Whether you are just starting your kitchen or you are a seasoned chef looking to update your kitchen arsenal, having the right tools is essential for making cooking simpler and more fun! These are my absolute favorite every day kitchen essentials!
Prior to starting college, I started buying kitchen items in anticipation that I was going to be little Susie Homemaker far far far away from home. The summer after Freshman year, my high school boyfriend (now hubby) and I got back together and my Susie Homemaker wannabe self really kicked into high gear. When we got married 3 years later we needed nothing in the way of kitchen items, however, we did receive a ton. Now over a decade later, I still find myself drawn to kitchen items that make my life in the kitchen easier. The items I’m about to share are all items that I own and use on a daily basis. I have not been paid to promote these items, I have however, included easy shopping links to Amazon. You can read my disclosure here. Wishing you happy cooking!
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My Absolute Favorite Every Day Essentials
Pasta Pot with Straining Lid – Lets face the facts, who doesn’t love pasta of some sort? If you are tight on space or hate washing extra dishes this pot is for you! My sister bought it for my for Christmas one year after I saw it on a TV commercial! It’s a big oval pasta pot equipped with a strainer lid! It makes perfect sense and is definitely my most used kitchen item!
Dutch Oven Pot – a pot with a lid that can be used on the stovetop, oven, freezer and dishwasher – what’s not to love about that? This is most likely my 2nd most used item in my kitchen. My mother-in-law bought this for Christmas one year and it has made cooking so much easier and convenient!
Stand Up Mixer with Different Attachments – My mom bought this for me for a wedding gift and it is most likely my most cherished kitchen appliance. So many memories have been made between my kids and I using this mixer from making cookies, to pizza dough to treats for our doggies.
Cast Iron Skillet Pan with Handle – a pan that goes in the oven! Not all pans are created equal. And using cast iron can be tricky. To be honest, I’ve still not really mastered cooking on the stovetop (possibly because mine is electric) with a cast iron skillet pan, but I have become a pro at using it in the oven, especially for puffy pancakes!
Nonstick Frying Pan – totally a must for beginners just learning to cook or for making the perfect egg! Just be sure to be careful not to scratch the teflon coating! Only use plastic utensils.
Stainless Steel Frying Pan – In my opinion, stainless steel frying pans are a bit for the seasoned cook, simply because they can be a bit hard to cook on. It’s easy to burn food or make them stick to the pan. I like to use stainless steel frying pans for grilling up veggies in olive oil or butter and for cooking some meats.
Pot & Pan Set with Lids – I was gifted this by my parents for a wedding present years ago. The pots in this set are my favorite. I use them almost daily as my son loves hot soup for lunch. (I think that my small pot lid was accidentally thrown away by one of my kiddos when they were a toddler and played in the cabinets and garbage can! opps!)
Coffee Pot – My hubby is a bit of a coffee snob and prefer pour over coffee rather than an automatic coffee maker. We’ve had several different kinds of these because I’ll be honest, the glass breaks easily if knocked off of the counter and you have kids throwing balls in the house….ha! We love that the filter is reusable helping eliminate waste!
Coffee Grinder – we have an electric coffee grinder but again my hubby thinks that the beans taste better when they are freshly hand ground right before you make the coffee. This hand coffee grinder doubles as a super cute decoration in addition to being practical!
Tea Kettle – in order to make all this fancy pour over coffee, it’s essential to have a tea kettle!
Knife Set – buying knifes can be tricky and can cost a fortune! We bought this knife set when we got married and have been super happy with it all of these years later. We picked it because the stainless steel continues from the knife blade all of the way through the handle making them super durable. It has a sharpener, fork and even more knifes that don’t fit in the knife block as well. The scissors are used for everything in my house!!
Can Opener – may seem like a silly recommendation, but having a can opener is literally essential! Especially if you are just staring out and learning how to cook…most likely you will have foods that are in cans of some sort! (think chili or spaghetti sauce!)
Other Kitchen Favorite Essentials
Immersion Blender – to be honest, I mainly use this for soups, especially my broccoli cheese soup.
Hand Held Blender – my mixer from college finally died (after making a million batches of chocolate chip cookies!) and my hubby bought me this mixer. He’s a research guru and found that this one had the best reviews and was the most versatile by having a whisk attachment which is great for so many things, especially for dessert.
Strainer – this may seem like a silly suggestion, but think about all of those times you are straining noodles (if you don’t have the pasta pot) or when you’re washing off produce, especially grapes!
Fine Mesh Strainer – when you need to strain items that are smaller/finer and can slip through the holes of the regular plastic strainer. This can also act as a flour sifter, making your cabinets house one less thing!
Bacon Tray for the Microwave – enough said! I just honestly don’t know how people cook bacon any other way! The mess from all of the grease is just too much for me. This bacon tray makes for an easy clean up and for the bacon to be cooked to perfection without being so so greasy!
Frying Mesh Screen – if you ever cook sausage or other meats on your stovetop this is essential for not getting grease splatter everywhere or all over yourself!
Measuring Teaspoons & Tablespoons – again, why not consolidate when you can! I’ve had these since we got married and love that they are adjustable for 1/8tsp through 1tbs.
Collapsible Measuring Cups – again, why not save on space when you can! Measuring cups are so bulky and take up so much drawer space. I’ve had these measuring cups since we got married and absolutely love them! They shrink down to the size of almost nothing and save so much space!
Electric Food Processor/Chopper – I use this primarily when I need to really chop up veggies to hide them in the main dish, like in my meat pie.
