Here are some essential tools everyone needs in his or her kitchen:
Knives and Blades
- Bread knife
- Chef’s knife, 8”
- Kitchen shears
- Paring knife, 2-4’’
- Vegetable peeler
Miscellaneous Tools
- Blender or something else to blend such as an immersion blender or a food processor
- Box grater
- Can opener
- Cheesecloth
- Clear containers with lids, 8oz-32oz
- Colander
- Corkscrew
- Cutting boards (one plastic one dedicated to meats if needed)
- Dutch oven
- Fish spatula, slotted
- Hand mixer
- Instant and candy thermometer
- Microplane
- Nesting mixing bowls, 9-12’’
- Pastry brush, silicon for marinades
- Plastic bowl scraper
- Salad spinner
- Salt and pepper containers for cooking
- Sieve, metal, 8’’
- Slow cooker and/or pressure cooker or Instapot
- Stand mixer (if you plan to bake often)
- Wire cooling racks
- Wok: Carbon steel with lid (if you plan to make stir fry meals often
Utensils
- Forks/spoons for eating dishes that you make
- Ladle, 8oz
- Measuring cups (metal and glass)
- Measuring spoons
- Meat mallet
- Metal spatula
- Pastry cutter
- Potato masher
- Rolling pin
- Rubber spatula, preferably high temperature silicon
- Scoops
- Serving spoons, 2, large – one slotted
- Tongs, 8 – 12’’
- Whisks
- Wooden spoons
Pots & Pans
(Choose by size of group that you typically serve)
- Half sheet pans, 13 x 18” (several for everyday use)
- Lasagna pan, 10 x 12’’
- Loaf pan, 9’’
- Muffin tin
- Pie pans, 9 -11’’
- Roasting pan, medium, 16’’ x 3’’
- Quarter sheet pan 9, x 13”
- Saucepan with lid, 2qt and/or 4qt
- Sauté pan: 8.5’’ and/or 11’’
- Spring form pan, 9-11”
- Stockpot with lid, 5qt and/or 12qt
