Equipping Your First Kitchen
The kitchen may seem daunting when moving to your home, considering the things you need in order to cook, bake and entertaining. When you are new to cooking, it may seem even more challenging to equip and organise the kitchen. This list of tools and equipment divided into categories should help you to jumpstart the process of setup of your new kitchen.
Prepware
You should prepare for the food which is to be cooked before you can actually begin the cooking process. And this preparation requires a number of tools, including knives, cutting boards to measuring spoons and cups. You will determine how many tools and gadgets, depending on which level of the cook you are, but there are definitely many necessary basics.
It is a must, and you must buy both a dry measuring cup and fluid measuring cup. A mixing cup of measuring cups is necessary, and measuring spoons must be used.
A cutting board and a set of knives are other essential products. You want high quality knives that are good and last, so you may have to pay a little more, but in the kitchen a sharp knife is necessary. There are also a variety of sizes you want, and how many knives you are to use depends on how you cook.
You also need a robust cutting board with no slip feature, usually made of plastic. Wooden cutting plates are nice for bread, however, because the material is porous, raw meats should not be cut. It can be more difficult to clean, too.
Many foods, like vegetable peeler, rely on certain gadgets, can open, rub and tinker. You may like to invest also in a garlic press, a citrus juicer, an immersion blender and a salad spinner if you are an avid cook.
Cookware
In the kitchen you need pots and pans, whether a whole set is required or individual parts. A range of sizes are available depending on the meals you cook and their quantities. All your pots should be lided. The material in the pot – from anodized to copper, stainless steel to non-stick material – has some choices to make; you can choose what fits your life and budget. Make sure the cups are robust and durable.
A pot or frying pan is an indispensable tool. Additionally, you need some sort of casserole dish. It is wise to buy porcelain, glass or stoneware in a couple of sizes.
Bakeware
You may or may not be a baker, but in your new kitchen, certain items are served in the bakeware class, from baking dinners to deserts. Baking pans, cake pans and muffin tins make sense to use for preparing deserts.
Utensils
Whether you stick them into a pitcher or arrange them in a drawer, a well-managed kitchen has different utensils. Wooden spoons, spatulas, whisks, a set of tongs, a soup ladle, rubber scraper, and a slotted spoon are all clever tools to buy. You will also need a rinse bowl to rinse rice, select dried beans and of course drain pasta.
Small appliances and dishware
While the main appliances like an oven and a refrigerator are most likely to be included for your new kitchen, it probably will not come with the smaller ones. Plan to buy coffee makers, tea kettles, mixers and/or food processors and mixers. Of course, it should also be on the list if your kitchen isn't fitted with a microwave.
You're going to have to eat with and on something when you finish cooking. Invest in a set of foods and cutlery, a set of cups and drinks. A drawer cutlery splitter also helps ease of use.
Miscellaneous
There are a few kitchen items without which you cannot do from oven mitts to rubbish bin. Add these to your shopping list and add the food storage tissues, drying rack or dry pad to the food storage container. Finally, don't forget towels such as dishwasher soap, cleaner, cleaner oven, sponges, rubber handkerchiefs and paper towels.