Favorite Kitchen Equipment and Tools - Things that make kitchen work fun and/or easier

[CallmeCicada]

Post stuff that you have in your kitchen that you can't live without after using it. Try not to post obvious or common items like pots/knives/cutting boards unless you are recommending a specific kind/brand because it has great quality/utility (e.g. Dutch oven). I picked some humble & inexpensive items that I use almost everyday that make cooking/cleaning easier:

- Oven thermometer: often your ovens built in thermometer might not be working correctly. Everyone should have these especially if you bake bread or desserts so you know your real oven temp, plus it is cheap.
- Immersion Blender: amazing multi-tool you can use it make soups, sauces and even an impromptu spice grinder with the standard blade. If you have one with attachable components like a whisk and food processor even better. I prefer this over a dedicated food processor/blender because it just easier to clean up because I can just blend right in the vessel I am already mixing or cooking my ingredients.
- Permanent marker: easiest way to label things and everyone should label their stuff because eventually you will forget what something is/when you cooked it.
- Deli cups: it's free real-estate. I have never bought these in my life, I just re-use the ones I get from restaurants and I use them to store almost everything. I use these more often than my glass jars because they stack/store easier and are freezer safe. Plus when you don't want to use them anymore they are still useful to store non-food items and simple to recycle.
- Bar Keepers Friend: if you have uncoated cookware get this. It will make your pots shine like you just bought them, plus it is also just a good multi purpose house cleaner.
- French Press, easiest and cheapest way to make the best tasting coffee and it can also make tea just as good. Plus a friend showed me you can even use it froth milk in a pinch for a latte.
- Melamine Sponge: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser without the branding up charge, dirt cheap in comparison and literally the same product.





My personal favorite kitchen utensil to use though is my tofu press, it's a lot of work soaking, grinding, cooking, straining and curdling the soy beans. But by the time I pour the curds in the box and pull out my tofu block I am always smiling ear to ear. It's so fun and it tastes better than the store bought tofu because it actually has a taste (lol) and will even taste different depending on what curdling agent you use. Plus the Japanese cypress wood the box is made of smells so good, I can tell why they use it in the hot springs in Japan.

 

[polar bear]

Mine might sound very obvious to most, but am a bit less experienced and these utensils genuinely helped me a lot:
- silicone spatulas. I used to use mainly wooden utensils, but they'd get a bit gross after some time - I am glad I made the switch, much more neat
- tongs - I only bought them like 2 years ago, and fucking hell, they make frying meats so much easier. Plus you get to do the 'click click' thing and it's very satisfying
- kitchen scissors - for herbs, cutting off fat, or anything else that is easy to cut and you don't want to dirty up a knife and a cutting board

 

[Judge Holden]

 

[Grub]

I know you said not this but honestly a good, sharp chef's knife and a good frying pan will go a long way. Most of the other stuff is unnecessary bullshit.

If you have a shitty frying pan, you will struggle to cook good, evenly cooked food and if you have a shitty knife you will struggle to prepare your food and you'll have shitty unevenly sized food that won't cook consistently.

To keep on the theme of the thread and post something a little less standard. My mortar and pestle are pretty awesome. I make all kinds of spice mixes and pastes and shit with it. I've used it to make homemade mustard and different kinds of curry powders and shit like that. It's a nice big granite one so I can pound the shit out of things with it.

 

[Unnecessary Surgery Land]

Love this thing

 

[Milles d'Allemagne]

My air fryer. A counter top convection oven is just superior to heating the whole kitchen making food for a single person. Also replaces some cooking I would otherwise do on the stove.

Also knives sharpeners. Or just keep buying shitty knives and chucking them every few months, i dont give a shit. Just dont make me cut onions with a 'knife' that essentially feels like mashing with a fork.

 

[Mr Bones Wild Ride]

silicone spatulas.

Second this - most of my stuff (unless it's for the BBQ) is silicone or wood

My favourite things:
KitchenAid cold brew coffee maker

I love cold coffee (even in winter) so making it myself saves me money.
Also 0 risk of accidentally getting sugar syrup (sugar in coffee = ) or the wrong milk.

T2 Infuser Jug

Tea infuser - use it for herbal/fruit teas so I can drink them cold.

Snapware glass containers

Excellent for meal prep and leftovers.

Oxo pop tops

Keeps things organised and free from pests.
Anything that gets opened from its original packaging goes into one of these bad boys.
At an old apartment, I got an infestation of something and had to throw away ALL of my dry food because whatever it was got into everything. Haven't had this problem occur since putting everything into separate sealable containers.

 

[The Cheese Aisle]

-Pressure cooker: significantly reduces cooking time for single ingredients like rice, and one-pot meals

-Food processor: why chop food when machine chop for you

-Sous vide: I mainly use this to hot water thaw meat quickly, I don’t cook with it much lately

-Hand mixer: if you like to bake, your forearms will thank you. I tried whipping something by hand once and immediately bought a mixer. I would love a stand mixer one day so I don’t have to sit there for several minutes

-For fun, milk frother: I like my little drinkie drinks

 

[Phalanges Mycologist]

Cast Iron bred tin, a HEAVY one these things cook bread like nothing else I've ever tried I like baking a loaf every now an then and I came across a few of these from a really old fashioned industrial bakery and they are hands down winners and great if your doing stuff like terrines.

One skill I preach anywhere is to learn to care for your knife an sharpen it, honestly this is simple to learn to do and will save time effort and injury at the very least.

Another good one to have to hand is a old fashioned Can opener that you can punch a hole in the top twice with and drain out your can before you open it honestly great when you want to get most of the oil out of a can of olives, or the water out of tinned chickpeas etc.

 

[CallmeCicada]

I know you said not this but honestly a good, sharp chef's knife and a good frying pan will go a long way. Most of the other stuff is unnecessary bullshit.

If you have a shitty frying pan, you will struggle to cook good, evenly cooked food and if you have a shitty knife you will struggle to prepare your food and you'll have shitty unevenly sized food that won't cook consistently.

To keep on the theme of the thread and post something a little less standard. My mortar and pestle are pretty awesome. I make all kinds of spice mixes and pastes and shit with it. I've used it to make homemade mustard and different kinds of curry powders and shit like that. It's a nice big granite one so I can pound the shit out of things with it.

No problem, you're completely right. A good knife and pan are enough to do a lot of things especially if you're skilled. But about the knife I would argue that it is more important to have a knife stone to sharpen your knife because even a cheap and low quality knife can be honed into a better knife than most you could buy if you have a good stone set. It's one of the things I believe you should splurge on for your kitchen.

 

[Grub]

No problem, you're completely right. A good knife and pan are enough to do a lot of things especially if you're skilled. But about the knife I would argue that it is more important to have a knife stone to sharpen your knife because even a cheap and low quality knife can be honed into a better knife than most you could buy if you have a good stone set. It's one of the things I believe you should splurge on for your kitchen.

Good point. Also, make sure you know how to use the stone properly so you don't fuck up your knife.

 

[CallmeCicada]

Good point. Also, make sure you know how to use the stone properly so you don't fuck up your knife.

Dollar store knives make good practice so you can learn.

 

[isalaide]

- Good old silicone spatulas
- Big sieve that expands to go over the sink so you can drain hot pasta easily
- Scoville Neverstick pans, casseroles, baking trays etc, if you guys don't have those then get some
- Baking paper already cut into sheets
- My grandma's old rotary hand whisk. I have my own I usually use and keep grandma's for a memento, but now and then I like to use it the way she she would let me do when I was little. Plus nothing beats eggs more effectively.
- My deceased aunty's chocolate mousse recipe
- Lots of semi disposable plastic tubs for freezing and microwaving leftovers and meal preparation
- Good old box grater
- Really tiny glass measuring jug
- Electric mini chopper
- Instant Pot
- Nigel Slater's Real Food and Real Fast Food
- Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess
- Maslin jam pan with jam funnel
- Massive 8 litre soup pot
- Children's artwork
- Elbow Grease All Purpose degreaser spray
- Mandolin
- Pyrex of various shapes and sizes
- Additional oven shelf
- Kitchen roll
- Multiple sets of oven gloves

 

[Pierre D'Olnique]

Oh good, maybe some kitchenheads will be able to help me out. Is there a tool/device that's designed solely to chop up meat into cubes, about the size of an average six-sided die? Asking cause every day I chop around 3.5 pounds of pork for the stray cats outside. It's a little tiring, especially if I forget to sharpen the knife.

 

[Cougar Pump]

The other half's KitchenAid mixer was a birthday present and by god it was worth the investment. Gets a fucking TON of use for everything from cookies to pizza dough to ground beef. It's not the pro line and I've heard the plastic gears eventually give up the ghost but when that happens we'll likely double down and invest whatever ungodly amount to step up to the indestructible version. Not a 'game changer' by any means, just such a consistent flexible tool that actuallty exceeded expectations.

The rice cooker has been another big win, any old brand will probably do as well as any other. They last a very long time if you never, EVER use metal implements on them and only ever rinse out with hot water and a plastic scrubber. Current one is nearing a decade old and only has a couple of scrapes where the plug sits in the bowl when it's stored.

I'm not gonna harp on about cast iron pans again but they are great. Teflon a shit. That is all.

Hall of shame for shit that really wasn't worth the cut:
- Toastie maker
- Bread maker

- Good old silicone spatulas

Super handy. Silicone oven mitts are also worth the hefty pricetags, just be careful not to chop the fingertips off.

- Mandolin

The devil's own tool. Great (grate?) to use, suicide to clean and reassemble. Always be wary of something in the kitchen that you can't be safe around when drunk, if you are the type of person inclined to be drunk in your kitchen (I certainly am).

 

[isalaide]

Oh good, maybe some kitchenheads will be able to help me out. Is there a tool/device that's designed solely to chop up meat into cubes, about the size of an average six-sided die? Asking cause every day I chop around 3.5 pounds of pork for the stray cats outside. It's a little tiring, especially if I forget to sharpen the knife.

Electric kitchen knife ought to take most of the labour out. You can get electric meat dicers, but those are commercial machines and very pricey and big.

The devil's own tool. Great (grate?) to use, suicide to clean and reassemble.

@Cougar Pump I also hammer my KitchenAid. I actually forgot about it because I use it too often to think about it. My knuckles bear the scars of my mandolin, but I make a lot of french onion soup and layered vegetable dishes, and my knife work's just not good enough to slice finely enough.
I should probably have spent more than a fiver on a mandolin and it might bite me less often. I have also grated my fingers many times.

 

[Cougar Pump]

There are those salad choppers with the cube slicer inserts which might do the do, but they suck to clean and have a habit of snapping after a few years when the plastic gets brittle.

 

[Miriam Margoyles]

Spontex brand microfibre cloths are the best thing ever for cleaning kitchen surfaces. If it isn't Spontex, don't bother.

 

[polar bear]

@Cougar Pump I also hammer my KitchenAid. I actually forgot about it because I use it too often to think about it. My knuckles bear the scars of my mandolin, but I make a lot of french onion soup and layered vegetable dishes, and my knife work's just not good enough to slice finely enough.
I should probably have spent more than a fiver on a mandolin and it might bite me less often. I have also grated my fingers many times.

Your post is very scary lol. My mandoline was a cheapo one too, but it came with safety guard for hand - kinda looks like a hairbrush piece, with sharp teeth to stick it into vegetable and then you can safely slice or grate away, never having your fingers at risk. When the vegetable gets too small to slice anymore, i just use a fork instead, or stick it in the freezer to use for stocks.

Another thing I use quite often is a silicone cover, just a big flat circle of silicone that is meant to be a reusable cover for food in the fridge. Now, it never worked for me this way - it just doesnt want to stick around my bowls. But - it works every single time for opening jars - just cover the lid and twist.

 

[Phalanges Mycologist]

No problem, you're completely right. A good knife and pan are enough to do a lot of things especially if you're skilled. But about the knife I would argue that it is more important to have a knife stone to sharpen your knife because even a cheap and low quality knife can be honed into a better knife than most you could buy if you have a good stone set. It's one of the things I believe you should splurge on for your kitchen.

I can get really REALLY autistic about this but while you can hone a bad knife to work for a while the material it's cutting edge from matters as well, and a lot of modern alloys used in knife production are weird in how they respond to abrasives and certain kinds of abrasives.

I have made prety much ever knife that me an the Mrs have in our kitchen apart from one or two of sentimental value, and I have made them to be easy to sharpen an retain the edge, I could if I wanted to shave with my 12in butchers knife - BUT most modern knifes especially lower end ones are not great to sharpen because the steel they are made from is designed for manufacture an disposabillity than maintenance of edge - and increasingly ceramic.

You average prosumer knife is laser cut from a plate, and then ground then the edge is put on by machines using tools that work at a RPM most people dont or cant understand and they are made to keep an edge for a while and not really have to do much or anything to keep you feeling like you got your moneys worth from them because the idea is to keep you coming back for a knew knife when you think you have worn out your old one.

This it's slagging off most modern knife makers It's just the reality of living in a world focused on ease of production an consumerism, but it's about knowing your knifes and how to keep them working - I've got a pocket knife that I've had for nearly 30 years at this point it's beat up ugly but it's "My Knife" and it sharpens amazingly but the edge gets a little worse for ware so if I am away from my stones I dont have a problem dragging it through a V block carbide thing on my keychain an then once I got home I put a real edge back on it not just a working one.

I am not saying ditch your knives an buy from a local blade smith what I am saying is learn to care for your knife and treat it well,