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.