These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Kitchen Edition!

Whether you’ve been building your kitchen collection for years, or just starting out, I thought I’d share my favorite, must-have kitchen items. The items every home cook should have on hand!

Every kitchen needs to be fully stocked with multi spatulas, spoons, tongs and flippers.

I keep a ton right next to the stove so it’s super easy for me to grab one at a moment’s notice. I adore silicone utensils because you can leave them in a big soup pot, for instance, and they won’t melt. Plus they’re a breeze to clean!

Sharp knives make ALL the difference when it comes to easy cooking prep, and I think a set of good knives is a seriously wise investment.

My favorites include this 6″ chef’s knife – fabulous for cubing food, chopping millions of veggies and cutting raw meat – and paring knives (I got this one at Williams & Sonoma) which are great for slicing apples, cutting mangoes, or any other random, small job. I like to keep 2 or 3 of them on hand.

Oh yes, the lowly can opener gets its own category!

You don’t know how crucial a good can opener is until you have a good one…or bad one! Do yourself a favor and go spend $15 on one of these babies from Williams & Sonoma. You’ll never look book!

I like to have 1 HUGE cutting board for big jobs like chopping up tons of veggies, cutting watermelons, etc., 1 for cutting ONLY meat, and several other plastic ones for quick cutting jobs.

Having a huge variety of sheet pans on hand is the absolute best. Bake millions of cookies AND roast 10lbs of veggies at the same time – whee!

Just make sure to thoroughly dry each pan by wiping it down with a clean towel, or popping it back into a warm oven to dry, to avoid rust. Also, I make it easy on myself by lining them with foil before any roasting job. Makes cleanup so much easier!

Having a ton of different sized pots and pans is really nice, but if you’re just starting your collection, here’s my favorite, must-have items. Flat Top Skillet. Great for making anything from French Toast to burgers.

Medium sized sauce pan. Great for making sauces and a perfect size for making rice or 1-2 servings of pasta.

Small skillet. Great for making eggs and hot sandwiches. Also, this is pretty much the only pot that I would say just get a cheap one from Target. They heat up really quick, which is what I actually really like when making things like eggs!

Dutch Oven. AWESOME for hearty soups, stews and casserole-like dishes such as Shepard’s Pie & Jambalaya. A pricier investment – but they last FOREVER.

For the folks who are only cooking for 1 or 2 people – smaller sized casserole dishes are a MUST!

Ben and I both like leftovers, but sometimes you just don’t feel like eating them for the entire week afterwards. These sized dishes are perfect, because you can halve most normal sized casserole recipes and they’ll fit in perfectly. 

Sure, having a ginormous food processor would be nice, but they’re like $300! This baby was under $40 and is still able to make pretty big sized batches of items like fresh salsa, banana custard,

AND it chops up pesky onions in seconds. Plus it’s dishwasher safe. Key.

The King of all kitchen appliances. I don’t know what I’d do without mine as coming home to the smell of dinner all ready to go is absolutely fantastic! I’d definitely recommend springing for one with a programmable timer and a removable insert.

The appliances that get my “honorable mention” include The Griddler

and my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer!

Neither are 100% necessary, but oh-so-fab to have on hand!

What are a few of your favorite Kitchen items?

In other news, Honeycrisp Apples were on sale at the store today and they are literally the size of my HEAD. Huge!!!!

I had an early, light dinner this evening by slicing one up and pairing it with a sweet, Pineapple Chobani Greek Yogurt.

Yep, I’ve definitely decided – Pineapple Chobani is my #1 FAVE.

It tastes like frosting!!

Plus I like the chunks of pineapple in it.

I never thought I’d say it, but yes, I am stuffed from an apple.

Crazy good!

I had to tear myself away from the apple section at the store, actually, because Ben and I are going to try and go to an apple orchard next weekend and pick our own. Squeal – can’t wait!

Off to go take advantage of the rest of my Sunday! See ya!

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