42 Must Have Kitchen Utensils

Welcome to my on-going series of household inventory checklists!  42 Must-Have Kitchen Utensils is just that – a list of 42 kitchen utensils essential for a well-functioning kitchen.  As with the other lists of 42 in this on-going series, this list does not repeat items in the previous lists and is meant to supplement and enhance the earlier lists.

The beauty of these checklists is that they allow you to take a quick inventory of what you already have by just checking them off the list.  Then, depending on how much cooking and baking you do, you can use the list as a guide to fill in needed implements!  And, if cooking is your “thing,” before you know it, you’ll have a dream cooks kitchen.

Plus, you can use the lists to update your household inventory for emergency planning.  A win-win!

I create lists of 42 items for household inventory purposes.  But they can be used in other ways.  For example, do you know someone getting married?  My lists of 42 are a good way for a bride-to-be to create her bridal registry.  And, if you know someone starting new or starting over, they work as lists of needed items to stock or restock your home.

Why 42?  As explained in other lists of 42, I’m using that number to “brand” Toot Sweet 4 Two by incorporating the “4 Two” in my blog’s name and tying them to these lists.  Maybe it’s silly, but I believe over time it could have added benefits to the Toot Sweet 4 Two “brand”.  Anyway, that’s why this list is 42 and not 50 or 100, etc.

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These lists are, primarily, intended to help people who have lost their homes in a catastrophic event such as a fire, flood, hurricane, or tornado.  If you’ve suffered such a loss, my heart goes out to you.  Dealing with a catastrophic loss is life-changing and overwhelming.  I know because it happened to us.  I’ve written a series of blog posts telling our story, which you can find starting with this first one:  Any Way the Wind Blows.  I’ve shared my story on this blog because not only is it a story of fear and anxiety plus an overwhelming list of things to do, it is also a story of hope and renewal.

Get the EBook!

Yes, that’s right – an eBook of all 55 lists of 42 that are on this blog, plus 20 new lists for a total of 75 checklists rolled up into one eBook!  For one low price of $9.99, get The Complete Book of Lists: Room-by-Room Checklists for Your Household Inventory Project  – a great bargain for a large project!  I created this eBook to make your life easier, so that as you work through your household inventory project, room-by-room, you don’t forget to include every single detail down to the last toothpick!

Check out the eBook!

So, here’s the list of 42 Must-Have Kitchen Utensils:

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1. Ice cream scoop (the most important first!)
2. Deep spoon
3. Ladle
4. Spider strainer
5. Fish spatula
6. Pasta fork
7. Burger spatula
8. Metal and silicone tongs
9. Kitchen tool crock
10. Bulb baster
11. Roast lifters (turkey forks)
12. Potato masher
13. Potato ricer
14. Food mill
15. Apple corer
16. Apple peeler corer/slicer
17. Vegetable peeler
18. Meat thermometer
19. Candy thermometer
20. Garlic press
21. Pizza cutter
22. Cheese slicer
23. Panini spatula
24. Cheese knives and spreaders
25. Melon baller
26. Mortar and pestle
27. Nutcracker
28. Pizza peel
29. 9″ serrated bread knife
30. 6″ Chef’s knife
31. 7″ Santoku knife
32. 4″ Santoku knife
33. 9″ boning knife
34. 9″ utility knife
35. 13″ carving knife
36. Steak knife set
37. Mini whisk
38. French whisk
39. Mixing whisk
40. Citrus reamer
41. Kitchen mallet/meat tenderizer
42. Pie slicer/server

You may notice items missing from this kitchen utensils list.  More than likely they are included on these earlier lists:

42 Kitchen Basics for Your New Home

42 Cookware Essentials for a Well-Stocked Kitchen

If not, they may appear on future lists.  But, just to make sure, let me know what other kitchenware, kitchen utensils, accessories, supplies, equipment, etc. you would like to include on future lists in the comments section!  My goal is to make an awesome kitchenware list for easy reference.

Do I have everything on this list and on earlier lists?  No, we lost most of our belongings in the 2007 San Diego Witch Fire and I’ve spent the last several years replacing them!  Still have a ways to go, so these lists are handy for me too – my “wish lists”!

Have you ever wondered how I take some of the pictures on my blog?  Here’s a peek into my photography studio; poop and all on the windows!  We have a crazy influx of swallows this time every year and they make a mess of everything.  But, I love them so; such magical, beautiful creatures!

Someday, I hope to create a space in my home to use solely for photography so I don’t have to move the furniture all the time!  UPDATE:  I have created a separate space in my house for food photography.  Check out this post to see the results:  How to Create a Food Photography Home Studio on the Cheap.

Below are several photos made especially for your Pinterest board!  Choose one or choose them all and come back again when you need to review this list to see where you are in building your dream stash of kitchen utensils.

Don’t you love this photo of three beautiful ice cream cones?  I realize it only shows one kitchen utensil, an ice cream scoop, and not 42, but because it’s such a great photo I had to use it!

 

The photo above is more representative of 42 Must-Have Kitchen Utensils.  I count 15 kitchen utensils in this one photo!  These kitchen utensils alone would take up one drawer in most people’s kitchen.  Or a super-large kitchen crock.  However you choose to store them, the utensils in this photo are all “must-have” in my opinion.

Will you do me a favor?  Would you share my post on social media?  The pinnable images above are for your Pinterest boards so that you can bookmark this post and come back to it later.  Thanks for sharing!

And don’t forget to sign up to receive my newsletter in your inbox.  As a thank you, I’ll send you a freebie!  Look for the sign-up boxes near the top of this post and again at the bottom of this post.

I hope these lists have been helpful to you!  Stay tuned for more to come!

Tootles,

Related Posts from Toot Sweet 4 Two’s Archives:

42 Cookware Essentials for a Well-Stocked Kitchen

42 Kitchen Basics for Your New Home

9 Top Kitchen Decor and Design Trends

You Might Also Like:

Tips for an Organized Kitchen from Jillee at One Good Thing

10 Super Ways to Add Storage to Your Kitchen from Decoholic

50 Kitchen Ideas from the Barefoot Contessa (slide show) from House Beautiful