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!
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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)
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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,
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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?)