Hellobee

This is the first Christmas in as long as I can remember that I don’t have any kitchen items on my wish list. My husband and I often use the holiday as an excuse to buy ourselves whatever appliance or tool we’ve been coveting, but for once I feel like I have all my bases covered. Below I’ve included a list of what I call my essential kitchen tools. These are the must-haves that make cooking more joyful by getting the job done beautifully, easily, and faster.

The list includes items ranging in cost from stocking stuffer to pricey present. While the expense varies, their common characteristic is usefulness – these are the tools that make my kitchen fully functional and one of my favorite places to be.

1) Knives. I have three knives I feel like I can’t do without. The first is a chef’s knife, which I use for most chopping. It’s definitely the workhorse of my knife set. Look for something that feels pleasantly heavy and easy to hold; I prefer a smaller size like this 8″ knife. Next I use a paring knife for peeling and cutting small and soft fruits. If you’re going to skimp, this is the knife to do it on, but I love this one. I use a serrated knife regularly to slice bread, tomatoes, and peaches. Get one that’s on the longer side, to easily cut large loaves.

2) High-Speed Blender. Okay you don’t have to splurge on a Vitamix (although check online for a refurbished version!), but I recommend doing your research before purchasing a blender, particularly if you’ll be using it to make smoothies. I often use my Vitamix several times a day, and I am so thankful for its power and speed – it handles the job in seconds. I use it for a huge variety of kitchen tasks, including: blending soups, beating eggs, mixing batter, grinding peanut butter, and, of course, making smoothies.

3) Salad Spinner. This is probably my most controversial “essential” item, but I’m sticking to my guns. Salad spinners take up a lot of real estate in the kitchen, but I think their value is well worth it. I use it for one thing only – drying lettuce and greens – but I know of no other easy way to do the job well. It’s particularly handy for gritty spinach, which I soak in the spinner bowl prior to draining and spinning. We eat greens every night, so even though it’s a unitasker (or maybe not?), I get a lot of use out of it.

4) Cutting Boards (flexible or hard). I used to be partial to a large, wooden cutting board, but in the past couple years I’ve started finding it cumbersome and difficult to clean. I’m now a fan of thin, small cutting boards that are easy to transfer from counter to skillet to sink. Because they’re smaller, I like to have at least three so if I’m preparing a large meal to avoid washing the board throughout prep.

5) Microplane. I have no idea what people did before microplanes. I use mine almost daily to zest citrus and finely grate nutmeg, fresh ginger, garlic, and hard cheeses.

6) Kitchen Towels, We don’t use paper towels, so I have a huge supply of kitchen towels, which we use as napkins, pot holders, dish dryers, and cleaner-uppers. I probably dirty a minimum of three per day, so keeping a lot of soft, inexpensive towels on hand is a must.

7) Cast Iron Skillet. My most-used skillet is cast iron – I cook pretty much everything except eggs in it. It gets good browning on meat and vegetables, is deep enough to make sauces and toss pasta, and I can even use it as a baking dish. I love the weight and appearance of cast iron, and it pretty much lives on our stove top since I use it throughout the day.

8) Sheet Pans. Perfect for baking cookies and roasting vegetables, I’ve been recently exploring the ways I can make entire meals using just these pans. They’re surprising versatility had me reaching for them more in 2015 than I could have expected.

9) Spoonula and/or Wooden Spoon. These simple tools are certainly essential. I like a sturdy wooden spoon, one that doesn’t feel like it will break under pressure. Same goes for spoonulas, which I also like to have a firm silicone head to stir thick batters.

10) Fine Mesh Seive. I often reach for this instead of my colander because it takes up less space (and can therefore live in my utensil holder for easy access) and lets me strain smaller ingredients, like rice or millet. I also use it to drain freshly washed produce and to strain bones and vegetable scraps from homemade stock.

Do you have any kitchen items on your holiday wish list? What tools are in your top ten?