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| Things Every Kitchen Needs |
Easy chopper
While a food processor is a must for big jobs, it can be a pain to clean. Quickly chop onions in uniform pieces and save the tears for a good romantic flick, with fresh salsa and chips on the side.
Vegetable peeler
Beside the obvious carrots, vegetable peeler are great for getting thin slices of cheese and those picture perfect curls of chocolate you see in magazines.
Basic Mandoline
Need to slice or julienne something in very uniform thickness? So quick. So easy. So cheap. So easy to skim off the end of your finger – please make sure to use the hand guard! So something you should get.
Cheese Grater with multiple grating sizes
Often a regular grate size will do – but if you want something fine (ie melting parmesan over polenta), you’ll want a finer grater. Do it all with one, keeping your drawer uncluttered.
A food processor
Honestly, this has to be one of the most used tools in my kitchen. From tomato sauce to guacamole to bread crumbs to just about everything else
A Good set of Mixing Bowls
Really, you don’t need a ton of these but a good set with about 3 to 5 bowls is excellent. Shoot for high edges and deep bowls to help keep stuff inside when mixing, blending, beating, pureeing, mashing, etc… If they’re too shallow you’ll end up with more food stuffs on your counter than in the bowl. Which is great if you want to eat off the counter. But I’m guessing most of your don’t.
GOOD quality olive oil
Trust me. The stuff you generally get at the grocery store is a joke. Think about tomatoes and the ones you get in Winter from the grocer compared to the ones grown locally in the Summer. It’s that kind of difference. And it’s that difference that separates a decent dish from a great one.
A GOOD chopping knife
Keep it sharp. And you can do anything from julienne kohlrabi to dice apples to chop bread to dispense of that unwanted and annoying noisy neighbor. I didn’t just say that. Seriously though – out of all the things on this list: Spend the money and get yourself the best chopping knife money can buy.
A Great Sink
Accessories such as an integrated colander and a sliding cutting board make working there more efficient.
Integrated Refrigeration
Creating cabinet facades to hide refrigeration units gives me a tremendous amount of design freedom. By eliminating a large, boxy element, I can make a kitchen feel more room-like.
