With these essential kitchen tools you’ll be set for cooking steaks, mixing salads and making pasta dishes. Okay, you may not have the thinnest sliced radishes for garnish (that’s a mandoline’s job!) or the fluffiest mashed potatoes (we’re looking at you, potato masher!) but those aren’t essentials...yet.
Cookware
No home kitchen is complete without cookware. Our three lines of cookware cover all your cooking needs, but you really only need a few pots and pans to have your bases covered. Go with what makes sense based on how you cook:
- Skillet: A 12-inch skillet is great when cooking for four or more people. It works for cooking meats, fish, stir fries and eggs.
- Pan: A saucepan is good for cooking grains, making sauce and heating up soups.
- Pot: A large pot is key for making pasta, homemade soups and boiling potatoes. Have at least one ready to go when you’re starting out.
Remember that large pot of water for pasta? Well to go along with it you’ll want a colander. It’ll drain your pasta, wash vegetables or a handful of berries. We like one that stays stable in the sink when you’re bringing over a large pot of hot water.
Cooking with Non-Stick? Reach for this Silicone Turner. It’s high-heat resistant, protecting your hands as you cook and simple to clean. We love it for folding omelets, sauteing vegetables or flipping pancakes.
Even before pulling out the cookware and helpful tools that go along with it, you’ll want to slice, dice and chop your ingredients. Grab a cutting board and find out which knife to reach for every time with our guide to knife know-how.
A Spoon is another tool we always have nearby. Whether you’re stirring stews or serving chili, a silicone spoon will protect your cookware and make the job easy.
A Little Fish Turner is good for so many foods— not just fish. We use ours on stainless steel pans for transferring veggies, flipping delicate foods, and of course for gliding under filets of fish
A set of mixing bowls is also essential to have in your home kitchen. For tossing salads, mise en place for a recipe, or bringing to the table for serving, you truly can never have enough bowls at the ready.
A pair of tongs is like an extension of your hand when cooking at home. Use them for flipping meat, grabbing veggies or pulling pasta out of a pot. Choose tongs with a nylon head for the most versatility - they’ll protect your non-stick pans and work with stainless steel.
Last on our list of essential kitchen tools is a roasting pan. You’ll need at least one for roasting vegetables in the oven, baking a chicken or making a batch of cookies. If you’re working in a small kitchen and are worried about storing a sheet pan, keep it in the oven until you’re ready to cook.
Once you’ve got the basics for your kitchen and are feeling comfortable cooking, we’re here to help you level up with roasting a whole spatchcocked chicken, breaking down a butternut squash and cooking up a delicious bolognese.