Top 10 Kitchen Tools and Appliances you Should have at Home

There's a good reason why the kitchen is highly regarded by homeowners as one of the most important areas in a home. After all, it's where you prepare, store, and cook food for the entire day's meals. And quite frankly, your kitchen would be inoperable without the necessary kitchen tools and appliances to accompany your cooking.

In this post, we listed down 10 of the most essential kitchen tools to make your cooking process as smooth-sailing and effective as possible.

Essential appliances and tools you must have in your kitchen

Most likely, you may have a mental list of kitchen tools and appliances to buy for your kitchen. At the same time, you may have doubts as to whether they are really considered as 'essentials' for the kitchen, or you may just be pandering to a fad that makes you purchase something you may not be needing after all, or will only use very seldom.

We made the buying process easier for you with this digestible compilation of must-have appliances and tools for the kitchen. Consider making this as your guide while still taking into account your personal preferences and unique kitchen needs.

1. Stove

There is no unanimous consensus as to which kitchen appliance is the most important. However, a stove is doubtless a leading contender as we cannot cook the food we want to munch on without its provision. 

There are two types of stoves: gas and electric-based. In the Philippines, the former is more common and preferred. It is attached to a gas line and uses liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as its fuel source.  An electric stove, meanwhile, uses an electric outlet to operate. If you will compare the two, an electric stove is considered more expensive as it will require electricity consumption.

However, utility cost is also an issue with gas stoves, as you will be needing to buy an LPG in addition to the gas stove. With safety concerns, electric stoves have an edge over their gas counterparts. Improper use and installation of LPG on the gas stove may lead to a gas leak, which will ultimately result in an explosion as the worst-case scenario. But with proper use, the likelihood of an explosion is slim.

2. Knives and cutting boards

Many people also argue that a set of kitchen knives, along with a (preferably) wooden cutting board, is one of the best kitchen tools to have. Their contention is well-founded: without a quality chef's knife to cut veggies, fruits, meat, and the like, the entire cooking process is adversely affected. Imagine cooking a lump of oversized meat because you don't have a knife to cut them into pieces. Cooking without a knife for cutting is pointless!

Good examples of knives are a paring knife, and a serrated knife, which are helpful utensils serving specific cutting purposes. The former is used primarily for peeling and cutting fruits and veggies with excellent precision, while the latter works best as a slicing tool for bread without leaving messy crumbs and pieces. Also, do not forget a knife sharpener, like a whetstone, when your tool gets dulled after months of liberal use. But generally, knives will retain their sharp edges for over six months before requiring some sharpening.

3. Microwave oven

We have the tendency to cook meals that are more than what we could consume for lunch, so we store our leftovers either in the fridge or in a cool, dry place in the kitchen to reheat later. Huge thanks to the convenience of microwave ovens, which are one of the best and most versatile kitchen appliances.

Used primarily to reheat leftover foods, a microwave oven is also efficient in maintaining the nutrients of the food to be reheated. Aside from that, a microwave oven is dependable as a great alternative cooking appliance for baking, boiling, grilling, and steaming. That makes it a must-have kitchen appliance that is highly recommended for homeowners whose stomping ground is the kitchen.

4. Air fryer

Air fryers were first launched back in 2010, but it especially generated millions of sales from 2017 to 2019 in the United States alone. In the Philippines, it was all the rage in 2020 until today, thanks to how it was hyped through social media outlets. But the bandwagon is not for nothing: airfryers work by convection, and is the healthier alternative to deep frying.

An air fryer enables frying without the need for a generous amount of oil to cook and fry foods. Also, it helps to reduce fat contents in the food without compromising texture and taste. Comparable to a convection oven and a turbo broiler, airfryers gain an edge when it comes to cooking and frying food faster, not to mention its smaller, compact size, making it a preferred multicooker than its competitors.

5. Blender

Blenders are the best when crushing ice or ice cubes, but this gadget could also be instrumental to leading a healthy lifestyle by making a protein shake for muscle gain and visceral fat loss. You can put sliced bananas, apples, berries, mango, and plums in your blender for a sumptuous protein meal. 

To make your smoothie even more healthy for consumption, you can add leafy vegetables. On top of mind is moringa oleifera, or malunggay in Filipino, whose tree earned the moniker “miracle tree” for its exceptional health benefits. 

An immersion blender, meanwhile, is a blender type in the form of a stick and blades at the end for stirring. Also called a hand blender, its convenience is found in how the food contents don't have to be transferred in an actual blender, but could be pureed in whatever container the food item is put in.

6. Refrigerator

Microwave ovens are for reheating foods, refrigerators are for preserving food items and beverages for future consumption. Refrigerators keep food cold, and therefore make food stay fresh longer than its expected shelf life without refrigeration. The kitchen is not just reserved for cooking, but also for storing foods. And a fridge remarkably does this job for you, making it a kitchen appliance essential through and through.

An inverter refrigerator is one of the best fridge types in terms of energy efficiency. It cools food or drinks quicker, yet consumes less electricity. There is also one with a touch-screen technology, which is unsurprisingly more expensive. Depending on your storage needs, a medium-sized fridge with a freezer would suffice, and does the same chilling purpose for food storage.

7. Rice cooker

Rather than opting to cook rice in a pot on your stove, a rice cooker efficiently does the job, without you having to monitor whether the rice is already cooked and ready for serving. Have to run an errand or need to do a quick bath? These are doable without overthinking about some potential explosion. A rice cooker can be used with just a click, and when it’s ready, it will automatically switch off, so you won’t have to worry about toasted or undercooked rice. Or worse, a kitchen appliance-caused fire emergency. 

8. Frying pans and pot

Your partner in cooking delicious foods is the cookware. Frying pans and pots come in different materials, which are designed for specific cooking uses. Cooking experts declare that a cookware made out of stainless steel material is best for its versatility.

A stainless-steel skillet, for example, works exceptionally for searing and sautéeing, while a cast-iron dutch oven is a great cookware option for braising and stewing chicken and other food items. A non-stick skillet, on the other hand, is a low-maintenance frying pan and exceptional when cooking eggs and fish, which will prevent them from sticking to the pan, hence the term.

9. Electric kettle

Just like the rice cooker, an electric kettle for water heating gives you the convenience and assurance of not having to check it from time to time if it already reached its boiling point. This kitchen appliance is best when making tea, coffee, and cup noodles on a cuddle-weather morning. For anything that requires the aid of hot water, like sterilizing utensils or feeding bottles for babies, an electric kettle is a friend you could count on.

10. Spatula sets

Having a good set of spatulas will help you flip, scrape, spread, and lift any food item from your pan. Spatulas made out of plastic material are more appropriate for mixing ingredients prior to cooking. Metal spatulas are best when having to lift food from your pan during actual cooking. This makes spatulas an integral part of the cooking process, and further helps scrape bits that were stuck in your stainless steel skillet.

If you haven't heard of a fish spatula or fish turner, it's also a great addition for your spatula sets. It's slender and the longer, thinner version of the metal utensil used to slip under delicate food items for easier lifting and without ruining the food's structure.

Other tools and kitchen appliances worth having

The list above does not imply that they are the only kitchen equipment that you should buy or consider investing on for your kitchen area. If you are a baker or aspires to be one and earn through a baking side hustle, a glass baking dish and baking sheet are a must-have.

So if you find yourself looking for kitchen items on our list only to find them not included, here are other kitchen tools that are also worth your money for their convenience in making tasks a lot easier with their assistance:

• Vegetable peeler
• Ladle
• Colander
• Strainer
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups
• Glass baking dish
• Baking pan
• Baking sheet
• Slow cooker
• Food processor
• Can opener

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