A look at all my kitchen tools

So, I've been working on expanding my kitchen for a while. Let's take a look at what tools I have, and what I would recommend.

Absolutely essential

Chef's knife
The most versatile knife in the kitchen, and can be used for practically everything. If you're only going to get one knife, get a high quality Chef's knife.

Big cutting board
The bigger the better. This large wood cutting board is from Ikea, and cost, like, $7. It's nice to have space to organize your prepared ingredients while you prepare other ones.

Cast iron skillet
I recently got a cast iron skillet. The allure here is the nonstick surface, even heat distribution, and the fact that you can use it on the stove and in the oven. This a super versatile skillet that you can use for basically any application.

Dutch oven
I recently got a Dutch oven but it's immediately at the top of my list. The pot distributes heat evenly, and can be used in the oven or on the stove. The 5 qt size is great for all kinds of one-pot meals where you begin with sautéing and then add liquid. It's heavy enough to brown meat. One unique use of a Dutch oven is to bake bread. Keep the lid closed to contain the steam and encourage maximum oven-spring, then open it to brown the crust.

Stock pot
A large pot like this is good for (as the name implies) making stock, but also cooking pasta and beans, especially in large quantities. It never hurts to have a larger pot than what you need.

Baking sheet
The one-size-fits-all tool for any kind of oven roasting.

Oven mits and pot holders
Don't burn yourself.

Large mixing bowls
I got these two stainless steel bowls from Goodwill for about a dollar each, and it's one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Wooden spoon
My go-to implement for stirring anything, whether soup and sauté vegetables. You can leave it in a very hot pan without worrying about it melting, as a plastic spoon would. And it doesn't get so hot that you can't use it for tasting, as is the case with metal spoons.

Mesh sieve
Draining pasta, beans, lentils, stock... Or to smooth out a pureed soup or sauce to make it extra creamy. If you're choosing between a colander and a mesh sieve, you gotta go sieve.

Peeler
Of course, this is a handy tool for peeling vegetables without wasting too much of the good stuff. But it's also very useful for creating thin strips of vegetables (carrots especially) that I like to use in ramen, salads, or stirfrys.

Blender
I use the blender more often than my food processor, so I'm putting it a category above. It's not just for smoothies: make sauces, salsas, and smooth soups. My blender has a higher capacity than my food processor, but a large size food processor would also be a good choice.

Measuring cups and spoons
As much as you may want to wing-it in the kitchen, these are awfully useful to have around. I have some nice metal ones.

Really nice to have

Variety of knives
The other two knives I use often are my paring knife and my serrated knife. The paring knife is great because of its small size, so it can be used for tasks that require a bit more accuracy. Also, if I'm going to pack a knife in my lunch box to, for example, cut up an apple or an orange, I don't want to bring my huge Chef's knife. A serrated knife only has a couple uses, but they're important ones: slicing bread and slicing tomatoes. I also have this long non-serrated knife that I basically use for quick tasks that I don't want to dirty the Chef's knife for.

Knife sharpener
I recently got this dual sharpener and honing steel that I like a lot. You could also get a wet stone for sharpening purposes.

Variety of smaller cutting boards
Having some smaller cutting boards is nice for when you're chopping a small amount of something and don't want to dirty your large cutting board. They're also nice to place ingredients on while you're working in the kitchen.

Kitchen shears
It's handy to have scissors in your kitchen, so at least throw some regular ones in your knife block for cutting open packaging. The shears are unique because they come apart for easy cleaning and they're much sharper and sturdier. They're useful for breaking down whole chickens.

Food processor
I have this small food processor as part of a Cuisinart tool that combines it with an immersion blender and whisk. One of its best uses is mincing a large amount of vegetables to make a soffritto, or to make a garlic-ginger paste.

Spatula - scraper
As we all know, perfect for scraping out the last few drops of anything.

Spatula - flipper
A must for making grilled cheese, but also useful for scraping up roasted vegetables,

Tongs
A pair of tongs are really useful for maneuvering large chunks of stuff, such as when you're browning meat. They're also great for pulling spaghetti out of the water, and mixing it around in whatever sauce you're using.

Whisk
To be honest, you can always use a fork. But a whisk is definitely worth having around.

A variety of non-stick pots and pans, small and medium sizes
It's nice to have smaller pots and pans around mostly so that you don't have to wash the big stuff all the time, and so you can have a couple things going at once.

Stainless steel pan
While perhaps less versatile than the cast iron, this pan can be used for browning meat, and can also transfer to the oven. Although it is not non-stick at all -- which makes it good for browning meats, but can be an issue in other circumstances. The high sides of this pan mean it can be used for braising.

9x13 glass baking pan
This is a standard size for all manner of baked deserts, casseroles, and more. The deeper edges also make it useful for baking anything that will release a lot of juice, such as tomatoes.

Thermometers
I have two that have different temperature ranges and different sensors. One is a general thermometer that you can use for meat, cheese-making, and other ventures. The other is for deep-frying and candy-making. Two important ventures where temperature matters.

Microplane
A fine microplane is the most versatile of all the graters, and perfect for zesting citrus, grating ginger or garlic, and grating parmesan. The microplane, as compared to the box grater, is a step-up in convenience because you can more easily zest right over the pot or plate.

Rolling pin
I have a French rolling pin, that tapers off at the ends. This can help you achieve a more even dough. I've used this for pasta, tortillas, pie crust. Plus, the tapered-off end is a handy tool in and of itself for packing down sauerkraut or muddling up the ingredients of tepache.

Colander
A larger colander is nice for straining large amounts of pasta, as most mesh sieves are smaller than a full batch of pasta.

Fun but not necessary

Garlic crusher
This is a super fun tool. For most applications of garlic, you can just pop it in here and squeeze. Your hands don't get all sticky.

Spice grinder
This is where we're getting into fancier stuff. I would definitely recommend buying some whole spices, especially: cumin, fennel, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves... Many recipes call for these in their whole form. For others, simply toast in a dry skillet and give it a whirl in the spice grinder.

Stand mixer
My most expensive kitchen purchase is a Cuisinart stand mixer. It's definitely a versatile and useful tool, but I can't with any good faith say that it's necessary. Just buy it because it's pretty and, deep down, you're a materialistic glutton.

Immersion blender
This is a great tool for making smooth soups. It works really well and eliminates the entire process of transferring hot soup into a blender and then back again. Clean-up is a breeze!

Box grater
A box grater gives you coarser grades than a microplane, which is good for grating cheese for use on pizzas or quesadillas, or whatever you would grab a bag of pre-grated cheese for. It's also much better for large amounts of grating, since you can rest the box grater on the counter.

Funnel
If you're going to get into making beverages of any kind, such as kombucha, tepache, or beer, this is a very handy tool. I also use mine every morning to make pour-over coffee because my old coffee maker started to yield a not-great-tasting product. I can guarantee, it's the cheapest coffee maker you'll find.

Cheesecloth
A cheesecloth is what you need to strain out tiny little bits. I use it for stock and tepache and, as the name implied, cheese-making, particularly ricotta.

Kitchen scale
A scale is useful once you have it, especially for baking and fermentation, but not necessary for most tasks. However, once you have a kitchen scale you can dive into any recipe that calls for ingredients by weights instead of by volume.

On my wish list

Pasta machine
Rolling out pasta by hand is a bit of a joke, especially if you want to make ravioli, where you need an especially thin, even dough. A simple hand-crank pasta roller would re-ignite my dreams of pasta-making.

Mortar and pestle
A mortar and pestle is good for a few things, including crushing garlic, roughly grinding whole spices, and muddling up sauces. Also, it's rustic and pretty, and I just want one.