When we started our cooking journey, we were full of confusion and frustration as we began our search for the best cookware and essential kitchen tools for minimalist cooks. When you start with no knowledge, the learning curve is immense.
But after years of refining our cooking techniques, creating and testing simple recipes, learning how to plan our meals, and building a customizable meal planning service for busy folks like us, we learned exactly which tools one needs (and doesn’t need) to stock a fully functional and multi-purpose minimalist kitchen.
And each of these categories contains items that are categorized into recommended, premium, and budget picks. That is, except those rare items that combine such high-quality and great value that they stand alone as a clear winner.
Let’s dig in to the best high quality and versatile kitchen essentials that provide the most value for your money.
Preparation Tools & Essentials – Can Opener
It’s not often that a piece of cookware brings you joy every time you use it. But that’s exactly what this can opener from Kuhn Rikon does! This is a 5-in-1 can opener that pulls tabs, crowns caps, unscrews tops, and opens jar lids and cans safely, easily, and cleanly.
We have one of these beauties in our kitchen (Mealime green, of course) and it is an absolute pleasure to use. We actually look forward to opening cans, believe it or not. Pick up this multi tool today and you won’t regret it (just read all the great reviews!).
Knife Sharpener
Our recommended sharpener is a fantastically well-rated sharpener from KitchenIQ that has a near 5 star rating over 3000+ reviews and costs only $6.
You really can’t go wrong with this sharpener, and we recommend you purchase it even if you hadn’t planned on purchasing a sharpener. It’s cheap and effective. What more could you want?
Thermometer
Picture of Lavatools PT12 Javelin Digital Instant Read Meat Thermometer
A quality meat thermometer is a must if you often cook meats and want to stop guessing at when they’re done.
With this ultra fast and accurate thermometer, you’ll have a very accurate temperature reading in just 4 seconds. As the #1 best seller meat thermometer on Amazon, this has scores of 5 star reviews and only comes in at $25. Great buy.
If you find yourself roasting foods often in the oven and want to have continual temperature readings, we also recommend the Thermoworks ChefAlarm. It’s wonderful for precisely measuring the temperature of Thanksgiving turkey, for example, or for getting accurate water temperature readings for sous vide cooking.
Immersion Blender
An immersion blender is used to blend or puree food in the container its is being prepared in. We use our immersion blender all the time. From blending soups and sauces directly in the pot, to whipping up homemade whipped cream for dessert, to easily making mayonnaise for hard boiled eggs, our recommended pick is a versatile two-speed blender from Cuisinart that’s a cinch to use (and is even easier to clean). Plus, it’s very reasonably priced.
If you’re looking to purchase a multi-speed all-in-one immersion blender with attachments, look no further than the Breville all-in-one processing station.
It comes with a variety of useful attachments that are all ergonomic, high quality, and very easy to clean. They turn your immersion blender into an extremely versatile tool. We love this package deal!
Kitchen Weight Scale
To measure fresh food accurately, a minimal, reasonable scale is required. All you have to do is glance at Weigh Scales’ digital pocket scale. This scale is ideal for the majority of weighing tasks you will ever require because to its bright LED display, extremely incremental measures in both US and metric units, and small size.
Handy Chopper
Chopping up vegetables is one of the most time-consuming tasks, and so a chopper is a must-have accessory. This one’s made from BPA-free food-grade material. All you need to do is add in your onions/ginger/garlic and roll the turntable base on your table. The more you turn, the finer will it chop!
Mini Bag Re-Sealer
How many times has it happened that you opened a big bag of chips or rice puffs and couldn’t finish it so you had to use a rubber band only to find them soggy later? A bag re-sealer seals the plastic and makes it airtight and intact. Use these to save crispy snacks for later. And when you feel like snacking again, use the in-built cutter to open and munch on! You can also use this to seal fresh fruits and vegetables in plastic bags. I also like the sleek design of this one, compared to what’s available in the market.
Chop Wizard
Be it a healthy salad or just chopping up vegetables for a quick meal, cutting vegetables always takes a lot of time. If you are too lazy to chop chop chop or just want to save time, we suggest you go for this amazing device called Vidalia Chop Wizard. Just place your choice of vegetable and press it down. Your job is done.
Egg Boiler
This tiny little machine just made boiling eggs an easy-peasy thing! It boils seven eggs at once and has got three modes — soft, medium, and hard. The automatic power shut-off makes sure you don’t overcook when you’re busy handling 10,000 things in the morning.
Rice Cooker
I personally didn’t believe in rice cookers till I tried them. Yes, we can just boil the water and rice, but this was not forever result in soft, cooked rice. And also, it’s really useful for those who don’t have a lot of time to cook. This one has functions like keep-warm, cool-touch handles, a close-fit stainless-steel lid, and a delayed timer. So you can come home to cooked rice! What’s cooler is that it’s a seven in one appliance, so it also functions as a pressure cooker, steamer, yogurt maker and more!
Water Bottle Can Dispenser Pump
From experience, this product can be a lifesaver. It easily attaches to the water can to dispense water, without you having to heavy lift and attach it to a huge space-consuming dispenser. It’s wireless and runs on batteries, making it even more convenient.
5 Layers Scissors
This scissor changed the entire chopping game for us. It’s so easy to cut veggies and herbs with five blades working for you at once. As they say, work smarter not harder. It comes with a cleaning brush to preen the scissors of any leaves that may have got stuck.
