Minimalist Kitchen Equipment List: Everything You Need
When I moved into my first apartment after college, my mom and I made one epic trip to Ikea to pick up life essentials. I'm talking about a bed frame, a night stand, some shelves, and of course, kitchen equipment. And man, do I wish I had a kitchen equipment list like this when we did our major equipment haul!
Kitchen stuff is something you don't really start to accumulate until you've graduated college. Up until then, you're probably using what you brought from home and your college roommate's pots and pans. When you're finally on your own, though, you have to start somewhere, but even the most basic list of kitchen essentials is still dauntingly long.
To start, here's a quick kitchen equipment list that will help you get started:
Cutlery (knives, forks, spoons)
A few glasses/cups
A few plates (we currently only have 6 plates for 2 people)
One eight-inch chef’s knife (more on that later)
A medium-sized pot and 10-inch pan
A spatula
A large stirring spoon
Oven mitts
A glass baking dish
A metal baking sheet
A colander
A can opener
You can do a lot with just that kitchen equipment list, but most people tend to accumulate more than the bare minimum of equipment over time. This is what I want you to avoid!
After all, it's hard not to when there are a plethora of random kitchen tools just a click away, and they're all pretty tempting. Have you been inside a Williams-Sonoma? Just the sight of all the pasta machines and coffee accessories will have you dreaming of becoming that person that makes lattes and pasta from scratch. But, if we're being honest, you probably won't. Because, despite my best intentions, I've only used my milk frother twice in the last 2 years.
Kitchen Gadgets
One of the earliest recorded uses of the term "gadget" was in 1886 as a nautical term referring to a small, somewhat specialized contrivance. It is unclear when the term first entered kitchen parlance, but the Oxford English Dictionary records the earliest use of the expression "kitchen gadget" as 1951 in the Good Housekeeping Home Encyclopedia, which remarked that kitchen gadgets are often discarded because it takes too much time to clean them.