Kitchen Must Haves

We all know the feeling of wanting to make something but then realizing you don’t have a piece of equipment that you need. This kicks off a somewhat existential debate of “will I use it more than just this once if I buy it?”. A question with no definite answer, and one of the reasons I try and keep most of my recipes to a minimal list of equipment. This being said, there are a few pieces of kit I genuinely cannot go through my day not having in my kitchen.

Of course this list is going to be different, most of you won’t need a vacuum sealer or a deli slicer, maybe some of you won’t need a stock pot or a coffee machine, it’s all about your life and the way you want to cook. I myself have probably an excessive amount of kitchen equipment, a large portion of which was inherited when my mothers restaurant closed after 11 years in business. But that’s enough about my magpie style tendencies that cause my Girlfriend to always know to check the kitchen or cookbook sections whenever she loses me in a store, let’s get into the things I can’t do without in the kitchen.

1. A Rice Cooker:

   I love to cook Asian food, and I can’t imagine my life without a rice cooker, it’s an irreplaceable piece of my kitchen. I love knowing that I can just get up, wash the rice a few times, check the level with the first knuckle of my index finger (I don’t know why it works for everyone, but it does and I’m not about to question it), put the switch on and start my work day. No matter what time I get hungry I have fresh, delicious, warm rice waiting to greet me. The funny thing about this is that no matter who I spoke to about it they always had the same attitude “but I can cook rice in a pot”… until they tried a rice cooker. I bought mine in Tesco for about €20 in 2021, and it serves me loyally to this day.

2. A Blender:

   Be it smoothies, milkshakes, gels, purees, or anything else you could think of, a good blender is a must have in my kitchen. I actually have a few that I use, varying which one depending on what I’m doing at the time. You don’t need more than one unless you’re doing some insane cooking, or you really hate doing dishes. A decent blender doesn’t have to cost the world, my recommendation will always be buy what you can afford, you can always upgrade it later.

3. A Coffee Machine:

   While I am not necessarily a coffee drinker, I wouldn’t risk being without one, because I’ve seen what coffee drinkers can be like when they don’t get their cup in the morning. I do like the occasional cup, but it’s more for other people than myself, I use it mostly to stay out of trouble.

4. A Deli Slicer:

   I lived off of toasted sandwiches when I was growing up, and I honestly still do, although they look a little bit different now to how 12 year old Evan would have made his. I like to do some meal prep for the week, and this piece of equipment is a game changer for your sandwiches. I usually buy a smoked ham, cover it with a honey and mustard glaze, bake until it reaches 75C internal and let it cool before slicing. What I really love about this is not only is it cost effective, most weeks coming in at about €9 for the ingredients, as opposed to buying ham from a deli or a supermarket, but you can also control the thickness of the slices. I personally like them fairly thin so I can layer them, and it’s all up to me. Again it’s not a piece of equipment that most people need, but if you do want to get one to help with the meal prep, Amazon is probably the best bet, you can get a very good one for between €60 and €100 depending on your needs.

5. A Stand Mixer:

   The Bosch mixer I use, which has been seen in some of the cooking videos on my Instagram page was purchased for an eye watering €50 from Facebook Marketplace and has not let me down in the 6 years since. If you do a lot of baking this piece of equipment will save you so much trouble and heartache. Don’t worry about brands or anything, just focus on what works for you, and what will fit in your kitchen.

6. A variety of pots and pans:

   I like to have a lot of pots, saucepans, and frying pans, as well as a wok and a skillet, and I try and always have lids for them, but if you don’t that’s not the end of the world, a cartouche is always a great solution, and honestly is was most restaurants use instead. In professional kitchens you’ll find duplicates upon duplicates of industrial cookware, and you can start to think that it’s necessary to have that for yourself. Instead, I’d focus on the important ones: a small, medium and large saucepan (non stick is my personal preference), make sure they’re oven safe if you can afford it, and again, if you can get lids, I would recommend it. Next is 2 medium frying pans (one non stick, and one stainless steel) and a large frying pan (non stick). Again if you can get oven safe, definitely do that, because it’s much more versatile, and will save you doing extra dishes. Now onto the final round: A good large pot is crucial for me, when I make soups, or stocks, but I prep in batches, so this shouldn’t be the first thing you run out and buy, if you don’t need it, don’t buy it.

7. A good cutting board:

   I love wooden cutting boards, none of the glass, or plastic ones in my kitchen. I like wooden for a variety of reasons, they keep my knives sharper for longer, they’re easy to clean, they last an extremely long time, and also, they’re very pretty to present food on.

This isn’t a definitive list, just some of the things I feel like I can’t do without in my home kitchen. I do have another post coming up about what I would buy if I was starting a kitchen from scratch on a budget (minus the fitted appliances of course) and I will be using my old apartment kitchen which was admittedly tiny, and very difficult to fit everything in.