Appliances

Immersion BlenderKitchen ScaleBlender

Immersion Blender

An immersion blender (also known as a stick blender) is used to blend or puree food in the container its is being prepared in.

We use our immersion blender all the time. From blending soups and sauces directly in the pot, to whipping up homemade whipped cream for dessert, to easily making mayonnaise for hard boiled eggs, our recommended pick is a versatile two-speed blender from Conair that’s a cinch to use (and is even easier to clean). Plus, it’s very reasonably priced.

Immersion Blender (Premium)

If you’re looking to purchase a multi-speed all-in-one immersion blender with attachments, look no further than theBreville all-in-one processing station.

It comes with a variety of useful attachments that are all ergonomic, high quality, and very easy to clean. They turn your immersion blender into an extremely versatile tool. We love this package deal!

« Back to Appliances
« Back to Contents

Kitchen Scale

For precisely measuring raw food (and coffee beans, in my case) a small, lightweight, scale is needed. Look no further than American weigh scales digital pocket scale.

With a bright LED display, highly incremental measurements in US and metric units, and compact size, this scale is perfect for most weighing functions you’ll ever need.

« Back to Appliances
« Back to Contents

Blender

If you’re a fan of making smoothies, sauces, dips, or soups, you’ll likely want a powerful blender instead of using a food processor every time.

Our pick is the Oster Versa blender that comes in at less than ½ the price of a Vitamix (our premium pick and the de facto standard for powerful blenders) and performs just as well.

This is a stylish blender with a 1,400 watt motor that pulverizes anything you can throw at it. This is a great purchase for the price, and we highly recommend it.

Blender (Premium)

Our premium pick is the Vitamix Professional series 750 blender. If you’re in to blenders at all, there’s not much to be said about Vitamix. They’re the best, and they command a premium price.

You have likely seen Vitamix’s in commercial restaurants because of their power and ease of use and cleaning. If you’re looking for the best of the best, the Vitamix is a fantastic pick.

Blender (Budget)

If our recommended pick is still a bit more than you’d like to spend for a blender, theNinja Professional Blender is a great budget alternative.

Coming in at only $80, this powerful blender will do much of what its higher priced counterparts will do at a fraction of the price. It’s a great buy on a budget.

« Back to Appliances
« Back to Contents

Other Kitchen Essentials

Food Storage ContainersAluminum Foil Parchment Paper TowelsSponges Heavy SpongesDish RackIce Cube TraySmall Trash BagsLarge Trash BagsSmall Trash BinLarge Trash Bin

Food Storage Containers

High quality food storage containers are essential for bringing lunch to work and storing ingredients (or cooked meals) in the refrigerator so they stay fresh for several days. Ourrecommended glass containers from Kinetic are dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, and oven safe and are made from environmentally friendly glass (instead of plastic).

This is a set of three containers with locking lids, which is great for a single cook who plans on taking their lunch to work. If you cook for your family or significant other and need more than three containers containers, try our premium option which comes in a bigger set.

Food Storage Containers (Premium)

You can purchase these highly rated glass food storage containers from Snapware in sets of 10, 16, and 18. They’re reasonably priced, made in the USA, and are also dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, and oven safe and are made from BPA free Pyrex glass.

Plus, the reviews are amazing! Pick these up and you’ll have quality food storage containers for years to come.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Aluminum Foil

Aluminum foil can be used in the kitchen for all sorts of different purposes. From cooking to cleaning, protecting, scrubbing, lifting, or steaming, this is one versatile kitchen essential. As as important as aluminum foil is, however, it’s also one of those items that you can easily forget to re-stock up on, leading to expensive impulse purchases at your local grocery store.

For this reason, we recommend stocking up on high quality foil from Reynolds. With two rolls and 500 square feet of high quality, inexpensive foil, you’ll be able to relax and get back cooking without worrying about re-purchasing for a long time.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Parchment Paper

Parchment paper is used in cooking as a disposable non-stick surface that greatly helps with avoiding messes in the kitchen.

Simply line your casserole dish or baking sheet pan with parchment paper and you’ll be able to clean up in a flash. Our recommended parchment paper from Kirkland is high quality, comes in high quantity packaging, and is a very reasonable price.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Towels

Everybody needs towels in their kitchen for drying dishes, wiping up spills, dusting, and regular cleaning. But towels aren’t something most people give much thought to when stocking their own minimalist kitchen.

After much searching and testing, we found these “flour sack” towels and haven’t looked back. They’re 100% cotton, very reasonably priced, and work exactly how kitchen towels should.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Sponges

Just like with kitchen towels, when it comes to sponges most people choose one type and don’t look back. But as with all of our other recommended kitchen items, some sponges are better than others.

In all of our searching and testing, Scotch-Brite’s Dobie all purpose pads are the clear winner. They have just enough scouring ability that you don’t need a dedicated scouring pad, but work just as well as a delicate sponge does. Plus, they have a 5 star rating on Amazon over several hundred reviews, so we’re not the only happy customers out there!

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Heavy Sponges

If our all-purpose sponges aren’t enough for a heavy job, Scotch-Brite’s heavy duty scrub sponges will be able to scour any tough job you have to do. These sponges are tough and will last a many tough jobs in the kitchen.

If they get smelly all you have to do is put them in the dishwasher, run a cycle, and they’ll come out as good as new. For lasting quality that doesn’t break apart on the tough jobs, these sponges are our winners.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Dish Rack

Even if you have a dishwasher you’ll still need to hand wash some items or to give cookware a quick rinse. A quality dish rack is needed because you can place your dishes on the rack and have it drain the water back into the sink.

Our recommended dish rack is Polder’s advantage dish rack. It comes with a typical dish rack design that we’re all familiar with, and it looks stylish and works as it should.

Dish Rack (Premium)

If you want to fancy your dish rack up, theZojila Rohan dish rack is the ferrari of dish racks. It’s made of brushed stainless steel and features an innovative drain system that differs from the typical design you see in most dish racks today. This is a pricey purchase, but the positive reviews back it up.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Ice Cube Tray

You probably haven’t given much thought to ice cube trays. They’re all the same, right? Well, if you’ve ever triedRubbermaid’s ice cube trays, you’ll know that there are better options out there!

These trays allow you to release the cubes with a single, simple twist that will get the entire cube out. Never again do you have twist and hit your trays to get broken ice cubes out.

You may think that ice cube trays won’t make much of a difference to your life, but if you often use ice cubes these trays will make the process a whole lot easier.

Ice Cube Tray (Premium)

Now if you’re an ice cube aficionado and want the best of the best, OXO’s silicon ice cube trays are what you should buy.

The silicon lid seals water into the tray before freezing which allows you to place the tray any way you like in the freezer. Popping the cubes out is an extremely simple affair, and the reviews of this tray are glowing.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Small Trash Bags

Because everyone needs trash bags, you may as well choose the best designed ones you can find. These small trash bags from Glad are perfect for apartment dwellers who only have room for asmall trash bin.

These bags come in a 4-gallon size, which is perfect for under-the-sink trash bins that need to be tucked away. They’re also extremely sturdy and can handle being carried when full without you having to worry that they’ll tear and spill garbage everywhere. For a small bag that does a tough job, these trash bags are a great quality buy.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Large Trash Bags

With fantastic reviews on Amazon, these large trash bags from Glad will fit your large trash binperfectly.

These bags come in a 13-gallon size, which works well for taller trash bins that aren’t stored under the sink. They also have reinforcing bands woven throughout the bag which makes them extremely tough and sturdy – a nice feature that gives peace of mind when carrying a full bag. Whether you use these bags in your busy kitchen or even in the office, you won’t be disappointed.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Small Trash Bin

Designed for apartment dwellers using smalltrash bags, this stainless steel small trash bin from Simplehuman is elegantly designed, highly rated, and comes with a 5-year warranty.

It has custom handles on the inside of the bin that holds grocery bags in place so they never sag when filled with trash. Even the step that opens the can is designed well – it works with a small amount of pressure and has a soft-close feature that won’t make a racket when you close the lid. Overall, this is a fantastic bin for use under the sink in your kitchen or bathrooms.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Large Trash Bin

This large trash bin from Simplehuman is perfect for people who have the space for a full-sized, high-quality trash bin. This bin also comes with a 5 year warrantly and will fit your large trash bags perfectly.

It comes with a steel foot pedal with a soft-close feature that makes closing the bin after use quiet and smooth (which is a nice change from those bins that close with a crash). Innovative design allows you to place the bin right up against the wall and still allow the lid to be opened. For use as a standalone bin that isn’t tucked away anywhere, this large bin is a clear winner.

« Back to Other Kitchen Essentials
« Back to Contents

Sum-Up

Fully stocking a minimalist and efficient kitchen with cookware doesn’t have to be frustrating or cost a lot of money. By purchasing only high-quality multi-purpose items that have a strong value proposition, you can end up with a fully stocked kitchen that will last a lifetime (without costing you an arm and a leg!).

To review, feel free to jump to each main cookware category in this article:

• Preparation Tools & Essentials
• Cookware & Bakeware
• Cooking Tools & Kitchen Utensils
• Appliances
• Other Kitchen Essentials

And don’t forget that there’s no point in purchasing cookware if you have no intention to cook! Check out our cooking guide for beginners, our free simple recipes, or feel free to start a free trial of our personalized meal planning service here.

If you’ve ever attempted to purchase cookware for a new kitchen…

…or simply tried to improve the quality of tools in your current kitchen…

…you’ve probably found that stocking up on high quality kitchen essentials is much more difficult than it should be.

• Cooking TV show hosts recommending their products
• Branded cooking sets from your favourite celebrity chef
• Kitchen stores stocking unusual, “one-trick-pony” items
• Infomercials aggressively selling cheap gizmos
• Kitchen websites promoting every item as a “must-have”

and so on. Instead of all this increased choice making our lives easier, it’s made it that much more difficult to separate the quality from the junk. So we decided to test all the kitchen equipment we could get our hands on to solve this problem and make stocking a minimalist, high-quality kitchen as easy as possible.

Here’s what we learned…

And this makes sense, doesn’t it? Nowadays everywhere we look there’s someone telling us to buy their product that will supposedly make our lives easier. I’m sure all of the following sound familiar:

When we started our cooking journey, we were full of confusion and frustration as we began our search for the best cookware and essential kitchen tools for minimalist cooks. When you start with no knowledge, the learning curve isimmense.

But after years of refining our cooking techniques, creating and testing simple recipes, learning how to plan our meals (here’s a free meal planning template), and building a customizable meal planning service for busy folks like us, we learned exactly which tools one needs (and doesn’t need) to stock a fully functional and multi-purpose minimalist kitchen.

Note: We’ve tried to make it easy to navigate this kitchen essentials list and find what you need right away. For this reason, we’ve organized our recommendations in to general categories (click to jump to any category):

Chef’s Knife

If you’ve only ever used a cheap chef’s knife for your cooking needs, switching to a high quality knife will be a night and day difference. Seriously, when we upgraded to a high quality chef’s knife we couldn’t believe how much sharper, heavier, and easier it was to cut and chop with the quality knife.

And since you can use a chef’s knife for all of your cutting needs (and use it every time you cook), one high-quality purchase will serve you for years to come.

We’ve tested several different chef’s knives with different price points and designs, and our recommended option is the German-made Wusthof 8 inch classic chef’s knife. It’s an absolute workhorse, comes at a very reasonable price, and won’t disappoint you.

Chef’s Knife (Premium)

For those of you looking for an even higher end option, the German-made Wusthof Ikon Series 8 Inch Chef’s Knife is our pick. This is Wusthof’s higher-end line of kitchen knives, and both the aesthetics and quality of the knife won’t disappoint you.

Chef’s Knife (Budget)

Coming in much cheaper than our recommended or premium options, theWusthof Pro 8 Inch Chef’s Knife is a steal of a deal. It’s not as high quality as the other options but it’s a great entry level knife that’s loads better than a comparable $25 knife. You can’t go wrong with this starter chef’s knife.

Additional Resources

Purchasing a quality chef’s knife is a great first step. But, you’ll want to learn how to use it properly and how to take care of it so it lasts you a lifetime. For general knife education, check out:

• The 4 Knife Cuts Every Cook Should Know
• An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives
• Wusthof Knife Skills With Norman Weinstein (9 part series)

For supplementary knives and knife tools, click the following to jump:

• Honing steel
• https://storify.com/rbestkitchenfau/delta-kitchen-sink-taps-complete-ones-kitchenis-st2 stage knife sharpener
• Paring knife

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Cutting Board

One of the most basic tools you need in your kitchen is a good cutting board. You’ll be using it every time you cook (just like your chef’s knife) so it’s important to choose one that’s durable and well designed.

The OXO good grips cutting board is dishwasher safe and is built from odor-resistant polypropylene – meaning it will last a long time. Pick this inexpensive cutting board up and you won’t regret it.

Cutting Board (Premium)

Now if you’re looking for the Ferrari of cutting boards, look no further than thisProteak edge grain cutting board. If you haven’t tried a cutting board like this before, it’ll be hard to understand just how different – and how much higher quality – it really is. But we can confirm that upgrading to a cutting board like this will bring you joy in the kitchen every time you use it.

You have to take better care of this cutting board than our plastic recommendation; by cleaning it immediately after use and avoiding the dishwasher. But this item is unique and will last you a long time, so if you’re ready for an upgrade from the usual plastic cutting boards most home cooks sport nowadays, this one gets our vote.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Can Opener

It’s not often that a piece of cookware brings you joy every time you use it. But that’s exactly what this can opener from Kuhn Rikon does! This is a 5-in-1 can opener that pulls tabs, crowns caps, unscrews tops, and opens jar lids and cans safely, easily, and cleanly.

We have one of these beauties in our kitchen (Mealime green, of course) and it is an absolute pleasure to use. We actually look forward to opening cans, believe it or not. Pick up this multi tool today and you won’t regret it (just read all the great reviews!).

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Measuring Cups

Measuring cups are used for precisely measuring the volume of liquid or solid cooking ingredients. You may not think that measuring cups can be anything special. Any set will do, right? Well as it turns out, great design can extend all the way down to measuring cups. Thisstackable set of measuring cups from Kitchenmade has all sorts of smart features that eliminates the small frustrations that measuring cups often bring about.

With high quality one-piece stainless steel construction, a thin profile and pouring lip, nesting capabilities, and a 5 star rating over 1,000 reviews on Amazon, you can’t beat the quality of these measuring cups. Pick these up today and never replace your measuring cups again.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Measuring Spoons

Measuring spoons are used to precisely measure smaller amounts of liquid or solid cooking ingredients than measuring cups. This set of 5 stainless steel measuring spoons from Prepworks contains measurements of ¼ tsp all the way up to 1 tbsp. They’re magnetic and nested so you can put them away easily without losing any of them (which can often happen for the smaller spoons).

They’re also designed to be double sided to accommodate both liquids and solids and are dishwasher safe. After testing different measuring spoons, we settled on this set ourselves and use them in our kitchen every single day. Highly recommended!

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Mixing Bowls

For mixing together salad dressings, spice rubs, marinades, sauces, and even for storing leftovers, a set of high-quality mixing bowls is a must.

This 9-piece mixing bowl set from Luminarc can be used to do pretty much anything and won’t absorb stains and odours because it’s made of glass. Plus, these bowls stack easily for simple storage.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Colander

For draining pasta or washing vegetables and salad greens, a colander is an essential piece for your minimalist kitchen. This 5-quart stainless steel colander from OXO Good Grips is well designed and has ergonomic non-slip handles and “feet” so it doesn’t slip all over the place.

This is an item you’ll use forever and couldn’t break even if you tried, so pick up this 5 star reviewed colander and forget about buying another in your lifetime.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Vegetable Peeler

A vegetable peeler can really speed up your preparation time, whether you’re using it to peel potatoes, carrots, or any other vegetables.

We love this pirahna “Y-Peeler” from Kuhn Rikon because it’s so simple. No multi-tasking here, but this is a high quality peeler that will stand the test of time. It’s dishwasher safe and ergonomically designed, just like all of our other recommendations.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Potato Masher

Although a potato masher is a great tool, it usually has a very inconvenient and bulky shape that makes closing your drawer difficult. We chose this flip potato masher from Prepara for a few important reasons.

First, it “flips”, which means that it’s not a bulky tool to store in a drawer, like most potato mashers are. Second, it’s of high quality stainless steel (with no BPA) and is dishwasher safe for easy cleaning. Third, it has only 5 star reviews on Amazon and is very highly recommended. You can’t go wrong with this quality potato masher.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Whisk

A whisk is often one of the most used items in your kitchen, so it’s important to have one that’s ergonomically made. This9-inch whisk from OXO Good Grips fits great in the hand and is perfect for whisking together salad dressings, sauces, eggs, desserts, and much more.

Plus, it’s dishwasher safe so you don’t have to worry about the handle melting or warping in the heat.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Salad Spinner

A salad spinner is your best friend when it comes to having a crisp salad. To prevent your greens from going soggy, you’ll need to dry them and “spinning” them is by far the easiest way to do it.

Made by OXO Good Grips, this salad spinner can be used by simply pressing the button on the top. It’s very easy and simple to operate, and even features a brake and locking mechanism for easy storage.

We especially love this salad spinner because the strainer basket can be used for draining pasta and the bowl for serving. It’s a great multi-purpose tool!

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Grater

One thing we’re against here at Mealime is inefficiency. So what does this mean, exactly? It meals choosing multi-purpose tools and avoiding single-purpose tools whenever possible. Instead of purchasing different types of graters, a zester, and a chiffonade, why not choose one tool that can do it all?

This 7-in-1 box grater from Cuisipro can grate citrus, fine, coarse, ultra-coarse, parmesan, shave, slice and even has a ginger grater. It’s made of high-quality stainless steel and will last a lifetime.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Shears

For cutting up a whole chicken and other meats, to vegetables, to stripping herbs, to even cutting the stems off of flowers, thesekitchen and herb shears from OXO Good Grips are fantastic.

They’re extremely sharp, heavy duty, and comfortable. The blades even separate for easy cleaning. With 200 reviews and a 5 star rating, these shears are a fantastic value and deserve a spot in your kitchen.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Citrus Juicer

Sometimes it’s the seemingly insignificant tasks in the kitchen that provide way more hassle than they should. Juicing a lemon or lime is one of those tasks!

It’s difficult to do, your hands get juice on them, and the seeds often fall into your food. That’s all solved with this quality citrus juicer from Prepworks. This one includes printed measurements so you know exactly how much juice you’ve squeezed. It fits lemons, limes, and oranges, and makes squeezing juice a joy. Plus, it’s dirt cheap!

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Garlic Press

We still have this garlic press from Kuhn Rikon but use it less than we used to. If you don’t like playing with garlic and want the quickest solution, pick up this highly rated garlic press and you’ll be good to go. But if you don’t mind crushing and chopping your own garlic, you may want to pass on this item.

We’ve gone back and forth with garlic presses over the years and are currently on the “non-essential” train. Basically, a garlic press is nice to have and does make crushing garlic easier. But it’s really not that difficult to cut / press your own garlic with just your chef’s knife, and it’s oddly satisfying to do so as well.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Paring Knife

A paring knife is a kitchen knife with a short blade that can be used for a multitude of tasks. You can peel and chop with it, and the small tip is great for fine work like coring strawberries (or similar).

Our recommendation is the Wusthof Classic paring knife. It’s German made, of the highest quality, has 5 star reviews across the board on Amazon, and will last a lifetime. This workhorse of a knife deserves a spot in your kitchen.

Paring Knife (Premium)

The premium version of our recommended paring knife is fromWusthof’s Classic Ikon line.

We recommend Ikon knives for all of our premium knife recommendations, and this knife is no exception. Both the recommended and premium versions of this paring knife will work well for you, and the difference in price is fairly close. Pick whichever one you prefer.

Paring Knife (Budget)

For a much cheaper alternative to both our recommended and premium paring knife options, the Wusthof Pro paring knife is a great buy.

Coming in at less than $10 yet still full of German engineered quality, it’s a wonderful purchase on a budget.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Honing Steel

If you’re going to purchase a quality chef’s knife (which you should) you’ll want to take care of it so it lasts a lifetime. It doesn’t take many tools or much time to maintain a quality knife, and this 10-inch honing steel from Wusthof is one of those tools.

Contrary to popular belief, a honing steel doesn’t actually sharpen your blade. Rather, it realigns your knife’s edge quickly and efficiently. When you need a newedge, that’s when a sharpener will be needed. Purchase both (next up is a sharpener) and you can maintain the sharpness and edge of your chef’s knife for a very long time.

« Back to Preparation Tools & Essentials
« Back to Contents

Knife Sharpener

For those times that honing your blade isn’t enough, a 2-stage sharpener is your ticket to a sharper knife in minutes.

Our recommended option is Wusthof’s precision 2 stage sharpener, coming in at just under $15. For the value you’ll receive, this sharpener is (in our minds) a no-brainer.

Knife Sharpener (Premium)

The premium knife sharpener we recommend is Wusthof’s Ikon knife sharpener. It’s beautiful and very sturdy, which adds quality to the sharpening experience.

We have this one in our kitchen and it’s a joy to use. Well worth the price.

Knife Sharpener (Budget)

Our budget option is a fantastically well-rated sharpener from KitchenIQ that has a near 5 star rating over 3000+ reviews and costs only $6.

You really can’t go wrong with this sharpener, and we recommend you purchase it even if you hadn’t planned on purchasing a sharpener. It’s cheap and effective. What more could you want?