Your Handy Kitchen Essentials List for Good Living… everyday
“If you can organise your kitchen, you can organise your life”- Louis Parrish
Whether you’re a frequent cook or not, as you get older you find that your kitchen slowly becomes the go-to place in your house. Maybe it’s the subconscious expectation that you will find nourishment there but regardless, here’s a kitchen essentials list to help switch up the “home” factor and improve the functionality of your kitchen. I know I’m not the only one that opens the fridge with hope in my heart even when I know I didn’t put any food there. Maybe it’s the fact that you have to use it everyday regardless. I mean, even if you don’t cook, you have to throw your takeaway packs somewhere right? You need cutlery. You need a cup. You need some bowls for popcorn on movie night. And the worst part? For me, at least. You need to wash them up!
Somehow it always gets messy. Even if, like me, you’ve developed a habit of washing as you go, you still occasionally wonder why it gets so messy so quickly! Like, I want a sandwich, suddenly I’m washing a plate, a knife, a cup, a bowl, a spoon… okay okay I had ice cream too! But isn’t this a good metaphor for life? It keeps happening and to stay alive, we just have to keep things under control; tidying, sorting, cleaning out, cleaning up, feeding and sometimes it feels like a mundane cycle but one we cannot do without… Unless you’re a slob which…. Please don’t be, okay?
I recognise that for some the kitchen does not hold as many good memories as it does for others. Yes, it might have been a dreaded spot at your home for reasons including but not limited to it being the place where you were given tough cooking lessons you had to learn the hard way, where you felt pressure to deliver, perhaps you experienced past culinary disasters of the shameful nature, or it was just representative of hard labour to you. I recognise that and I respect that. But maybe we can turn that around and make it a nice space for you. How about that?
So let’s get started. When it comes to kitchen essentials, I have asked myself this question a lot every time I moved into a new house. What do I really need? And the answer is always different. I had recollections of my mum’s well-equipped kitchen that went through various stages of appliances being used with care and utmost relish to those same appliances being set in the store for months or maybe years. Then I moved to my first apartment (let’s call it that please) where I shared a kitchen with my landlord. That’s a nice way to say I lived in a kitchen-less BQ but friendship prevailed and I had a place to make noodles and eat on regular occasion. In that phase, all I needed was really a space called “kitchen”. Moving on, we don’t need to talk about the typical Nigerian wedding gifts we received when we got married and first set up our home together. We probably had about 8 toasters, 12 electric kettles and a billion sets of glasses. Then all I needed was a decluttering genie!
But for real, what are kitchen essentials? I feel they are different for different people. What is essential to me mainly depends on what I love to do in my kitchen and what our family traditions and staples are. So please accept this offering with a giant spoonful of salt.
Basic essentials for me are:
Standard appliances: Blender/ Food processor - try to get a combo if possible (we’ll talk about my genie of a food processor another day); Stand mixer - because what am I if not a dessert maker?; Electric Kettle - just one would do, thank you aunties and uncles at our wedding!
Some big appliances: This one really depends on your lifestyle. Because I’m so busy and on-the-go, a slow cooker/ crockpot and an air fryer are absolutely essential. That way I can set up my dinner in the slow cooker in the morning, go about my day and have the meal ready when I’m done with work. Do I really need to say anything about the air freyr after it’s boom during the pandemic? It’s so versatile! Honestly, who would have thought? I use my air fryer for literally everything. I’ve even baked with it when I didn’t feel like waiting for the oven to preheat.
Lots of hand tools: Manual citrus juicer, potato peeler, garlic press, pizza slicer, cheese knife, handheld grater. You know, those “little” things that make life so much easier when it comes down to it and you realised you missed 1 step in your recipe that you need to quickly backtrack and catch up on.
Non-stick pots and pans: Seriously, who wants to be soaking pots for hours and scratching with iron sponges in this day and age?
Nice looking crockery and cutlery (because why be drab when you can be fancy?) Be sure to keep these simple so they can fit in any table setup. I have one gold hued set and one silver-based one. That way, regardless of the occasion, these will be my trusted base as far into the future as possible.
Prep sets: Bowl sets, Tupperware containers, Sieves and colanders, and Chopping boards (yes plural! You gotta have one for meat and one for raw food etc. At least!)
Fun artwork/ painting/ clock/ just something… Yes I consider this essential :) I remember people wondering why I had a rug in my kitchen some years ago. I just did, okay? It was nice, and I spent a lot of time there so I needed some colour! It was a company-provided house with lots of pale coloured upholstery. Seriously, how was I supposed to be inspired there?
Good lighting: For the food photos, no? And just for the mood. I find that a dark dank kitchen is not great for inspiration and just doesn’t make it seem like a place where I want to spend any length of time, considering how much I love to cook.
Sensible placement and structure: Walk through your cooking process and ask yourself if everything is placed conveniently enough to minimise back and forth movement. Even if you want to increase your step count, try to imagine having more than 2 people there at a time while one person has to cook a whole meal. Yep. Maybe your knife block shouldn’t be so far from the counter top where you normally do your prep; and your sink shouldn’t be more than a few steps away from the stovetop.
A hint of nature: Flowers or a small house plant or live herbs. Something to make it feel like a part of your home and not a workstation.