in the air, someone balancing a too-full plate on the hood of a car. But too often the food feels like an afterthought — burgers, dogs, maybe a bag of chips if someone remembered. Fine, sure, but not exactly memorable.

If you’re firing up a grill in a parking lot, you might as well make it worth the trouble. This year, skip the sad burger patties and show up with beef that makes people stop mid-conversation. Tri-tip, hanger steak, flap steak — cuts with actual personality. They’re flavorful, affordable, and cook up beautifully without requiring you to be an award-winning pitmaster. Trust me, once you serve steak at a tailgate, there’s no going back.

Read more