Five Simple Kitchen Necessities Everyone Needs

Necessities Every Kitchen Needs

Outfitting a new kitchen can be a little overwhelming, so, to make the task easier, I’ve gathered my five simple kitchen necessities everyone needs. When I moved into my first apartment, I found it to be really easy to remember to buy glass herb pinch bowls (which I have used maybe twice) while forgetting about a butter dish. Similarly, when Brett and I moved in together, merging our two kitchens forced us to really focus on the absolute kitchen necessities. If we hadn’t, we would have had 40 pots and pans we didn’t like and just a bunch of cooking utensils (ok, I exaggerate, but that’s how it can feel).

Five Kitchen Necessities Everyone Should Have

I like to cook, and cooking gadgets are fun, but I also can appreciate a streamlined kitchen. Over the years, I’ve found a few items that really are essential to my cooking and baking experiences. Here are my five kitchen necessities:


Butter Dish

I mentioned this already because it stands out to me as one of the first things I needed but totally forgot about. Plus, when I realized I needed one, I was trying to buy one in Gainesville right when school started. Gainesville at the start of the fall semester is a little ridiculous; the Target would be cleared out at least a week before school started, so of course I couldn’t find one.

Butter-Dish-Glass-Clear-Hearth-Hand™-with-Magnolia-

Anyway, shopping woes aside, a butter dish is a simple necessity that really just makes your life so much easier. Sure, a Tupperware will work in a pinch, but they take up so much space. You don’t need anything fancy (although this OXO one seems cool, as does this fancy Hearth & Hand with Magnolia one from Target). Every kitchen needs a butter dish, plain and simple.


Cloth Napkins

Not only are cloth napkins a great sustainable option, they’re also just adorable. I go through so many cloth napkins while I’m cooking and cleaning, that if I used paper towels instead, I feel like I’d be buying them all the time. Cloth napkins are low maintenance, easy to wash, and good for the Earth. Plus, they come in so many colors, fabrics, patterns, sizes, etc.!

Unsurprisingly, Target has a lot of great options, like the floral towel (similar style available here), green and white stripe 4 piece set, and blue 5 piece patterned set pictured above (similar style available here). Pro tip: decorative cloth napkins and towels make great gifts. Anthropologie has a bunch of great options, like this tiger towel, which are as decorative as they are useful.

ANTHROPOLOGIE x Nathalie Lete Tiger Garden Dishtowel -- A tiger grandly poses within luxuriant blossoms, butterflies and hummingbirds on this cotton dishtowel from a collaboration with French artist Nathalie Lete. -- from Nordstrom

Great Cloth Napkin Options from Target


Spoon Rest

Spoon rests are so handy for when you’re cooking. Who knew something so simple would be such a help? Sure you can just use a plate or a cup (which I do if ours is in the dish washer), but a dedicated spoon rest is a much more elegant solution. Like with the butter dishes, these don’t need to be fancy — something utilitarian like the option pictured below will do! Although, if you’re looking for something unique, this standing option from Target is pretty cool.

Plus, if you have cats, I recommend not spending the money on the fancy Anthropologie one that you’ll be sad about breaking. (Louis knocked my super cute spoon rest off the counter as a kitten; he wasn’t sorry.)


Cooking Utensils

A good set of cooking utensils is essential to a complete kitchen. I prefer bamboo but still have a few plastic ones that I use from time to time. Bamboo is a smart choice for these utensils, since bamboo biodegrades (unlike plastic) and doesn’t melt with heat (which plastic may).

Wooden Spoon Sets & Singles


Cutting Board

It is so much easier to chop vegetables on a good cutting board rather than a plate. Cutting boards make meal prep easier and more efficient, and a good one doesn’t have to cost too much money, either. We have a small wood cutting board which is just the right size and easy enough to clean between uses.

I prefer wood and bamboo cutting boards to plastic ones, generally, although plastic ones tend to have better non-skid bottoms. The pictured Faberware set of three bamboo cutting boards on Amazon are a great price, as is this plastic-wood-hybrid set. Our friends received the latter as a wedding gift and it’s really a handy set!



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