Top 10 Kitchen Tools - not counting cookware or knives

This thread popped up at another site I read and I thought it was interesting. I'm constantly thinking about the kitchen tools I use and am always trying to refine my set-up. In no particular order, not counting cookware or knives . . .

Apron with pockets - I already own too many 'cooking' shirts
Thermapen - can't live without it in the kitchen or by the smokers/grills.
Digital Kitchen Scale - an absolute must. I now convert almost all volumetric recipes to increase accuracy.
Microplane - use it several times a week for a variety of applications
Silicone Spoonula - efficiently moves food in pretty much every possible way in a cooking vessel, in a storage vessel or between them without damaging sensitive surfaces
Spring Loaded Foodservice Tongs - they handle what the spoonula doesn't
Cutting Board(s) - I rotate these but generally prefer dishwasher-sized poly for proteins and end grain wood for everything else
Small Glass Prep Bowls - If you mise, they are a must
Vegetable peeler - peeling, zesting, thinly slicing cold butter and assorted cheeses
Stick Blender - so many applications. Easy to deploy, easy to clean, easy to store

=R=

I can't resist a good top ten. And considering the tyranny of dishes this past year, these objects seem to run our lives. In order of their appearance in the dishwasher:

1. Spoons – I like em big, little, wood, & steel
2. Stainless spat
3. Mixing/prep bowls
4. Peeler
5. Tongs (the good ones like Ronnie's)
6. Blender (the Vitamix doesn't go in the dishwasher tho!)
7. Strainers/colanders
8. Box grater
9. Bench knife
10. Rubber/silicon spats

I'll add my Cuisinart mini-prep processor to the list.

This is a great list and idea. A few other things I use a lot:

Sheet pans and wire racks. I cant have enough of em.
Rice cooker. Can't remember the last time I made rice on the stove.
Citrus squeezer. A must if you're into making cocktails.
Quart/pint deli containers. I used to cherish these from carryout orders. But turns out you can just buy them.
Big container to keep salt nearby your cooking area.

Most used: Definitely the trio of Kitchenaid Coffee Siphon (vacuum pot, not a device for stealing coffee from other peoples' mugs), Krups grinder and Secura milk frother.

Other than that, many of the items from Ron's list. I'll add:

Whisks including a spring coil whisk for small quantities
3 c Pyrex bowls with lids
Vacuum sealer and bags
2 c stainless saucepan, for melting butter and making dibs of sauces

Particularly during the coming months, the Oxo salad spinner for greens of all kinds.

1. Chopsticks—I use them for a multitude of kitchen tasks, from whisking to cooking eggs, to stirring cocktails.

2. Instant Pot—besides the coffee appliances and my rice cooker, it’s my most used kitchen item.

3. Silicone lids

Things I use the most in the kitchen:
1 - At least 2 Quality Knives for cutting fruits/vegetables and another for meat.
2 - Salad Spinner used daily to wash fruits and vegetables
3 - Kitchen Tongs used daily for various cooking tasks
4 - Peeler for various fruits and vegetables
5 - Garlic press for menu recipes that call for garlic like soups and dips.
6 - Multiple strainers including Spider Strainer Skimmer Ladle and a fine mesh strainer for things like pasta.
7 - Measuring Cups and Spoons used for various recipes
8 - Can Opener essential to any kitchen
9 - A hardwood cutting board used with your quality knife collection to extend the knives lifespan and sharpness.
10 - Microplane grater for orange, lemon, and lime zest.

Aside from many of items above, something I use all the time are these rubber tubes, which look like big mostacciolis, designed to de-skin garlic. Genius. I gift them to cook friends all the time.

I also have a small, cheap mini food processor by Ninja I love. I think it was $25 and it's a workhorse.

Oh, and a spare coffee grinder for spices.

I use many of the items above more, but these are items that I do regularly use and would immediately replace if they broke:

1) Weber grill
2) Kitchenaid mixer
3) Splatter guard
4) mandolin with oyster shucking gloves

Here are some of mine:

1) Mini-whisks
2) Cheap, regular tongs (NO rubber tipped ones)
3) A rectangular basket to hold all my bottles of cooking sauces in one place.
4) Thin glass bottles for my homemade sauces (and to conserve space in my refrigerator door)

A broom is a tool: Sweep things into a pile as I drop stuff as I cook, because mashing something with my foot into the floor just adds more time to cleaning up. Regularly visiting dog understands it is a good hang out place for morsels brought to him.

A shelf with often used seasonings, pepper grinders and salt just left of the stove. Only recently started using a diner-type tall sugar dispenser for holding sugar. A teaspoon or a half-cup sugar as needed without searching for the sugar bowl (on the dinner table) or opening the large sugar container.

When I bought an instant read thermometer, it was primarily intended for evaluating roasts and birds. Meatballs and sausages (thin and thick) get evaluated just as much. I never thought it would be so handy for checking baked goods, too. My thermopen lives in a drawer next to the stove. I am only sorry I did not buy one earlier.

Church key - While it is rarely used exactly as intended, it does help gently lift the edges of a jar lid to release the vacuum to open it. I am refering to commercial one-piece lids. Mine is a chicken head picked up at a rummage sale, so it is easy to find in a drawer.

Scissors in every top drawer in the kitchen. There is always something that needs opening and a scissor is right there and then goes back to its home. Yeah, sometimes I find some congregating in one drawer or another. In general, it works out in my favor and saves time.

Small sheet pans (8x6 roughly) with racks - Visiting a friend who lives alone a few years ago, I noticed these seemingly impractical small sheet pans. Yet very useful when I need to cook or reheat a small quantity, roast some seeds or bake a few cookies from frozen dough, and pops into the dishwasher with no fuss. I also use it to air dry steaks in the refrigerator without taking lots of room. All I have were picked up at rummage sales. I have a feeling they were inserts for toaster ovens.

My friend the dishwasher, because I would cook far less if I had to clean by hand. Current dishwasher is a dishdrawer system, which I have come to really like. As I cook, stuff goes in the dishwasher. If I have guests who might put their dishes into the machine later, I fill the bottom with cooking dishes first. I try not to let people bend down to fill it. I am sure it is a courtesy nobody even thinks I am doing, but I feel better about it.

Lots of stainless steel bowls of various sizes all nested together. The smallest maybe holds just over a cup and largest at least two quarts. When I have some big project, I have a nested bowl and collander holding maybe two gallons more or less.

One-cup stainless steel Italian coffee press: Makes exactly one cup of coffee. It is stored in a pint measuring glass used for heating the water. Gets the job done and gets out of the way.

Pint measuring containers are sitting at least four locations in the kitchen: coffee, by the nested bowls, left of the stove with often used spices, and another nested with measuring containers (quart, pint, cup and dry measures). If the cup and quart disappeared, I would not miss them. The pint is the liquid measuring workhorse. Just because of the nesting, the quarter-cup dry measure gets used the most because it is easy to grab.

Cathy2 wrote:Small sheet pans (8x6 roughly) with racks...pops into the dishwasher with no fuss

Are these pans made of aluminum? If so, they survive the dishwasher ok?

tjr wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:Small sheet pans (8x6 roughly) with racks...pops into the dishwasher with no fuss

Are these pans made of aluminum? If so, they survive the dishwasher ok?

So far so good, thankfully.

You can get 1/8 sheet pans (Nordic Ware) at Target or on Amazon. They're roughly 9x6. I use the 1/4 sheet pans with cooling racks all the time - much easier to rangle than a 1/2 sheet pan and fits nicely in the dishwasher.

Thermapen was a lifechanger for me, too. Those two things are the things I never thought i needed until i got one.

Instant Read Thermometers
Kitchen Shears
Vacuum Sealer will remind you how smart you are for getting one when you need it.

seebee wrote:Instant Read Thermometers
Kitchen Shears
Vacuum Sealer will remind you how smart you are for getting one when you need it.

What kind of sealer do you have? I’m looking for one for my circulator.

Jim-Bob wrote:What kind of sealer do you have? I’m looking for one for my circulator.

I have a 20 year old Rival "Seal A Meal."
Had a "Food Saver" brand one as well. It cost a decent amount more, but the Rival was easier to use (for me) so I handed the Food Saver off to a family member.