For the last several months we've had most of our kitchen gear packed up in boxes. Determined not to open them until after the renovation on our new place is completed we're left only the essentials and our place feels a little bit like it did in college or in our first apartment. After doing away with all the odds and ends, we feel confident in saying these are the only 10 things you really need to make some culinary magic happen.
When I was first out on my own, I bought all the junk I thought you needed for a kitchen. Looking back, I wish I would have known better, thinned things down a bit and bought good essentials to work with. In my own personal kitchens I can measure most amounts by hand or by other methods, so I've left measuring cups and spoons off this list, you might want to add them to your own!
• 1 good knife
• 1 cutting board
• 1 high temp silicone spatula
• 1 wooden spoon
• 1 stock pot (to boil water/make stock)
• 1 thin/flexible spatula
• 1 cookie sheet
• 1 well-seasoned cast iron skillet
• 1 roasting pan
• 1 glass mixing bowl
For other ideas on what kitchen basics should include, make sure to check out our sister site, The Kitchn as they've recently rounded up their own list of basic tools that they couldn't live without (which is what you see in the photo above). They've also made a nice list of things that are worth spending the extra money on to make sure you have enough cash left to hit the laundromat and still get the perfect skillet!
What kitchen basics would be a must for your own list? Let us know in the comments below!
Image: Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan
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Personally, I would choose a 10 or 12" chefs knife over that cleaver.
@Kathryn:
It's not a cleaver.
It's a Nakiri Bocho. It's a Japanese knife for chopping greens.
I would take a cake pan over a roasting pan, it's more versatile. I never ever use a wooden spoon. What do people generally use them for? Glass bowls are good for some stuff, but I am in love with my cheapo metal mixing bowls (not sure if they're stainless steel). They are so much lighter for pouring batter etc and they are super easy to clean.
I haven't moved out of my parents yet, but I already have my own kitchen gear.
I currently have: Rice cooker, fancy knife set, lettuce knife, 32 peice dish set(bowls, plates & mugs) salad spinner, baking sheets, wooden spoons, cookies sheets and new to my collection is the most beautiful bamboo rolling pin.
I did ask for a pot and pan set last Christmas, but my moms response was "You're 17! What do you need that for?"
^ lol applebomb, sounds like you're doing better than me and I've been moved out for two years now. I had even inherited my grandmother's "hope chest" well before I moved out! Although instead of useful things like knife sets and salad spinners, it somehow got filled with fine silverware and china, which, while nice to have, I can't see myself using in the next few years at all. I could use a rolling pin! :P
I would pass on the roasting pan and get one large rectangular casserole dish (like a 13x9x2). You can bake all sorts of things in it and roast some smaller meats as well.
Oh! and instead of a stock pot, a 5 qt. enameled dutch oven. It doesn't have to be the $200 Le Crueset or Staub. The Lodge ones are pretty good and the cheapo $25 one I got from Marshall's is still going good after 5 years and has a metal knob to boot (instead of a wimpy phenolic knob).
@ Nedra
I have a kitchen obsession, & my mom will give me any old kitchen supplies she has.
I forgot to mention in my list: Red Kettle, Garlic Press & can opener
Don't forget the wine bottle opener--nothing deglazes the bottom of a pan like a bit of wine.
yeah, bottle opener is simply a must. measuring cups. and a whisk.
I can't live without my le Creuset dutch oven.
Nor my wooden spoons or spatulas (great on any cooking surface).
And also my handy-dandy jar opener. I mean this type: http://bitURL.net/ahg3
Good cheese knives! And paring knife.