One of the most common questions we get from readers goes something like this: I'm outfitting a new kitchen — what do I need? Or, similarly: I'm moving and I have to pare down! What do I get rid of, and what do I keep?
Essential kitchen equipment is a subjective question. It all depends on how and what you cook most frequently. But here's a first look at the most common basic tools we like to recommend, and some posts to help guide you to a well-equipped, decluttered kitchen.
First, the links! We've come back to this question frequently, especially during last year's Kitchen Cure. Here are some of the most useful posts on the subject of essential kitchen tools:
A New Kitchen
• Good Question: Stocking a New Kitchen
• Good Question: Tools for a New Kitchen
Pots and Pans
• What's Worth Spending Money On In the Kitchen?
• On the Pros and Cons of Grill Pans
• Good Question: What Kind of Cookware Should I Buy?
• Good Question: Stainless Steel vs. Non-Stick
Baking Tools
• Five Essential Baking Tools: Pans
• Five Essential Baking Tools: Prep
• Good Question: Help Me Downsize My Kitchen Equipment!
OK, now that you have a lot of links to explore, let me sum up the basic advice that occurs throughout most of those posts. When you're thinking about a basic kitchen setup, here are the things we most frequently recommend:
• One good chef's knife
• A cast iron skillet or basic heavy skillet
• A large, solid wood cutting board
• Tongs
• A few wooden spoons
• At least one saucepan or pot
• For a large pot, double-up with a heavy Dutch oven; it can go in the oven.
• For baking and roasting, a 13x9" casserole dish is invaluable
After those things, kitchen equipment starts to be a matter of preference. Some people would never, ever use a huge stockpot or a big slow cooker. I use mine every week. I, on the other hand, almost never use a wok or an electric rice cooker; you may use each of those every day. You may love specialized bakeware and make room in your cupboards for plenty of bundt pans and mini cake pans; or you may be quite content with a 13x9" casserole dish and that's it.
Overall, the choices and mix of equipment in every kitchen become a unique expression of that kitchen's cook. How does that work out for you, and what pieces do you feel that you couldn't live without?
How to Cook Rice on the Stove
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
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The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
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(nearly) Every Day
8" skillet
6" pot
8" chef's knife
Cutting board
At least once a week
Rice cooker
non-stick skillet
collander
jelly-roll pan (for roasting, mostly)
If I had to go with nothing else, I'd probably go up a size or two on the skillet and pot, but I bet I could do most of my cooking in just what I listed. If I had more people to feed and some more time, I'd add bakeware to the list. I have tons of other stuff in my kitchen, but those are the Must Haves, to me.
your list is really good for the basics -- I'd add a really good spatula like this one from OXO. It's my favorite tool other than my chef's knife. A real multi-tasker.
https://www.heartandsoulbride.com/images/thumbnail/t_16681.jpg
I have a 6 qt. stainless pot with a wide bottom that I use for frying, sauteing, making soup, boiling pasta, steaming vegetables, etc. It goes in the oven and the dishwasher and it's virtually indestructable.
I think the wide bottom is key to its usefulness, giving it the cooking area of a large frying pan.
If I had two of these pots, I could probably get rid of just about every other pot and pan.
I'd like to add a good funnel and a whisk to the list of essentials (2 things I was always looking for when living in a dorm)
Baking sheets, the pro 13 x 18 found at restaurant supply stores, a cooling rack that fits inside those sheets (great for roasting), and parchment paper.
i know it's not an absolute necessity, but having gone w/o one for a long time, i would say that a good vegetable peeler is pretty crucial.
granite mortar and pestle forever <3
EasilyAmused, what do you use the mortar and pestle for on a fequent basis? My mom gave me one, but it just sits there looking pretty. I'd love to find a regular use for it.
I love my granite morter and pestle too. But I had a small marble one at one time that I hated. From what I can tell, the bigger and heavier it is, the more useful it is. Mine is 8” but if I were to buy again, I’d possibly buy the 9” one. It’s great for grinding spices, herbs, mashing garlic and peppers into paste, and because it’s granite, it’s also great for crushing nuts and peppercorns and anything that needs pounding.
I'd add that if you're buying tongs, the kind with silicone ends are handy, especially if you have an enameled cast iron dutch oven as one of your large pots. I scraped by dutch oven with metal tongs before I discovered this. Sad!!!
Love using mortar and pestle for asian sauces...grinding fermented black beans, szechuan peppercorns, etc...I agree, I wish I had a bigger one.
I would add some silicone spatulas, for sure. They are essential for cooking and baking in my kitchen.
My must haves are
6 qt sauce pan
11 qt stock pot
10" cast iron skillet
tongs
flat spatula
wooden spoon
flat whisk
8" santoku knife
4" paring knife
2c measuring cup
stoneware jelly roll pan with rack that fits inside
13 x 9" pyrex casserole/cake pan with cover
scale
With these items, I can make 90% of all my recipes!
My luxury items are
slow cooker
kitchenaid
cuisinart
hand blender
While the tasks I use these for can be accomplished via other means, they all get a LOT of use in my kitchen!
Knives: Bread knife, chef's knife, paring knives (I take them with me if I have a lunch I need to slice), serrated paring knife
Stovetop: 2 small sauce pans (I have 2 the same size and 60% of the time I'm using one, I'm using both), Large sauce pan, big soup pot (have only used once, but when its needed, its really needed!), small frying pan, cast iron skillet, larger deep skillet (doubles as a wok), bamboo steamer
Oven: 2 small casserole dishes, glass bread pans, 2 cookie sheets. most of my pots and pans are oven-safe.
Appliances: Toaster oven, kettle, hand blender, blender, food processor.
Other tools: fine strainer, large stainless strainer with stand, measuring spoons, measuring cups, one pyrex measuring cup, good spatulas, bamboo stovetop utensils, whisk, large ceramic bowl for sourdoughs, manual aerosol type olive oil spray bottle, large yogurt jars with mesh covers for sprouts, microplane citrus zester
I try to minimize... but I fail. When I cook, I COOK (or uncook) and all my kitchen tools (save for measuring tools, which I am notorious at not using) get used constantly.
oh dear, my only essential...my husband. Otherwise we would eat delivery every night!
Despite the small-ish galley kitchen I DO cook.
Ouside the obvious, long handled cooking utensils of ladels, slotted spoons, spoons etc, silicone flexible spatulas, turner/spatulas w/ long handles etc I also tend to use these.
8 and 10 inch non stick skillets (saute pans) and I have an 11" straight sided "chicken fryer pan" with 3" sides that I use A LOT for doing a variety of things such as spinach and it has a lid, a 4Qt soup pot which I use a lot and I have a 12" non stick that sees less use but it DOES get used though, for doing spaghetti, fettuccini and such, I have an 8Qt stock pot w/ strainer insert, best thing for such tasks for all I have to do is pull out the strainer and let drain back into pot and if I need to reheat before serving, I can stick back in it's cooking water for a minute and redrain.
1 and 2 cup glass measuring cups, a small set for dry ingredients, 8x10 or 9x13 glass casseroles are a must, good baking sheets, I have pro ones that Costco sold and may still sell for LOTS of things
I have a small food chopper that I use, the blender too for some things, 2, 8" chef's knives, but one I use more than the other as it's a good one and 2, 3" utility knives for cutting small things etc and I use them both all the time and of course, thongs and cutting boards
I do have a slow cooker I use every now and then and used to use my le creuset 3.5 Qt oval dutch oven more when I didn't have the deep pan to sautee bulky things such as spinach but it's great to braze in the oven though.
I just got one of those square cast iron grill pans and used it for the first time on Sunday for cooking up a marinated flank steak and I think I'll be using that a fair amount when not using the grill on my balcony.
I should say that I have a 12" non stick saute pan
Sillyputty, your list is almost identical to mine, give or take an inch in some of the pan/knife measurements. :-) There are a few other "must-haves" in my kitchen, though:
Colander - we boil pasta or potatoes at least twice a week;
Strainers - I have three in different sizes (one with a very fine mesh) and use them all on a regular basis;
Electronic kitchen scale - I use this several times a week to scale recipes up/down, to measure out 8 oz of pasta (I can never seem to eyeball it correctly, and for a ton of other things;
9x13 Silpat sheets - I have three, plus one more that fits my toaster oven. I almost never bake foods directly on a baking sheet anymore.
I was going to add a food chopper to my list, but I've gone through several (I guess I'm too rough on them or something, the threaded bits keep breaking off) and now I use my Cuisinart mini food processor for chopping nuts and such.
a hand blender. I use it every week in the wintertime for soup; in the summer for shakes, and I understand that if you have a baby it's even more valuable.
Since mine has a little bowl attachment, it also gets used as a mini food processor for chopping nuts and garlic.
rice cooker (Aroma $20)
wok (Ikea $7)
heavy 12" saute (Cuisinart $50 sale)
super food processor (HB $50)
huge crock pot (rival $30 sale)
big chef knife (wcf $60 gift)
paring knife (wcf $30 gift)
carving board (farberware $20)
plastic mixing bowls/lids (Ikea $5)
wooden spoons
rectangle in-sink colander (Ikea $5)
french white casserole set (BB&B $30 sale)
pizza cutter and cookie sheet, those are always the things I give to newly on their own friends and they always use them within the first month! :)
I created a post called "Kitchen Essentials" on my blog not too long ago, based on various posts I'd seen like this around the internet. It's divided into Top Tier Ten and Second Tier Ten, but it's too long to list here; come have a look!
http://thecoloradohammons.blogspot.com/2009/03/kitchen-essentials.html
Great collection of utensils and I really liked the small one which can be used to hand grind little stuff. But apart from that I am really proud of my newly acquired cuisinart pro custom 11.
A spatula, skillet, bread pan, cookie sheet, and my trusty cutco knife get me through most meals.
At my >mile-high altitude, the pressure cooker is essential. I use mine at least once a week for legumes.
I made a similar but more in depth list: http://thefirstapartment.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-equip-kitchen-basics.html I think you need a bit more than that unless you just want steak and potatoes every night