12 Kitchen Tools I Cannot Live Without as a Chef

10 Kitchen Tools I Cannot Live Without

Kitchen Aid Mixer

I have had my Kitchen Aid Mixer for at LEAST 10 years. It has never let me down. I use it to make bread, cookies, icing, and more. The color I have is called Pistachio, but it comes in a ton of colors! Get you one here

Microplane

Whether zesting lemons or parmesan, a microplane is a great tool to have. This tool makes it super simple to zest any citrus and the zest is where all the flavor is. You can also use this to grate fresh nutmeg or finish off a dish with parmesan cheese. My favorite microplane is here.

A Good Knife

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Having and keeping a sharp knife is essential in a kitchen. Not only does a good knife make it easier to cut things, but it is also safer. This is my favorite brand of knives. It’s called Cutco. They’re an American made company and their knives are really nice. They look great, but they are also great quality and stay sharp for a long time. The company also offers free sharpening for all of their knives. I have the 12” Chef knife, the vegetable knife, and two pairing knives and I love them all.

Different Cutting Boards

I highly recommend using color coded cutting boards. These help keep your food safe from cross contamination (aka. getting sick!) If you prefer wood cutting boards for the way they look, this would be a great set! Or if you want to keep things simple, here’s the one I would choose.

Deli Containers

A must have. Easy to clean. Easy to label. Easy to see what’s inside. I keep a set at my house of pint size containers and a set of quart size containers. They also make them in cup sizes too. This is the set I bought for my classroom.

Stainless Steel Sauté Pan

If you cook for long, you will discover that having a sauté pan (aka a skillet) is non-negotiable. Whether you want to make a nice seared steak or lobster risotto or a sauce for your dinner, this is a must have. These pans are useful in many types of dishes. Nervous about cooking with stainless steel? Check out my post about how to properly use stainless steel cookware. This is like the pan I keep at my house. I like having this one at home because of the lid. It is versatile so that I don’t have to have so many pans in my cabinet. This one is more like the pans we keep in the professional kitchen.

Stainless Steel Tongs

If I could only have 2 utensils in the kitchen to cook with, a good pair of tongs would be one of my choices. Tongs can be used for transferring, flipping, and stirring. But the trick is to make sure you get completely metal ones. Because you are putting tongs in places with such high heat, the ones with plastic tend to melt, but they also fall apart when wash. Here are the ones I would recommend. Keeping several sizes on hand is super useful.

Good Kitchen Towels

Those cute kitchen towels are so tempting. They have cute little sayings and pictures on them… but are they really useful? You get them dirty and ruin all those cute pictures that you once bought them for. I use my kitchen towels for everything in the kitchen from cleaning to using as a pot holder. Get you some like these. A cheap set that are absorbent, can easily be cleaned, and last forever, stained or not. These are not your decorative towels, but they will put some good use in.

Stock Pot

Having just a simple one like this works just fine, or if you need versatile pieces to keep at home, I would suggest this one since it includes a strainer for pasta. This is the pot I use at home.

Wooden Spoon

This is another non-negotiable for me. I prefer the spoons that are slim. A wooden spoon helps to scrape the bottom on the pan to keep things from burning. This set will work just fine. The thing is, they don’t have to be fancy. You just have to make sure to take care of them. I would suggest rubbing them with oil every once in a while after washing them to keep them from splintering.

French Press

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Coffee is one of my favorite things in the world. There’s no way I could make it without it. And my favorite way to make it is with a french press. I don’t even have a regular coffee maker in my home any more. This is the one I have, but they also have a larger version like this. Also, these are my favorite local coffee roasters. Check out my post for more detailed on how to make the perfect french press coffee.

Ninja Double Oven

Now, you aren’t going to find this kitchen tool in a commercial kitchen. But I love using this little oven at home. It does all the things: air fry, reheat, toast, bake, keep warm. Since I only cook for myself most of the time, I love that this oven heats up quick and is easy to clean. I highly recommend one of these if you are looking at air fryers.

These 12 things make cooking a breeze for me. (or living life haha!) I hope that you have found something that can help you out too.