25 Essential Kitchen Tools Gallery

Everyone dreams of having a clean kitchen, with lots of space to create art through food. That's why we've made this list of 25 essential kitchen tools. Others will disagree, insisting that X is never useful, or complaining that we didn't include Y.

Plus, depending on what types of cuisine you cook more often, this list might change. For example, we didn't include a wok, but if you cook a lot of stir-fried vegetables, then a wok might be absolutely crucial in your day-to-day life.

So if you're just starting out and need to know what to get, this guide is for you. If you're moving and need to downsize, this guide is for you. Or if you're just trying to give your set-up the finishing touches and aren't sure what essentials you might be missing, this guide is for you. Plus, when you're done, you can take your newfound essentials and try your hand at some easy and delicious recipes. So read on to discover which 25 kitchen tools are absolutely essential.

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This tool is great for all things breakfast and also for sautéing vegetables. It's an all-purpose utensil that cooks and flips everything with aplomb. As a brunch-lover, I can't omit the godfather of breakfast tools.

There are three basic movements that you'll need in a kitchen: stirring things, pouring things out, and grabbing things. You can't grab anything without tongs; it's so incredibly important to have a decent pair of grabbers for basically every situation.

If you don't bake, you don't need a rolling pin. But then again, if you do bake, a rolling pin is super-helpful. Even if you never use it for baking, it can still be repurposed in a bunch of ways.

A stand mixer is another vital electric tool to have in your kitchen equipment arsenal. If you're committed to baking, then you will need one of these. It helps create dough for anything you'll ever bake. Super helpful and another featured kitchen item in childhood kitchen memories.

This one is pretty self-explanatory in terms of the essentialness of this pan. Sauteing ingredients is one of the bedrocks of cooking — you can't get anywhere as a chef in your kitchen without knowing how to saute and having a pan to do it in.

Some believe that a stock pot isn't entirely necessary; this couldn't be further from the truth. A stock pot is a must-have for boiling water — anytime you need to poach vegetables or make pasta, this is what you need. If you want to make homemade stock with leftover bones (or any other type of broth/sauce/stock), then this is the perfect tool to get the job done!

The Dutch oven is to pots what the cast-iron skillet is to pans. Allow us to explain: Its thick base ensures even heat distribution, while the lid keeps heat and flavor locked in. It's perfect for browning meat and making stews (or chili), and it can be used to cook vegetables and rice. Plus, similar to the cast-iron skillet, it's oven-friendly, which means that it's quite easy to make a roast in there, too.

Now we get to the "food prep" section. One of the most important things on that list is a nesting set — a series of different-sized bowls. These bowls are incredibly helpful for mixing things and making things in a bowl. That seems really obvious, but nesting bowls have so many uses that it's hard to enumerate.

You need to measure things in the kitchen, especially if you aren't a master chef quite yet. And in order to measure things, you'll need measuring cups...

And now, the essential sharp things you'll need. This list starts with the versatile chef's knife. It's got a wide range of uses, and it feels great to cut with. A couple of tips: When you first get the knife, hold it with your middle finger at the blade end of the handle, with your thumb and the top joint of your pointer finger pinching the blade. It gives you more control over the blade, and uses the natural balance of the knife to your advantage. Shopping tip: Many of the best chef's knives are made in Japan. When samurai swords fell out of favor, swordsmiths turned their skills to knife-making, and as a result the workmanship and quality are unparalleled.

A bread knife is the result of someone bringing a saw into the kitchen and giving it the appropriate handle. Specifically, the bread knife has a bunch of teeth on the blade, giving it more traction in whatever you're cutting. It "rips" more than it "slices" or "chops," making it perfect for bread.

At some point in the kitchen, you'll need to cut things. These can be used for mundane tasks like a pair of scissors, but what makes these different is their extra oomph! in cutting anything from string to skin. Plus, they can be used with either hand, and some models come apart to make cleaning and sharpening each blade that much easier.