Making homemade food is a joy! I love making healthy and satisfying dishes to share with my friends and family. But in order to get this accomplished, there are 15 essential kitchen tools that make my life much easier! Though I have a list of Must-Haves, below you’ll find my list of Want-to-Haves!

The “Want-to-Haves”…

As a Family and Consumer Science teacher, I have the joy of teaching students how to cook daily! We start very basically in the kitchens, as I have some students who have never used ANYTHING in the kitchen. They don’t even know how to wash dishes! However, by the end of the year, students are able to showcase just how far they’ve come in their culinary quest, and I’m always super proud of them!

In order for my kitchen to function, I have several items that truly make my life easier and allow me to make homemade recipes every day, even as a full-time working mom. Though they are far from basic, each of these 15 essential kitchen tools serves an important purpose and task. These are in no particular order (though I do enjoy my “power” tools!)

#1–Kitchenaid Food Processor

This is one of my most used small kitchen appliances. I use it for pizza crusts, chopping up vegetables, and pulverizing cookies/crackers into crumbs. I LOVE my Kitchenaid!

#2–Kitchenaid Stand Mixer

My Kitchenaid stand mixer is a true workhorse. We received ours as a wedding gift 20 years ago, and it’s still going strong today! I love that I can purchase attachments, too. For instance, I have the food grinder and fruit and vegetable strainer that allows me to make homemade tomato juice, applesauce, you name it! It is an important part of my home canning equipment! Definitely an essential kitchen tool!

#3–Bread Machine

Yes, this is a true splurge, but I don’t buy bread for my family because I don’t like the preservatives. If you have hotdog buns sitting on your counter for two weeks and they haven’t molded, there’s something wrong! My bread machine makes fabulous, healthy, whole wheat bread that my family loves. It also makes things like cakes, dough, and even jam! This is the absolute best bread machine I’ve ever had. (Pricey: yes! But I received it as a Christmas present three years ago.)

#4–Blender

Any blender that will chop ice is a good buy, in my opinion. If you can’t make frozen drinks, the machine is not solid enough! Our blender has been our friend for the last twenty years and has a nice glass pitcher. I also have a smaller bullet-type blender for smaller amounts. I love them both! This is the blender we use in my student-run snack shop. It has held up well to student use, and I’m very impressed by the power!

#5–Ice Cream Maker

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I do everything I can to make the food we eat. This includes sinful ice cream! I absolutely LOVE ice cream, and homemade is the only way to go, in my opinion. Plus, it’s so easy and takes less than 30 minutes to whip up a quart that contains only all-natural ingredients.

#6–Bundt pan

This is one of the tools that is nice to have for occasions when you want something pretty. A Bundt pan will bake a beautiful cake, but it’s a great pan for Monkey Bread, too. 🙂

#7–Tube Pan

Angel food cake, anyone? If you are watching what you eat, yet still like sweets, and angel food cake is perfect! I would recommend a tube pan with a removable bottom…it makes getting those sticky cakes out much easier! Also, having the little feet on the sides is much better than trying to balance the cake on a shot glass when it’s hot from the oven. Believe me, I know! 🙂

#8–Loaf pan

A loaf pan is more than just a pan to bake bread. This is good for meatloaf, cakes, and pretty much whatever you want. I love to give the gift of bread, so I have these in various sizes, too. This is my favorite small set!

#9–7×11 pan

This is the perfect size casserole dish for smaller servings and weeknight meals. I like my Pyrex 7×11 with the lid. This is definitely an essential kitchen tool for my Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole.

#10–8×8 pan (or 9×9)

No kitchen is complete without this multipurpose pan! It works for cake, brownies, chicken breast. You name it!

#11–Instant Pot

This is a relative newcomer in my kitchen, but I use it at least 2-3 times/week. It is so fast and makes my life so easy, that I don’t really know what I did before I had one. 🙂 My Instant Pot is used mostly to cook chicken breast/thighs, make yogurt, hard boil eggs, cook dry beans, make fast baked potatoes/sweet potatoes and through together supper on weeknights. However, it does make a GREAT cheesecake, too! If you’d like to ready my unpaid review, click here.

#12–Electric Skillet

My electric skillet doesn’t get a huge amount of use since I don’t fry a lot of items, but it does come in handy if I have a crowd coming over. It’s great for pancakes, sausage gravy, and I do use it to fry beignets every now and then. 🙂

#13–Immersion Blender

This little tool is great for making smoothies and blending soup in a pot when you don’t want to get your regular blender out. I’ve had a Kitchenaid immersion blender for about fifteen years and I’ve used it for countless recipes! When my kids were younger I used it daily to whip up yogurt/fruit smoothies to increase the fruit and protein in their diets.

#14–Colander and Strainer

Yes, you can drain larger pasta noodles just using the lid…this is why a colander is a “want to have” not “need to have” item on my list. However, a colander and strainer will make draining liquids, washing small beans/fruits/vegetables, and even dusting brownies with powdered sugar much easier. I use my stainers for sifting flour, too, since I don’t own a sifter. This is why I consider them one of my 15 essential kitchen tools. And, for the record, they are not the same thing! A colander has larger holes whereas a strainer is more of a fine mesh.

#15 Muffin Pan

You can make many, many recipes in your muffin pan! I LOVE muffins, but you can make cupcakes, little meatloaves, candies…just a whole lot of things! If I were you, I’d have at least two pans that make 12. That way, you don’t have to wait for one to bake before finishing a recipe. 🙂 I also like the lighter colored pans…darker pans tend to overcook items unless you don’t turn down the oven temperature at least 25 degrees. My kitchen also contains mini muffin pans and the larger jumbo muffin pans, because hey, you can’t have too many hand-held cakes! 🙂

 Do I have to get these all at once?

This is a list of pretty expensive kitchen tools. I did not go out and purchase all of these items at once. In fact, I’ve acquired them over the course of several years, if not decades. 🙂 These items make great Christmas/birthday/just because gifts, so start a Wishlist on Amazon and have others help you stock your kitchen. I LOVE to give people useful tools…I’m sure others feel the same way!

If you’re interested in starting with my post on the 16 Essential Kitchen Tools that you have-to-have to start cooking/baking homemade, click here.

If I’ve left a tool off the list that you can’t live without, let me know! I’d love to see your comments. 🙂 Thanks for visiting!