The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Do it Yourself Discussion! => Topic started by: Khao on January 07, 2013, 12:26:14 PM
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I just bough a condo with my girlfriend and now is the first time we can really do what we want in our home and we are extremely excited!
As a somewhat mustachian couple (we are working on this) we are cooking a lot of meals at home and since I want to practice my DIY skills also, I thought upgrading our kitchen would be the best way to do it. I'm thinking upgrading as in usability and ease of use, not necessarily the looks of the kitchen. So far I have little things I can think of that would make the kitchen a nicer place :
- Soft dampers/silent rails for the drawers. The current ones are noisy!
- Drawer for the trash can, these seem really popular in newer kitchens and make throwing stuff while chopping/preparing easier when placed properly http://houseandhome.com/sites/houseandhome.com/files/images/blog-isabella-favaro-aya-kitchens-garbage-drawers.jpeg
- Of course all the accessories : nice pans, pots, knifes and chopping board
I'm still not sure what could be done to make our storing of pots and pans nicer because now they're all piled up in a cabinet and it's kind of messy taking them out.
What are your things that you *need* to have in a kitchen in order to make it nicer to work with?
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What are your things that you *need* to have in a kitchen in order to make it nicer to work with?
Facepunch coming...making your kitchen "nicer to work with" by adding stupid things like drawer dampers and trash can drawers is totally antithetical to being mustachian.
What do you need? Probably what you already have. As far as organizing pots & pans, lid racks for the door of your cabinet help a lot. My mom has these for her baking pans and I'm thinking about getting them too; they're also nice for cutting boards. I'd think long and hard though about which of these things might actually make you cook more and more efficiently and which are just fluffy upgrades to waste money on.
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After having a couple shitty kitchens in different apartments this is one place of the condo where I want to pimp it out just a bit. Of course I'm not doing it just for the sake of spending money, I'm going the DIY route and want to keep the costs low for this but I figure there are a few things in a kitchen that makes it better. Also, the girlfriend would love it, can't argue with that!
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I'm still not sure what could be done to make our storing of pots and pans nicer because now they're all piled up in a cabinet and it's kind of messy taking them out.
er to work with?
We solved this problem with one of these (http://www.amazon.com/Kinetic-Classicor-Wrought-Iron-Oval-Rack/dp/B0000DJBIN/ref=sr_1_181?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1357589639&sr=1-181). Hangs over part of our kitchen island, and they come in tons of styles. Room for storing the 20 quart giant pot and big skillet up on top, and all of the daily use pans hang down below.
We paid $35 for ours, but a more creative type could probably rig something up for half that with hardware store parts. And now we have tons more storage space.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Y52GQDJCL._SX450_.jpg)
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Pegboard! Pegboard is fantastic for storing pots and pans and other hanging stuff, like colanders and tongs. I've got a piece mounted right next to the stove. Lids are on a lid rack mounted on the wall as well. Our kitchen is the one room in the house that has a vaulted ceiling, and no decent place for a pot rack. My cast iron pan and tea kettle just live on top of the stove.
Our kitchen's not NYC-small or anything, but we had to get pretty clever with storage and arranging, especially since we tore out a cabinet to install a dishwasher. I usually have a bowl on the counter for food waste if it's compost season, otherwise I just scrape stuff off the cutting board into the trash can that's two feet to the left. There was a small (8 inch?) gap between the stove and wall. There was a strip of countertop that was installed there, but nothing underneath. My husband installed a little shelf that is just right for storing cutting boards and sheet pans.
I'm a big fan of open shelving, because I find it easiest to cook when everything is easily accessible. Also, I find it more enjoyble to cook when the counter is clear. If it's not something used very regularly, it doesn't get to sit on the counter. Less clutter/unused stuff makes a big difference. Basically, just use your kitchen for awhile as is, and keep an eye out for things that are frustrating, in the wrong place, not enough storage. Then get creative. Much better to tweak your space gradually.
Also, I love having a radio in the kitchen. NPR in the morning, dance party in the evening. But this may be non-essential for you.
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A few years back I built a pot rack out of an old bicycle wheel. It looked cool (in my opinion) and you could spin it around to grab whatever pot/pan you needed. I just put a single bolt through the hub and anchored into the joist above and added a few SS hooks. Worked great for about 5 years but the eccentric loading (a big cast iron pan threw the thing off balance) eventually weakened the bolt and the whole thing came crashing down one evening. Luckily no one was underneath cause it must have weight 50-60 pounds.
I considered remounting it with 3 or 4 hooks (effectively creating something similar to what sol posted) but we decided to go with a metal pegboard instead. Works great and a 2 x 6 section holds about as many pots as the wheel did and everyone in the house feels a bit safer.
As far a trash cans, I prefer one that sits out and can be moved around to a convenient location (the spot where you need to sweep the peelings off the counter). Only problem with this method is that it's really nice to have one with a foot operated lid and those are expensive. We bit the bullet and bought a Simple Human for 100$ or so but it's at least 7-8 years old now and still operating flawlessly.
For pots and pans I recommend yard/garage/stoop sales. I think almost every piece of cookwear we have is 2nd hand including Le Crusette, All-Clad, and a great collection of cast iron.
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I'm in the middle of a complete (down to studs and joists) kitchen remodel. I went whole hog with all of the soft close stuff I thought was so cool in other people's kitchens. I've only got one wall of cabinets up (still cooking in garage), and I'm already tired of them. The doors have adjustable closing, and even at the weaker setting are still annoyingly slow. And I actually miss the thud. I hope they break in and get faster. Or maybe I'll get used to it. Either way, I wish I'd skipped that.
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Pegboard!
Reminds me of Julia Child's kitchen. See both sides of the oven.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Julia_Child%27s_Kitchen_-_Smithsonian.jpg/640px-Julia_Child%27s_Kitchen_-_Smithsonian.jpg) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Julia_Child%27s_Kitchen_-_Smithsonian.jpg)
As for noisy drawers, any chance you could fix them with WD-40 and some tinkering?
As for a trash can cabinet, see if there's a Habitat ReStore near you, or you could also make it yourself. (Click on images for instructions.)
(http://image.ana-white.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Full/tilt-out-wood-trash-bin-4_1.jpg) (http://ana-white.com/2011/04/wood-tilt-out-trash-or-recycling-cabinet)
(http://image.ana-white.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Full/3154804561_1327584262.jpg) (http://ana-white.com/2012/01/plans/18quot-kitchen-base-cabinet-trash-pull-out-or-storage-cupboard-door)
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I thought essential meant a knife, a skillet, a stewpot, a cutting board, and a baking pan. ;-) Oh, and a few bowls and spoons.
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I'm in the middle of a complete (down to studs and joists) kitchen remodel. I went whole hog with all of the soft close stuff I thought was so cool in other people's kitchens. I've only got one wall of cabinets up (still cooking in garage), and I'm already tired of them. The doors have adjustable closing, and even at the weaker setting are still annoyingly slow. And I actually miss the thud. I hope they break in and get faster. Or maybe I'll get used to it. Either way, I wish I'd skipped that.
I was thinking of using these kind : http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p133/larrylwill/closer1.jpg
They are around a dollar each and you don't need to change the rails/hinges. You can still slam the drawers shut and the little damper slows the drawer down at the last moment before completely closing.
If you used slow closing rails and hinges, I can see how this could become annoying.
I thought essential meant a knife, a skillet, a stewpot, a cutting board, and a baking pan. ;-) Oh, and a few bowls and spoons.
Well yeah not that kind of essentials. I was thinking more in terms of if we're cooking a lot, we better make cooking an enjoyable experience and make our kitchen nice to use.
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I thought essential meant a knife, a skillet, a stewpot, a cutting board, and a baking pan. ;-) Oh, and a few bowls and spoons.
+1 and go cast iron.
As for noisy drawers, any chance you could fix them with WD-40 and some tinkering?
You can also buy some clear rubber stops http://www.lowes.com/pd_66956-255-4184195N_0__ (http://www.lowes.com/pd_66956-255-4184195N_0__) but it will cost you a couple of dollars ;)
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I was thinking of using these kind : http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p133/larrylwill/closer1.jpg
They are around a dollar each and you don't need to change the rails/hinges. You can still slam the drawers shut and the little damper slows the drawer down at the last moment before completely closing.
If you used slow closing rails and hinges, I can see how this could become annoying.
I did, and they are. I went TOTALLY un-mustachian, and got the pre-assembled to order units from American Woodmark. Interestingly, I've seen the type of closure you describe on some Craft Maid cabinets, and I think I like them better. And of course they seem easy to retrofit to an existing piece. Plus you can't argue with the price. I'm not one to quibble with spending a little more to get something that feels nicer. So even if they aren't necessary, it's money well spent, in my book. I've never had any kind of soft close before, so I think I need to just give it more time. I think it's because my natural reflex is to manually gently close everything, so this new way is counter-intuitive.
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I went whole hog with all of the soft close stuff I thought was so col in other people's kitchens. I've only got one wall of cabinets up (still cooking in garage), and I'm already tired of them. The doors have adjustable closing, and even at the weaker setting are still annoyingly slow. And I actually miss the thud. I hope they break in and get faster.
Man, talk about first world problems. Sometimes I think the rest of you aren't reading the same blog that I'm reading.
TDES anyone?
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The kitchen I grew up in had extra-deep counters. I didn't realize until I bought a house and designed my own kitchen that they weren't normal counters. Man, I wish I had them now! Excellent for rolling pastry, pizza dough etc. And you can store things on the counter and still have counter space. However, if, like me, you make a lot of pies and want a good rolling space, a wide island would work just as well. (That's what I'm putting in my kitchen - next winter's project.)
I agree a kitchen that's comfortable to work in is a good investment. It just needs to have a good level of usability though, and enough storage that you can keep stuff put away and it's not cluttered. Fancy gadgets and things most people never use. Sturdy, reliable things that will last are key (a few people have mentioned cast iron - I also really like the new ceramic 'non-stick' stuff that's coming out everywhere these days - less heavy, easier to clean. Paderno ones come with 25-yr warranty so I'm guessing it lasts. Silicon baking stuff is great too. Glass measuring cups, not plastic. Etc.)
If you're doing any new shelves or cabinets, most useful things in my kitchen are a) a shelf above the stove where I can put salt, pepper, & oils, b) a spice rack or drawer with tiered shelves so you can find your spices easily (you could build some tiered shelves to put in a regular cabinet), and c) a tall, narrow cabinet that can store baking trays, cutting boards, pizza pans etc. upright so they're easy to get to and you don't have to dig them noisily out from under the stove. The other project I'm looking forward to but haven't started yet is some small shelves on the cabinets on either side of my sink, in front of the window, for some potted herbs. I recommend some kind of small herb garden in your kitchen with the things you use most.
If you're doing any baking, and if you don't already have one, invest in a good pastry blender - as in the hand tool. Probably $3 or so. ;) Makes a good potato masher too. My most beloved kitchen tool.
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Man, talk about first world problems. Sometimes I think the rest of you aren't reading the same blog that I'm reading.
TDES anyone?
I've never even HEARD of "drawer noise dampeners" until now. Unless they cost... $0.50 or so, I will promptly forget about them again.
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I've never even HEARD of "drawer noise dampeners" until now. Unless they cost... $0.50 or so, I will promptly forget about them again.
There are two things you can do I believe : soft close rails and cabinet hinges, so for an existing kitchen that means replacing each rail and hinge and they are expensive.
Alternatively just install these small hydraulic stoppers that cost very little and are perfect for installing on existing drawers and cabinets. I found them on amazon for about $2.50 each (http://www.amazon.com/Soft-Close-Cabinet-Door-Damper/dp/B0074DXNMI) but I'm sure you can find ones at around $.50~$1 each on ebay or somewhere else.
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Crikey, I 'm really a moderate mustachian, but I'm with Sol on this one (except I don't know what TDES means).
Work in the current kitchen awhile before you make any changes. Figure out work flow etc.
Bins in cupboards etc = hard to clean = dark yukky grungy bits = cockroaches - IMO!
As few as possible "customised gizmos" as possible e.g. build in spice rack in drawers etc. Cost an arm and a leg and you don't need them.
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Crikey, I 'm really a moderate mustachian, but I'm with Sol on this one (except I don't know what TDES means).
I think he just meant Tiny Detail Exaggeration Syndrome from the recent MMM post.
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I went whole hog with all of the soft close stuff I thought was so col in other people's kitchens. I've only got one wall of cabinets up (still cooking in garage), and I'm already tired of them. The doors have adjustable closing, and even at the weaker setting are still annoyingly slow. And I actually miss the thud. I hope they break in and get faster.
Man, talk about first world problems. Sometimes I think the rest of you aren't reading the same blog that I'm reading.
TDES anyone?
I am. And I'm very much "in training." Thanks for putting things in back in perspective. It wasn't my intention to focus so intently on a detail, but I tend to get off track that way. I guess what I meant to say is save on the closures, and buy (or make) a potrack.
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Man, talk about first world problems. Sometimes I think the rest of you aren't reading the same blog that I'm reading.
I thought Blackbomber's comment was reasonable. He overspent on a kitchen, and then he didn't even like the result. It was a warning that you might not even like the fancy stuff.
As for having nice stuff, MMM himself has a nice house (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/06/01/raising-a-family-on-under-2000-per-year/) presumably with a nice kitchen, he just does all the work himself and buys materials from Craigslist and ReStore or trades for them. Obviously there's a point after which any remodel is un-Mustachian, no matter the approach (if you can score a Viking range for $100, you should probably re-sell it), but if someone wants a nice kitchen, they can have it in a Mustachian way.
As few as possible "customised gizmos" as possible e.g. build in spice rack in drawers etc. Cost an arm and a leg and you don't need them.
If you build them yourself, special storage can be worth it in one particular way: you can store a heck of a lot more in a small space, reducing the amount of cabinetry you need. You can make your kitchen storage incredibly dense but still easily accessible this way.
How to Build Under-Cabinet Drawers @ Family Handyman (http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Home-Organization/Kitchen-Storage/how-to-build-under-cabinet-drawers--increase-kitchen-storage/View-All)
Cabinet Rollouts (http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Home-Organization/Kitchen-Storage/kitchen-storage-cabinet-rollouts/View-All)
Our kitchen is pretty bad, and I want to remodel it at some point, but it'll be fine for the next few years as we build up some more savings. Kitchen remodels are out of the question for fledgling Mustachians!
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The cabinet rollouts are the primary thing I want for my pots and pans. Really all my storage. It would seem to make the back sections of cabinets accessible. Doing it yourself would be awesome.
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Man, talk about first world problems. Sometimes I think the rest of you aren't reading the same blog that I'm reading.
TDES anyone?
LOL... or the alternate, slightly less kosher, "White People Problems"
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As few as possible "customised gizmos" as possible e.g. build in spice rack in drawers etc. Cost an arm and a leg and you don't need them.
Not true - I think a tiered spice rack for in a drawer might be a 2-hour project, at most, and virtually free if you had some scrap wood to use. Or a back-of-cabinet-door spice rack, that would be easy too.
Nothing un-mustachian about having fun building things you'll enjoy, or investing time now to save you time later, or learning/developing skills. There are lots of great easy DIY, cheap-or-free projects you can do for a kitchen that will help you work more efficiently and make the most of your time there, and encourage you to use it more often! I think it's a win-win-win.
In my old kitchen I also had risers in the backs of deep cupboards so you could see & reach the things at the back without removing things at the front. Those were handy & would be very simple to build, & help you make the most of storage space. Rollouts would accomplish the same thing but unless you build your own drawer slides would be more expensive.
If you like the rustic look you could probably get pallets for free and make pallet shelves. I made some of those for my sister for Christmas & stocked them with homemade soup mixes and baking mixes and potted herbs.
http://ana-white.com/2010/04/hack-5-minutes-and-free.html
Better Homes & Gardens' website has lots of DIY storage & organization ideas that are worth browsing.
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If you like the rustic look you could probably get pallets for free and make pallet shelves. I made some of those for my sister for Christmas & stocked them with homemade soup mixes and baking mixes and potted herbs.
http://ana-white.com/2010/04/hack-5-minutes-and-free.html (http://ana-white.com/2010/04/hack-5-minutes-and-free.html)
These are awesome.
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As few as possible "customised gizmos" as possible e.g. build in spice rack in drawers etc. Cost an arm and a leg and you don't need them.
Not true - I think a tiered spice rack for in a drawer might be a 2-hour project, at most, and virtually free if you had some scrap wood to use. Or a back-of-cabinet-door spice rack, that would be easy too.
Nothing un-mustachian about having fun building things you'll enjoy, or investing time now to save you time later, or learning/developing skills. There are lots of great easy DIY, cheap-or-free projects you can do for a kitchen that will help you work more efficiently and make the most of your time there, and encourage you to use it more often! I think it's a win-win-win.
I think that's true. If you have the money and the time, why not make your living space more enjoyable? I think it only gets unmustachian when you start going into debt for things you don't really need . I am a brand new mustachian, so take that with a grain of salt.
That being said, I think a spice rack for a closet is helpful (my husband made one for under $5 to help me organize my spices in alphabetical order) and some form of pantry are great for kitchens and make it easier to find and cook ingredients. Oh. Also a rack under the sink to keep cleaning supplies has also been helpful.
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on a much much smaller scale, my recommendation is a silicon spatula. mine cost about a pound, less food waste because it gets almost everything out of the pan, pots are then easier to wash up, water gets dirty less quickly and less worry about bad stuff going down the drain.
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Four things are essential in my 'mustachian' kitchen:
- A Sense of adventure - Jamacian Jerk Chicken and Mashed Yuca? Sounds fantastic! ... what's a yuca?
- A willingness to do it yourelf - Sure I can buy a frozen lasagna, but you don't need a side order of catheter with your pasta!
- A willingness to make do - it's really a compromise of the first two, but be willing to substitute or create whatever you need. Don't have the fancy kitchen grinder? No problem, a cutting board, large knife, and patience works wonders. Don't have collander? A towel can work (for most things)! Don't have allspice? ntmeg, cinamon, corriander, and a few other spices you do have will make a fine substitute.
- Music - radio, cd, mp3, or just signing off key; gotta keep the mood light and the energy flowing.
Thankfully my mustachian kitchen is easy to store and easy to pack. I can bring it anywhere! Camping, a friend's place, it doesn't matter; it goes where ever I go.
The proper tools are fantastic and make a difference, but the right attitude makes all the world of a difference.
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The proper tools are fantastic and make a difference, but the right attitude makes all the world of a difference.
Well said! This is so true for almost every subject in life.
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Keep space as clear as possible- the easiest (and cheapest) way to have a nice looking kitchen is to keep stuff off the counters. It's way too easy to buy a bunch of silly one-use appliances, containers for utensils, cereal boxes, recipe holder stands, dish-drying trays have them occupy all sorts of real estate. Unless you're absolutely certain you'll use an appliance an average of twice a week it's probably best to go without it or figure out a place to store it if you really need it.
The only appliance I keep out is a Blendtec blender, which I've used over 300 times in the last 6 months.
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Keep space as clear as possible- the easiest (and cheapest) way to have a nice looking kitchen is to keep stuff off the counters. It's way too easy to buy a bunch of silly one-use appliances, containers for utensils, cereal boxes, recipe holder stands, dish-drying trays have them occupy all sorts of real estate. Unless you're absolutely certain you'll use an appliance an average of twice a week it's probably best to go without it or figure out a place to store it if you really need it.
The only appliance I keep out is a Blendtec blender, which I've used over 300 times in the last 6 months.
I agree with this wholeheartedly, and always feel somewhat embarrassed about the appliances that live so conspicuously on my counter -- blender, food processor, and stand mixer-- but I use at least 2 out of 3 every day for meals, baking, and bulk food prep. If I didn't do that, I'd likely ditch the mixer and the blender, and keep just the processor, but add an immersion blender.
Because of all this baking I'm now doing (replacements for previously purchased items -- bread, granola bars, cheese crackers, etc.), I just pulled all the most common ingredients out of the cabinets and set up a baking area on one of the counters, using presentable dry goods containers scavenged from other areas in the kitchen. The three necessary appliances are immediately adjacent for easy access. It all goes much faster now and clean-up is very speedy.
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We had our kitchen remodeled, and I insisted on keeping the working part pretty close together -- we went from a galley to something larger, but I am glad I kept the fridge-sink-stove pretty near one another. I also thought about sequencing (they are in that order as that's the order I typically work in), and am glad I did. Our counters are tile (installed by us and great because you can put hot stuff directly on the counter), but between the fridge and the sink is a slab of butcher block that, again, I am so glad we had put in. I work on it all the time. Below it (just under some fairly narrow drawers) there is a large, sturdy board (not butcher block) that can be pulled out; it's the depth of the counters (so basically just a board insert that slides out like a drawer). Again, love it -- great for stacking groceries on when I bring them home or stuff on when I get it out, or for working on while seated (and it just rolls back in when not in use.
Other than that, my kitchen equipment is guided by the following principles: I don't generally want one-function items (the coffee maker is, I'll admit, an exception, but an oft-used oned); I want decent quality multipurpose equipment. For us that includes a reasonable-sized toaster oven that gets a fair amount of use (more than the big oven, in fact), a Kitchen Aid mixer (with a food grinder attachment), a fairly standard assortment of pots & pans, decently sharp knives, and standard cooking equipment (wooden spoons, ladle, spatula). Oh, and a crockpot. DS has a pizza stone and paddle, which I'm not too excited about, but anything that DH wants for cooking he can have. We do have a contraption to hang pots from, a small rack on the wall for lids, and a magnetic bar on the wall that holds commonly used spices (decanted into metal tins, labeled with me having written on them using a Sharpie) and has hooks off which measuring cups hang. Oh, and a 6 (?) piece set of the kind of stoneware you can put in a hot oven to roast stuff and not worrying about it cracking.
I've lived over the years (grad school, etc.) with cheap and/or ill-suited to my needs cookware, but at some point I realized it's precisely because I don't much like to cook (or otherwise prepare food) that it makes sense (for me) to pay more for decent quality (not fancy) equipment. Also, over the years of our marriage we've used gifting occasions (birthdays, Christmas) to buy kitchenware for each other.
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Oh, and a 6 (?) piece set of the kind of stoneware you can put in a hot oven to roast stuff and not worrying about it cracking.
I can vouch for that. A few years ago I was working in the kitchen & had a glass casserole dish I was preparing to use sitting on the stove (due to lack of counter space - counter space is important!) I went to turn on the stove for something else and turned on the wrong element - the one under the casserole dish. I realized a few seconds later what I had done and turned off the element and moved the casserole onto a cooling rack. It seemed fine, and I went back to chopping stuff next to it, thinking I had averted disaster. About two minutes later, it exploded. That was scary. I just got a couple of little cuts on my hand - fortunately was wearing long sleeves and it exploded along sort of a horizontal plane instead of upward. But my whole kitchen was covered in tiny shards of broken glass. Lots of fun to clean up!
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What are your things that you *need* to have in a kitchen in order to make it nicer to work with?
Were I to get a do-over, I would get the following things in the best quality I could stomach:
4 knifes - a 9" chef, a little paring, a boning knife, and a bread knife.
Immersion blender
Copper (with interior clad) saute pan and 2 pots (small, medium)
food processor with a couple extras instead of adding a normal blender
stand mixer (I really love my kitchenaid because it's 10 years old and still going strong, plus I love the attachments :) )
A kitchen scale instead of the seemingly unnatural number of measuring items we have laying around, which also improves measuring accuracy
The rest of the stuff (big pot for boiling water, cast iron pans, cutting boards, mixing bowls etc) just don't matter as much for quality for our cooking the ways those things have. Good utensils are nice for not melting and snapping due to shitty glue too I spose.
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- Read "Gear For Your Kitchen" by Alton Brown.
- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
- Except for particular name-brand stuff (Le Creuset, All-Clad, KitchenAid stand mixers, etc.), a restaurant supply store is a better place to shop than stores like Bed Bath and Beyond. (Used would be better still, of course.)
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- Read "Gear For Your Kitchen" by Alton Brown.
- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
- Except for particular name-brand stuff (Le Creuset, All-Clad, KitchenAid stand mixers, etc.), a restaurant supply store is a better place to shop than stores like Bed Bath and Beyond. (Used would be better still, of course.)
I have that knife and I think it's fantastic, especially for the price, though I've personally never used a knife that was more expensive.
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- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
Not sure I can get on board with this. While I've not used this particular knife, I can't imagine it would compare favorably to my Shun (http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-Inch-Wide-Santoku/dp/B0000Y7JLE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357769958&sr=8-4&keywords=shun+classic+santoku) that I picked up ~5yrs ago for about $120. While it was FAR more money than I had ever spent on a knife, it's a dream to use sharp. I'm not sure I'd recommend spending that kind of money, but I would recommend a good knife sharpener (something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Deluxe-5-Stone-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8IEA4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1357770229&sr=8-10&keywords=knife+sharpener)).
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We have a tiny kitchen and I'm planning a remodel. I'm hoping to do most of it myself. Storage is a main concern for me. I don't have that much stuff, but space fills up quickly. I'm planning doing the baseboard storage, which seems really simple to DIY and the kitchen sink face storage http://www.cabinetparts.com/c/kitchen-sink-front-trays-and-hinges
There's very limited counter space, so the ideal is to have everything put away somewhere where it's easy to take out.
We one knife http://www.chefsresource.com/8chefknifglo.html?gclid=CMCossvA3LQCFQ2i4AodHSwAyw and we use this for everything except peeling vegetables, we have a veg peeler for that. Technically I would have had that knife for 6 years, but it got stolen during a move so I replaced it. It's really comfortable to use. Very occasionally I wish I had a serrated knife, but there's not much of a need as we rarely eat bread.
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We have a tiny kitchen and I'm planning a remodel. I'm hoping to do most of it myself. Storage is a main concern for me. I don't have that much stuff, but space fills up quickly. I'm planning doing the baseboard storage, which seems really simple to DIY and the kitchen sink face storage http://www.cabinetparts.com/c/kitchen-sink-front-trays-and-hinges
There's very limited counter space, so the ideal is to have everything put away somewhere where it's easy to take out.
This is neat! And it really costs next to nothing if you DIY
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- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
Not sure I can get on board with this. While I've not used this particular knife, I can't imagine it would compare favorably to my Shun (http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-Inch-Wide-Santoku/dp/B0000Y7JLE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357769958&sr=8-4&keywords=shun+classic+santoku) that I picked up ~5yrs ago for about $120. While it was FAR more money than I had ever spent on a knife, it's a dream to use sharp. I'm not sure I'd recommend spending that kind of money, but I would recommend a good knife sharpener (something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Deluxe-5-Stone-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8IEA4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1357770229&sr=8-10&keywords=knife+sharpener)).
Victorinox actually makes fantastic knives. They'll dull a little quicker than your Shun due to the slightly softer steel, but on the flip side they'll also sharpen easier. Just like everything else in life, the properties of steel lie on a continuum and the knife manufacturer must choose a balance of properties which they think will make a good knife. There's no magic steel that will take a perfect edge in five passes and hold it forever. There's probably a little extra something, whether it be a fancy alloy or a proprietary forging process, added to the Shun, but at that point you're up into law-of-diminishing-returns / tiny-detail-exaggeration-syndrome territory. Sharp is sharp, and the Victorinox can be just as sharp as the Shun if cared for properly.
I must admit though that I dropped $120 on the Global G2 linked in the post two above mine. Besides that it will last the rest of my life (though I expect the Victorinox would as well), it also fits me very well (important because I cook a whole bunch and don't like blisters) and is light in the hand (important because I can use the Global in place of a paring knife), so the cost was justified to me.
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- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
Not sure I can get on board with this. While I've not used this particular knife, I can't imagine it would compare favorably to my Shun (http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-Inch-Wide-Santoku/dp/B0000Y7JLE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357769958&sr=8-4&keywords=shun+classic+santoku) that I picked up ~5yrs ago for about $120. While it was FAR more money than I had ever spent on a knife, it's a dream to use sharp. I'm not sure I'd recommend spending that kind of money, but I would recommend a good knife sharpener (something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Deluxe-5-Stone-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8IEA4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1357770229&sr=8-10&keywords=knife+sharpener)).
Note that I didn't say it's the best knife, just that it's good. It sure blows anything else out of the water on value for money, though!
I have compared it to my mom's expensive Wusthof knife, and I don't think I'm missing out on much.
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- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
Not sure I can get on board with this. While I've not used this particular knife, I can't imagine it would compare favorably to my Shun (http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-Inch-Wide-Santoku/dp/B0000Y7JLE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357769958&sr=8-4&keywords=shun+classic+santoku) that I picked up ~5yrs ago for about $120. While it was FAR more money than I had ever spent on a knife, it's a dream to use sharp. I'm not sure I'd recommend spending that kind of money, but I would recommend a good knife sharpener (something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Deluxe-5-Stone-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8IEA4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1357770229&sr=8-10&keywords=knife+sharpener)).
The first thing I cut when I got my Victorinox was a watermelon. I sliced it in half with next to zero pressure. It's a good value.
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What are your things that you *need* to have in a kitchen in order to make it nicer to work with?
Well, I love my KitchenAid stand mixer. It sat on my counter for a couple of years before I realised what I could do with it, now I use it all the time. I cook more, we eat out less, we win! Do you need one? I don't know! It depends on how much you think you would use it, if ever.
One thing I do wish I had in my small kitchen was more counter space!
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I just got a pressure cooker for Christmas, and after using it a few times, I gotta admit, it's pretty great. You only really need the heat on until it reaches pressure, so you don't have sustained heat for any longer than a couple minutes, which adds up after a while. You can also use it as a pot instead of a regular one.
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I built slide out shelves for some of our cabinets. Makes the space much more useful and much cheaper than buying the shelves from a third party. Once caveat, if you use full extenion slides, expect to spend some time adjusting. Cheap upgrade with big increase in function.
That might help with your pots and your trashcan (assuming you want it in the cabinet).
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I built slide out shelves for some of our cabinets. Makes the space much more useful and much cheaper than buying the shelves from a third party. Once caveat, if you use full extenion slides, expect to spend some time adjusting. Cheap upgrade with big increase in function.
That might help with your pots and your trashcan (assuming you want it in the cabinet).
I was thinking slide out shelves would be great for all the big items that are hard to arrange neatly in a normal cabinet with little shelves. Seems like this is also a very easy and cheap DIY thing to do! I'll keep this one on my list and see after a couple weeks of cooking if it would be nice or simply overkill.
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you need: a kitchen that isn't laid out like mine! jk. it's laid out okay, but it takes up 1/2 the room, as it's an "eat in" kitchen. But it's adjacent to the dining room and we don't even have a table in it! Ugh! And it would be a small kitchen if it DID take up the rest of the space! Give me some more counters! /rant
As far as stocking up on kitchen essentials:
- I'd buy glass, stainless, cast iron, etc whenever you can. Basically buy things like your grandparents would've had back in the day, not the cheap shit that is made nowadays. The good stuff will last forever!
- Don't buy gimmicky gadgets, for the most part you can make whatever they're making with what you have
- I love my kitchen aid stand mixer. This is dependent on how you cook though. If you do a lot from scratch you can get some awesome attachments. I just got the meat grinder/sausage stuffer and the pasta press for christmas (they're EXPENSIVE though, a lot are more than I paid for the mixer!). If you do get one, check out ebay- I got one used for $130 and they're over $300 new!
For kitchen re-do-ing, I plan on doing all of the fancypants things with the cabinets, but I plan to use ana white's plans and build it all from scratch! It'll be a few years before we can do it but we have a huge 2.5 car garage that we don't park in so I can take my time and build it all before tearing out the existing kitchen. I definitely want lots of drawers on the bottom cabinets. I really like those sink front things, I'll have to do that too :) Oh, just another night of me daydreaming a about what my future kitchen will look like...
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Oh, two more things I just thought of. I do have an Oxo good grips swivel peeler for carrots, potatos, and such, that I adore. Sure, it's an absurd luxury, but it works tremendously more smoothly than any other peeler I have ever owned, and even if it did cost ~5 times as much as any other peeler ditto (in the $10 range), it was a splurge I find well worth it.
Also I have 3 pairs of scissors in my kitchen at different spots so that basically no matter where I am standing I can grab scissors. With today's packaging (or are my fingers getting old and weak?), this is a useful "surplus," IMO (and reasonable quality scissors are cheap!).
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http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/08/my-750-bread-making-machine-2/
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- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
- Except for particular name-brand stuff (Le Creuset, All-Clad, KitchenAid stand mixers, etc.), a restaurant supply store is a better place to shop than stores like Bed Bath and Beyond. (Used would be better still, of course.)
Before you do anything else, go read An Everlasting Meal (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439181888/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=nortediblife-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1439181888) which is the best philosophical introduction to actually cooking for oneself that I have read since MFK Fischer. This book is everything writing about economical cookery should be, and after 10+ years as a professional cook I learned a ton from it.
After you've done that, you can get your wizbang stuff.
Victorinox are pretty common in pro kitchens as the community knives. They are good enough, but I'd pack in my shuns and wusthofs for a full day o' slicing. Whatever your blade, keep it sharp. Pay someone $3 to sharpen it every 6 months, or get a wetstone. Do not buy one of those god-awful roller sharpeners.
A big pot, a cast iron skillet and dutch oven will get you 80% of the way to food greatness. A good food processor and stick blender make life a million times easier. More sheetpans are always good. Restaurant supply store or Costco for those. Lots of mason jars for storing everything. Whisks, high heat spatulas, wooden spoons, spring loaded tongs. Some stainless bowls.
Layout: a wider walkway is a gracious luxury. Countertop space. A pull out faucet. A refrigerator that is the right size for your family. Someplace to store food away like a squirrel, a cupboard or a pantry area.
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I will second a large pot (stock or soup kettle) for the Mustachian kitchen. Not only this is useful for making stock or soup, but it doubles as a small batch water boiling canner so that one can take advantage of seasonal food.
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DIY Pot lid storage (http://www.instructables.com/id/Pot-Lid-Organizer/)
I'm going to try this - storing pots rips my knitting.
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Victorinox are pretty common in pro kitchens as the community knives. They are good enough, but I'd pack in my shuns and wusthofs for a full day o' slicing. Whatever your blade, keep it sharp. Pay someone $3 to sharpen it every 6 months, or get a wetstone. Do not buy one of those god-awful roller sharpeners.
What's wrong with doing the sharpening yourself, either with the 'sharpening stick' or another knife?
And while we're discussing kitchen stuff, does anyone know of an alternative to Le Creuset cast irons, preferably cheaper but of decent quality?
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Victorinox are pretty common in pro kitchens as the community knives. They are good enough, but I'd pack in my shuns and wusthofs for a full day o' slicing. Whatever your blade, keep it sharp. Pay someone $3 to sharpen it every 6 months, or get a wetstone. Do not buy one of those god-awful roller sharpeners.
What's wrong with doing the sharpening yourself, either with the 'sharpening stick' or another knife?
Because that's honing, not sharpening (http://www.home-ec101.com/honing-v-sharpening/). Of course you can sharpen your knives yourself, and I don't think Erica was implying otherwise, but you do need to own an abrasive such as the aforementioned stone. Don't try to hone against another knife either; the materials are of too similar a hardness and you're more likely to nick or dull your blade than you are to do anything useful.
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And while we're discussing kitchen stuff, does anyone know of an alternative to Le Creuset cast irons, preferably cheaper but of decent quality?
I've almost bought a Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven a few times, but each time I change my mind because I'm worried about quality (I've read user reviews that say it's great, and others that say it chips... every brand cheaper than Le Creuset or Staub seems to be like that).
I guess the best alternative to Le Creuset is used Le Creuset... but even then they're still hard to find cheap.
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All my regular use plates, bowls etc are white and plain in style. When I need to I add more in plain white. If it doesn't match exactly its not very noticeable. I now have several sets in action simultaneously.
This saves having odd numbers of different patterns, (apart from non matching gift mugs that arrive from time to time).
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And while we're discussing kitchen stuff, does anyone know of an alternative to Le Creuset cast irons, preferably cheaper but of decent quality?
I've almost bought a Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven a few times, but each time I change my mind because I'm worried about quality (I've read user reviews that say it's great, and others that say it chips... every brand cheaper than Le Creuset or Staub seems to be like that).
I guess the best alternative to Le Creuset is used Le Creuset... but even then they're still hard to find cheap.
I found an enameled Martha Stewart cast-iron Dutch oven at the Goodwill for $6. There is a small chip in the enameling on one of the handles, and the inside of the pot has lines on it, like someone cooked something in it and stirred the stuff with a spoon. But it still works great!
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@Russ oh wow, I had no idea there was a difference. Great link.
I have kept an eye for Le Creuset cast irons for about 6 months, but they never went on sale for much. They might have a strategy similar to Apple who never discounts anything and discourages retailers to do so. Once they had 25% off, but for a very specific (ugly) color.
I will keep an eye out for a used one.
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All my regular use plates, bowls etc are white and plain in style. When I need to I add more in plain white. If it doesn't match exactly its not very noticeable. I now have several sets in action simultaneously.
This saves having odd numbers of different patterns, (apart from non matching gift mugs that arrive from time to time).
Oh yeah, that reminds me: I advise getting Corelle dishes. They are both exceptionally inexpensive and exceptionally durable.
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Oh yeah, that reminds me: I advise getting Corelle dishes. They are both exceptionally inexpensive and exceptionally durable.
I can second this. Unfortunately, when I got married, I didn't like any of the Corelle patterns except the pure white, which my wife didn't like. We registered for something else, and eventually, enough of our dishes broke that we needed new ones. I found a Corelle dish with a pattern I liked in a thrift store, and after a few more thrift store finds and ebay purchases, we have a set we like. You can find galleries of discontinued Corelle patterns online. I really like how they nest so compactly.
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And while we're discussing kitchen stuff, does anyone know of an alternative to Le Creuset cast irons, preferably cheaper but of decent quality?
I've almost bought a Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven a few times, but each time I change my mind because I'm worried about quality (I've read user reviews that say it's great, and others that say it chips... every brand cheaper than Le Creuset or Staub seems to be like that).
I guess the best alternative to Le Creuset is used Le Creuset... but even then they're still hard to find cheap.
I got a 5.5 qt. Staub off of Amazon for $150--the less popular colors seemed to be on sale every so often.
I always see Le Creuset at places like Marshalls and TJ Maxx--if you wait until after holidays or on extra sale says, they'll have some in the clearance section. I've seen decent sizes for under a hundred.
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Because that's honing, not sharpening (http://www.home-ec101.com/honing-v-sharpening/). Of course you can sharpen your knives yourself, and I don't think Erica was implying otherwise, but you do need to own an abrasive such as the aforementioned stone. Don't try to hone against another knife either; the materials are of too similar a hardness and you're more likely to nick or dull your blade than you are to do anything useful.
Thanks Russ. I missed the follow up on this thread. Good explanation. Yeah, honing vs/ sharpening. When cutting fatty meat, you might hone every few minutes to align and clear the blade. Otherwise every day to every few days for normal use. But I stand by my original point to not ever buy those roller-sharpener gadgets. They tear up a blade and it's near impossible to keep the angle right. Far better to pay a pro or learn to use a whetstone. Fun fact: apparently boning knives "evolved" from chef's knives that had been sharpened/worn down up past the bolster.
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Beyond the basics I enjoy having an old TV with a Roku in my kitchen. Makes cooking far more entertaining.
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Has anyone started a thread specifically about pots and pans yet? My crappy nonstick cookware from college is falling apart and I'm in the market for replacements.
Cursory internet research suggest nonstick pans are oversold and only really useful for maybe a couple of your frying pans, which could be cast iron instead. Steel heats unevenly and aluminum warps and may be unhealthy. Copper seems to be the most well liked, but is super expensive right now. Cast iron and enameled are BIFL, but expensive and hand-wash only, not to mention they weigh a ton.
I'm leaning towards three cast iron frying pans, one or two copper sauce pans, and a large steel pot for big batches of soup or boiling water for pasta.
Am I missing something? What's your ideal cookware setup like for a family that cooks every day?
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Steamer insert for saucepan. Wok - cheap pressed steel from asian supermarket are by far the best. I really like my cast-iron grill pan too. I only use two frying pans - large cast iron one and small horrible nonstick one needing replacement with cast iron.
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@sol: I'm in the same boat. Super thick aluminum with a copper core is also a good material that is a little more budget friendly. I've actually heard mixed reviews about enameled cast iron outside of the Le Creuset halo (once it chips there are health concerns, also about Le Creuset switching manufactures).
Ideally I would have: two cast iron skillets (small, large), a saucepan of thick aluminum, and one 5 qt stock/pasta pot. That could cover just about anything.
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I'm leaning towards three cast iron frying pans, one or two copper sauce pans, and a large steel pot for big batches of soup or boiling water for pasta. Am I missing something? What's your ideal cookware setup like for a family that cooks every day?
That's about what I use on a regular basis, and we use our kitchen pretty hard. My cast iron stays on the stove basically all the time. A cast iron or enameled cast iron dutch oven is a nice addition, too.
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My recommended kitchen setup:
Crockpot &/or Rice cooker (can cook beans and others in both)
Used Lodge cast iron skillets (small, med, and large). The 10+ year old ones are the best made, and will be much less expensive than new. We have one my dad bought like 30 years ago and it's solid as a rock (literally and figuratively).
Vitamix or other solid blender (worth the money IMO)
Good knife
Good pots (small, med, large)
2 cooking sheets, these don't stick and clean instantly: http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Bakers-Half-Sheet/dp/B000G0KJG4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361922735&sr=8-2&keywords=baking+pan
Corelle dishes
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Mine is similar. 2 cast iron frying pans, 1 non-stick. 1 cast iron Dutch oven. 1 medium and 1 large aluminum pot for spaghetti or making soup (heavy, vintage magnalite), 1 big aluminum baking sheet, 1 non-stick baking sheet. 1 glass lasagna pan.
A rice cooker, a crockpot, a vitamin, a food processor. We have a few other things, but this is what we use all the time.
Oh, and I use a"universal" pot cover for everything but the Dutch oven.
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Mark Bittman's article on fully outfitting a kitchen on a $200 budget from the restaurant supply store is a classic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09mini.html?pagewanted=all
I asked for a food processor for Christmas, and it's been a very useful gift. I like hummus, which is usually around $5/lb. in stores; you can make a ton of delicious hummus in a few minutes with a food processor, and the dominant ingredient is a $1.50 2lb. can of chickpeas.
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And while we're discussing kitchen stuff, does anyone know of an alternative to Le Creuset cast irons, preferably cheaper but of decent quality?
I've almost bought a Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven a few times, but each time I change my mind because I'm worried about quality (I've read user reviews that say it's great, and others that say it chips... every brand cheaper than Le Creuset or Staub seems to be like that).
I guess the best alternative to Le Creuset is used Le Creuset... but even then they're still hard to find cheap.
I ADORE my Lodge enameled cast iron dutch ovens - 1 3qt and 1 6.5 qt. I use them for just about everything. Only recently got the 3qt, which was not strictly necessary, but will get tons of use and, also, with the 6.5qt, I tended to make 6.5 qts of EVERYTHING, and with only 2 light eaters in the house, that was way too much. Anyway, they're cheap and have great longevity, and a few inevitable chips here or there don't really matter.
Along the lines of cookware, it depends partly on what you like to cook. I use my dutch ovens for most things I cook (along with a skillet or two), but I've heard of others who got by for a few budget years with just a wok and a steamer basket. And of course, there's heaps of bachelors out there getting by with one electric skillet, or a camp stove and one pot and one pan.
One of the coolest things I've seen was an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour" (called "Food tastes better with sand between your toes") where he went to a rasta cafe where they cooked up all sort of tasty-looking healthy food with a hubcap that had been jerry-rigged into a makeshift stove, and they had like one knife, one pot, one pan, and a wooden spoon. They are my heroes!
I second Mark Bittman's article on the $200 kitchen! Quite a few chefs have articles along these lines. The main consensus is no single-use gadgets, though of course, moustachians will derive great pleasure from finding unusual uses for what they already have - like, the house I moved into came with cannoli forms (they were extremely anti-moustachian), which I discovered worked great as apple corers. Etc. Along these lines, I was looking up DIY mortar-and-pestle, and you can use a flat-bottomed glass bowl for the "mortar" and a coffee cup weighted with pennies for the "pestle."
I also completely agree with music in the kitchen, and preferably a drink for the cook as well! Then it's a total pleasure to cook, and not the drudgery a lot of people make it out to be.
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I just got two amazing Le Creuset pots as an earlier birthday gift from my Mom (though I tipped her off to a place where she could get them for half price).
SCORE. Time to braise.
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im slightly confused on what many people find to be "essential". IMO the kitchen serves one purpose: to cook good tasting food, at a fraction of the price. if the door makes to much "noise", or if your trash can location is not "ideal", than we must not be reading the same blog...
my personal definition of "essential": things needed/used every day.
list of my essentials found in my kitchen: crock pot, one large pan, one large frying pan, one rubber spatula, one can opener, microwave, blendteck blender,one large knife, 2 large bowl/ plates, 2 spoons, 2 forks, 2 small knives, 2 drinking glass. that's it. as a minimalist i think anything more is just "stuff" you collect and shove in a dark hard to reach corner of your kitchen. why have more than that? if pot is dirty and you get hungry, clean it, cook and repeat, no need for sets of pots and pans. having "less of things allows you to buy top quality items that will last for years.
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Essential? I could get by with a cast-iron skillet, a crock pot, a metal spatula, and a big cooking spoon.
Life is better with more options, though. I have all of the above, plus a second crock pot (both are used weekly), a cast iron Dutch oven, a stockpot, several sauce pans, a cookie sheet, a canner, etc, etc. I can cook big meals, which you can't do with one or two pots, at least not if you want it all hot at the same time. For that matter, I can cook in bulk and freeze ahead.
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Essential? I could get by with a cast-iron skillet, a crock pot, a metal spatula, and a big cooking spoon.
Life is better with more options, though. I have all of the above, plus a second crock pot (both are used weekly), a cast iron Dutch oven, a stockpot, several sauce pans, a cookie sheet, a canner, etc, etc. I can cook big meals, which you can't do with one or two pots, at least not if you want it all hot at the same time. For that matter, I can cook in bulk and freeze ahead.
[/quot
i agree, variety is great, its a great idea for bigger families to cook large meals and freeze them, but in my case, i would be eating the same thing all week, thus smaller quick meals are my preference. i personally love soup and make it often, im also a at home vegetarian so all my meals require little equipment and time.
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Kitchens are very personal, and what you need depends on what you'll be cooking. I started with the following, and I love to cook from scratch and bake:
-3 pots with lids. One saucepan, one soup pot, one medium sized. Good quality sandwich design, NOT nonstick
-One large cast-iron skillet
-2 cutting boards
-Chef's knife, paring knife
-2 mixing bowls. One large, one very large
-wooden spoons, large sieved spoon, ladle, pasta spoon thing
-metal spatula, rubber spatula
-large whisk, pastry cutter
-cake pans (2), bread pans (unless you have a bread maker), roasting pan (doubles as lasagne pan), pie plates (2- double as more lasagne/casserole type pans), cookie sheet, muffin tin.
-rolling pin
-food storage containers. These can be old yogurt containers or fancy glass ones. Usually I just put my pots with leftovers in the fridge.
-lemon juicing device (can be a wooden reamer or a drop-through dealy)
-measuring spoons, dry measuring cups, wet measuring cup (1c)
-salad spinner
-cheese grater, microplane
-toaster, kettle
-corkscrew, can opener
Over the years I've added:
-food processor
-immersion blender, hand mixer
-pressure cooker (really worth it if you cook with dried beans. Also doubles as an extra pot)
-fish spatula (the best! I would take this over a regular metal spatula now, actually)
-filleting knife
-garlic press, veggie peeler, mandolin
-4c measuring cup
-basic kitchen scale
-silicone cookie sheet liner, bundt pan
-a smaller frying pan
-microwave
I can do pretty much anything with the above. Also, NOTHING should be nonstick. That shite is toxic and needs to be frequently replaced. I've found good deals at restaurant-supply stores, although they are not always the cheaper option.
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Essential? I could get by with a cast-iron skillet, a crock pot, a metal spatula, and a big cooking spoon.
Life is better with more options, though. I have all of the above, plus a second crock pot (both are used weekly), a cast iron Dutch oven, a stockpot, several sauce pans, a cookie sheet, a canner, etc, etc. I can cook big meals, which you can't do with one or two pots, at least not if you want it all hot at the same time. For that matter, I can cook in bulk and freeze ahead.
[/quote
i agree, variety is great, its a great idea for bigger families to cook large meals and freeze them, but in my case, i would be eating the same thing all week, thus smaller quick meals are my preference. i personally love soup and make it often, im also a at home vegetarian so all my meals require little equipment and time.
There are only two of us, but freezing ahead several times gives us variety over the next few weeks. Not to say you shouldn't do exactly as you like, but I just wanted to point out that large batch cooking doesn't mean repetition.
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I can't believe anyone hasn't mentioned this:
A spouse that really likes to cook.
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I can't believe anyone hasn't mentioned this:
A spouse that really likes to cook.
Because that's already taken care of (and I like cooking too!)
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Mark Bittman's article on fully outfitting a kitchen on a $200 budget from the restaurant supply store is a classic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09mini.html?pagewanted=all
I asked for a food processor for Christmas, and it's been a very useful gift. I like hummus, which is usually around $5/lb. in stores; you can make a ton of delicious hummus in a few minutes with a food processor, and the dominant ingredient is a $1.50 2lb. can of chickpeas.
Soak your own chickpeas to maximize the savings and reduce salt!
-3 5 pots with lids. One tiny pot for reheating, one saucepan, one soup pot, one medium sized, one large for stews.
-One large cast-iron skillet
-One large non-stick skillet
-One small non-stick skillet
-One large "cooker" (large, deep non-stick skillet with lid)
-2 4 cutting boards
-Chef's knife, paring knife
-2 mixing bowls. One large, one very large
-wooden spoons, large sieved spoon, ladle, pasta spoon thing
-metal plastic spatula, rubber spatula
-large whisk,
-cookie sheet,
-rolling pin
-food storage containers. These can be old yogurt containers or fancy glass ones. Usually I just put my pots with leftovers in the fridge.
-measuring spoons, dry measuring cups, wet measuring cup (1c)
-cheese grater, microplane
-kettle
-corkscrew, can opener
-rice cooker
-dehydrator
-2 plastic tongs
-peeler
That's what we've been rolling with, plus a hand-powered food processor and a vegetable steamer that we never use.
On the plate for us is to switch out all the plastics and non-sticks with better alternatives.
We also really really want a nice food processor and blender because we have no way to mill flour or make soups and smoothies now, and a real masticating juicer would be sweet. Also a slowcooker.
However, we find that we don't need:
-toaster (don't eat bread)
-microwave
-bread pan
-wok (cooker works perfectly)
-tv in kitchen (seriously, wtf?)
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My kitchen essential is my wife. Not because I am a sexist pig, but because I had the good fortune of marrying a pastry chef. It's always a happy day in the kitchen when your partner is trained in the fine art of making delicious things.
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My kitchen essential is my wife. Not because I am a sexist pig, but because I had the good fortune of marrying a pastry chef. It's always a happy day in the kitchen when your partner is trained in the fine art of making delicious things.
I agree with you 100%. I'm willing to trade all sorts of 'clean up duty' for 'good cook'.
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I will second (third?) the Staub recommendation, I asked for them as Christmas gifts while in college and now will have them for the rest of my life. I have a dutch oven, a skillet, and a pot I'm not sure what to call, maybe a braising pot? it is wide like a skillet, the sides are taller than a skillet but shorter than a dutch oven, it has a lid and no long handle, so it is the best of both worlds in that I could fry an egg in it, or use it for curries and stews, and I don't have to reshuffle every rack in my oven to fit the height of the dutch oven.
High-quality kitchen items are my favorite gifts to ask for, because you can certainly get by with cheaper knives and pots, and slowly upgrade as you can afford it/as the cheap stuff breaks. Plus the generous members of my family love "recurring" gifts where they can add to a collection at a range of price points instead of thinking up new and exciting presents every christmas and birthday, and I love that I can get all the fancy new gear I wouldn't buy for myself or pretending to like something I don't need.
The list of essentials depends on how you cook. If you eat a stir-fry and rice every single night, all you need is a knife, cutting board, pot for rice, pan for stir fry and spoon. If you grill all summer, you need a longer handled tong and spatula. If you don't have time to cook at night, you need a slow cooker to start meals in the morning. You should only spend your money on things you will actually use multiple times a week, and the rest of the nonessentially could probably be borrowed or improvised.
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To me the ideal kitchen:
La Pavoni Europiccola espresso maker
Magnetic wall mounted knife rack
Rack with hooks for hanging pots / pans
Le Creuset Enamelled Cast Iron Oval French Oven
Le Creuset Enamelled Cast Iron Saucier Pot
Silicon Whisk
Silicon Spatula
Oxo Silicon Turner / Flipper
Le Creuset Forged Hard Anodized Shallow Fry Pan
Le Creuset Giant Reversible Grill/Griddle
Kamado Joe Classic Grill
Global Chef's Knife / Pairing Knife
Imported Japanese Clever
Ice Coffee Maker "Fretta V60"
Blendtec Blender
Aeropress Coffee Maker (for travel, outside the house)
Chemex Coffee Maker (drip coffee for groups)
Chemex Water Kettle
Unicorn Pepper & Salt Mills
Drink Mixing Set
Beer/Wine/Cocktail glasses
Ice Ball Mold
Heavy wood cutting board
Silpat Ice Cube Trays
Vintage Corning Ware Mixing Bowls
Oxo Good Grips Liquid Measuring Cup
a set of steel measuring cups
a set of steel measuring spoons
corkscrew
wine aerator
1 nice full silverware set
Rice cooker (only use it when making Indian food now)
Multiple sets of glass tupperware - spillproof
Bodum spillproof steel travel coffee mug
Microplane cheese grater
Comfortable can opener
I don't often bake, so I don't have much of that stuff.
Can't think of anything else I would use.
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here's my top list:
counter space
water filter
skillet
rice cooker
medium sized pot
olive oil
bowl
dish rags
glass tupperware
utensils
plates
glasses
mugs
kettle
knives
wooden spoon
rubber spatula
tongs
serving spoon
ziplock bags
paper towels
collander
these are all things that i use regularly. i am now living in one the largest apartments i've ever had. its a 2 bedroom with a nice sized kitchen. i've never had a place where two could comfortably cook at the same time. i love my kitchen but realized that there are many things that i haven't been using much, especially since my oven is broken. 'm moving to a smaller apartment that is across the country and am selling a ton of things at the swap meet next weekend.
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Mark Bittman's article on fully outfitting a kitchen on a $200 budget from the restaurant supply store is a classic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09mini.html?pagewanted=all
I asked for a food processor for Christmas, and it's been a very useful gift. I like hummus, which is usually around $5/lb. in stores; you can make a ton of delicious hummus in a few minutes with a food processor, and the dominant ingredient is a $1.50 2lb. can of chickpeas.
Soak your own chickpeas to maximize the savings and reduce salt!
The other benefit of soaking your own beans is that you can experiment with a variety of beans. I'm a huge fan of black bean hummus, myself.
I also have to agree with the seniment of a spouse that loves to cook is a very nice kitchen essential. Without the Mr. I'd probablly eat the same thing every day (which is basically what I did in college), on one hand I'd need a lot fewer kitchen implements, but it seems likely that I might suffer some sort of nutrient deficiency long term, so it's definietly worth it.
One thing we bought recently is a set of silicone funnels, I love them, and use those suckers 3-4 times a week, they're especially helpful when refilling the spice bottles (the local HEB has bulk spices, so awesome: less wasteful and less expensive).
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One thing we bought recently is a set of silicone funnels, I love them, and use those suckers 3-4 times a week, they're especially helpful when refilling the spice bottles (the local HEB has bulk spices, so awesome: less wasteful and less expensive).
We just fold a piece of card stock or an envelope in half, pour the bulk spice onto it, vibrate and tilt it into a spice jar. :)
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What are your things that you *need* to have in a kitchen in order to make it nicer to work with?
Facepunch coming...making your kitchen "nicer to work with" by adding stupid things like drawer dampers and trash can drawers is totally antithetical to being mustachian.
What do you need? Probably what you already have. As far as organizing pots & pans, lid racks for the door of your cabinet help a lot. My mom has these for her baking pans and I'm thinking about getting them too; they're also nice for cutting boards. I'd think long and hard though about which of these things might actually make you cook more and more efficiently and which are just fluffy upgrades to waste money on.
I agree and would like to share this blog entry from MMM's kindred spirit:
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/the-minimalist-kitchen.html (http://earlyretirementextreme.com/the-minimalist-kitchen.html)
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I like Mark Bittman's list. No one "needs" Le Creuset. My mother's Revere Ware dutch oven, steel with a copper bottom, works fine after more than 60 years.
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One thing we bought recently is a set of silicone funnels, I love them, and use those suckers 3-4 times a week, they're especially helpful when refilling the spice bottles (the local HEB has bulk spices, so awesome: less wasteful and less expensive).
We just fold a piece of card stock or an envelope in half, pour the bulk spice onto it, vibrate and tilt it into a spice jar. :)
Yeah I used to do that, but I always made a mess because you have to hold the cardstock in place. Also what do you do for liquids?
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Yeah I used to do that, but I always made a mess because you have to hold the cardstock in place. Also what do you do for liquids?
Hm, I haven't had to put a liquid in a very small-mouthed vessel yet, that would be a legit use for a funnel. We often make salad dressing and put it in an old glass salad dressing bottle with like a 1" mouth. I mix the dressing in a measuring cup with a spout and pour from that.
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The other benefit of soaking your own beans is that you can experiment with a variety of beans. I'm a huge fan of black bean hummus, myself.
Our household favorite is "BIP dip", short for black-eyed pea hummus (black 'i'ed pea == BIP), which makes an extremely smooth dip.
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Personally (living in an apartment) I'd love a proper vent. A BBQ on the balconey is nice, but you can achieve much of the same effect on an electric range with a cast iron skillet and good use of the oven. What kills me in the apartment is the smoke.
I'm not one for fancy stainless steel and expensive counter tops, but a range hood would be my #1 addition to a kitchen.
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Those looking for cookware may want to check yard sales, the source for my revere ware pans, le creuset Dutch oven, and pasta maker (none over $8). not that I need a pasta maker personally, but it has been really fun to make with my spaghetti loving child.
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I know everyone raves about Le Creuset - and I was excited when we were given a Le Creuset dutch oven. Except that it is so heavy I find using it to be a bit dangerous (in the case of trying to drain something) and washing up to be more difficult than it needs to be. I think people get too excited about them.
I way prefer my solid, not-too-heavy-not-too-light, nameless saucepan.
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As we've moved into the house but haven't yet fully finished the house, I'm discovering a number of nonessential "essentials."
A stove is not required, not even for scratch cooking. A big oven isn't either, though a countertop convection makes its absence easier to put up with. (There is still some electrical work to be finished.)
Either a refrigerator or a freezer is nearly essential, but having both is mere luxury. (Broken door on the fridge, fixed hours before the deep freeze died, taking almost all the frozen food with it.)
A dishwasher is definitely not required (not hooked up yet, but I have one, a welcome housewarming gift from my mother).
Hot water in the kitchen is not required (a leak that's on The List but hasn't been gotten to yet).
All meals can be cooked in two casserole dishes or one crock pot and eaten from cheap paper plates (there's still moving to be done). Baking can be done this way as well, even in bulk to use up wild blueberries and blackberries if that's all you can save from the dead freezer (they were packed inside other frozen food in a crate in the freezer and still had ice crystals throughout).
A pantry can be stored in milk crates on the floor until better arrangements can be constructed.
Overall, we've done just fine, and haven't once resorted to eating out because of the kitchen. The stove is the biggest deal, and we're managing. It's now half done, with the receptacle but not the breaker wired in, so this weekend I may boil water. If not, life goes on.
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I will second (third?) the Staub recommendation, I asked for them as Christmas gifts while in college and now will have them for the rest of my life. I have a dutch oven...
The Kirkland Signature French Oven at Costco is made in France (rumored to be made by either Staub or Le Creuset) and is currently selling for $49.97.
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I hear two separate questions on this thread:
1. What cooking items (pots, pans, knives) do I need to reasonably prepare food?
and 2. To what level of comfort and style should a kitchen be built and decorated?
This requires to separate answers:
To answer the first question, you must ask yourself just how much you cook. If you're a burgers-and-beans type of cook who rarely strays from the most simple cooking tasks, you don't need much. A few pots and pans will do. However, if you enjoy cooking, you can find plenty of gadgets and gizmos to fill your cabinets. Which ones are reasonable? Simple answer: The ones you actually use. Even an over-priced bread machine is worthwhile . . . IF you use it and enjoy it frequently. I think all of us will agree that a good set of pots and pans are necessary, as are good knives, a crock pot, and a few other basics. Beyond that, we'll vary. I have oodles of baking items and canning equipment. Someone else might not use them at all. I own no coffee pot, whereas many people would think that's impossible. Also, few people will go out and buy ALL these things at once. Instead, they're added a few pieces at a time -- a birthday present here, a Christmas present there, an item you've wanted and found on sale . . . and it doesn't take many years to find that you have a nicely stocked kitchen.
Someone asked about GOOD pots and pans. I do love cast iron, and -- with care -- it lasts forever, but it's not good for everything, and it's heavy. My 25- year old copper-bottom Revereware is just about gone, and I've been investigating its replacement. I'm pretty settled on the Cuisinart Multi-clad Pro Series. I like it because it has glass lids (and I like to see what I'm cooking), and it contains multi-metals all the way up the sides for even cooking. It's moderate in price, and since I cook all the time it's a reasonable purchase for me. I'm not going to buy sets. I don't need the big stock pot; I absolutely love my old-old-old Visions glass stockpot (again, I like to see what I'm cooking). In fact, I just bought a duplicate stock pot at a second hand store. Do I NEED it? Not really -- obviously I was surviving without it before I happened upon the duplicate, but it'll be handy during canning season to be able to cook two pots of applesauce, etc. at once.
And the second question, which is quite different:
To what level should a person build and decorate a kitchen? I'd say that you should not go all-out on fancy items (like silent door closers and hidden trash cans) UNLESS you're debt-free including your house AND you're on your way to financial independence. Once you've achieved those goals, IF a Better Homes and Garden cover-kitchen is something you really want, have at it. To do it before that point is probably contrary to your goals.
Not long after my husband and I were married, I heard a good piece of advice: Write down the top five things you want. When you have to make a decision concerning spending, consult your list. If the purchase is in line with those goals, spend. If not, figure out something else.
Personally, living in a gorgeous house hasn't made my top five yet. However, if I were to make a top ten list, a nice house would be on it. Once our kids are raised and educated, we do plan to build a small-but-nice retirement house, and I do intend to have a lovely light-filled kitchen with granite countertops and a walk-in pantry at that point. But no silent door closers and hidden trash. I don't see the point.
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I like Smitten Kitchen's list because she includes the essentials and items that do double duty. Obviously, not all are essential but you can pick and choose what you want:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/12/build-your-own-smitten-kitchen/
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Things we love:
Our rice cooker. Not because we can't cook rice on the stove, but because there's usually no burner available.
Our dutch oven for on-the-stove meat-searing and then braising in the oven
Our wok.
Our GIANT stock pot for canning, making sauces, making soups, steaming lobster & corn on the cob
Our immersion blender
Our gas grill and charcoal grill
My husband's homemade sous vide rig. Seriously, sous vide is the bomb for cooking most meats to a precise temperature (and then you sear them, if needed).
Cook's Illustrated
I'll admit that we will be completely non-mustachian when we build our new kitchen. But, my husband's a cabinetmaker and all-around handy guy, and cooking is a serious hobby for us. If I was more of a utilitarian cook without the ability to DIY the vast majority of a remodel, I would probably make a different decision. But I'm willing to drive my car 300,000 miles to get a kitchen I love. YMMV
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Okay, so I am accidentally a stove geek. I've almost piped in a few times and said it and now I will:
* A really cool super-insulated oven that cooks on retained heat and can be had (often) for about $100.
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/how-your-kitchen-can-be-hip-cool-retro-and-still-have-lip-hair/msg53368/
(http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-wkLaL0CTFRw/T7UJiAR-DkI/AAAAAAAAE48/8K9JoLYR-GE/s400/IMG_0003_half.jpg)
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Best bang for your buck, looking forward for the rest of your life... probably garage sale or thrift store bought cast iron cookware (enameled or raw/seasoned) from the first half of the 20th century.
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Okay, so I am accidentally a stove geek. I've almost piped in a few times and said it and now I will:
* A really cool super-insulated oven that cooks on retained heat and can be had (often) for about $100.
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/how-your-kitchen-can-be-hip-cool-retro-and-still-have-lip-hair/msg53368/
(http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-wkLaL0CTFRw/T7UJiAR-DkI/AAAAAAAAE48/8K9JoLYR-GE/s400/IMG_0003_half.jpg)
My mom had a stove like that. It worked really well. We left it in the house when we sold it. Wonder if the new owners refurbished it or got rid of it.
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Interesting - the one fairly Mustachian kitchen item I'm not seeing much mention of is the pressure cooker. It makes it so you can cook thoe time consuming, long stewing/simmering dishes in an hour or less, preventing one from heading for a restaurant when the only thing available is frozen or cheap cuts of meat. Coq-au-vin, stew, pot roast, or dried beans all can be done in an hour or less. Not to mention the reduced energy usage of the short cooking time. And, wonderfully enough, the reviews I've found is that the best sealing one is NOT the expensive KuhnRicon or one of the others, but a stainless steel or Aluminum Presto which sell for around $50. YAY!
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Look in second hand stores and garage sales for knives and cast iron pans. I have found a number of beautiful kitchen knives that would be $90 new, but only cost $3 to buy and $5 to a buddy to hone, sharpen and generally clean up. I don't think I have to go into how awesome cast iron can be or how a rusted, mistreated skillet can look like new with minimal effort and cost.
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Interesting - the one fairly Mustachian kitchen item I'm not seeing much mention of is the pressure cooker. It makes it so you can cook thoe time consuming, long stewing/simmering dishes in an hour or less, preventing one from heading for a restaurant when the only thing available is frozen or cheap cuts of meat. Coq-au-vin, stew, pot roast, or dried beans all can be done in an hour or less. Not to mention the reduced energy usage of the short cooking time. And, wonderfully enough, the reviews I've found is that the best sealing one is NOT the expensive KuhnRicon or one of the others, but a stainless steel or Aluminum Presto which sell for around $50. YAY!
LOL I was about to mention the good old pressure cooker. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my pressure cooker. Its the best device on the planet. I paid about $50 for mine too and I can't tell the difference between mine and my friends $200 dollar one.
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Sport, a couple of my friends have a stove like this! They call her 'Big Shirl' and she is a beaut.
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For my birthday, a very smart person bought me a 75-year-old cast iron pot. Man, it rocks.
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Sport, a couple of my friends have a stove like this! They call her 'Big Shirl' and she is a beaut.
All Chambers have names. A friend of ours is named Marilyn (chortle). Ours is Betty White. (We had a white and a blue stove to start with, so the white one got named Betty White.)
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If you like to cook large batches in advance and don't mind a slightly bigger investment, I believe you should skip the pressure cooker and get a pressure CANNER. I have this model from Presto (http://www.amazon.com/Presto-01781-23-Quart-Pressure-Canner/), and it works a a pressure canner, a pressure cooker, a very large cooking pot and water canning pot.
The advantage of the pressure canner is that you can use it to preserve large amount of cooked meats, stews, soups and other non-acidic meals for a tiny price! When there is a huge sale on meat, you can stock up, cook it all at once and keep it on your shelves at room temperature in handy small (or not so small) jars. The jars themselves can be reused over and over, only the lids need to be changed for about 25 cents a lid.
When you need a quick lunch, you can simply grab a jar from your pantry (or your office drawer) to get a fresh soup, stew or chili made with love! As an example, last time we prepared 28 1 cup jars of cooked chicken in one batch that can be used to make sandwiches and salads on the go. Even with a not-so-good special on chicken breasts, the ingredients costs less than two dollar a jar and can make two sandwiches.
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Hand mixer/immersion blender.
With it I make salad sauce, mayonnaise, smoothies, ice cream ( mix frozen bananas and heavy cream), I puree soup, blend pie glaze(?), etc.
I use it almost daily, so for me it is considered essential. Got it used for $5 at the thrift store.
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"As a somewhat mustachian couple (we are working on this) ..... I'm thinking upgrading as in usability and ease of use, not necessarily the looks of the kitchen. "
After reading some of the comments criticizing drawer dampers I had to comment. I think the part where you mention that you are 'working' on being mustachian; and upgrading usability and ease of use, has been overlooked. Living the mustachian lifestyle is an ongoing process. We all can't become super hard-core mustachians immediately, living only on found objects and cooking in a pit out back.
Jarring noises, a super busy household, lots of visitors, stresses me out. That's just my personality. For me, anything that encourages me to stay in the kitchen and cook is good. I have fantastic Ikea drawers with the soft close and I wouldn't want to go without them. I will sacrifice something else. For instance, to save money I use only baking soda & rice flour to wash my face, and am in the process of "un-dyeing" my hair and letting it go natural.
To save money, maybe you can put dampers only on the doors you use most? And you can check out ReStore (Habitat for Humanity) for discounted items.
Good luck!
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Besides the generic stuff, Oven/Fridge/Pans/etc.
Rice cooker (Tiger)
Electric Pressure Cooker (we have InstaPot and it works awesome)
Bread Maker ($50 Sunbeam, can't complain, loafs come out perfect every time)
Probably the most MMM item is the Electric Pressure Cooker... it' frees up a crazy amount of time. 3hrs to cook something in like 35mins. Time you can spend playing with your kids, helping with their homework, doing home renos, etc.
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I just bought a $100 slow cooker on sale for $40. It's amazing, already make up some delicious huge paleo cooks. Mm.
We did a big Costco shop and I've barely had to buy food since. Eating healthier too.
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Besides the generic stuff, Oven/Fridge/Pans/etc.
Rice cooker (Tiger)
Electric Pressure Cooker (we have InstaPot and it works awesome)
Bread Maker ($50 Sunbeam, can't complain, loafs come out perfect every time)
Probably the most MMM item is the Electric Pressure Cooker... it' frees up a crazy amount of time. 3hrs to cook something in like 35mins. Time you can spend playing with your kids, helping with their homework, doing home renos, etc.
In addition to saving you time, pressure cookers also allow you to buy much cheaper cuts of meat with tender, tasty results. (Same argument applies to slow cooker of course, but different use case.)
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I use the bejesus out of my KitchenAid stand mixer. HOWEVER, DO NOT BUY A NEW ONE. I grew up cooking on my mother's from the early eighties, and she's a very serious baker, and hers is still trucking along at nearly 30 years old, and after thousands of pounds of dough. I was gifted a new Professional Stand Mixer when I married in 2009. It's already wearing out. In 1986, the KitchenAid brand was sold to Whirlpool, and the quality has been downhill every since. You want a KitchenAid by Hobart mixer. Hobart makes commercial mixers, and made all of them prior to 1986, and they are super sturdy. You can get them on Ebay for under $200 easily, and could probably find one under $100 if you were persistent. When my mixer dies in a few years, this is what I'll replace it with.
Wow! So glad to learn this. I don't have a KitchenAid yet but I have been wanting one for years... my mom got hers when she got married in 1985 and it's still trucking, which is why I always wanted one, but it looks like that was the end of the line. I'll definitely check Ebay!!
Also, I know this thread is pretty old but reading through the beginning of it made me want to brag about these sweet-ass spice racks my boyfriend and I built last year. I got so annoyed shopping around for a simple spice rack and seeing how expensive they all were! Ours weren't super duper cheap because we bought MDF from the store, but if you have scraps lying around they could pretty much be free. The part I love the most is how it's custom fit to go in that otherwise useless space behind our corner sink, yet they are two separate racks so when we move to another kitchen (currently renting) we have other arrangement options, like one above the other, or both in a long line. It's the little things :)
As others suggested, I have also always wanted a pegboard. Then earlier this year, my bf was helping a friend move and he noticed she was getting rid of some shelving units kinda like these:
http://www.storesupply.com/pc-13503-518-black-mini-grid-add-a-shelf-30311.aspx?source=2&sku=30311&gclid=CN7LxvWf4LoCFa5r7Aod-00A3Q
He had the amazing idea to use those as a pot rack instead. We spray painted them with that white appliance epoxy stuff and mounted them on some boards that we mounted horizontally to studs, so we have a big metal grid on our kitchen wall instead of a pegboard. We just use S hooks to hang everything. I just think it looks so tidy and awesome, I feel happy every day when I use it... I wish I had a picture to post but I'm at work!
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Check out #2 in this list:
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/10/clever-life-hacks-to-simplify-your-world/
Works great for keeping pans stored. Otherwise the lids make it a mess in there!
+1 cast iron. Lasts forever, and you reduce water consumption as you don't need to wash it! Also use stored bacon grease for certain cooking as it's free and lasts a long time.
Buy a nice set of knives + pots/pans with a lifetime warranty. We bought a high end Calphalon pot and knife set. They both have lifetime warranties. My friends dad has had a set of these knifes for years, and just sends them in the banged up ones every 10 years and gets brand new ones. The pot set came with a big soup pot, so that has made cheap cooking very easy for us.
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Magnetic knife rack. 15 bucks. I LOVE mine. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60238645/ (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60238645/)
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I love my food processor - it enables me to make some of my favorite recipes, including hummus, felafel, veggie burgers, and date bars, and it's also the difference between "too hard" and "no problem" when I come across baking recipes calling for pureed fruit, oat flour, ground nuts, or cold butter cut into teeny pieces (scones, pie crust).
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Magnetic knife rack. 15 bucks. I LOVE mine. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60238645/ (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60238645/)
http://www.harborfreight.com/18-in-magnetic-tool-holder-60433.html
Even cheaper. Just clean it with some simple green first and you're good to go.
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Stuff I *regularly* use in my kitchen:
Prepping island (I bought an old cabinet to use as an island and store my spices and cutting boards there too)
My Global Chef's Knife and Bread Knife (wedding gifts)
Cutting boards
Pasta pot with insert (used at least 4 times a week)
Saucier pan
Small non-stick saute pan
Large stainless steel saute pan
Mixing bowls
Mason jars
Electronic kitchen scale
Presto Pressure Canner (I do a lot of canning)
Stock Pot
Crockpot
Measuring cup and measuring spoons
Under-sink water filter with instant-hot(tea, oatmeal, poached eggs, the list goes on)
Toaster oven
Oven
Range that I can shove pots around on (the one thing I've replaced in this kitchen - the old one would fall apart if I tried to shove a pot)
Above-range Vent
Dutch Oven
Covered stoneware baker from Target (this is what I bake bread in)
Pie/tart pan
Cookie sheets
8x8 baking pan
Muffin pan
Miscellaneous stirring spoons and turners and spatulas (bought on clearance)
Whisk (but I often use a fork instead)
Food processor
Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer with attachments (pasta, bread, grinder, making butter)
Dehydrator
Oven mitts
Edit to add: Coffee maker and espresso maker. (Saves us from $tarbucks)
Not "in the kitchen" but for cooking - a good grill.
I tore out the "trashcan drawer" - it was just annoying and in the way.
I do use the microwave but don't need it.
I do own a food-saver and want to use it more for storing frozen or dehydrated stuff.
I own a mandoline but am able to do almost as good with my chef's knife.
For "essentials":
I have cooked over an open fire with a dutch oven and a frying pan. I lived in a home with no appliances - we had a wok, a donated microwave, and a hot-pot. I *can* live with very little. I lived for 2 years in Italy in a small apartment with a tiny kitchen and had very little - but I bought everything fresh daily. Not cheap.
What I listed above as regular use are all things that I really do use and help us save money - especially the canner and dehydrator. We eat out rarely, partly because I have what I need to cook great food here.
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- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
Not sure I can get on board with this. While I've not used this particular knife, I can't imagine it would compare favorably to my Shun (http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-Inch-Wide-Santoku/dp/B0000Y7JLE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357769958&sr=8-4&keywords=shun+classic+santoku) that I picked up ~5yrs ago for about $120. While it was FAR more money than I had ever spent on a knife, it's a dream to use sharp. I'm not sure I'd recommend spending that kind of money, but I would recommend a good knife sharpener (something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Deluxe-5-Stone-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8IEA4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1357770229&sr=8-10&keywords=knife+sharpener)).
Victorinox actually makes fantastic knives. They'll dull a little quicker than your Shun due to the slightly softer steel, but on the flip side they'll also sharpen easier. Just like everything else in life, the properties of steel lie on a continuum and the knife manufacturer must choose a balance of properties which they think will make a good knife. There's no magic steel that will take a perfect edge in five passes and hold it forever. There's probably a little extra something, whether it be a fancy alloy or a proprietary forging process, added to the Shun, but at that point you're up into law-of-diminishing-returns / tiny-detail-exaggeration-syndrome territory. Sharp is sharp, and the Victorinox can be just as sharp as the Shun if cared for properly.
I must admit though that I dropped $120 on the Global G2 linked in the post two above mine. Besides that it will last the rest of my life (though I expect the Victorinox would as well), it also fits me very well (important because I cook a whole bunch and don't like blisters) and is light in the hand (important because I can use the Global in place of a paring knife), so the cost was justified to me.
Jeez guys ... don't you have to use a plastic knife that you found somewhere if you want to be Mustachian? =P
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- This (http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/) is a good knife; you don't have to spend $150+ on a forged one.
Not sure I can get on board with this. While I've not used this particular knife, I can't imagine it would compare favorably to my Shun (http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-Inch-Wide-Santoku/dp/B0000Y7JLE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357769958&sr=8-4&keywords=shun+classic+santoku) that I picked up ~5yrs ago for about $120. While it was FAR more money than I had ever spent on a knife, it's a dream to use sharp. I'm not sure I'd recommend spending that kind of money, but I would recommend a good knife sharpener (something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Deluxe-5-Stone-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8IEA4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1357770229&sr=8-10&keywords=knife+sharpener)).
Victorinox actually makes fantastic knives. They'll dull a little quicker than your Shun due to the slightly softer steel, but on the flip side they'll also sharpen easier. Just like everything else in life, the properties of steel lie on a continuum and the knife manufacturer must choose a balance of properties which they think will make a good knife. There's no magic steel that will take a perfect edge in five passes and hold it forever. There's probably a little extra something, whether it be a fancy alloy or a proprietary forging process, added to the Shun, but at that point you're up into law-of-diminishing-returns / tiny-detail-exaggeration-syndrome territory. Sharp is sharp, and the Victorinox can be just as sharp as the Shun if cared for properly.
I must admit though that I dropped $120 on the Global G2 linked in the post two above mine. Besides that it will last the rest of my life (though I expect the Victorinox would as well), it also fits me very well (important because I cook a whole bunch and don't like blisters) and is light in the hand (important because I can use the Global in place of a paring knife), so the cost was justified to me.
Jeez guys ... don't you have to use a plastic knife that you found somewhere if you want to be Mustachian? =P
no?
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The most essential thing in my kitchen is my knife skills. Not my knife. My knife skills.
Knife skills are great because they instantly convert "Man, we should buy an appliance so we can get dinner made faster" to "Yes! I get to chop an onion!" It is immensely pleasurable to dice an onion, or mince garlic, or matchstick cut a carrot.
It wasn't always this way. I actually spent some time on YouTube looking at videos on how to use my knife better. Skills are skills because you have to work at them.
My chef's knife cost $35 or $40, and I bought it as a separate.It's a Henckels forged something something. I've never found a knife set that made sense; they always came with extra crap I didn't want. I like to ogle the $150 chef's knives but what I have works very well, so there's no reason to upgrade.
To maintain my knives, I have a magnetic strip on the wall I stick my chef's knife, paring knife, bread knife, some shears, and a honing steel (I don't have a boning knife, but sometimes I wish I did, skinning a fish is damn near impossible with a chef's knife). I also have a small manual sharpener in a drawer that was $3 on Amazon.
I hone whenever I use my knife. I'm not sure how often you're supposed to hone a knife, but I do it every time because it is super fun and manly and I feel like a cartoon villain when I do it. Whenever I hear that sound of my knife going over my honing steel I assume that all women within a square mile are impressed.
If the honing isn't cutting it (yuk yuk) I sharpen and then hone. I cook vegetarian at home, so I only sharpen every few months; I imagine someone cutting meat will do it more often.
The magnetic strip turned out to be one of my favorite things. Sticking your knives on the wall is a case on "in sight, in mind." It's a constant visual reminder that with only a couple of the most basic tools I am only a raw vegetable away from culinary pleasure. It's right there, practically begging me to take it off the wall and use my magic hands to concoct something delicious. And they act as a sort of kitchen decoration, too, looking very ordered and tidy
Avoid a knife block. The empty slots beg for you to buy more knives and they take up quite a bit of counter space. Next thing you know you're thinking you have a small kitchen when in reality you have a big block of inefficient wood on your counter. Then you buy bigger houses, with bigger knife blocks, and soon you buy a house with a knife block so big it will destroy you all! (Sorry, that ended up turning into a Simpsons reference.)
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The most essential thing in my kitchen is my knife skills. Not my knife. My knife skills.
Knife skills are great because they instantly convert "Man, we should buy an appliance so we can get dinner made faster" to "Yes! I get to chop an onion!" It is immensely pleasurable to dice an onion, or mince garlic, or matchstick cut a carrot.
It wasn't always this way. I actually spent some time on YouTube looking at videos on how to use my knife better. Skills are skills because you have to work at them.
My chef's knife cost $35 or $40, and I bought it as a separate.It's a Henckels forged something something. I've never found a knife set that made sense; they always came with extra crap I didn't want. I like to ogle the $150 chef's knives but what I have works very well, so there's no reason to upgrade.
To maintain my knives, I have a magnetic strip on the wall I stick my chef's knife, paring knife, bread knife, some shears, and a honing steel (I don't have a boning knife, but sometimes I wish I did, skinning a fish is damn near impossible with a chef's knife). I also have a small manual sharpener in a drawer that was $3 on Amazon.
I hone whenever I use my knife. I'm not sure how often you're supposed to hone a knife, but I do it every time because it is super fun and manly and I feel like a cartoon villain when I do it. Whenever I hear that sound of my knife going over my honing steel I assume that all women within a square mile are impressed.
If the honing isn't cutting it (yuk yuk) I sharpen and then hone. I cook vegetarian at home, so I only sharpen every few months; I imagine someone cutting meat will do it more often.
The magnetic strip turned out to be one of my favorite things. Sticking your knives on the wall is a case on "in sight, in mind." It's a constant visual reminder that with only a couple of the most basic tools I am only a raw vegetable away from culinary pleasure. It's right there, practically begging me to take it off the wall and use my magic hands to concoct something delicious. And they act as a sort of kitchen decoration, too, looking very ordered and tidy
Avoid a knife block. The empty slots beg for you to buy more knives and they take up quite a bit of counter space. Next thing you know you're thinking you have a small kitchen when in reality you have a big block of inefficient wood on your counter. Then you buy bigger houses, with bigger knife blocks, and soon you buy a house with a knife block so big it will destroy you all! (Sorry, that ended up turning into a Simpsons reference.)
bahahaha, I love everything about this post!
I really want a magnetic knife strip. we have an old knife block of my boyfriend's (that is nevertheless full of mismatched knives... hmmm) and we do have a severe lack of counter space in our kitchen so it really annoys me. plus I have this irrational fear that I'm not drying my knives sufficiently after washing and the knife block will somehow become full of mold. I know, that doesn't make any sense since I can clearly see when the knives are dry, but whatever. magnetic strips are just clearly superior in every way.
I think I read on here that Williams-Sonoma stores sometimes offer free classes such as knife skills... I looked it up and lo and behold, the one a few miles from our house does in fact do this! I need to get to one of those. YouTube would definitely do the trick (it's how I learned to take apart a chicken) but if I can have someone teach me for free in real life, why not?