The Kitchen Starter Kit: Essential Tools for Every Cook

Know a recent college grad who's finally starting life on their own, maybe in their first real apartment? Or a transplant from a far-off land who needs to stock up a new kitchen from scratch? Or, perhaps, a friend who's only recently taken an interest in cooking, but doesn't have the gear to do it up right?

The items on this list are perfect for cooks who are just starting out in one way or another. We've divided it into two sections: The first lists our picks for the absolute most essential gear—no frills, no extras, and nothing that won't get used over and over and over again for years to come. The second offers a few items that, while not quite mandatory, will definitely make your cooking life a heck of a lot easier. (We can also help you with organizational tips and storage suggestions, too.)

The Must-Haves

A Chef's Knife

Mercer Culinary 8-Inch Genesis Chef's Knife

View On Amazon $42 View On Walmart $49 View On Webstaurantstore.com

Misono 8.2-Inch Molybdenum Gyutou

View On Amazon $104 View On Walmart $111 View On Korin.com

A good chef's knife is a lifelong friend in the kitchen, good for nearly every task you'll face, from boning a chicken to chopping carrots or mincing parsley. You want a sturdy, forged-steel chef's knife that'll last a long time, with a balanced handle; a full tang (meaning the knife is constructed from a single piece of metal that runs straight through the handle); and solid riveted construction.

While we strongly advocate saving up for "the one"—the high-quality knife that feels absolutely perfect in your hand—if you're just starting out, we recommend looking to the mid-priced picks in our review of the best chef’s knives; the Mercer Culinary Genesis and Japanese-style Misono Molybdenum Gyutou fit all the above criteria at a reasonable price. A good chef’s knife may still be one of the more expensive items you purchase when you're outfitting a kitchen from scratch, but trust us—it'll be worth it.

A Serrated Knife

Tojiro F-737 Bread Slicer

View On Amazon $38 View On Walmart $20

Though a chef's knife is more essential and more versatile, a good serrated knife, a.k.a. bread knife, is hard to substitute: Nothing does a better job of slicing through the soft crumb of fresh bread, or the skin of a ripe tomato, than its saw-toothed blade.

Because of that serrated edge, your bread knife will be nearly impossible to sharpen, meaning it'll require replacement every five years or so. Translation: There's no reason to spend a lot of money on one. In our review of the serrated knives, we found that the Tojiro Bread Slicer 235mm F-737 has a slightly flexible blade that helps with more delicate tasks, like skinning tough winter squash, and sharp teeth that'll slice cleanly through anything you throw at it.

A Cutting Board

The Boardsmith Maple End-Grain Cutting Board

View On Amazon $130 View On Theboardsmith.com

OXO 2-Piece Cutting Board Set

View On Amazon $24 View On Home Depot $24 View On Webstaurantstore.com

There’s nothing wrong with buying a pretty and fancy wooden cutting board. if you have the cash to spare. It’s a good investment: Wood harbors less bacteria than other materials, and a wooden board is gentler on your knives. But it also requires maintenance, and if a better price is what you're after, a heavy-duty plastic board, preferably one with rubberized grips, is A-OK.

For everyday use, forget about the dinky little foot-wide cutting boards: They make cooking for more than one person a pain in the butt, and, if you're buying this as a gift for someone else, you should be encouraging them to cook for others (namely you), right? This spacious 15- by 21-inch cutting board from OXO won our review of the best plastic cutting boards.

A 12-Inch Cast Iron Skillet (and a Stainless Steel One, if You Can Swing It)

Lodge 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet

View On Amazon $30 View On Walmart $25 View On Home Depot $25

Made In 12-Inch Stainless Steel Skillet

View On Amazon $129 View On Madeincookware.com $119

Whether you're searing a steak, sautéing vegetables, cooking up a frittata, baking Southern-style cornbread, or even making no-knead pan pizza, a heavy-duty, well-seasoned cast iron skillet is the pan to reach for. Its significant weight helps it retain heat better, and its rugged construction means it will probably outlive you (and, most likely, your children and grandchildren)—not bad for a piece of cookware that costs about $40. A 12-inch pan will be big enough for just about any recipe.

You might have heard that caring for your cast iron requires a great deal of effort. Not so! Cast iron is actually a lot more forgiving than people think, and it takes all of about 30 seconds to wipe it dry, rub some oil into it, and reheat it with each use. Heck, you can even wash it with soap and water! For more details, check out our guide to seasoning and maintaining cast iron.

A cast iron pan will see you through a tremendous variety of cooking tasks, but if there’s room in your starter kitchen budget for a tri-ply stainless steel skillet, we heartily endorse adding it to your list as well. Stainless steel conducts heat better than cast iron, making it ideal for tasks like sautéing vegetables; it’s also lighter in weight, so it’s much easier to maneuver. Our favorite skillet from our review is by Made In.

A Nonstick Skillet

T-fal Professional Total Nonstick Thermo-Spot Heat Indicator Fry Pan

View On Amazon $42 View On Walmart $32

Tramontina 10-Inch Professional Aluminum Nonstick Restaurant Fry Pan

View On Amazon $29 View On Walmart $29

You can get away with cooking just about anything in a well-seasoned, well-cared-for cast iron pan. But when it comes to cooking egg dishes like omelettes and scrambled eggs, as well as delicate items like crepes, you can't beat a modern nonstick surface.

Luckily, adding another skillet to your collection won't break the bank—no nonstick pan is durable enough to last more than a few years, so there's every reason to buy nonstick skillets cheap. After testing, models from T-fal and Tramontina came out on top, though a restaurant supply store will stock something comparable.

A 3-Quart Saucier (or Saucepan)

Made In Stainless Clad Saucier

View On Amazon $159 View On Madeincookware.com $159

All-Clad Stainless Steel Tri-Ply 3-Quart Sauce Pan with Lid

View On Amazon $120 View On Williams-Sonoma $120 View On Walmart $228

For making most sauces, from béchamel to caramel, not to mention custard desserts like butterscotch pudding, a quality saucepan in a versatile size is essential for ensuring that the contents heat evenly and the finished product comes out velvety-smooth. Even better than a saucepan is a saucier, whose gently sloping sides make thorough whisking a breeze.

Look for one that combines the durability of stainless steel with the superior heating ability of aluminum, like this one from Made In, which came out on top when we reviewed sauciers. We loved its ergonomic handle and wide surface area that was great for stirring a variety of things.

An Enameled Dutch Oven

Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron 5.5-Quart Round Dutch Oven

View On Amazon $280 View On Williams-Sonoma $260 View On Sur La Table $420

Cuisinart Chef's Classic Enameled Cast Iron 5-Quart Round Covered Casserole

View On Amazon $100 View On Walmart $100 View On Home Depot $100

An enamel-coated cast iron Dutch oven is the ideal vessel for slow braises (like these Chinese-spiced short ribs) and soups. In the oven, the pot's thick walls and heavy lid are ideal for low-and-slow heat transfer, meaning stews and pot roasts will come out juicier and more tender, with minimal evaporation during cooking.

On the stovetop, its tall, wide sides retain heat well and promise easy, splatter-free browning when you're cooking large amounts of meat and vegetables at once. Plus, it's great for deep-frying, and boiling pasta, and—if you or your giftee is regularly burning the midnight oil at a new job and struggles to find time for home-cooked meals—it's big enough to make a batch of stew or soup on Sunday that'll last all through the week.

In our review of cast iron Dutch ovens, the classic Dutch oven from heritage brand Le Creuset, a long-standing recommendation of ours, got top marks. But if you want something more affordable—especially for a starter kitchen—the slightly smaller Cuisinart also did well in our tests. Whichever you choose, dutch ovens are some of the longest-lasting pieces of kitchen equipment that will stand up to decades of use.

A Large Baking Dish

Staub Stoneware Rectangular Baker

View On Williams-Sonoma $150 View On Crate & Barrel $80

OXO Glass Baking Dish with Lid

View On Amazon $23 View On Home Depot $23 View On Wayfair $37

Like the Dutch oven, a good-sized casserole dish is a necessity for big-batch comfort-food dishes that you can eat throughout the week, or even freeze for hectic times to come—we're talking creamy spinach lasagna and shepherd's pie blanketed in rich, buttery mashed potatoes. These tempered glass and porcelain baking dishes aren’t fancy-looking, but our tests to find the best baking dishes found them to be sturdy, functional, and easy to clean, not to mention economical. Besides that, for baked goods like rhubarb crisp, Stella chooses tempered glass for its heat conductivity and nonreactive surface—read more about her preference for tempered glass pie pans here.

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Sur La Table Spice Measuring Spoons

View On Amazon $20 View On Sur La Table $20

Anchor Hocking 3-Piece Glass Measuring Cup Set

View On Amazon $30 View On Williams-Sonoma $8 View On Walmart $25

Norpro Stainless Steel Measuring Cups (Set of 5)

View On Amazon View On Walmart $36 View On Target $35

As much as we appreciate—celebrate, even—the precision offered by a scale, there are times when it's either impractical or just plain unnecessary to weigh out your ingredients. To get accurate quantities by volume, you've got to have measuring cups: both dry measuring cups and liquid measuring cups, plus a set of spoons. These rectangular measuring spoons are not only the most accurate set we tested; they’re also narrow enough to get right into your narrowest spice jars.

Rimmed Baking Sheets and Wire Racks

Nordic Ware Naturals Baker's Half Sheet

View On Amazon $22 View On Walmart $13 View On Sur La Table $40

Kitchenatics Half Sheet Stainless Steel Roasting and Cooling Rack

View On Amazon $30 View On Sears.com $41

Rimmed aluminum baking sheets are not just for baking. Also called "sheet pans" in the restaurant industry, they're used for a huge number of oven tasks: baking a batch of cookies, crisping up a tray of broccoli, or even roasting a whole turkey or chicken. Beyond those functions, sheet pans are endlessly useful—say, for spreading out vegetables or tofu to dry before frying, or for providing a steady, easily grabbable surface on which to place a pie for baking, cooling, or chilling.

Quarter-sheet trays and half-sheet trays are the most versatile sizes for a home kitchen. They're lightweight, durable, and inexpensive enough that you may want to spring for a couple in each size. In fact, if you can, you'll want to keep one set for high-temperature roasting and one for baking, as the pans you use for meats and vegetables will tend to get a bit beaten up.

You'll also want to pair your half-sheet pan with a simple wire rack to ensure that your resting meats or cooling cookies get the air circulation they need.

A Box Grater

Cuisipro 4-Sided Boxed Grater

View On Amazon $27 View On Walmart $34 View On Sur La Table $46

A Microplane is a terrific tool, and highly recommended for creating a fine shower of Parmesan, lemon zest, or fresh nutmeg. But if you need to shred two whole pounds of cheese to make Daniel's Classic Baked Mac and Cheese, a box grater is a far better bet. In our review of the best box graters on the market, the Cuisipro took home the gold for its super-sharp etched holes, the larger of which will make short work of the block of cheddar.

An Instant-Read Thermometer

ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE

View On Thermoworks.com View On Kingarthurbaking.com

Thermoworks ThermoPop 2

View On Thermoworks.com View On Outdoorhome.com

If all you're doing in the kitchen is making simple, forgiving, largely vegetable-based dishes—things like stews, sautés, and casseroles—you can get away without a thermometer for testing your food's internal temperature. But if you want to cook any kind of meat and cook it well, a good thermometer is a necessity. Our top pick is the ThemoWorks Thermapen ONE. It's incredibly accurate, lightning-fast, and has a host of other features (like an auto-rotating screen and backlight) that make it well worth its $100 price tag. We've also long recommended the ThermoPop as a good budget alternative to the pricier Thermapen. It's a popular kitchen tool that comes with a good long probe for poking into the center of a roast, plus an easy-to-read rotating display.

An Oven Thermometer

Rubbermaid Stainless Steel Instant Read Oven Thermometer

View On Amazon $8 View On Walmart $16

ThermoWorks ChefAlarm

View On Thermoworks.com

Theoretically, setting an oven to your desired temperature should be as simple as pressing a few buttons and waiting for the beep. But many, many home ovens out there don't run true to temperature. A cheap oven thermometer hooked to the rack allows you to understand whether your own appliance runs hot or cold, so you don't have to constantly monitor your food or fret over uncertain timing. Armed with this knowledge, you can even try recalibrating the oven according to the manufacturer's instructions if you're feeling handy. And if you want to get really fancy (and are in the habit of roasting big hunks of meat or making caramel), you could also invest in a probe thermometer—we reviewed them and liked the ThermoWorks ChefAlarm. For a budget pick, we liked the Polder Digital In-Oven Meat Thermometer.

Metal Mixing Bowls

Vollrath 5 Piece Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl Set

View On Webstaurantstore.com $26

Wanna know why television cooks use glass mixing bowls? It's not because they're better than the cheaper metal versions. It's for one reason only: Metal bowls are too reflective, and they make life difficult for the camera operators. On the flip side, they're also lighter than glass, take up less space, and last longer (and yes, modern microwaves can handle metal bowls!). Go into any restaurant kitchen, and you'll find that the mixing bowls being used are exclusively metal.

Moral of the story: Leave the glass bowls for the TV chefs, and grab yourself a metal set. We tested 12 sets of metal mixing bowls and named the inexpensive one from Vollrath our favorite.

A Wooden Spoon

FAAY Teak Cooking Spoon

View On Amazon $12

A good wooden spoon is any cook's best friend, whether it's used for stirring a sauce, tasting a soup, or making the creamiest possible risotto. For the true aficionados among us, it's not unusual to end up with half a dozen wooden utensils in various shapes and sizes. But to start out, grab this one from Jonathan. It’s perfect for stirring and tasting, but also for scraping up fond and getting into the corners of pots. We also liked the FAAY 13.5" Teak Cooking Spoon and the Sabatier All-Purpose Spoon, since you can't have enough wooden spoons!

Sturdy Tongs

OXO 12-Inch Silicone Tongs

View On Amazon $17 View On Oxo $17

A well-made set of tongs is like a heatproof extension of your own fingers, which is why we did a deep dive into the best tongs out there. With solid construction, slip-resistant grips (ever try to grab onto a pair of stainless-steel-only tongs with greasy fingers?), and scalloped edges perfect for picking up the most tender stalks of spring asparagus or the biggest bone-in pork roast, these OXO stainless steel locking tongs set the bar for quality.

A Slotted Fish Spatula

Wusthof Fish Spatula

View On Amazon $65 View On Walmart $59 View On Wusthof.com

Flexible enough to flip delicate pieces of fish without breaking them, yet sturdy enough to scrape a burger off the bottom of your pan without missing a morsel, a fish spatula is something you'll find in the knife kit of every professional chef, and it's one of the most indispensable tools in the kitchen. It's also ideal for blotting excess grease off of cooked steaks and chops: Just pick up the meat from the skillet, pat it with a paper towel (no need to remove it from the spatula first), and transfer it directly to the serving plate. The wide slots in the spatula allow grease to drain off easily.

We reviewed some of the best fish spatulas on the market and found the offering from Wusthof was lightweight and easy to maneuver, slipping gently under fragile foods without disturbing other items in the pan. We also liked the option from Lamson, if you're a lefty.

Heat-Resistant Flexible Spatulas

GIR Ultimate Spatula

View On Amazon $17 View On Walmart $16 View On Gir.co

This is a very different beast from a fish spatula, or from the wider turner you might use with your nonstick skillet. Rather than turning and flipping with it, it's what you'll grab for scraping out every drop of custard, batter, or sauce from the inside of a pot or bowl. We recommend having a few on hand.

A Pepper Mill

Peugeot Paris Pepper Mill

View On Amazon $51 View On Williams-Sonoma $69 View On Walmart $39

Pre-ground pepper simply doesn’t measure up to the freshly cracked stuff. For that warm, fruity flavor, you’ll need to grind your own, so why not do it in style with our favorite pepper mill from Peugeot? We found it to be the most efficient and easy-to-use mill we tested for our review of the best pepper grinders, quickly crushing peppercorns to a fine powder. Plus, it looks damn good on the table.

A Salad Spinner

Zyliss E940005 Swift Dry Salad Spinner

View On Amazon $43 View On Walmart $43 View On Sur La Table $43

It may look suspiciously like a unitasker, but a salad spinner, much like Liam Neeson, brings a very particular set of skills to the table. A good-quality one, like the Zyliss Swift Dry Salad Spinner—a top pick from our best salad spinner review—makes quick work of drying out herbs and leafy vegetables, without which process your salad greens are destined to be a mess every time: wet, limp, unappealing, and sadly resistant to harmonious interaction with their dressing. (Yes, you can spread out your greens to dry on a baking sheet or clean kitchen towel instead, but that's a far more time-consuming method.) The real reason this item is a must: Despite its unitasker feel, its interior basket can double as a colander—for cold foods only!—until you decide to pony up for the latter.

A Fine-Mesh Strainer

Rösle Stainless Steel Round Handle Kitchen Strainer

View On Amazon $47 View On Walmart $80 View On Sur La Table $23

When making stocks, sauces, and creamy, smooth soups, you need a tool that can remove all those bits and pieces of aromatics without fuss. That tool is the simple, humble strainer, which should be rust-resistant, and fit snugly over your bowls and pots (check for hooks on the rim that will allow it to do just that).

There's so much you can do with a strainer. Squeeze out seed- and flesh-free citrus juice, poach perfect eggs, sift flour, steam vegetables, and more. And, of course, your strainer can also serve as a colander for draining pasta and the like, a nice hot-foods counterpart to your salad spinner. After reviewing fine mesh strainers, our favorite was an (admittedly pricey) option from Rösle; it did all of these tasks and more and was durable and just a great overall strainer.

A Vegetable Peeler

Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peeler, 3-Piece Set

View On Amazon $26 View On Williams-Sonoma $5 View On Walmart $19

Every kitchen needs at least one vegetable peeler, and, if you're a regular reader of this site, you'll know by now that our peeler of choice is a Y-peeler. Each of these Kuhn Rikon Y-peelers is outfitted with a carbon steel blade, which stays sharper longer than a stainless steel one. The broad handle is more comfortable than the slender one on many swivel-blade models. The peelers are so cheap ($10 for a set of three), that you can easily swap them out when they finally start to get dull or rusty. They're even colorful. What more convincing do you need?

A Whisk

GIR Premium Stainless Steel Whisk

View On Amazon $12 View On Gir.co View On Target $10

Oxo Good Grips 11-Inch Balloon Whisk

View On Amazon $11 View On Webstaurantstore.com View On Oxo $12

It's true that beating egg whites and whipping cream is made much easier with the help of a stand mixer (or a handheld electric mixer), but if you're still saving up for one, a good old-fashioned whisk-and-bowl combination works, too.

For pastry applications, look for an all-stainless construction, that won't impart off-flavors to highly acidic recipes, like jam, Key lime pie filling, or lemon curd. For more general use, a balloon design, in which the tines form a fairly open cage, will minimize the clumping of sauces and batters in the whisk's crevices. Our favorites—by GIR and OXO—were comfortable to hold and did a great job whisking pastry cream, egg whites, whipped cream, and more.

For more information on what types of whisks to use and when, read about how to choose the right whisk here.

A Paring Knife

Victorinox 3.25-Inch Paring Knife

View On Amazon $15 View On Webstaurantstore.com

A paring knife can't do too much that a chef's knife can't, but, after your chef's knife, it's the chopping tool you'll likely reach for most often. For small tasks, like halving lemons or mincing shallots, or tasks that require closer attention to detail, its size, and light weight make it a more convenient choice. (You'll also inevitably find yourself using it for some other, more offbeat purposes—it makes a fine cake tester in a pinch.) As with a bread knife, it's not necessary to invest too much cash in a paring knife. In our review of the best paring knives, the Victorinox 3.25-Inch Forschner came out on top. It's affordable, plenty sharp, and comfortable to hold.

A Kitchen Scale

OXO 11-lb. Stainless Steel Food Scale With Pull-Out Display

View On Amazon $56 View On Williams-Sonoma $56 View On Walmart $63

Escali Primo Digital Food Scale

View On Amazon $25 View On Walmart $32 View On Sur La Table $33

Yes, it’s technically possible to get by without a reliable scale, but your kitchen life will improve immeasurably (heh) once you have one. And if you bake regularly, whether you're making your own pizza dough or a special-occasion coconut cake, there's no question that you need one.

We don't always recommend measuring by mass or weight, but using volume alone doesn't take into account varying density among ingredients, and baking demands a higher level of precision. In some important ways, it also makes measuring easier, since you don't need to juggle a whole set of spoons and cups in different sizes—just set a single large vessel on the scale, tare it, add flour until you hit the right number, dump it out into your mixing bowl, and repeat with the next ingredient. Plus, scaling a recipe up or down is way simpler when you have grams to work with, as opposed to figuring out the ratio between a third of a cup and two teaspoons.

After testing a lot of kitchen scales (and even before, TBH), our top choice is the OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale which has a backlit pull-out display, fine accuracy and precision, and a removable stainless steel weighing surface. If that price is a bit above your budget, this minimalist scale from Escali will suit you just fine.

The Nice-to-Haves

Kitchen Shears

Shun Multi-Purpose Kitchen Shears

View On Amazon $55 View On Williams-Sonoma $44 View On Sur La Table $44

A knife can handle most of your kitchen cutting work, but you're going to hate opening packages with it, especially while there's a pot of water boiling over or a pan of oil getting too hot on the stove. While a pair of standard scissors will solve that problem, it won't cut it, literally, when you're trying to break down a chicken. These heavy-duty kitchen shears from Shun can do that. You can read more about them in our review of the best shears. The quick takeaway: They're perfect for cutting and snipping, and the built-in flathead screwdriver, nutcracker, and bottle opener don't hurt either.

A Bench Scraper

OXO Bench Scraper

View On Amazon $12 View On Walmart $16 View On Webstaurantstore.com

They’re often erroneously thought of as a baking-only accessory for tasks like portioning dough, but once you have one of these, you'll find a million different reasons to keep it nearby. If you're like us, you'll be using your bench scraper to move piles of chopped vegetables from board to bowl, or board to skillet. Or to scrape your board clean of scraps and residue before you start another round of chopping. Or to cut a lasagna into neat squares. The more food you prepare with it, the less you'll be able to get along without it. In our review, we found the OXO Good Grips Stainless-Steel Scraper & Chopper and the Norpro Grip-EZ Scraper/Chopper were both great, versatile picks.

A Metal Pie Plate

Norpro Stainless Steel Pie Pan

View On Amazon $13

What's true for rectangular baking dishes is true here, too: It may not be worthy of a Martha Stewart photo shoot, but in our review, we found a simple metal pie plate conducts heat more quickly to your crust, producing more beautifully golden, crisp, and flaky results than any fancy-pants ceramic model. It's also quite cheap, so you can stock up if you like pie over a cake.

A Loaf Pan

USA Pan 1-Pound Loaf Pan

View On Amazon $19 View On Williams-Sonoma $19 View On Walmart $20

Quick breads are a great way for novices to try their hand at baking, but a loaf pan is also handy for making meatloaf, pound cake, or simple yeasted loaves. The below loaf pan is made from aluminized steel, which is long-lasting, rust-resistant, and helpfully nonstick.

A Thermometer for Pastry Projects

ThermoWorks ChefAlarm

View On Thermoworks.com

Polder Digital In-Oven Thermometer

View On Amazon $20 View On Polder.com View On Wayfair $25

As we mentioned above, in addition to an oven thermometer, a probe thermometer is super useful. For sweet projects, Stella is passionate about her Polder digital thermometer (we also love the ThermoWorks ChefAlarm), which offers a whole slew of features: ultra-fast reading times, ideal for candy recipes that require exceptionally precise timing; a clip-on attachment, so you can test temperature hands-free; and temp alert settings, letting you keep track of your custards if you happen to walk out of the kitchen. The probe allows you to use it on roasts and for deep-fry oil, too.

A Rolling Pin

J.K. Adams French Tapered Rolling Pin

View On Amazon $22 View On Food52 $17 View On Jkadams.com

Sure, a wine bottle can work in a pinch, but to get perfectly flaky pie crust and other baked goods, we highly recommend an actual rolling pin, like our winning French pin or dowel-style pin, both from J.K. Adams. Need more rolling pin–related guidance? Here's our guide to choosing the best rolling pin for your baking needs.

An Immersion Blender

All-Clad Stainless Steel Immersion Blender

View On Amazon $120 View On Williams-Sonoma $120 View On Wayfair $116

Hamilton Beach 2-Speed Hand Blender

View On Amazon $28 View On Walmart $27 View On Target $30

A good starter kitchen doesn’t necessarily need a pricey high-powered blender or even a food processor, but some kind of blending capability is nice if you want to make a creamy blended soup, whipped cream, or your own mayo. And for that, there’s an immersion blender.

Our tests for the best immersion blender revealed that the undisputed winner is this All-Clad hand blender, which comes in at a little over $100. If that price is a little too steep, our budget pick, by Hamilton Beach, keeps up pretty well with the All-Clad, and can even crush its way through ice.

FAQs

What pieces of kitchen gear do I need to get started?

Our list above details everything you need if you're looking to become a kitchen whiz, but TLDR: a chef's knife, peeler, cutting board, blender, set of pots, and a Dutch oven won't steer you wrong.

Do I need to spend a lot of money on kitchen essentials?

While there is some merit to more pricey items being of better quality (like Dutch ovens), a lot of essential kitchen gear doesn't have to break the bank. Take, for example, our favorite vegetable peelers from Kuhn Rikon; at around $8 a pop, they're pretty cheap, yet they punch above their pay grade. Even kitchen storage solutions like these plastic shoe box containers won't set you back much, either.

Why We're the Experts

• Serious Eats has been reviewing equipment for more than a decade.
• The Serious Eats team is comprised of professional cooks and journalists—all of whom take the job of finding the very best gear exceptionally seriously.