Top 10 Kitchen Essentials Everyone Should Own
While your kitchen items may vary, here's ten things every kitchen should have
12 February 2014
Everyone will have an opinion on what is essential to them in their kitchens, those things that make cooking and preparing food easy.
Kitchen essentials depend on the type of cook that you are, if you are a health fanatic then a lemon squeezer might be a kitchen essential for you; so that dressing salads will be easier.... If you are an Indian cook extraordinaire than a great spice rack is what you require.
Here is our take on the top ten kitchen essentials that should be in every kitchen.
1. A chef’s knife
Knives can be expensive, very, very expensive. That is why we suggest buying only one good knife and maintaining its condition. A good knife is for life. A good sharp knife will make cooking easier.
Have you ever tried dicing onions with a butter knife or slicing tomatoes with a dull knife. We have all been there and it has never been very pleasant. Thus purchasing just one really good knife is kitchen essential #1.
2. Chopping board
This is one item that is taken for granted as most people have grown up with a chopping board in the kitchen. Try living without one for a week and its necessity will grow on you.
Get a big and small chopping board; they are a kitchen essential, not only for chopping but also for transferring items to a pan or pot. New age chopping boards will fold in order to make the transfer from board to pot easy and mess free.
There are so many to choose from; Jamie Oliver has one that just needs to be wiped clean after use and looks decorative in any kitchen. You can get colourful plastic ones, silicone ones and ones with pretty patterns.
A chopping board is as useful as it is decorative, so spend a little extra and get a great chopping board.
3. Microwave
This handy essential is found in most kitchens nowadays. It is not only useful for defrosting food and making microwave ready meals.
Microwaves make popcorn and can be used for steaming and cooking vegetables, making popcorn and melting ingredients without burning them. You can also get a microwave convection oven that doubles as an oven, so you can bake salmon in tin foil with no harm.
It is one of the appliances that is useful in our daily lives.
4. Tin opener
Many tins come with handy openers, but what about those that do not? Opening a tin without an opener is difficult and dangerous. It is definitely an essential that no kitchen should be without.
There are many different tin openers on the market today, from the old trusty stainless steel one to the electric tin opener that does the work for you. Just beware of the sharp edges on the end of the tin.
5. Graters
Graters are handy tools. From grating some lemon zest to making a Greek tzatziki this handy tool is a chef’s essential.
You can also get a cheese grater that will make grating parmesan over your pasta easy and mess free; you can also get graters that grate into a bowl with a handy lid for storage after.
6. A kettle
The kettle is an appliance that is used most often in a kitchen, from making a brew to heating up water for pasta or dissolving a bouillon cube. The kettle is kitchen essential #6 as it makes life easier.
Did you know that the steam from your kettle can be used for a quick steam iron of small clothing items, if one is in a rush; it is easy to just boil a kettle and iron something quickly before leaving the house, just careful not to burn yourself on the steam.
7. A Dutch oven
A Dutch oven is a cast iron cooking pot with a thick base and walls. Dutch oven are great for slow cooking stews, roasts and casseroles. They are also popular because they maintain an even heat due to the thickness of the base and sides.
A good Dutch oven has a dual function of being stove top and oven friendly, so you can move that goulash into the oven without any mess or fuss.
8. Tea towels
One more essential that is taken for granted. Not only is the kitchen towel great at drying hands and dishes, it works well in a lot of aspects of the kitchen. If you are making a Christmas turkey, cover it in tin foil and tea towels to help maintain its warmth. Wrap hot bread in tea towels to keep it moist.
One of the most essential uses of the tea towel – a make shift oven mitt.
9. Non-stick pan
An essential in every kitchen is a sturdy nonstick pan, they can be used on a daily basis for breakfast meals such as eggs and French toast.
For lunch one can make a sautéed chicken breast for a salad and for dinner some pan fried veggies to go with a main course. Every kitchen should have one nonstick pan in stock.
10. Colander
No longer used for just straining pastas. Anything that needs water removed, or that needs to be drained can be strained through a colander. From boiled potatoes to sweet corn and peas. From pasta to dumplings, a colander is always a useful tool for the kitchen.
This is our list of kitchen essentials. In fact, if you are moving to your very first house with your very first kitchen we would suggest that you begin with equipping the kitchen with these few cooking essentials.
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