There have been many articles written about all of the stuff you absolutely, positively must have in your kitchen. (Click here to check out my version.) 12” skillets? Check. Chef’s knife? Double-check. But what about things that may improve the quality of your culinary life that might not make the cut to be considered essential? These wonderful pieces of gear deserve some love, so here is our take on the stuff you want (but don’t necessarily need). Let’s crack in!
Quality Kitchen Shears
Most of your kitchen cutting work can be done with a knife, but you’ll detest opening packages with it, especially if there’s a pot of water boiling over or a pan of oil getting too hot on the stove. While conventional scissors will fix that problem, they will not cut it when it comes to breaking down a bird. Heavy-duty kitchen shears are capable of doing so. They are great for cutting and snipping, and the included flathead screwdriver, nutcracker, and bottle opener on some models don’t hurt either.
Bench Scraper
They’re frequently misunderstood as a baking-only tool for jobs like portioning dough, but once you experience one, you’ll find a gazillion different uses for it. If you’re anything like us, you’ll be transferring mounds of chopped vegetables from board to bowl or board to skillet with your bench scraper. Or to wipe your board of leftovers and residue before beginning another round of cutting. Alternatively, to cut a lasagna into tidy squares. The more you use it to cook food, the less you’ll be able to do without it.
A Pie Plate Made of Tempered Glass
What applies to rectangular baking plates also applies here: A simple tempered glass pie plate may not cut it at a Martha Stewart/Snoop Dogg photoshoot, but it will transport heat more quickly to your crust, providing more gorgeously golden, crisp, and flaky results than any fancy-pants ceramic model. It’s also non-reactive, so you can use it with zesty pies like this lime pie.
Loaf Pan
Quick breads are a terrific method for beginners to get started in the kitchen, but a loaf pan can also be used to make meatloaf, pound cake, or basic yeasted loaves. The loaf pan shown below is composed of aluminized steel, which is durable, rust-resistant, and usefully nonstick.
A Pastry Thermometer
We recommend the Polder digital thermometer for most kitchen projects because it has a slew of features, including ultra-fast reading times, which are ideal for candy recipes that require exceptionally precise timing; a clip-on attachment, which allows you to test temperature hands-free; and temperature alert settings, which allow you to keep track of your custards if you happen to walk out of the kitchen. The probe lets you use it on roasts as well as for deep-frying in oil.
Rolling Pin
Sure, a wine bottle would suffice in a hurry, but for flawlessly flaky pie crust and other baked items, we recommend using an actual rolling pin. They’re not huge and that means you can tuck one away for the rare occasion that you need it. If that once-in-a-blue-moon pie turns out grand, you may be reaching for that rolling pin more often.
A Blender: Immersion
A good beginner kitchen does not require an expensive high-powered blender or even a food processor, but some form of blending capability is useful if you want to produce a creamy blended soup, whipped cream, or your own mayonnaise. And that’s where an immersion blender really shines.
Our immersion blender testing indicated that the obvious winner is the All-Clad hand blender, which costs just under $100. If that price is a touch too high, Hamilton Beach’s budget selection can keep up with the pricier All-Clad.
Food Scale
Yes, it is technically possible to live without a dependable scale, but having one will improve your cooking life enormously. And if you bake on the reg, whether it’s preparing your own pizza dough or a special-occasion coconut cake, there’s no doubt you’ll be getting one, if you haven’t got one on the shelf, already.
We don’t always advocate measuring by mass or weight since doing so ignores the varied density of components, and baking necessitates a higher level of precision. It also makes measuring easier in some ways, because you don’t have to deal with a whole gaggle of spoons and cups in myriad sizes—just pop a single large receptacle on the scale, set it, add flour until you hit the number you’re looking for, transfer into your mixing bowl, and move on to the next ingredient. Furthermore, scaling a recipe up or down is much easier when you have grams to deal with rather than working out the ratio between a third of a cup and two teaspoons.
OXO makes a killer stainless steel scale, which includes a backlighted display, fine accuracy and precision, and a removable stainless steel weighing surface. This is our top choice after trying a lot of kitchen scales over the course of many years. It’s kinda pricey, but this is a long haul item. If the price is really holding you back, there are other alternatives. Keep trolling the discount stores and one will show up, especially around the Christmas season.
Salad Spinner
Although it may appear to be a unitasker, a salad spinner, like Liam Neeson, brings a very specific set of abilities to the table. A high-quality one quickly dries out herbs and leafy vegetables, without which your salad greens will be a sloppy mess every time: wet, limp, unappealing, and sadly resistant to harmonious interaction with their dressing. (Yes, you can lay your greens out to dry on a baking sheet or a clean kitchen towel instead, but this is a much more time-consuming option.) The real reason this item is essential: Despite its unitasker appearance, the internal basket can be used as a colander—for cold items only!—until you decide to pony up for the latter.
Thermometer: for the Oven
In theory, adjusting the temperature of an oven should be as simple as pressing a few buttons and waiting for the buzzer. However, many household ovens do not operate at the correct temperature. An inexpensive oven thermometer attached to the rack lets you know whether your oven runs more towards hot or cold. You don’t have to continually check your meal or worry about timing issues. If you’re feeling helpful, you can even attempt recalibrating the oven according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Standard Box Grater
A Microplane is an excellent tool for generating a fine spray of Parmesan, lemon zest, or fresh nutmeg. A box grater, on the other hand, is a lot better bet if you need to shred two pounds of cheese for Daniel’s Classic Baked Mac & Cheese. The Cuisipro took home the gold in our evaluation of the best box graters on the market for its super-sharp etched holes, the larger of which will make quick work of the block of cheddar.
And There You Have It
So concludes our wish list of non-essential kitchen stuff that every cook should consider. These are not must-haves, but they do make cooking just that much more fun. If you have a little extra money laying about, and a little extra storage space in your kitchen, I highly suggest picking up an item, or two, from this list. Happy cooking!!