So you’ve just moved into a brand new apartment, and you want to cook. But you’ve left your kitchen tools behind in a previous life (good riddance!) or perhaps you never had them to begin with. You may be wondering how to outfit your new place. Will it require a costly pilgrimage to Bed Bath and Beyond? Will you need to learn advanced carpentry to install a pot rack sufficient for supporting your new haul? And do you really want that As-Seen-On-TV doohickey that purports to mangle an onion with a single slap?

I’m here to tell you no, no, and no.

But first, a story.

Once upon a time, I wanted to be cool. So I tried to learn to play the guitar.

I remember holding a guitar in my hand, staring at the six strings, and feeling like I would teeter over the edge of infinity. Six strings add up to a lot of possible chords! Where do I even start?

Not to worry, my then-boyfriend (now-spouse) said, just learn to play Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

Pachelbel’s Canon in D has 8 chords, and they are in like every song ever. Songs by Green Day, songs by Vitamin C, songs by Catch 22, Jason Miraz… even U2. If you don’t believe me, here’s a YouTube video to prove it.

Learning those chords ended up giving me a lot of bang for my proverbial buck. I could pretend to be Belle & Sebastian and Nicki Minaj at the same time!

Luckily for you, kitchen tools work much the same way.

The Pachelbel’s Canon of Your Kitchen Drawers

As a fairly experienced cook, I’ve acrued a lot of tools over the years. Lemon squeezers. Garlic squeezers. Lemon zesters (Somehow, it’s always either a lemon tool or a squeezing tool.) These tools are like obscure minor chords with torturous fingerings. They sound amazing in the right song, but they don’t get frequent airplay.

The tools below, on the other hand, are my 8 chords. They are responsible for a vast lineup of filling dinners, quick snacks, and energizing breakfasts. As a beginner cook, they are really all you need. Get them. Love them. Make amazing food with them.

1. A Chef’s Knife

Victorinox Swiss Army 8-Inch Fibrox Straight Edge Chef’s Knife.

Every cook needs a good knife. After all, knives have been used for centuries to fit cows into pans.

To start cooking immediately, you only need a single knife: a 7 to 9-inch chef’s knife. Yes, forget those fancy knife blocks that taunt you with their regal wooden blockiness. Save the money and instead invest in one very good chef’s knife. Check out this handy guide to choosing the right knife for you. There are plenty of good models out there that won’t completely suck your wallet’s innards dry. Or, if you just want to cut (har har) to the chase, just buy the one above.

2. A Skillet

T-fal Fry Pan / Saute Pan, 12-Inch, Black

Skillets come in many varieties — Teflon-coated, stainless steel, copper, cast iron, ceramic… But essentially what you’re looking for is a wide, flat cooking surface outfitted with a handle (which, incidentally, also makes it great for warding off intruders).

I recommend either a non-stick pan or a cast-iron pan. A non-stick skillet is extremely beginner-friendly and low-maintenance, but it has a downside: it will not last forever. No matter how careful you are with it, the Teflon coating will eventually come off. If you do choose the non-stick route, I recommend going for an cheap but reliable model like the one above. When it wears out, you can simply replace it. Bypass the impressive but pricey Calphalons at Williams-Sonoma. It’s not worth investing in a high-end non-stick coated pan because it won’t last more than a couple years with regular use. The one above will perform just as well.

Lodge Pre-Seasoned Skillet, 12-Inch

For those who are little more adventurous, there is the time-honored cast-iron pan. This mythical beast is tough, durable, extremely versatile (you can bake and sautée AND plop it on a campfire), and, unlike the Teflon-coated skillet above, will last forever. Many cooks, me included, swear by it; if my kitchen is burning down in a cooking experiment gone horribly wrong, the first item I’ll grab is my cast iron pan. But if you get one, you must commit to learning its ways.

It does not matter which skillet you choose. Just know the trade-offs, and get the one that makes the most sense for you.

3. A Cutting Board

OXO Good Grips Utility Cutting Board

A cutting board serves 2 purposes: 1) it’s an intervening barrier between your knife blade and your smooth, unmarked countertop; and 2) it keeps your chopped food corraled within a predefined area. I recommend the one above because it has little grippy feet that prevent it from sliding around while you chop.

But Tina, you might say, this is plastic! Isn’t plastic bad for your knife?

No, young grasshopper. That is a myth! Plastic is a totally fine surface, as long as it isn’t hard plastic. You could also go with wood, but then you have to be absolutely sure to clean it well, as wood is porous and can harbor bacteria. The only cutting surface I would absolutely recommend against is glass or ceramic. These materials will ruin your knife edge, and they’ll do it faster than a muddy dog can coat your living room.

4. A Pot with a Lid

Cuisinart 1.5-Quart Saucepan with Cover

Soups, stews, sauces, braises, rice, couscous, pasta, or just boiling water… You will use a pot a lot. The lid keeps heat inside to help foods cook evenly. It also prevents moisture from escaping in the form of steam, so you don’t end up simmering a soup dry.

Start with a medium-sized, 2-quart pot. You can get a bigger one later for those epic stews and lobster boils. But let’s assume, for now, you’re not making those things.

You’ll notice that unlike the skillet, this one’s plain, uncoated stainless steel. You don’t need the non-stick coating here because you’ll be cooking with lots of water. In the presence of water, food doesn’t stick. So skip the delicate, unncessary coating. Without it, a good stainless steel pot will last you a very long time.

5. A Wooden Stirring Spoon

18-Inch Long Handle Wooden Cooking Mixing Spoon, Birch Wood — Set of 2

A stirring tool for the ages. Inexpensive, won’t melt, won’t bend, feels awesome to stir pretty much anything with. Get a couple.

6. A Spatula

Matfer Bourgeat Spatula

Did you know? A lot of food is flat. It’s true! To deal with these dimensionally challenged specimens, you need a spatula. A well-designed spatula slides under food easily and completely, and will have enough surface area to hold food steady as you flip it. Most spatulas fail on both these counts. They are either too small or their clumsy shape makes it hard to get it under the food.

Yes, the recommended model is a funny-looking one, but it’s actually designed to flip food perfectly. It’s plastic, so it won’t scratch the coating on your non-stick skillets. Just be sure to never leave it on a hot pan for a long time, or it will melt.

Bonus: Vegetable Peeler and Tongs

These aren’t strictly necessary, but they do make your life a lot easier. A peeler is much easier to use than a chef’s knife for slicing off a thin outer layer of vegetable (you know, the peel!). Tongs are useful for grabbing things and carefully flipping them — I’m looking at you, steak — without causing oil splashes and the subsequent screaming of a scalded cook. I recommend this and this from Amazon. Get them if your budget allows; otherwise, no biggie.

And that’s pretty much it.

These tools (purchased on Amazon via the links above) will set you back about $100 — less than the cost of a single set of pots from Bed Bath and Beyond. (Your mileage may improve if you encounter a sale.) And once you outfit yourself with them, you will be able to cook:

a million different kinds of soup

rice, oatmeal, or pretty much any kind of grain

pretty much all vegetables ever invented

pretty much any combination of stuff in a stir fry

steak, chicken cutlets, pork, and tofu

pasta of all kinds

eggs, frittatas, omelets, and other good eggy things

pancakes, puddings, compotes and other sweets

… with no other tools needed.

Stay tuned for the 2nd installment of A Minimalist Kitchen, in which I will cook an entire week’s full of meals with just these 6 tools (not even the 2 bonus tools). IT CAN BE DONE.

Happy kitchen-outfitting!

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