Five small, indispensable kitchen tools
I like to keep a somewhat minimalist kitchen.
But there are a few things I have in my kitchen that I cannot imagine living without; they make my life easier every single day.
I know that no two home cooks are exactly the same, but if these things are helping me, they miiiiight also help you.
And none of them is particularly expensive.
1. A narrow rubber spatula
A lot of people have the typically-sized spatulas, which are super useful, to be sure!
But I really, really love having a narrow spatula. It's about half the width of a typical spatula, and it is SO useful for getting the last little bit of food out of containers, especially if they have narrow openings.
I use this for various sauce containers (Thai red curry sauce, for example) but most often, I use it to get the last of the peanut butter out of a jar. Since it's narrow, it can fit just fine even if you have a smaller peanut butter jar.
Your frugal heart will be happy about the way this spatula helps you use up ALL the food in a jar/container.
This kind, with a wooden handle, is not my favorite. The wood always gets mildewy for me!
I'd go with an entirely silicone version, like this one.
2. A tiny whisk
I like my big whisks, but a teeny one is so super handy! When I need to whisk up a little bit of salad dressing or a few eggs, I always grab my mini whisk.
I know you can use a fork instead, but that really does not work as nicely as a whisk, especially when it comes to mixing up eggs or egg whites.
You can get these cheap ones for under $4, but in my experience, they rust and bend and just do not hold up well.
So, I think it's worth it to pay a little more for a sturdier version, like this one.
3. Dishcloths
I have big feelings about this. I know it's quite possible to wash dishes without a dishcloth...a kitchen sponge works fine.
But man, there is nothing that is as good for wiping down counters and other things (like appliances) as a dishcloth.
I hate trying to wipe tables and counters with a sponge. It's too small! It's too hard to use for corraling all the little crumbs and such!
So, I will forever and always have a set of cotton dishcloths in my kitchen.
Here are 8 tips for keeping kitchen dishcloths sanitary.
And here's info on how I boil mine every now and again.
4. Kitchen scissors
I am always surprised when people do not have a pair of kitchen scissors!
I find them to be so handy for things like:
- opening food packaging
- snipping herbs or green onions
- cutting pizza
- cutting up little kid food (obviously in my past now!)
Whenever I travel and use a condo/Airbnb kitchen, I always really miss having my scissors.
5. A good vegetable peeler
I know that a knife can work for peeling. But a good peeler is way faster and I think it results in less waste.
I got this little set of Kuhn Rikon peelers with carbon blades in 2013, and mine are still going strong.
They're great for peeling potatoes, squash, carrots, and even mangoes.
(You can also get a single peeler from Kuhn Rikon.)
I use them in a sort of backward way from how I use regular peelers, but it feels so, so comfortable, and I'm super fast with this method.
Do you have a favorite small kitchen item that you'd recommend?
Five small, indispensable kitchen tools
Five inexpensive tools I use almost every day!
Slim Spatula
SO good for scraping the last bits of food out of containers.
Mini Whisk
Perfect for a few eggs, a small batch of salad dressing, or the dry ingredients when you're baking a small batch.
Cotton Dishcloths
The BEST thing for wiping down counters and appliances!
Kitchen Shears
I use mine for herbs, green onions, pizza, food packages, and I also used them a TON when I had small kids, for cutting up their food.
Veggie Peeler
This Y-design is a little weird, but once you adjust to it, there's no going back.
Other than a mini-whisk, which I have, I use each of the others almost daily. Only difference is that dish cloths are not very absorbent so I use hand towels. Yes, I know they belong unused on bathroom towel holders, but they are a necessity to me. I have a few that I rotate.
In fact, because dh and I eat in front of the TV in our comfy chairs, we both have a hand towel there as well. Dh uses his strictly as a napkin since he has a tray table to place his plate on. Mine is a bib between my plate and whatever I use to keep mine steady - usually my Kindle. Serves the purpose.
@Jennifer, I'm so glad to find out there are others out there eating in comfy living room chairs. We do it while watching British murder mysteries. Our dining table is used for incoming and outgoing packages.
@Anne, We eat dinner on giant Fufs--very comfy beanbag chairs--usually while watching sci-fi, fantasy, or playing a PS3 game as a family. The dining table is for breakfast and lunch, when we often play cards as well. 🙂
@Anne, before having kids we ate in front of the TV fairly regularly. I don't know that I want to go back to that lifestyle when my daughter is grown up, though.
@Jennifer, Yes, I definitely use hand towels in the kitchen! They feel so much better to me for drying my hands after doing dishes or cooking.
Kristen may gasp - haha- but I also use a sponge for washing dishes, and I actually cut my sponges in half so they fit better in my hand. I wipe the counters down with the little sponges, too!
@Brooke,
I use hand towels in my kitchen, too. Why should the bathroom get all the good towels?
@Karen A.,
Are giant fuss a name brand of bean bag chairs? I am looking for large bean bag chairs
@Battra92, of course we have to set a decent example for our children. But we're well into retirement and have decided self indulgence is now the order of the day. I have been known to order a really fantastic dessert for my entire lunch in a nice restaurant. All those decades of self control start shedding away. 😀
@JD, Exactly!
I didn’t realize people would intentionally not have kitchen scissors! That’s where we keep our scissors when I was growing up. It took me a long while to figure out I could use them to trim raw meat, though. In more recent years, I have discovered they are great for cutting kale. Much easier for me than a knife on certain greens.
A less than common device that is a must for me is a coffee bean grinder … and I don’t drink coffee. I have a tiny one that I use to grind flax seed for egg replacer (egg allergy). I also have a bigger one that I regularly use to grind brown rice and oats into flour. It was much cheaper than the grain grinders I could find back in the day.
@JenRR,
Oh, yes! I don't drink coffee either, but my bean grinder is a whiz at cutting up the dried herbs from the plants I grow. It will grind whole spices, too. When DH was home, I used it with coffee beans for his coffee.
@JenRR, thanks for the tip! I didn’t know that and they are certainly cheaper than any grain grinders I’ve looked at over the last couple of years.
I don't have a mini-whisk, but otherwise, I own and use the other listed items in my own kitchen. I cannot function without scissors in my kitchen. In fact, I may have a scissors obsession, because I have scissors in almost every room in the house and they absolutely get used. Hopefully, this fact has no relationship to my co-worker's dream that I was trying to kill her with scissors.
What else? My tea strainer, with the very fine mesh. I make iced tea and tea for kombucha from loose leaf tea in a French press, then I pour it through the strainer into a pitcher for leaf-free tea. I also use it to sift powdered sugar onto cakes and cookies, strain fresh lemon juice, and other things I can't think of now. It is old (it was my mother-in-law's) and getting very worn, but has no holes in the mesh, so I keep using it, bumpy/dented mesh and all.
My cooking thermometers. I have one for candy/jelly and one for everything else. I use them both and get much better results than when I guess if it's the right temperature. I didn't pay much for either of them.
@JD, I'm a tea strainer fan too. I forget where I heard or read this, but I've learned that the stuff in tea bags is the dust that's left over after loose-leaf tea is processed. So I buy loose-leaf tea on the rare occasions when I buy tea. (I do tend to get tea regularly as a gift; it's an old-lady thing, I suppose.)
@A. Marie,
That sounds like what I usually see in tea bags - dust-level tea. I drink iced tea daily and make kombucha every two weeks, so I go through a lot of loose leaf tea.
Got a dual ended spatula at Dollar Tree. One end is wider and the other is small & perfect for cleaning out bits from jars. Another tool I would add is the star shaped one for breaking up ground meats while cooking. Never wanted to spend the money on a Pampered Chef one but found that too at Dollar Tree. I too prefer a minimalist kitchen but if you talk electric appliances I can't do without an electric kettle and my toaster/air fry/baking/dehydrator oven.
@Jennifer G, yes I was excited when I found the ground meat tool at the Dollar Tree too!
You can pry my immersion blender (one of my top ten Christmas gifts ever) and my Goodwill 1970s avocado green crock pot from my cold, dead hands!
The blender’s attachments mean it can do whipped cream, etc., in addition to blending soups and smoothies without taking up counter space. My beloved crockpot is the kitchen’s backbone at all times but especially in summer, cooking everything from soup to ribs to fish (in foil packets) to bread to avoid heating up the house. My husband’s low salt, low fat diet means we end up cooking anything that isn’t a salad from scratch, so the crockpot gets a work out! I love my crockpot so much that, when I spotted one just like it at Goodwill, I spent the $3.99 to make sure we had a spare just in case the current one ever wears out.
Thanks for the list; I need to add new spatulas on my shopping list as the old ones have started to break up.
I would add a kitchen scale to the list. Not a must-have, but it makes following recipes so much easier when you can use the weight in addition to volume for measuring. We use it daily for coffee, place the empty paper filter on the scale and measure out the appropriate amount of coffee grounds.
When our twins were little, we had fun measuring out equal amounts of ice creams down to the gram, which cut down on food fights 🙂
@Kristina M., I like a scale too. I also use mine for weighing small items for postage and yarn when knitting or crocheting.
@Kristina M., I agree with the scale idea! That is definitely an essential item in my kitchen. In fact, for me, I would argue it is THE number one essential item. 🙂
@Kristina M., my "kitchen scale" is an old postal scale that takes up to 4 pounds--and is calibrated to give postage rates from back when first class mail was 29 cents. So you can see I've had this scale for a while.
@A. Marie, that's so much fun. I could definitely use one calibrated for postal items, especially when I used to send packages internationally and wanted to avoid huge jumps in package fees.
@Bobi, that's a great idea for yarn as well!
@Natalie K., it's been a game changer for me in how I approach baking.
@Bobi, I have to ask, when/why do you weigh yarn for crocheting? I'm new to crochet and have never weighed my yarn. Is that something I should be doing?
@Danielle L Zecher, sometimes I want to split a ball of yarn into two equal pieces, the most accurate way I've found is to roll into two balls, weigh each until they weigh the same, then cut the connecting yarn. I often use two strands of the same color so this helps assure both balls run out at the same time. Probably not something you really need to know as a newbie, but do be sure you understand about the "weight" of a particular yarn which really refers to its thickness (there are lots of crochet sites that can explain this better than I can, so just google it.)
@Kristina M., Yes, a kitchen scale is essential!
@Bobi, thanks! I've learned the hard way to pay attention to the yarn weight and now I always check what the project calls for and what I'm buying.
That makes total sense about splitting the yarn that way for the things that call for two strands. I've been looking at a bag pattern that does, but wondering how to accomplish the two-strand thing. Thanks for the tip!
I gave up peeling carrots because I read the peel is the most nutritious part. No one has noticed or cared. Granted, we don't eat them raw because no one much likes carrot sticks.
@Rose, just my experience, but raw, full-sized carrots taste a bit bitter, but raw baby carrots are nice and sweet,
Kitchen shears are the bomb. In fact, I've been meaning for a while to tell Kristin @ going country that they're a whole lot quieter than a bread knife for cutting up milk jugs 😉 which I cut in various ways to use not only in the garden, but also for things like collecting used coffee grounds and so forth.
@Karen., Yes, I can see they would be quieter. But probably not as fast, as a long bread knife can cut both sides of the jug at the same time, while shears have to go around the entire diameter, yes?
@kristin @ going country, I think it's a minimal difference. But I also think it could very well be preference and/or splitting hairs. Heh.
There are people who don't have kitchen scissors?? I have an entire utensil holder dedicated to them: kitchen scissors, herb scissors, poultry shears, regular scissors...
And in addition to dishrags, I always keep at least one "dog towel" in the kitchen at all times for cleaning up bigger spills and messes. DH and I always called towels too worn for bathroom use "dog towels" because we used them for wiping down our two dogs at the door on rainy or snowy days--and the name persisted long after our dogs went over the Rainbow Bridge.
@A. Marie, We call ours "rag towels" (no dogs here 😉 ) and keep them in the garage to wipe down the cars, though some make it back into the house for messy jobs.
@A. Marie, Yes, but do you have quail egg scissors? A neighbor who has dozens of quail is always giving us quail eggs and once I gave in and bought a pair I did not cringe when gifted quail eggs.
@Lindsey, quail egg scissors? I think Martha Stewart should know about these. 🙂
@Lindsey, Quail eggs scissors?! I get quail eggs frequently from my friend/neighbor, and I have decided that I will only hard boil them. But perhaps I should research these scissors.
I would add a cheese slicer and grater. We use both even though we often buy pre-sliced or grated cheese. There are times when having a slicer and/or a grater can save money if you don't mind the work.
And, I'm biased because I'm a knitter, but hand-knit cotton dishcloths are the absolute best for washing both dishes and counters.
@Bobi, I don't use a grater because I usually end up grating a fingertip or a knuckle--but I'm loyal to my (thrifted, of course) KitchenAid cheese slicer.
@A. Marie, After slicing off my fingertip with a mandolin slicer (the hand guard is there for a reason - I recommend using it), I got a cut- resistant glove that I wear when using a grater. Much safer!
@A. Marie, we don't use traditional graters, we have one of those crank-style graters like restaurants use and it's great! (Excuse the pun.) Lost a few knuckles myself before we switched.
I have all of these! The only one I don't use very often is the whisk.
My favorite small kitchen tools:
-Jar gripper pads for opening things - I use these so often that I leave them on the counter!
-olive oil pouring nozzle
-dish brush for washing my smoothie cups
-not quite as small, but having a blender with smoothie cups instead of a large blender with so many pieces to clean. This is a game changer, so much easier!
I have several different shape, sizes of spatulas. Some are for cooking, others for getting the last drop out of a bottle or jar. Love them although some of them get "sticky" even when freshly washed.
My single most used item, however, seems to be my USB powered Cuisinart. I think it's two cups or so. It chops and grinds without having to plug it in, so I can place it anywhere I need in the kitchen (we also have an electricity issue that means we can't use multiple anything plugged in). I can easily chop or grind veggies, fruits, nuts, spices, whatever. Easy cleanup.
Kitchen scissors: We have multiples because we are always using and sometimes need more than one while prepping.
Various sizes of glass Pyrex bowls for prepping and storing food, and, on occasion serving and eating. Four different sizes, with tops. We only use plastic containers to store leftovers in the freezer.
My long grater for garlic, lemon and other peels, cheese. The long rectangle size allows us to balance over bowls and more easily distribute the shavings.
An induction cooktop. Not strictly speaking a utensil, but...We were without gas for over a year in our apartment building. During that time we got one of those one-pot, adjustable temp induction tops. Initially we had to invest in a few pots/pans that would work but this worked so well that we did NOT rehook up our old gas stove. (Another reason? We saw a close to $40 reduction in our electric/gas bill when the stove was not in use for that year. Clearly, since we did not use multiple burners, multiple times, we were being overcharged for the gas usage. Is it a pain when you have multiple items to cook? Yes, somewhat because our outlet setup does not support using two of these at the same time, but we are rarely flat-out cooking on it. The microwave is our workhorse.)
To be clear, that was a $40 A MONTH reduction. A substantial amount. Our electricity did not go up at all with the use of the induction burner.
@Irena,
That's an amazing reduction! No wonder you stuck with your induction unit.
I adore my 1959 pink gas stove, but I reeeeeeally loved using BFF's induction cooktop. So easy! Easy to clean and the simmer setting worked perfectly! Sometimes I get the gas so low trying to simmer on my stove the flame gets snuffed out. Sigh, we have to suffer for the 1950s beauty.
Anyone who is thinking about new kitchen range, seriously, try an induction, they are GREAT.
@Irena, I hate chopping onions, and like them finely chopped, and so a mini food processer like Cuisinart is a must-have in my kitchen! I use mine constantly for onions and other things.
I would add one detail re: the kitchen shears-- invest in a pair that come apart at the hinge! That one minor difference makes ALL the difference; they're easier to keep clean and easier to dry which prevents rust and getting icky in the hinge area.
@Leslie, oh, mercy, yes. This is especially important for poultry shears.
Oh goody, kitchen talk! My five:
--Box grater. I use the big holes for soft cheese and vegetables, the smaller holes for Parmesan, and the smallest holes for nutmeg and citrus zest. I even use the mandolin blade on the side occasionally for making scalloped potatoes. Get a sturdy one. Nothing is more disheartening than a cheap box grater that bends under pressure.
--Wooden spoon. I have one my husband carved for me when we lived in northern New York that has a flattened edge good for scraping along the bottom of a pot. I use it ALL the time. Again, sturdy is key. I'm hard on kitchen things, and have broken wooden spoons before.
--Paring knife. I often have small and oddly shaped vegetables or fruit (potatoes, apples, kohlrabi) that can't easily be peeled with a vegetable peeler. I am very fast with a paring knife after many years of practice. I still use a vegetable peeler when I can, but it doesn't always work.
--A set of stainless steel mixing bowls with lids. I bought a relatively inexpensive set of five graduated sizes online a few years ago, and I LOVE them. Especially with the lids. The only downside is they can't be microwaved, but that's minor.
--Immersion blender. I resisted this for YEARS, because I avoid buying more things with cords, but I use it allll the time. For blending hot things in a pot, of course--soup, fruit for jam, sweet potatoes--but also for making whipped cream (it will overwhip it quickly if I'm not careful, though) or an individual milk shake for a sick child or a little bit of pureed tomatoes. Very handy.
I could go on, because of course I have Many Opinions on kitchenware, but I'll stop there. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, My old hand blender could stand upside down when I had to pause during using it, because it had a flat top. My new one does not, and it is frustrating to have to find a place to lay it down. Just a small note if you have to replace yours!
My godparents gave us a set of Revere Ware kettles for our wedding gift and that included the stainless steel bowls with plastic lids. Very handy.
Indispensable Kitchen Tools - the Arthritis Edition
1. Jar opener, the kind that has openings for various size lids
2. VERY sharp knife - cuts down on hand fatigue
3. Good cushioned mat to place on floor in front of stove. (Many stores now sell these, makes standing at stove for a long time much easier on back and feet.)
4. OXO brand kitchen tools - these are a little more $, but high quality and specially designed for ease of use.
5. Strawberry hull tool and cherry pitter. For a person with hand/thumb arthritis, these are wonderful!
@Kathy L, YES! Love OXO tools, even though we do not have arthritis, they are just more comfortable.
@Kathy L, yes to all of the above! Although I’m still looking at anti-fatigue mats until I find one I like. So many designs now to choose from. I also have hand/thumb arthritis & have had to invest in a number of kitchen items to make life easier. I would also suggest an electric knife. It’s great for ham, turkey, roasts or any meat you need to slice or carve into smaller pieces.
@Kathy L, Zyliss 5 way opener is a fantastic tool and helps open ring pull tins and to break the seal of jar lids so that they’re easier to open. It’s one of my best ever presents.
I just use a paring knife to slice the top from strawberries.
I also have a tool specifically for taking the cork from champagne bottles, because I’m extra 😉 and my wrists don’t always have the strength to do it.
I do not like using a peeler but other than that I have and use all of the items mentioned.
Other small handy items: my one cup tea strainer so I can drink loose leaf tea (dry upside down to get rid of those last annoying leaves) and a non dishwasher safe German peeling knife / pairing knife (Herder Solingen). It has a wooden handle and it will rust if not handwashed immediately after use. But boy is it sharp - sharper than any knife I know. It is the same brand as my late father's pocket knife, he used his intensively for jobs in his garden and around the house and he would sharpen it with a stone.
We always bring our kitchen knife to holidays, because holiday homes only ever seem to have blunt knives.
Re: dishtowels. One lesson I took from my wild youth, some of which I spent bartending at a jazz club in Greenwich Village: bar mops! I keep a whole pile of them handy and use them to wipe up everything and then some. The feeling of having a whole pile at hand is luxury for simple people like me. They go right in the wash and every so often they go in the hot water/bleach cycle, and when they get too stained they go to the rag bucket where they are useful forever.
Very absorbent, always clean because I change them out constantly, and it makes this old lady in Vermont feel just a little "hard core" and profligate.
@Cynthia, You've sold me! : )
@Cynthia, what is the difference between a bar mop and a traditional dish towel? Size? Type of fabric?
What a fun list! It makes me feel like a real cook, which I am not.
Absolutely yes on kitchen scissors, (The Big Red Scissors when I was growing up). Aside from always knowing where a pair of scissors is, they work best on chopping green onions. And yes on a narrow rubber scraper, to clean out jars. In Home Economics, we had to learn the difference between rubber scraper, spatula, and pancake turner, maybe one more.
I find it funny that in the past few years, big whisks have become so much in vogue in recipes. "Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt" has replaced "sift the dry ingredients together." I can see where they could be more effective for combining wet and dry ingredients.
I love my garlic press and bench scraper. Neither is a necessity but they are inexpensive and make a world of a difference in our kitchen. I agree with you on the dish cloths, how do you get all the crumbs with a sponge?
@Cat, I hate my garlic press! I don't know what it is, but there is something about it that annoys me greatly. I loooooove big jars of fresh minced garlic. My daughter, who also uses a food scale when baking, eyeroll, eyerolls my minced garlic. I also prefer to buy my parmesan already grated or shredded. She eyerolls that too. Sorry, Julia Child. I dunno, those two tasks BUG me. I feel like a 1950s housewife going bug-eyed with joy about the release from drudgery.
Yes to the scissors, whisk, and peelers. Hard no to the dishcloths. I like a mini spatula, but even better i like my small plastic spoon with a bend in the handle so the ladle part is offset about 45 degrees from the handle. Even better than the mini spatula for cleaning out small jars of sauces and the last of the nut butter!
Also, my microplane for citrus zest, ginger, and garlic. And a kitchen scale-mine folds up to be very small.
> cutting up little kid food (obviously in my past now!)
Oh you say that now but remember, some times these things come back around. Granted at that stage it won't be an every single day thing but more regular than you might expect.
Also, if you don't use a vegetable peeler, I just will start to question you on a lot of other choices.
Hello,
I'm with you on the narrow/long spatula.
Two do dad's I must have:
A mini hand held voice recorder ( weird I know but hear me out)
Not only do I use it for writing brain waves on the fly and reminders to myself, but I also use it to dictate weekly grocery lists and meal ideas as I stare into the abyss of my pantry and fridge to figure out what I need. Paper lists don't do it for me, I'll forget them at home every time.
The other is my kitchen timer.
I'm a notorious multi tasker and unless I've got something to remind me that I've got food in the oven or on the stove (ideally something as loud as a rampaging rhino would work best so I can wander farther away from my kitchen...yes, I'll admit it...I'm not someone who relishes being chained to the stove) I will forget everytime. The timer saves me from the embarrassment of burnt offerings for dinner.
@April, Oh my gosh, YES to the kitchen timer! I use the one on my stove unit (loudest), and I have a manual one as well; many times I need them both as different items cooking have different finish times. I also keep a kitchen timer upstairs, to remind me, for example, when colouring my hair and 35 minutes has passed.
I would not include the tiny whisk (because I use a fork instead), but the other four items are essential to me. I would list a sharp parring knife as the fifth. These don't cost a lot of money.
Kitchen scissors should also be very sharp and can be used to cut the backbone out of a chicken.
The other essential is a cheap oven thermometer. Most ovens I've used are off by plus or minus 50 degrees. A $10 oven thermometer tells you what temp the oven really is and that knowledge will save your granola.
@Rebekah in SoCal, I know you mean that literally but I like the idea of using “that really saved my granola” as a phrase everyday life!
My mini food chopper comes to mind! Love it for nuts, especially. Also if there’s a dish where I want the onions/peppers/whatever really finely minced, I’ll use it then, too. It’s Cuisinart and less than $35. I bought four at Christmas for daughters and daughter-in-law!
I don't think it's possible to cook anymore without the scissors! So many packages to open! I try to be mindful of packaging but there is only so much I can control.
I love all of your picks and I would add a mini rubber spatula and small tongs. I use these all the time!
Here are my five but I agree with many others posted here:
1. Digital instant-read thermometer. DD27 said it is one of the most useful kitchen items I have ever given her.
2. Kitchen shears. My late mother had the Cutco shears that came apart for washing. I have no idea which of my siblings ended up with them. I use the pair that came with my knife block
3. Vegetable peeler
4. Wusthof Chef's knife - 6 inch
5. Flat whisk - stainless steel. Not sure it works any better than the traditional whisk. I think I saw the Pioneer Woman use one?
I love all your choices, and agree on all of them. I have a lot of dishcloths, because I go through one or two every day, hang them up to dry and then wash with towels. Sponges are little debris and germ traps, even if you rinse/nuke in microwave.
I would add an immersion blender, because I use mine several times a week. I quit buying bottled salad dressings years ago because you can whip up a fresh one in less than three minutes with your choice of healthy ingredients. As others pointed out, also useful for pureeing soups, whipping a little cream, breaking up tomatoes, etc. (I dislike big chunks of tomatoes in soups and stews).
Other good things: the box grater (never never buy pre-grated cheese!), digital thermometer and scale (they take up almost no space), and a quality manual can opener. Not including basic necessities like good knives and boards . . . .
I downsized my kitchen years ago-I used to collect kitchen tools. No more. I found there were many things taking up valuable real estate that rarely got used. Off to Goodwill they went! Now I only have the tried-and-true stuff.
@Janie H, I'm in on the immersion blender (or, as the Two Fat Ladies naughtily called it, the "kitchen vibrator"). It's essential for vichyssoise or any other soup requiring blending. And it's a lot less trouble than having a full-size food processor.
A hamburger chopped it my cheap small kitchen tool I won't be without.
I have this one. https://amzn.to/3WX1Unn
I have and use all the things you listed. I use the kitchen shears on all sorts of food items, including raw meat. One other thing that I can't imagine not having is parchment paper. It's a fairly new "must have" for me, but now I use it for anything that goes in the oven.
I agree and have ALL of these. I'd add stretch plastic wrap.
I use all your fave five too! Also love a tiny brush that came with a metal drinking straw but is perfect for cleaning the attachment hole in the paddle of the bread machine. Due to arthritis in my hands, I use the bread machine to make bread and pizza dough now.
Oxo Good Grips knives are all I use now, and there's an old Chicago Cutlery steel we use to keep the blades in tip-top shape.
@Ruby, I've heard positive reviews about Oxo knives. The one thing my husband said he wanted from my Dad's home when we cleared it out was Dad's bread knife. It is a Chicago Cutlery one, and I cannot believe how much better it works than the cheap ones we used before. I didn't expect this much difference.
I like my short offset butter knife that fits handily in the saucer with the butter too, to prevent any long table knives left behind for the next person to use…tilted on the dish they invariably fall off leaving a greasy mess. I’d like an offset icing knife for frosting cakes too but I don’t frost many cakes any more.
I love my Pampered Chef mix n chop. I use it for things like crumbling sausage for our scrambled eggs and crushing frozen orange juice concentrate.
Also, as a parent of little ones... you can cut far more than just pizza with a pizza cutter! They are a game- changer for waffles and pancakes.
I like those peelers! I only started using a Y-shaped peeler a few years ago, but now I love them. Ours isn't in great shape, so thanks for the links for yours since we'll probably be replacing it soon.
I can't imagine life without my garlic press. I have the ATK-recommended one, and I love it.
Dish towels are my other must-have. I'm a very messy cook, so I like that they're a lot bigger than the dishcloths. I seem to go through multiple dish towels a day. I've started packing some when we go on vacation because the VRBO rentals seem to only have a couple.
I have all of these with a couple of exceptions. I love my old school Pampered Chef potato peeler. I will not use another one. It is efficient, easy to hold and gets peelings off quickly. I love my kitchen shears for making quick work of cutting up a rotisserie chicken. I have never used them to cut up pizza though - thanks for the idea!
I feel SO compelled to get a narrow rubber spatula now. It just seems like a good idea.
I have those same scrubby dish towels - from a subscription service that I'm now wondering if I heard about here...probably.
I think the small kitchen tools I value and use most are:
-OXO tongs (going strong for almost 20 years!)
-Wustof santoku knife
-OXO box grater
-stainless steel colander (one-and-done type of buy)
-Pyrex bowls and rectangular containers with lids
-mason jars
-microfiber rags/towels
I'm still looking for the perfect sponge/brush for hand washing dishes so if anyone has a beloved, I'm all ears! I have a few I *like* but none that I *LURVE*.
Love the slim spatulas for narrow jars! I bought a set of very slim silicone spatulas that also included two teeny ones for cosmetics. It helps me get every last bit of cream out of the jars/tubes. They have a slim metal end as well that I use to scoop the rest of the lipstick/lip balm/other stick makeup that is left in the base of the stick into a small container to use it ALL up.
Our other favorite tool, the butter bell. I hate trying to spread cold butter on things and our butter bell keeps the butter safely spreadable at room temperature. During the summer we change the water more often and use cold water from the fridge, and never had an issue even when the weather outside is hot.
I could not do without kitchen shears either. I have three pair. Once upon a time cake mixes, potato chips, etc. used to be easy to open, or are they harder to open because I've aged? Surely not!
I use chop sticks for a lot of things, usually a single one to stir the sugar in my tea or the milk in my chai latte or run through soft egg curds in a skillet. Making pancake batter for one in a Pyrex measuring cup, the chopstick insures that I get it all of the mix from around the bottom of the cup.
Victorinox paring knives. I have five. It is not unusual to have them all dirty at once. I have a very good electric knife sharpener that keeps them with a sharp edge. Otherwise, I had learned from my Dad how to use a whetstone. That's a little more tedious
Schwan's ice cream spade. More torque than a spoon or scoop.
Waterproof digital instant read thermometer with a magnet on the back. Always handy on the fridge.
@Chrissy, speaking of knife sharpeners, I inherited my mother's old "Rolo" rolling knife sharpener--a 1950s artifact if ever there was one. But here I am in 2023, still using it.
I am anything but a minimalist, but almost everything is thrifted/estate sale-d, even my lovely SS All Clad pans. (I don't care much for single use items, though.) I've been batch cooking in preparation for a visit to meet our newest grandbaby. Like a good grandmother, I will arrive with at least a week's worth of home cooked meals. This means I have used a lot of implements recently. I love when I have everything I need. Of course, I have everything on your list, many in multiple sizes, lol.
Reading the comments has given me an idea. The fancypants 36" gas range that came with our house is lovely, but there is no simmer function on any of the SIX burners! I wonder if a single induction burner would fill that gap inexpensively? I love to cook things on simmer to develop deep flavors. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for one. Thanks!
I have those dish clothes in a different color! I love them so much..I think they came in a subscription box that I used to get because of your reviews. Brings me joy to see them in the post.
Small sharp knife.
Small silicone tipped tongs.
Bag clips. Easy to close an open bag of potatoes chips. Or chocolate chips.
Small microfiber cloths. They make great napkins as well as kitchen cloths and cleaning cloths. You can tuck one into a Swiffer mop instead of buying disposable cloths. So easy to wash and reuse. I have different colors for cleaning and kitchen use, though.
Immersion blender. I could do without almost everything else (not including, of course, my Kitchen Aide mixer) but not the blender.
Skinny spatula for the win! Mine just broke and I was feeling a little panicky inside....
I agree with most of your indispensables, but I don't like big, floppy dish cloths for dishwashing (I do use cleaning rags we make out of old T-shirts for counters, wiping the table, etc). In the past I used a name brand kitchen sponge with a scrubby side, but I have learned they are an environmental disaster. So now I knit my own dishcloths out of cotton yarn--but small, about the size of a commercial sponge, and get a product called Euroscrubby for scrubbing purposes. They, too, are about sponge-sized. I love to knit and the dishcloths are the perfect portable mindless knitting project. You can never have enough dishcloths, but I give them away, too.
The dishcloths I knit cost very little (I use KnitPicks brand Dishie yarn) and they wear like iron. I use a linen stitch which is a little nubby and helps with cleaning the dishes, but the cotton is gentle on surfaces, too. The Euroscrubbies are made from cotton and the piles are stiffened with a "non-plastic" substance (tree resin). But they last a long time (I have only replaced a 3 pack once in about 2 years) and I throw both the handknit dishcloths and the Euroscrubbies in the regular wash. I love that there's little to no waste and I'm not adding more plastic to the environment. Plus I have a ton of hand knit dishcloths so I can change them out as often as I wish and don't end up with stinky cloths.
Another indispensable item in my kitchen is a small hand grater for Parmesan cheese, citrus rind, etc. I have a large grater for lots of cheese (or toss it into my food processor and just chop the cheese into small bits), but the little hand grater is used a lot more often.
Reading other people's comments, I also have metal mesh tea infusers at home and at my office. I buy only loose teas these days (NOTE: Don't buy a pound of chamomile flowers unless you have a LOT of friends--ask me how I know). It's much less expensive than tea bags and I learned that the "paper" tea bags have microplastics. I have some very cute little plates to hold the tea thing after steeping, too. I compost the wet tea leaves.
I have those same Kuhn Rikon peelers and love them! I've even given them as gifts.
Other kitchen favorites...
Victorinox 4 set paring knives in orange, green, yellow and pink-a bright splash of color. They stay sharp and make me happy
eight cup pyrex measuring bowl-I use this daily it seems
A fish spatula-probably one of my most used kitchen tools
And maybe a strange one-binder clips in different sizes. I use them to close up frozen veggies, chips and any other open bags. Also use them to hold a recipe, keep the garbage can liner in, and a myriad of other uses.
Kristin, I hope today is going OK for you! `A`ohe loa i ka hana a ke aloha (:
I would be lost without my trusty paring knife, and mesh strainer. I did buy the small spatula scraper thingie a while back when you mentioned it. I keep all of those type things in one of those ceramic crocks that live on the counter - no more digging thru drawers!
I bought the mini whisk when you previously posted about it. Sooo much better than the cheapy ones. It's a pleasure to use and was worth the money for me. I especially like it for mixing hot chocolate mix into milk.
Narrow spatulas and dish clothes are definitely in my top 5. And I recently started using the Y peeler to shave thin slices of cheese of the block for cheese and crackers or sandwiches.
My other favorites: A wooden citrus reamer, a microplane grater, toast tongs (I never had those until recently and now I use them almost every day), a flat whisk for making sauces, a silicone egg mold for making a fried egg that fits perfectly on an english muffin, and one of those egg slicer contraptions which I use to "chop" eggs and slice veggies. I am not opposed to single-use gadgets so long as they are used frequently.
One of my husband’s aunties gave everyone a mini-spatula like that. She passed them out with the same speech about getting the last of things out of jars. I thought it was such a thoughtful gift. I use it all of the time and always think of her when I do. Small but very useful things like this are also a great gift!
I am with you on dishcloths. I can switch my dishcloth out several times a day and run them through the washing machine. I dislike sponges, they always seem gross to me.
Funnels are a must for me. Not only in the kitchen, but all around the house, they can transfer liquids from one container to another. I buy soda pops from the company breakroom for 30 cents a can, but often I don't drink the whole thing. So I bring them home and use a funnel to pour it into a 20-ounce bottle. This keeps it fizzy for later on. I also transfer other products -- ketchup, hand sanitizers, shampoos, liquid soaps, you name it. Secondly, I have a gadget called "the little green man," so named because it looks like a green plastic stick figure, which opens and closes various lids and caps. It'll close the above-mentioned soda pop bottle really tight to keep it fizzy, and when I can't open such a tight cap, it opens it for me. It also pops the lid off a snap-on jelly jar the first time after you buy it. Third, I have a silicone jar opener for larger lids, too. Fourth, I have a plastic lid designed for putting on top of a soda can. It keeps the contents fizzy and prevents spillage. And finally, I have an off-brand Keurig-like coffee maker and in order to save money on the pods, I have a refillable pod. Using it, I can just buy cans or bags of coffee and spoon the amount for an individual serving into the DIY pod each time. Then I can empty the spent grounds into a large yogurt container and close the lid; when it's full, the grounds go into the garden compost. It's always nice to recycle!
@Fru-gal Lisa, I am a funnel user too. How on earth do people function without them?
Interesting to read all the comments! I’ve been in the process of weeding out from the kitchen drawers for the last year. It’s real nice to get stuff from the family when buying a house, but often there is a reason why they are happy to get the things out of their own house 😉
Yes to the narrow spatula! I have one from Tupperware, only thing I could afford buying when invited to a party nearly twenty years ago.
Other necessities are my Victorinox knives and Stasher bags.
I prefer a dish brush and I’ve tried to switch it out with a wooden one to cut the plastic but I haven’t found one yet that work as well. The plastic one have a sharp edge that’s perfect for scrubbing the cast iron frying pan.
Also I couldn’t been without my long, metal tweezers.
I love the Skoy Scrubs from The Container Store! https://www.containerstore.com/s/kitchen/sink-under-sink/skoy-scrubs/12d?productId=11001503&country=US¤cy=USD&cid=cse%7CPMAX%7CGoogle%7CTCSP_X_US_EN_Kitchen_PMAX_X_18786525748___en%7C&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=pla&adpos=&scid=scplp10065476&sc_intid=10065476&gclid=CjwKCAjwg-GjBhBnEiwAMUvNWzv5Mcl9Nq7f4rhv5QP_fVo0FkLNtCy3xHxC9TPUD5lSfyjEjPLj4RoCb_YQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Resounding YES:
1. thin (all silicone) spatulas
2. mini whisks
3. Kitchen scissors -- I use them all the time
4. Peelers - mine is from Rada and its is truly the first kitchen tool that I think may last my entire life.
5. I am 100% team sponge, and paper towels for counter cleanup, so I would sub mini tongs... nice for taco bars, chef salad night... anything that has small bowls of optional condiments.
Great list!
Barmops - those are my paper towel alternative. I keep a basket full on my counter so there’s no excuse. Also great as napkins, wiping little faces, spaghetti bib..
I really love my avocado knife. My sister bought it for me after an unfortunate guac making incident. This knife won't cut you when you are handling slippery avocados, it has a feature that takes out the core. I use this at least weekly, sometimes daily. I also use a tiny grater to put freshly grated ginger on so many things.
Our kitchen wouldn’t feel complete without scissors, vegetable peeler, whisks and multiple widths of spatulas.
They’re all used frequently.
We do usually use sponges for dishes but we cut standard small sponges into quarters to get more “ mileage” from them.
I do use cloths to scrub counters and table though.
I always say a pair of good scissors would be my one item I would need if I was stranded on a desert island. And cotton dish cloths and a spatula are my loves, as well. My Oxo peeler is fine, but I might have to think about a tiny whisk. Your articles are fun to read. Love the action photos.
i use bar mops for wiping things. i love them and they come in beautiful colors.
Who doesn’t have kitchen scissors?!? I once made a salad, including ‘chopping’ lettuce and tomatoes, with only kitchen scissors (we moved and I forgot the ‘handy place’ I’d packed the kitchen knives).
I like tongs but the ones where the loop slides up and down to tighten them and not the ones that you pull out the end. That way I can use them one handed.
Many tea pigs or strainers, a device for opening champagne bottles (realistically cava usually), and really good knives. If we stay self catering anywhere I take my knives.
Not much on tiny whisk, but yes! to others. You will have to pry from my cold dead hands. I also love a little serrated bowl shaped tool for coring tomatoes, strawberries, tomatillos, etc. I use that or a grapefruit spoon to scoop seeds from melons, papaya. I prefer cloth napkins for dining so keep a stack stained and worn on the counter for hand, counter wiping, drying vegetables. After washing and draining berries, I line the plastic box with one of my old napkins and store the berries back in container.
OMG I am with you for four out of five - but the dishcloths aren't for me... And also, I will now need to peel a mango with a peeler - i've never tried!!