How to Start Your First Kitchen

Wild! You're starting your first kitchen. Because you're a goddamn adult. And adults feed themselves, not just order out constantly.

You might find a bunch of internet (or Bed Bath & Beyond-provided) lists of shit you need, with useless crap like cheese grater. You don't need a cheese grater--you have two hands and a knife. Same for an egg beater--you can use a fork. Those tools just take up precious cabinet space and waste money.

So here's the Poor Man's Kitchen "Barest Kitchen Supplies." This is a solid start to starting your own set of kitchen tools.


Cookware

- 9x13 metal pan for roasting vegetables, etc

I have one from Nordic Ware. It's supposed to never rust. I'm not sure if that claim will hold up but my roommate tells me it is a famous bakeware brand.

- large pot. A nice big pot for making stocks and soups. Because you'll be doing that.

- small pot for cooking single-servings of pasta, boiling eggs, heating soup, etc, like this:

- medium sized frying pan.  I have an 11-inch stainless steel pan from All-Clad. That one's pricier but any stainless is good. Nonstick can be convenient but I like my food a bit burnt on the edges, which you can't do with nonstick, generally--and the lining wears off eventually.


- One quality chef's knife.  This is the one place where you really shouldn't skimp.  Instead of buying a bunch of mediocre knives in a set, get one nice, all-purpose one.  (seriously there's less to wash this way)  I have a Shun Classic 8" knife:

Shun knife

I just wanted to try a Japanese knife at the time I bought mine, especially because it's a good looking knife.  Wusthof makes good, functional ones too.

- one paring knife.  Nice for cutting smaller things like lemons. You can go cheap here, I got one for like $5 somewhere, but do get one that comes with a blade protector like this one, so you can throw it in a drawer:

KAI paring knife

Tools & Utensils

-  cutting board.  I have an Epicurean one:

rubber corners!

It's great because the rubber corners keep it from moving around, especially good when liquids are involved. And you can lean it up against a wall. Make sure to get a board that won't damage your knife--a soft surface that'll absorb some knife impact.  The Epicurean one's made of compressed recycled wood fibers or something. A lot of people like wooden boards in general because of the soft surface, good for knives.

I see crazy sets of boards around now with individual ones for meat, fish, vegetables, etc.  But let's be honest, you're not going to use, and then wash, separate sets of boards while cooking one meal in a hurry.

- spatula made of heat-proof material.  Do NOT get a steel-handled one!  You will burn your hand!  You'll definitely end up leaving it in the pan/pot while you check up on something else.  I suggest a flat one, made of something that doesn't conduct heat.  I have this one:

spatula

But stuff gets stuck in the holes a lot which gets annoying, so I suggest ones without holes actually.

- ladle.  Good for soups and stews.  Although I suppose you could even just use mugs or something here too.

Dinnerware

- silverware.  I have four of each: dinner fork, tablespoons, knives.  You could sneak some from your parents, or if you're in college, your dining hall (I heard my college dining services would lose $40k a year from students stealing silverware and plates).  See note below for further information on how to get stuff like this for cheap.

- plates. I have a few big dinner plates and a few smaller ones for a fried egg or fruit pieces.  No need to have more than four of each

- bowls. I have four large all-purpose bowls.

- cups/mugs. I like ones with funny pictures/messages.


Cleaning supplies

- tea towels for drying, also use as an oven mitt.

- sponge & dish soap

- drying rack.  Get the smallest one you can.  I just have a cheap $7 one from Bed Bath and Beyond.  I don't have a dishwasher so use it regularly and it serves my purposes just fine.

- trashcan/recycle bin


Miscellaneous

- big metal bowl for cooking--can hold chopped vegetables, soaking beans, can use as a mixing bowl if you ever bake

- colander: you'll want this to drain pastas, wash vegetables, etc

- airtight glass containers for leftovers. Try to avoid using plastic, it makes things smell and taste like plastic and it's bad for you. Something like this, that has the snap lids so they don't leak:

Here's the one place I advocate getting a set--I regularly use all of them at once.  I keep lemons cut up in them, half-used avocado, everything really. You can use them as lunch containers, too.

Condiments and spices

- salt & pepper. Get nice salt. For pepper, I have a little twisty pepper grinder that I've had since college. I probably bought it at a random grocery store, but it's lasted me years now with refilling from bulk peppercorns.  Try to find one with the least amount of moving parts to reduce the possibility of it breaking--probably goes for any tool you can get. (not like this:

Too many moving parts

- mustard.   Good for sandwiches, wraps, fries, hamburger topping

- cumin.  Adds a slight kick/flavor to everything.

- sunflower oil or some other oil for cooking

- some kind of sweetener (sugar etc).  I don't normally cook sweet things but you do need a sweetener if you ever make tomato based sauce type things.


Free to cheap sources for this stuff

Your parents/friends

If you're like me, you'll probably inherit (steal) some of your parents' unused kitchenware--probably from their own 10-pot set purchases. Or roommates leave stuff behind It's a great source, it's free and, well, it's free.

Craigslist

I live in NYC, world capital of excess.  All the time there are Craigslist posts along the lines of "I bought 10-ply copper-titanium pans handmade by an old French metallurgist with his own secret alloy. No longer need my perfectly good All Clads, giving away for $5."  Go for it!  But I would strongly discourage getting anything with moving parts from Craigslist since they can break, but stuff like pans or dishware, should be just fine.


Try not to buy too much that's not on this list

Retailers make it easy to buy these huge sets of tools because they're sold in packages--they might even be cheap enough to consider buying.  (I see now there are $90 knife sets on Amazon)  However there are hidden costs to having so much stuff.  Likely you're in a small space without much storage room.  Where will you put that knife block when you have two square feet of counter space?  What about that three-gallon stock pot that came in the set?  Also when you move--most young people starting out will be moving fairly frequently, and it'll suck to try to pack up and move 15-piece pot/pan sets.

And there it is! 10-ish items to get you started. Good luck!