Let's talk about kitchen utensils!

[L J]

I have done a fabulous job over the past year and a half of simplifying and decluttering my life. My clothes, books, and just general stuff has been pared down to the bare necessities. In my kitchen, I have gotten rid of all plastic and replaced it with made in the USA glassware.

BUT. The one area I am having a really hard time with is my kitchen utensils. I'm talking about serving spoons, wisks, wooden spoons, spatulas, tongs, etc. I have too many! About 4 months ago I put them all in a box and I took out what I needed over the course of two weeks. Everything left in the box was taken to the thrift store. So, I got rid of about half of them at that time.

I still feel like I have too many, though. I have two utensil crocks sitting on my counter where I store sharp knives (well out of reach of the toddler) and the things I use most often. Then, I have another drawer full of additional kitchen utensils.

If anyone has recently simplified their kitchen utensils, I would love to hear how you went about it.

What are the things y'all think are necessary to keep, and what can be parted with? How many serving spoons does one family actually need?

ALSO, I would like to talk about sharp kitchen knives. I keep my knives well out of reach of my child, but I would love to hear where everyone else stores them.

I do not own a single *good* knife - they are all really cheap and hard to deal with. So, I would like to replace them with a few high quality knives sometime in the near future. What size/kind of knives do you all think are necessary to have in your kitchen? If you could only have 3 or 4, what would they be?

[mommaof3boz]

my knives are in a knife block.  Prep knives would include:paring, bread and chefs knife.  Really thats all I need.  Then of course serated knives for the table for cutting meat.  I have quite a few utensils myself.  I have most of the "daily use" ones on a peg board beside my stove.  Then I also have a drawer with them.  I love to cook.  My dh loves to cook.  We have garlic press, wooden spoons, spatulas, mixing spoons, slotted spoons, you name it.  We go through it every six months but overall we are down to what we use.

Kitchen items vary a lot depending on how a person cooks and the type of foods you eat.  I have a super nice food processor and a stand mixer.  For some those wouldn't be necessary.  For me they are a must.  They even have their own table in my kitchen LOL

[ollyoxenfree]

Knives: I use a knife block, but I'd consider a magnetic strip instead, just to free up some counter space. The knives I must have are: chef's knife, bread knife and paring knife. I also have a smaller chef's knife that I like to use, it's about half the size of a regular one.

Kitchen utensils (my "can't do without"): 

- 2 pairs of tongs 

- 1 spatula for flipping pancakes etc.

- 2 silicone spatulas for scraping mixing bowls (one large, one small)

- 1 balloon whisk

- 2 wooden spoons (1 for savoury, 1 for sweets)

- garlic press

- vegetable peeler

- citrus zester

- microplane for fine grating

- larger grater for coarse grating 

- ice cream scoop (also used for muffin batters)

- turkey baster

- rice paddle

- chopsticks

- 2 ladles - one small for sauces and one large (8 oz. bowl) for soups

- set of measuring cups

- set of measuring spoons

- mortar and pestle

- citrus juicer

- tea ball

Chopsticks are incredibly versatile. I use them for almost all mixing and whisking of lighter, thinner batters, sauces, scrambled eggs, stir fries, etc. 

[L J]

Thank you both very much. I stood yesterday just starting at my utensils (I have no idea why they are bothering me so much right now) and I really think I have it pared down to only what I use.

I'm no great cook by any means, but I do try to cook from scratch as much as possible, and I cook a lot of ethnic/spanish foods. I think maybe I just need a better way to store them, because my utensil crocks are so overcrowded, and I hate to store utensils in drawers - my son has already ruined two garlic presses! Ha!

Melissa - your peg board sounds very interesting. Do you have any pictures, or links to anything similar?

And I think a magnetic strip is a great idea. You'd think over 10 years working in the restaurant industry, where all knives are stored magnetically, I would have thought of that already... I bet I can pick up one of those cheap at the building supply store.

[mommaof3boz]

have you ever seen this?  http://americanhistory.si.edu/juliachild/   Click on the "enter" and check out how she arranged her pots etc on the walls with peg board.  She actually drew around each and every pot so everyone would know where each item went.  That is how my pots and utensils are on the walls.  I didn't draw around them, and there aren't as many but it is the exact same otherwise.