When you are passionate about cooking, it is easy to get carried away by all the exciting equipment available for your kitchen. But the more skilled you become, the more you realise that you use the same tools over and over again.
So, to save you both time and money, here is a list of the most essential pieces of equipment you need in your kitchen.
Remember – it's better to buy fewer, better quality items. You'll be happier in the long run.
A good chef's knife – your best friend in the kitchen
For a chef, their chef's knife is an extension of their arm – and it's the tool they spend the most time with in the kitchen. So do yourself a favour and invest in a good chef's knife that is sharp and fits comfortably in your hand.
You can use it for just about any cutting task, and if you take good care of it, you'll have a knife for life.
If I had to recommend one knife to invest in, it would be our Gyuto chef's knife. With 67 layers and hard core steel, it stays incredibly sharp, and its rocking blade makes your work in the kitchen a breeze.
A good ceramic sharpening steel
This tool is a bit of an extension of the above – and we've even written a whole article on why you should invest in a sharpening steel, so we'll keep it short.
If you want to care for and look after your knives, you need to keep them sharp. The easiest way to do this is to give your knives a few strokes on a hard sharpening steel. This will protect the knife edge and mean you don't have to sharpen your knives as often.
A good frying pan that only gets better with time
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, it's better to buy less but better. And once you've got yourself a good chef's knife, the next step is to invest in a good frying pan.
When I say a good frying pan, I don't mean a pan from the supermarket with a thick layer of Teflon.
No.
I mean a frying pan that can get really hot, go in the oven and give your meat the perfect caramelisation. A pan that only gets better every time you use it.
A solid wooden chopping board
A solid cutting board is a must for any kitchen that wants to conjure up a delicious meal.
In the headline here, I write a solid wooden cutting board. That's no accident.
No matter how convenient a cheap, thin plastic chopping board may be, there's a reason you don't see them in restaurant kitchens.
Plastic chopping boards slide around on your kitchen counter and can dull your knives.
Instead, invest in a thick cutting board made of good wood such as oak or walnut. You won't regret it.
A mortar or spice grinder (and good spices)
Convenience does not always equal good taste. The best example of this, after frozen pizzas, is spices.
Get yourself a good mortar and start crushing fresh spices in it, rather than using the ready-made spices from the supermarket. Or find a spice grinder that can be used for more than just salt and pepper.
A good mortar or spice grinder will last a lifetime, and you'll immediately get much more flavour in your food.
Bonus: A utility knife
If one chef's knife is not quite enough, take a look at the versatile utility knife, which can be used as a herb knife, but can also handle some of the cutting tasks where your chef's knife is just a little too big.
With the above set, you can't go wrong. Pots, colanders, salt shakers and much more are of course also part of your kitchen, but I'm sure you already have those in your kitchen. You'll have to dive into that in a separate article.
