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An overwhelming part of moving into your first apartment is knowing what the apartment must-haves are. After reviewing this list, you should feel confident in your list of essential kitchen tools for your first apartment. I’ll review top picks with functionality and price at the forefront, which are important to consider for your first apartment.
Kitchens are one of those spaces in your first apartment that are particularly confusing. It’s very easy to get suckered into those must-buys for the first apartment—for example, the aesthetically pretty kitchen appliances, or the colorful matching pot and pan set. As a chef, and an apartment dweller myself, I’m here to simplify your first apartment checklist. I’ll share with you the essential kitchen tools for your first apartment.
This post is about essential kitchen tools for your first apartment.
11 Essential Kitchen Tools
1. Best Chef’s Knife
As a chef, I can’t help but stress how important a good chef’s knife is. Arguably, it is a chef’s most important kitchen tool. As you learn your way around a kitchen and cook more often, you’ll find what you like and don’t like in your kitchen knives.
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However, for your first apartment, I think a simple 8-inch stainless steel knife will be more than adequate. I still have this knife in my collection today after cooking professionally for over 10 years! That is why it is my number one choice on my list of essential kitchen tools for your first apartment. It’s affordable, reliable, and super comfortable to use.
Foodie Tip! A knife is only helpful if it is sharp, so grab yourself a steel and learn how to use a knife sharpener rod! Depending on how often you chop and slice, take your knife to get properly sharpened and establish a new edge once a year.
2. Best Cutting Board
While we are talking about keeping your knife sharp, it’s important to note that the surface you choose to cut or slice on will either help or hurt the longevity of your knife’s edge. Cutting on a hard surface can be super damaging for your knives. Materials like granite, glass, or ceramic dull your knives as the materials are stronger than the blade’s steel.
Wooden cutting boards are the best for protecting your knife’s edge, but they can be difficult to clean and sanitize properly (and pricey!) for someone moving into your first apartment. The best cutting boards are the Epicurean boards, made from a paper composite material, making them a climate-friendly option compared to a huge solid wood cutting board. They are durable, knife-friendly, lightweight, and dishwasher safe (which is a huge plus over a standard wood cutting board). These cutting boards will last you many years, and look beautiful in any kitchen, which makes these one of my favorite essential kitchen tools for your first apartment.
3. Best Tea Kettle
Regardless if you are a college student in your first apartment, or moving up in the world as a young professional, you’re going to want to start your day with a hot beverage. As much as we would love to buy a specialty coffee every morning at our local coffee shop, it’s simply not feasible. Having the ability to make your coffee or tea at home not only will save you time in the morning, but also money! This is why this is another top choice as an essential kitchen tool for your first apartment.
For those who prefer tea, grab yourself an electric kettle. Not only can you make your own London Fog lattes, but an electric kettle can double for heating up your boiling water for other things (like instant noodles or a bowl of oatmeal). Electric kettles can also make instant coffee, hot chocolate, and other warm beverages. And if all those things sound good to you, then maybe purchase both the coffee pot and the electric kettle. This is my favorite electric kettle, I love the different temperature buttons on the front, the “keep warm” function, and the aesthetic of the clear glass so you can see the water boiling.
4. Best Nonstick Frying Pan
Nonstick pans create the perfect surface for frying eggs, cooking the perfect fluffy pancakes, and searing crispy skin on a delicate filet of fish. They are easy to maintain and clean, with the most effort being warm water and a sponge.
Because of all these wonderful qualities, a lot of first-time apartment owners may make the mistake of having all their cookware non-stick. All you need is one really good nonstick pan, and I love this little 8-inch nonstick fry pan by Calphalon. It’s oven-safe up to 400 degrees and compatible with all cooktops (gas, electric, and smooth surface non-induction).
5. Best Whisk, Best Rubber Spatula and Best Tongs
What is a smallware? It is the smaller kitchen tools and utensils that fit inside a drawer, but carry out very important cooking tasks. I’d say there are 3 essential kitchen tools when it comes to smallwares: a whisk, heat resistant spatula, and a pair of tongs.
You don’t need to overthink this one. A whisk is helpful to whisk up your scrambled eggs, make a homemade vinaigrette for a salad, or whisk together your brownie ingredients when you feel like baking. A *heat-resistant* spatula (very important to differentiate this from those cute patterned spatulas) is perfect for stirring and sautéing vegetables in a pan, scraping up the delicious brown fond in the bottom of a pan when making a sauce, or even smoothing out some frosting on your tray bakes. I recommend a heat-resistant silicone material that won’t melt into your food when cooking with them. A pair of tongs are great for grabbing hot food in a pan and turning it— think chicken breasts, pasta, or that hot pocket that got pushed into the back of the hot oven.
6. Best Cookware
You do not, and should not, need to spend hundreds of dollars on a pot and pan set when you move into your first apartment. A sidebar: do not get suckered into those colorful ceramic pot and pan sets, or the pans that claim to be nonstick with their hexagon patterned bottoms (Gordon, I’m looking at you). When you are looking for your kitchen must-haves for your first apartment, consider how often you will be cooking, and what you will be cooking the most of.
Typically, only one or two saucepans or pots are needed to get started. The two brands I recommend are All-Clad and Calphalon. Both of these brands offer durability from high-quality materials and beautiful designs. For your first apartment, I recommend moving away from the cheaper pots and pans that you used in your younger years (T-fal, Tramontina, and Farberware) and instead, look at it as investing in your kitchen collection for the future.
For the 6 years I lived in my tiny one-bedroom apartment, I only owned 2 Calphalon pots and 2 All-Clad pans, which is all I ever found myself needing. I still have these pots and pans in my collection, and I’ve been able to invest in more over the years as I cook and entertain more frequently. Now, as a professional chef, I cook with mostly French carbon steel pans and copper pots. But for a majority of home cooks, stainless steel or hard-anodized aluminum cookware is the easiest to maintain.
7. Best Food Thermometer
For those who are learning to cook on their own, food safety might not be at the front of your mind. Therefore, it is very important to cook your food to the correct temperature, so that you do not get sick with a foodborne illness.
One way to check the doneness of your chicken is to make a small cut in the thickest part of the bird and see if clear juices leak out. But, the only way to properly ensure that chicken is cooked to 165 ° F, is to check it with a thermometer. I love this food thermometer because it is water-proof and instant-read, which means that it returns the most accurate temperature when you are probing your foods.
8. Best Spice Rack Organizer
For those who are learning to cook, and explore their culinary skills, it’s important to have your cabinets stocked with spices and herbs. You have two options when deciding on what spice rack organizer is best for you. One option is to buy one of those nice-looking countertop spice racks that can be displayed in the kitchen. However, there’s no choice of spices that come with it, and usually a third of them never get opened and collect dust. However, I still think this is the best option for those who are moving into their first apartment.
Another option is to buy individual glass jars and personalize your spice collection with those spices and herbs you know will get used. This is the better option for those who are more comfortable with cooking in their kitchens, and see their spice collection as a long-term investment. Long term, this is also a more cost-effective option, as you end up buying your spices in bulk for pennies and refilling as needed. These are the glass spice jars that I am currently using in my apartment. I love that I can see the colorful spices when I open up my cabinet, with clean, uniform, and easy-to-read labels.
9. Best Baking Dish and Best Dutch Oven
For your first apartment, you don’t need both a baking dish and a Dutch oven— either one will do. They carry out very similar functions, though they are slightly different, so it depends on what you see yourself utilizing more of in your kitchen. I found that my Pyrex baking dish had more versatility and functionality in my first apartment’s kitchen than a Dutch oven, but my husband argues that he didn’t see a use for a baking dish and only had a Dutch oven.
A baking dish is great for lasagne, casseroles and even roasting whole cuts of protein. You can also bake cakes, cobblers, and brownies in them. They are usually much wider than Dutch ovens and have shorter sides. Dutch ovens are great for braising or slow-cooking whole cuts of meat, making soups or stews, or baking bread! They come with a lid and have higher sides, which both function to keep the moisture from escaping when you are cooking.
Dutch ovens are more expensive than baking dishes because they are made from more expensive materials, usually cast iron, which can be coated in a shiny enamel coating. If you are looking for a durable, affordable Dutch oven, I recommend the brand Lodge, which is also my top pick when it comes to cast iron pans. However, if you see yourself using a Dutch oven frequently, and are looking to spend a little more, Le Creuset is my tried and true, with equal qualities of beauty in design and cooking effectiveness.
10. Best Measuring Cups and Spoons
When you are learning to cook in your first apartment, you will most likely be experimenting with recipes you find in cookbooks or on food blogs! It is important to note that there is a difference between dry measuring cups and liquid measuring cups. If a recipe for sourdough bread calls for one cup of flour and one cup of water, you will need both a dry measuring cup and a liquid measuring cup.
I recommend getting a matching set of measuring cups and measuring spoons so that they can nestle inside each other and save you space. As for the liquid measuring cup, if you are living by yourself or with a roommate, a simple quart measuring cup will do the trick. I recommend a heat-resistant quart measuring cup that can easily be popped in the microwave if you need a quart of hot chicken stock for your risotto recipe.
11. Best Mixing Bowl
While I was able to manage without a mixing bowl for several years (I used my cereal bowls as mixing bowls, but I don’t recommend that because I STRUGGLED), you will learn that you will be much more efficient if you have one on hand in your first apartment.
Mixing Bowls are necessary for whisking vinaigrettes, mixing ground meat and spices for meatballs, and marinating chicken overnight. In addition to using mixing bowls in the kitchen to cook with, you can also get multi-use out of them by using them as serving bowls for salads and side dishes. I love this set of nesting mixing bowls because they are heat-safe, dishwasher-safe, and made from beautiful glass that will not warp over time.
What You Don’t Need
Toaster – You can use the oven to broil or toast bread. Unless you don’t have an oven, then I seriously recommend investing in this countertop oven by Breville. In addition to toasting bread, this appliance can reheat your leftovers, roast a pork loin, and even bake cookies.
Oven mitts and potholders – To this day, I still just use folded kitchen towels, as they are multi-use and can easily be thrown into the washing machine if they get dirty.
Blenders and other Uni-taskers – Unless you’re big into smoothies, there is no point in having a blender taking up space in your kitchen. If you must have one, ask your parents or friends to pitch in for one as a birthday or holiday gift. Other examples of uni-taskers that take up a lot of space are rice cookers, toasters, or even something silly like an avocado slicer (seriously people, just use your knife).
