Kitchen

Kitchen and Houseware Essentials

Make it easy to create your favorite meals and recipes at home with cookware, bakeware, kitchen utensils and appliances. From saute pans, stockpots and cookie sheets to mixing bowls, toaster ovens and cutting boards, find kitchen tools to match your cooking needs and decor style. Read on to learn more about the benefits and uses of various kitchen and houseware necessities.

Cookware Sets and Individual Cookware:

Whether you're a budding home chef, an experience dinner party host or just settling into your very first kitchen, you should stock up at least a few basic pieces of cookware by visiting a kitchen store near you.

• Saute Pan (with lid), for searing and sauteing meats and vegetables and for deep frying
• Fry Pan, for any and all stovetop heating, frying, poaching and frying
• Stock Pot, for soups, stews, chilis, broths and roasts
• Skillet, for juicy cuts of meat and stovetop to oven casseroles
• Pasta Pot, for easy boiling, cooking and draining of all types of noodles
• Saucepan, for pasta sauces, reductions over the stove and veggie steaming
• Pizza Pan, to keep your pie crust crisp while still allowing your toppings to brown

Bakeware:

With these bakeware basics, you can whip up your favorite sweet treats with ease. Even if you don't find yourself digging through recipe books looking for a cookie recipe that rivals your grandmother's every other night, you'll need these kitchen essentials.

• Baking Dish (with cover), for perfectly shaped breads, family-sized lasagnas and meatloafs
• Baking Sheets, for baking cookies and meringues, as well as for roasting vegetables
• Cookie Sheets, to give your cookies the perfect outer crunch and keep the center soft
• Cooling Rack, to cool your cookies evenly and preserve the even bake
• Cake Pan, for birthdays or special holiday dessert cake
• Muffin Pan, for traditional muffins as well as savory egg and vegetable breakfast muffins
• Ramekins, for sweet souffles, baked vegetables or oven-baked egg dishes

Tools and Utensils:

Whatever you aim to create in your kitchen, you can't do without a few key tools and utensils.

• Mixing bowls, so that you don't have to use your dinnerware to prep and mix ingredients
• Cutting board, to protect your countertop from your knife and your food from germs
• Measuring cups and spoons, both dry and measuring cups to cover all your ingredients
• Rolling pin, to create smooth, even bread doughs, pizza crusts and pastries
• Spatula, for folding in prep ingredients, spreading frosting and flipping food in a pan
• Whisk, for emulsifying and whipping eggs or runny mixtures into a light, airy consistency.
• Strainers, both mesh for sifting flour and wide-slotted colanders for pasta
• Heat resistant spoons, for stirring and mixing over heat, as well as slotted spoons to extract food from boiling water or oil
• Pizza Cutter, to create those perfect triangles of cheesy Italian goodness
• Vegetable peeler, to cleanly and easily skin potatoes, carrots, cucumbers and more
• Tongs, to firmly grasp and safely flip big cuts of seared meat or vegetables over high heat; good for serving, too

Appliances:

While there are countless kitchen appliances, there are only a few absolute necessities.

• toaster or toaster oven, to make warm, crunchy bread sandwiches for any meal
• blender, to make fruit smoothies, pasta sauces, blended soups and more
• Food Processor, for incorporating ingredients, making hummus and nut butters.

Whatever kitchen essentials you're using, be sure to clean up afterward with the help of our quality cleaning products and kitchen towels. Cooking outside? Be sure to explore outdoor kitchen furniture and our complete collection of outdoor kitchen and entertaining essentials for your outdoor cooking needs.

Wondering what the unwritten rules of gift giving are for weddings and various wedding-related events? Crate & Barrel has you covered (in writing) with our Wedding Gift Etiquette Rules Guide and Bridal Shower Gift Etiquette Rules Guide. Learn how much to spend on wedding gifts, what type of wedding gifts to give, how far in advance to buy wedding gifts and all sorts of useful information when shopping for nuptials.