For me, it would probably have to be my Bialetti moka pot and Dualit toaster. I make a pot of coffee and toast almost every morning. I also hope to replace my old pans with a cast iron one soon, and I look forward to using that a lot.
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Anyone here that hasn’t said silicone spatula better get online shopping right freaking now. SILICONE SPATULA SUPREMACY 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Good call! Most grocery stores carry them too, that’s where I got mine. I picked up two, one with a scoopy end and another with a regular spatula end. They’re so nice!
My 10" cast iron Lodge skillet. It’s great! And don’t believe all the people who claim that you have to devote most of your life to taking care of your cast iron. They’re cast iron for God’s sake! Pioneers took them all the way across America in their Conestoga wagons. Just don’t leave them wet or stick them in a dishwashing machine, and you’re fine!
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Yes! I use mine almost daily. Love that I can go straight from the stove top to the oven without using another dish
Appliance: Electric kettle. (they are uncommon in the US) It’s well worth the counter space and easier to get boiling water than a pot on the stove, or to pre-heat water I add to a pan.
Non-appliance: Cheapo but sharp chef’s knife, spatula, and kitchen tongs (great for grabbing hot lids too!).
As a Briton, the lack of electric kettles in US kitchens astonishes me - I can’t imagine getting by without one. But I remember hearing somewhere that it was related to the lower mains voltage in the US, meaning that they take longer to boil in the US?
US electrical is weird.
We have 240v mains in basically every house (a very small percentage have 480v, which is normally reserved only for industrial buildings).
However, that 240v gets split at our local transformers into two 120v phases, separated by 180° phase. This allows either 120 or 240v (120+120) in our homes.
So yeah, most plugs including those in our kitchens are 120v.
However! A 120v electric kettle still blows out any other heating method, especially gas, gas is soooo slow. Some high-power induction stoves can keep up, because they can dump boatloads of power into a kettle and are really efficient, and honestly even small induction hobs like mine aren’t much slower (5 mins instead of 3). But an electric kettle is like $25 and uses less power. They’re so useful!
Only slightly longer than a 240v kettle, but still much faster than a kettle over a gas range.
Real reason is that most people in the US don’t drink tea and don’t have a need for quick hot water on demand.
I don’t think they’re that uncommon in the US. They’re not ubiquitous like they are in Europe but I feel like the majority of people have them. As mentioned, it’s probably more to do with whether you drink tea than anything else, and not as many people drink tea all the time here. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen anyone boil water for tea on the stove in the last decade. They either use a kettle or they don’t drink tea at all.
I didn’t realize this was a thing many American homes lack or are perceived by other countries to lack? I’m in the US and have one, my teenage stepson loves it for getting water up to temp faster for his cooking. I don’t use it that often but I think it’s worth having anyway.
I’ve heard that too…of course, I can’t compare to 240V but it takes me probably 2-3 minutes to boil about 2 cups of water and probably 5-6 for a full kettle at a rolling boil (rough estimate from memory). It’s not much faster than the stove but theres no wasted heat, and no hot pan sitting on a burner after I’m done. Another theory I’ve heard is that in the US people opt for a drip coffee maker instead of a kettle (for their one spot on the counter? Why not both?), since we don’t drink tea that often.
We drink coffee, but prefer an electric kettle for water and then use the pour over method for individual cups or french presses if we need more than a cup at a time in a hurry. Less waste this way and allows for tea and coffee when hubs and I want it. My in laws visit every time and rave how much fresher the coffee is made in small batches, fresh ground, but then looks at us as if we are nuts for not having a standard coffee maker and keeping the electric kettle instead.
I would probably hand over my beloved grind and brew amazing coffeemaker that also had a timer (it’s also my alarm) well before the electric kettle. Not only for tea, pour overs, kombucha, head start on quinoa, pasta, etc, blanching, and so on.
I got a really simple one, but it’s been incredibly helpful. Get the biggest damn bowl you can find, like unreasonably large, that is your new mixing bowl. I always find myself half way through a recipe with no bowl space left, therefore more dishes. My bowl looks like it could be an outside dogs water bowl it’s so big. Now with big bowl, I grab it every time and never have to switch, the only downside is finding somewhere to hide it.
Yes, I love me a big ol’ bowl! For the same reasons you mentioned.
It’s also helpful for when you’re sick and pukey and don’t want to be stuck by the toilet or just don’t want to stick your head in the toilet at all, lol.
Oh yes! I love my giant bowls for washing voluminous leafy greens and fermenting fruit vinegars.
An unexpected one for me was my air fryer. I thought it would be very situational and gimmicky, but I use it all the time. It’s basically a small second oven that cooks food faster, uses less energy, and doesn’t take forever to preheat
And things come out more crispy due to the increased air circulation. I wouldn’t have guessed i would use it so often too.
Probably just my chef knife. But that’s an obvious and boring answer.
My choice would be my hand blender. I use it for making any dips, many sauces (it is made out of metal) and it also got a blender attachment for shredding vegetables. One of the best investments I made for my kitchen.
I second the hand blender. It’s just so versatile. I’ll add soups and mayo to your list too.
Yeah, I love my chef’s knife too. I recently received a hand blender secondhand but I am yet to use it!
Chef’s knife is definitely not boring and may not be as obvious as you think. I come from a family that has only ever used cheap paring knives for everything that have never even been in the same room as a sharpener. Meanwhile, I haven’t made a single dish without my Henckels since I bought it 5 years ago. My GIR silicone turner is a close second
I own very expensive knives. I bought them when I was single and had a good income. I have taken very good care of them and they are great knives to this day.
The first knife I always reach for is my $15 Chinese cleaver.
I can’t afford more than the Victorinox knife I have but I would probably still go for it if I did have more expensive knives.
I don’t have super expensive knives, but I have a couple decent steel ones and a couple good ceramics, and I still go for my caidao first for almost everything.
It’s so funny how we have a preference. I’ve always thought that I would like to own a Japanese Nakiri because it’s similar to the Chinese cleaver.
I have three of them and they are almost always my first choice for everything prep. I use a boning/filet knife when I’m prepping meat and a carving knife then I’m carving but that Chinese cleaver comes out for almost everything else.
My carbon steel pans are used almost every day. I’ve got a 32 cm wok for stir frying, deep frying and blanching big portions. And i got a 28 cm debuyer mineral b for searing meat and fish.
I’d say aside from my chef knife and various coffee related implements, the MVP in my kitchen is undoubtedly my enamel cast-iron Dutch oven.
I’ve been using a Lido 2 hand grinder for coffee every morning for almost 12 years now. More recently (~7 years) I’ve settled on using a Chemex to actually make my coffee. I’ll likely keep using this setup for the rest of my life.
I also have a cast iron and I struggle with seasoning because all the burners I’ve ever used are just a bit too small for it (common electric ones). Soon I’ll buy a torch (like for making Crème Brûlée) and maybe some sunflower oil to experiment on getting a reaallly nice coating on it. Sunflower oil has I higher burn temperature, so I’m thinking it will improve the longevity of the coating, but we’ll see.
I have become an air fryer believer. Yes, it’s basically a convection toaster oven, but SOMEHOW it works 100x better. That, my instant pot, and my stand mixer are my life. Air fryer to quickly make chicken nuggets for my picky children, instant pot for rice and beans, and my stand mixer for bread. We love carbs.
Air fryers are absolutely worth it. I have a bucket style one, but now I really want the more oven styled one for pizzas and sandwiches.
I don’t see the point of using an oven for anything other than baking ever again
I’ll go with: High quality burr coffee grinder.
I bought it in 2004 or so, it gets used daily, and still works like new.
Only thing I’ve ever done is replace the burrs a few weeks ago cause they were getting dull. Was an easy job and the burrs were pretty inexpensive.
Just going to save some people some research and say: just get a Baratza Encore. Good enough at it’s price point to make great filter, cold brew, or aeropress coffee, and every part that could possibly break can be ordered directly from the company and repaired yourself (although a lot of people go 5-10 years with their machine in perfect condition). If you’re doing espresso, there’s the encore ESP, and if you really want the highest quality burrs for the price, you can go for a hand grinder from any number of companies, such as 1zpresso
Baratza Encore
Sounds like a great deal. Mine’s a Rancilio Rocky, but I didn’t specifically suggest it as I knew the market would have changed in the past 20 years.
Yessss, grinding your own beans is the single best thing you can do to make better coffee.
My electric kettle is almost always on. One with stay warm function and temperature control is great to accommodate the different temps I may want for various teas or coffee. It’s also useful for speeding up cooking when I need to get a pot of water boiling.
I can’t necessarily recommend a specific one though, my old gooseneck spout kettle was great for pouring but the screws holding the handle in place rusted out and the plastic clips broke. My current one is insolated to help stay warm longer which is nice but the plastic lid has begun deteriorating. The only advice I could really offer is find something with as little plastic as possible in it’s construction, especially where it may touch water or steam.
Probably just my chef knife. But that’s an obvious and boring answer.
My choice would be my hand blender. I use it for making any dips, many sauces (it is made out of metal) and it also got a blender attachment for shredding vegetables. One of the best investments I made for my kitchen.
A ramekin full of salt on the counter.
My Breville Toaster Oven. I rarely use my regular oven since it’s so much more efficient, and fits 90% of what I cook in a house of 2 people. The air fryer function works really well (obviously not quite as good as a dedicated one).
Ditto! I resisted getting one and now I use it several times per day. Makes great toast too.
