Your Very First Kitchen: 12 Things You Really Need

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Moved out of your parents’ home or finally have your own kitchen? Chances are, you don’t have a million pesos to spend on every pretty gadget and tool you see in the stores (or in your fave chef’s Instagram feed).

Fill your cooking space with the things you really need and will use on most days you’re in the kitchen. We’ve stuck to the basics—we assume you’ve got the refrigerator and the tabletop burner or stove covered—and we’ve made a list to make it easier:

Prep and Cooking Utensils

1. A good knife.

Make sure you have a reliable knife in the kitchen: chopping meat and slicing ingredients and vegetables is so much easier with a knife that gets the job done and fits snugly in your palm.

ALSO READ: How to Store Knives and Keep Them Sharp

2. Chopping Board

Wooden chopping boards are your best bet (they won’t dull your knives as much as plastic boards do). If the budget allows, you can get more than one board and use separate ones for meat and fish and vegetables.

3. Can Opener

Opening cans with a knife requires skill; buy a can opener and make your life so much easier.

4. Tongs

Grill, stir, fry, even stir—tongs will become one of your best friends while in the kitchen.

5. Metal Turner

You will need one for sliding under and turning over fried food.

6. Mixing Bowls

If you can afford more than one bowl, go for a medium and a large-sized bowl. These will serve you well when putting together or tossing a salad, mixing dry and wet ingredients when baking, and marinating meat. Bowls also pull double duty for when you need extra food storage.

7. Kitchen Towels and Linens

These are a must: you will need them for drying dishes, sweeping countertops, and as a makeshift hot pad or oven mitt.

Pots and Pans

8. A Non-stick Skillet

Pancakes, eggs, omelets—your breakfast meals can all be made with a skillet!  

9. Sauce Pan

A 2 to 3-quart sauce pan is your all-around kitchen buddy: use it to make pasta sauces, stocks, and stews, steaming and sauteeing veggies.

Tableware

10. A set of plates and utensils for four people.

Get plates, bowls, forks, spoons, and drinking glasses good for four people. If you love entertaining, you can add more but a set good for four people will suffice for your very first kitchen.

Kitchen Gadgets

11. Toaster Oven

This gadget does more than just toast bread: you can bake and cook with this multitasking gadget.

12. Microwave Oven 

Not just for heating food, the microwave oven does so much more: you can steam veggies, and cook actual dishes like a Steamed Fish Fillet!  

ALSO READ:

6 Dishes You Can Cook in a Microwave Oven

How to Steam Vegetables in the Microwave

 5 Multitasking Kitchen Tools You Should Own

Did we miss anything? What are your top kitchen essentials? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Images from crateandbarrel.com and smhome.com.ph