If you are setting up house and want to have the best tools for your kitchen here are the must haves to get you started:
- Culinary Knife Sets and Cutting Boards: Culinary knife sets are a must so you can handle everything from paring and dicing to butchering. You also want to have two good sized cutting boards in either wood or plastic to protect your counters and knives from damage. You need one for protein and one for everything else.
- Blender or Immersion Blender: A blender always comes in handy. You can get a standard blender for drinks and sauces and consider getting an immersion blender to save your self on dishes for blending soups and sauces right in the pan.
- Set of Stainless Steel Bowls: A set of stainless steel bowls will give you three sizes needed for small jobs such as scrambling eggs to larger ones for tossing salads or making a large batch of cookies.
- Measuring Spoons and Cups: These are indispensable for any kitchen. Go for stainless steel spoons and glass measuring cups as they can be used for dry and wet measuring.
- Pots and Pans: You want to invest in a good set of pots and pans. You will want to have some non-stick pans for easy eggs, pancakes, crepes, etc and then a good set of pots and pans to handle everything else. Look for stainless steel to last long and perform well.
- Meat Thermometer: You will want this to get meats cooked to the right doneness for both flavor and food safety.
- Utensils: You will need a whisk, spatula, wooden mixing spoons, slotted serving spoon, rolling pin, peeler, small hand held sieve and plastic spatulas for scraping out batter from bowls. You can also consider adding a meat cleaver as well as tongs.
- Colander: This will come in handy for everything from straining pasta to cleaning veggies.
- Bake Ware: You will need a large oblong pan preferably in glass for lasagne and baking, a roasting pan large enough for a turkey, cookie sheets, cake pans, pie plates and a pizza pan if you so desire.
- Electric Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer: Depending on budget you will want to buy either a hand held mixer or a standing mixer for baking.
Your kitchen will be complete with these must have items.
