Kitchen Equipment

A colander is great for draining water from pasta or boiled potatoes as well as for collecting and rinsing vegetables or fruit. You can substitute a colander with a strainer in some cases (especially for draining water) to reach the same results, but a colander will always be a better option for collecting and then rinsing vegetables since you can use it for both processes. I have a few colanders just for this purpose.

The best to select a durable 5 QT colander made from stainless steel. The sizes will be just perfect for most households, and the stainless-steel body will provide long-lasting performance.

A fine mesh strainer or sieve is great for sifting flour (unless you have a sifter), making smooth sauces even smoother, and preparing cheese or spreads (with the addition of a cheesecloth). Since it has a handle, I like it even more than using a sieve, but that is just my preference. You will do just fine using a sieve instead. I would recommend buying a stainless-steel version since they are most durable and dishwasher safe. For any household, I would recommend purchasing a set of three (often sold together) with the diameters of 3-1/8″, 5-½” and 7-7/8″. These three sizes work great for any application you need.

Food containers are an important part of any kitchen and you should use the sizes and kinds that work best for you. Here are my tips about selecting the perfect food container. Make sure it comes with lid. I prefer to see through lids so I can easily determine the contents before opening.

Try to use only one or at most two brands to be able to have your kitchen organized (they will be stackable). Read other users’ reviews to determine the quality. And get multiple sizes to have for perfect storage for anything you need. Aside from storing food in the refrigerator, you can also use them for storing food such as flour and sugar in a pantry. Tall sizes, which can optionally include measurements, can also be used for proofing dough since they allow you to easily determine if the dough doubled.

Anyone who loves pasta will like any Slovak halušky recipe or Spaetzle recipe. Why? Because it is absolutely full of flavor and at the same time, it is the easiest pasta made-from-scratch you can make. If you want to give this pasta recipe a try, it is best to have a special press made just for halušky and spaetzle (the same device can be used for both). Using the press simplifies the process and if you decide to purchase it, I promise that you will end up preparing both of these pastas very often. |

If you are not ready to invest in this fairly inexpensive tool just yet, you can consider utilizing any colander with round holes (the size of the hole should be between ¼ to 3/8”) in combination with a silicone spatula. It will be not as comfortable as a designated halušky press, but you will reach great results as well.

Kitchen towels are very useful in any kitchen. In restaurants and professional establishments, it is strictly prohibited to use them for drying dishes since air drying is required; but at home, I use them for drying dishes too since I simply like to speed up the drying process a bit.

Even professional establishments use them to clean dry surfaces, and even more importantly, to cover breads during proofing (for this task kitchen towels are especially irreplaceable).

You should select one that matches your interior colors, but in general, I recommend having two different kinds for two different purposes so you always use one kind for one purpose only. Have one type with a higher water absorbency for cleaning and drying, and another lighter type that handles less absorbency but can be used for proofing your dough.

Having just two kinds (2 different looks) and each in a large enough amount will help you keep your kitchen to be more organized. I have about two dozen from each kind, so I have enough to rotate them when some are being washed.

Mixing bowls are very important in the kitchen and are used all the time, so it is good to have enough of them. Basically you need to have these three most common sizes: Small (1 – 3 QT), which is great for mixing small amounts of ingredients, Medium (4 – 5 QT), which is perfect for single/double portions of salad preparation, proofing dough, meat marination, for a water bath, and for mixing ingredients, and Large (8 QT – 12 QT), which is perfect for preparing salads for your family, mixing and proofing double portions of dough (I always make double batches of dough to save time and to not have to make another batch soon after). I would recommend having at least six small, three medium, and two larger bowls, but if you can get even more, do it. I find that there are never enough mixing bowls in the kitchen.

You can easily substitute a small mixing bowl with a small salad/soup bowl for serving. The best material for a mixing bowl is stainless steel since it is most durable, but it is also good to have a couple small and medium bowls made from glass since they are microwavable, which can be convenient. If you already have mixing bowls from other materials and you are satisfied with them, there is no reason to replace them.

While you can be fine without a mortar with pestle, it is a very nice addition in any kitchen. It’s great not just for crushing spices and herbs, but also for preparing dressings. They are made in multiple sizes, anywhere from 3” diameter to 8” or even more. If you are serious about using them, invest in a large-sized set, which will allow you to do more. Mortars can be made from multiple materials, anything from marble, granite, or even stainless steel, so you can perfectly match them with your kitchen design, especially since they can also work as a decoration.

To have some kind of oven mitts or pot holders to handle hot baking sheets is a must in any kitchen. My personal favorites are silicone coated oven mitts about 15” long. Yes, they are larger, but they make working with hot baking sheets a breeze, and since they are longer, they will protect your arms against accidental burning. It is great to always have a pair available.

And I also like to use pot holders too (usually for less warm stuff or even just for setting my hot pots on).

A salad spinner, often called a salad dryer, is very helpful for drying freshly washed lettuce or herbs. You can buy them very inexpensively. If you don’t use lettuce very often or if you just simply want to save money and space, you don’t have to buy one. You can dry your lettuce between kitchen towels, which will take a little more time, but you will eventually reach the same results without the necessity of cleaning a large kitchen tool with multiple parts.