What can't you live without in the Kitchen?

[ArcticChicken]

I'm just curious what the denizens of CS can't live without in their kitchen, besides the usual pots, pans, knives, etc.

For example, I don't think it's a proper kitchen without a good garlic press. What do you think?

[MaggieTheCat]

See, and here I don't even own a garlic press. As a "uni-tasker" as Alton Brown puts it, and difficult to clean from what I understand, I have never felt the need for one. Plus 99% of them time if I need chopped/pressed garlic for something, I'm going to have a knife out to be chopping something else so I will just mince/crush it with my knife instead.

Anyway, I'd probably have to vote for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I use it at least 3 times a week, sometimes more. I do a lot of baking, especially cookies and sweets that get shared with our friends and my husband's co-workers, and also yeast breads, and it is great for kneading. I also have both the ice cream attachment and the pasta roller attachment that I don't use as often, but when I'm in the mood for either homemade ice cream or pasta, both have worked beautifully. Could I get by without the whole contraption...sure, I made do with a hand mixer for a long time. But now that I have my Kitchen Aid I wouldn't trade it in for anything.

[emwithme]

Vegetable peeler
Potato ricer

Stool (means I can actually manage to do some cooking)

[telecom_goddess]

what is a potato ricer? The peeler I second for sure. I use it and the manual can opener all the time. And my french press for coffee

[Marmalady]

My preserving funnel. I make a lot of jams, marmalade, chutney etc, and this is a stainless steel funnel with a special large opening - so chunks of fruit, veg etc are guided sweetly into the jars. Only about £5, but worth its weight in gold.

[EricKei]

I guess, for me...

Peppermill
Can opener (I seem to end up buying an inordinate amount of soups that lack pull-tab lids)
Egg slicer

what is a potato ricer?

One of these bad boys. Similar to other "press" devices.

[AnaKhouri]

Kitchen scissors! When my mom bought me some, I was like, :What the hell?" but now I couldn't do without them. I cut everything from bags to meat with them. They are godlike.

[NorthernZel]

I don't have room for a KitchenAid mixer, so I got the best next thing - a Braun Rotisserie blender (basically a stick blender with a helluvalot accessories = a miniature food processor that kan knead bread dough as well)

[Kaylyn]

Growing up in a household that used nothing but cheap serrated knives for EVERYTHING, I now can't live without a proper knife. I have a serrated one that I use for cutting meat, but for chopping vegetables, I have to have my chef's knife that I run through a sharpener a few times before each use. It's not expensive, but it's sharp, so sharp I cut my finger a few weeks ago and didn't even realize it till I was sitting down to eat. I haven't cried over chopping an onion since I got that knife.

Also, for someone who likes to bake as much as I do, I don't understand how I've gone so long without owning a mixer. I've never used one, but mixing cookie dough by hand is HARD and I LOVE to make cookies, so I KNOW that if I got one I would never be able to live without it. Hmm, perhaps I should check Goodwill this weekend...

[RecoveringKinkoid]

bar board with no slip rubber grips on back
santoku knife
silicone mitts
kitchen scissors

[MoonCat]

Somebody who can cook

I'm not the cook in the family, my middle sister is. On the rare occasions that I cook, I tend to use every knife, fork, spoon and other utensil I can get my hands on.

[Kal]

For me, it's not the utensils but the cupboard of herbs and spices. I will admit that for baking, the bit I can't do without is my decade-old baking tray - it didn't start out non-stick but over the years it's built up a beautiful black patina and can be used to cook anything from roast potatoes to gingerbread without anything sticking.

[XCashier]

The slow cooker! Toss in the ingredients first thing in the morning, turn it on, come home hours later to a nice hot dinner. Removable stoneware for easy cleaning, a "keep warm" setting, this gizmo is the best!

I would like eventually to have a food processor. I would really like to have a house with a nice big kitchen so I have room to move around and do all the cooking and baking I want!

[42_42_42]

Battery-operated peppermill (means I can use it w/ just one hand)
garlic press (they're very easy to clean, unless you don't bother to for a few days, then, yeah, cement)
KA mixer
Food Processor
Good wooden cutting board
Parchment paper in pre-cut sizes for my baking sheets
Instant read thermometer
Programmable meat thermometer
Microplane grater
Box grater
Funnels
Adjustable measuring cup that has the plunger thing that lets me sploodge out peanut butter and other sticky stuff
electric scale
whisks
piping bags & tips
.........................................
Ok. Everything, really. You cannot have any of it. MINE!

[Gravekeeper]

Bacon bits.

Everything else I could take it or leave it.