apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Great tips for someone trying to stock a new kitchen! Thanks!

Emily

Hands down, my favorite kitchen tool I picked up at IKEA is the DIREKT Whisk. Its flat mixing head makes it perfect for whisking something into shallow liquid in a sauté pan—say making a roux or mixing in corn starch or something else that might want to turn to lumps. The DIREKT Whisk won't let it. I’ve seen similar versions made of tightly coiled metal, but the business end of the DIREKT Whisk is made of heat-resistant plastic--that means it won’t scratch non-stick surfaces. And best of all? It costs about two bucks.

I love my ORDNING dish drainer. It holds a full sinkload of dishes and takes up less room on my countertop than traditional square drainers. It's also very sturdy, which is important since I'm an incorrigable dish-overloader. (No accidents yet ... knock on wood.) And after four years of near-daily use, it shows no signs of rusting. Not bad for a $20 investment.

we just moved in to a new place and went Ikea crazy!
they have a great grater that comes with a zesting top and a food catcher at the bottom, wine glasses (though one broke- we dropped it), utensils, pots, pans, cutting boards, etc. they have great stuff for getting a kitchen started!

The IKEA 365 spice mill is really good, too. Useful for grindable salt, nutmeg, pepper, etc. It's dishwasher-safe and the ceramic parts last a long time.

Ikea's garlic press is fantastic and it's designed in such a way that it is very easy to clean (even if, somehow, you forget to do it for a couple days).

The cast iron series is awesome, and a fantastic price compared with a certain Fronch brand. I also love the cutting boards that are so cheap you can afford to replace them the second they start to look grubby.

wrenx, there was a looong comments thread here just the other week on the merits and faults of Ikea affordability and your statement above does not help the disposablity arguement. At all.

I'm glad they put out cast iron. That stuff lasts forever and so much utility. I happen to have a piece by that certain French brand. I may have paid a bit for it. But at least I'm not putting it in the dump anytime soon.

It's almost embarrassing to say, but my most recent IKEA I-love-it item is a dish scrubber with a suction cup at the end of the handle. I HATE when the scrubber just lays in the sink and gets muckier and muckier... with the suction cup you can use it then stick it to the counter standing up on end so it's out of the way but nearby.

I have their Medalj pot. Its super cute and amazing.

Their Senior casserole dish is perfect for making my own tomato sauces and I've even cooked steaks in it.

ALL of my cooking utensils and cutting boards are from there and cost about 20 bucks in total.

I bought their 8 headed candelabra and it is PERFECT for holding my plastic bags above my fridge. And when I have dinner parties, I just pull it out. Very cool.

Ikea is about 30 miles from where I live, which is CLOSE...but far enough that I don't camp out there every single day!!

Personally, I love their ELLY dish towels! Four of them for $2.49 is a STEAL!! 100% cotton,

I've bleached them many times, with no worries!!!

i'm a huge fan of ikea's french press. ive had bodum models before but the plastic parts always break. the ikea french press i bought for ten bucks has lasted 5 years with only the filter having to be replaced. that cost $4. i really like their TEKLA kitchen towels since ten of them cost about 5 dollars and most people spend about 5 dollars a week on paper towels. i've had them for years too and all i do is bleach them and then wash them... when they get too threadbare i use them as rags in my art studio. i think a lot of stuff from ikea is viewed as "disposable" and a lot of it is, but i wouldn't buy something that i'll have to replace soon which has kept me from buying ikea furniture or redoing my kitchen with ikea cabinets... although i've read that they are really good products, i just think for the price i'd rather buy wood cabinets or recycle them when i start remodelling the kitchen this summer...

My favorite item borders both kitchen & entertaining, it's the round stainless tray, it holds my salt/pepper grinders & specialty salts & oil/vinegar bottles & special sauces on the kitchen counter. When I need to entertain, those items remain in the kitchen, the tray is now pressed into service for appetizers. It's great for parties, I have 2 of them, the one drawback is you really have to sift through the pile at IKEA to find unscratched ones!

They have a stainless steel set of barware (zester, bottle opener, something else...) that is rather handsome.

I second the pot scrubber with the suction cup, the french press and those 50 cent towels, which are soft and absorbent. Like the previous commenter, I use them in place of paper towels, like for putting in the fridge with the lettuce after I've washed it.

They have airtight tins that work wonderfully for beans and grains and coffee. I like that they're rectangular because you can put them in a cupboard without wasting too much space. The colors aren't great - yellow and orange and avocado dots.

We love our 365 white dinnerware. They've changed the bowls over time, but it's still easy to replace pieces. Plus, a full set is still only $20.

We also use their 2pc soup/sandwich set all the time - they're a deeper green color and come w/an oval sandwich plate and wide, shallow cup that sits in a small well on the plate. Perfect size for a light dinner or lunch. Wish I knew the name.