CookingGuys : Detail your 10 item, $500 kitchen (1 Viewer)

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Lets say you're wanting a very streamlined but functional kitchen setup.

This is for hard goods used for preparing meals. It's safe to assume for the purposes of this thread that there is a stove, microwave, blender, toaster, silverware, service (plates/bowls/cups).

• Pick 4 Pans
• Pick 2 Knives
• Pick 2 "Utensils" (tongs, whisk, spoon, etc)
• Pick 2 Wildcard items

BUDGET: $500

Go!

 

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12" Lodge Skillet : $35
All Clad Sautee Pan: $140

Cooks Standard 3qt Multi-Ply Sauce Pan

Excel 16qt Stock Pot - $40

Henckels 8" Forged Chef Knife - $40

Henckels 4" Paring Knife - $34

Basic Tongs - $8
Basic Serving/Stirring spoon - $5

Roasting Pan w/ Rack - $10

To add detail later... pondering the wildcards.... With cash left, may upgrade the Sauce pan to all clad as well...

EDIT: This is just an exercise. I have a well equipped kitchen, but was talking a single buddy last night and got on the topic of him learning a couple signature dishes to cook when he brings women back to his place. He said he had nothing in the way of gear so I got to thinking of the best way to set him up with the basics....

 

[snitwitch]

chef and paring knive is all you need but i bet you can save money by getting plastic handle professional knives from a restaurant supplier. i might swap the sauce pan out for a dutch oven. chinese basket strainer would be a wildcard for me

 

[Megla]

Gonna eat up most of your budget but for me a good food processor is a must.

As mentioned

12-14 inch CIS

a tryply omlete pan, 12 inch

any quality chefs knife will do

6 QT sauce pan

Tongs

Spoons, prefer wood to preserve the pans

decent spactula

good bamboo cutting board

 

[[icon]]

chef and paring knive is all you need but i bet you can save money by getting plastic handle professional knives from a restaurant supplier. i might swap the sauce pan out for a dutch oven. chinese basket strainer would be a wildcard for me

Yeah I use a cheap plastic restaurant knife myself and just use a sharpener on it as needed. Thing is razor sharp and they're like $10. I guess I saw room on the budget. Prob better to spend the money on the pans...

Maybe sub a nice double boiler for the stock pan? Could double as a strainer for bonus functionality....

 

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12-14 inch CIS

a tryply omlete pan, 12 inch

Don't find these redundant? I use my CIS for omelettes and it works great...

 

[tommyboy]

Lets say you're wanting a very streamlined but functional kitchen setup.

This is for hard goods used for preparing meals. It's safe to assume for the purposes of this thread that there is a stove, microwave, blender, toaster, silverware, service (plates/bowls/cups).

• Pick 4 Pans

• Pick 2 Knives

• Pick 2 "Utensils" (tongs, whisk, spoon, etc)

• Pick 2 Wildcard items

BUDGET: $500

Go!

dutch oven, non stick pan set from Costco

Chefs knife, paring knife from Ikea (cheap and sharp)

knife sharpener from Ikea (looks like this http://iweb.cooking.com/images/products/enlarge/161195e.jpg)

regular old stand up grater

mesh sieve/strainer

set of wooden spoon/spatulas

you could buy all this for less than $300

 

[Thorn]

Lets say you're wanting a very streamlined but functional kitchen setup.

This is for hard goods used for preparing meals. It's safe to assume for the purposes of this thread that there is a stove, microwave, blender, toaster, silverware, service (plates/bowls/cups).

• Pick 4 Pans

• Pick 2 Knives

• Pick 2 "Utensils" (tongs, whisk, spoon, etc)

• Pick 2 Wildcard items

BUDGET: $500

Go!

dutch oven, non stick pan set from Costco

Chefs knife, paring knife from Ikea (cheap and sharp)

knife sharpener from Ikea (looks like this http://iweb.cooking.com/images/products/enlarge/161195e.jpg)

regular old stand up grater

mesh sieve/strainer

set of wooden spoon/spatulas

you could buy all this for less than $300

tee hee

 

[Megla]

12-14 inch CIS

a tryply omlete pan, 12 inch

Don't find these redundant? I use my CIS for omelettes and it works great...

Not at all, I use my CIS as the work horse of the kitchen and the omelte as more of a specialized tool for certain things like eggs, tortillas, stir fry etc.

 

[[icon]]

Lets say you're wanting a very streamlined but functional kitchen setup.

This is for hard goods used for preparing meals. It's safe to assume for the purposes of this thread that there is a stove, microwave, blender, toaster, silverware, service (plates/bowls/cups).

• Pick 4 Pans

• Pick 2 Knives

• Pick 2 "Utensils" (tongs, whisk, spoon, etc)

• Pick 2 Wildcard items

BUDGET: $500

Go!

dutch oven, non stick pan set from Costco

Chefs knife, paring knife from Ikea (cheap and sharp)

knife sharpener from Ikea (looks like this http://iweb.cooking.com/images/products/enlarge/161195e.jpg)

regular old stand up grater

mesh sieve/strainer

set of wooden spoon/spatulas

you could buy all this for less than $300

Does not count. No pan sets. Everyone knows you can go buy a cheap pan set at costco.

Point here is to pare down to essential quality items while optimizing $ spent and functionality of them.

 

[[icon]]

knife sharpener from Ikea (looks like this http://iweb.cooking.com/images/products/enlarge/161195e.jpg)

That looks like a steel, which is actually for straightening a knife's edge.. not so much for sharpening it. If you want to put a good edge on a knife on a budget, an AccuSharp is fantastic for $8. Works wonders for my knives.

 

[TenTimes]

I'd push utensils to 3 and add a ladle. Maybe not a must for a single guy, but still useful enough for the $5-10 investment.

 

[tommyboy]

knife sharpener from Ikea (looks like this http://iweb.cooking.com/images/products/enlarge/161195e.jpg)

That looks like a steel, which is actually for straightening a knife's edge.. not so much for sharpening it. If you want to put a good edge on a knife on a budget, an AccuSharp is fantastic for $8. Works wonders for my knives.

cheaper and better. sold

 

[glumpy]

Question for the Pros:

I've always sworn by my Calphalon cast aluminum since they replaced my old cast iron, but they are getting destroyed with pan frying on the open flame in the restaurant--there's just no way to keep them cleaned. Any ideas? We use them like a shallow fryer, cooking to order all the time--and it's impossible to prevent the grease from carbonizing on the outside. Fortunately the Health Dept hasn't hit on it.

 

[tommyboy]

Lets say you're wanting a very streamlined but functional kitchen setup.

This is for hard goods used for preparing meals. It's safe to assume for the purposes of this thread that there is a stove, microwave, blender, toaster, silverware, service (plates/bowls/cups).

• Pick 4 Pans

• Pick 2 Knives

• Pick 2 "Utensils" (tongs, whisk, spoon, etc)

• Pick 2 Wildcard items

BUDGET: $500

Go!

dutch oven, non stick pan set from Costco

Chefs knife, paring knife from Ikea (cheap and sharp)

knife sharpener from Ikea (looks like this http://iweb.cooking.com/images/products/enlarge/161195e.jpg)

regular old stand up grater

mesh sieve/strainer

set of wooden spoon/spatulas

you could buy all this for less than $300

Does not count. No pan sets. Everyone knows you can go buy a cheap pan set at costco.

Point here is to pare down to essential quality items while optimizing $ spent and functionality of them.

ok then. dutch oven. large stainless pot with lid, small stainless pot with lid, one cheapo non stick frying pan.

 

[[icon]]

I'd push utensils to 3 and add a ladle. Maybe not a must for a single guy, but still useful enough for the $5-10 investment.

Yeah that's why I added 2 wildcards. Figured it will make things interesting.

 

[pollardsvision]

12" Lodge Skillet : $35

All Clad Sautee Pan: $140

Cooks Standard 3qt Multi-Ply Sauce Pan

Excel 16qt Stock Pot - $40

Henckels 8" Forged Chef Knife - $40

Henckels 4" Paring Knife - $34

Basic Tongs - $8

Basic Serving/Stirring spoon - $5

Roasting Pan w/ Rack - $10

To add detail later... pondering the wildcards.... With cash left, may upgrade the Sauce pan to all clad as well...

EDIT: This is just an exercise. I have a well equipped kitchen, but was talking a single buddy last night and got on the topic of him learning a couple signature dishes to cook when he brings women back to his place. He said he had nothing in the way of gear so I got to thinking of the best way to set him up with the basics....

Yeah, that Excelsteel 16 quart pot is such a great deal. Got a pair of them.

 

[Worm]

.

 

[pollardsvision]

4 Pans

That Excel 16 qt pot $40

A vintage cast iron skillet from a garage sale. $10 or less if you get unmarked Lodge or Birmingham.

Tramontina or Lodge enameled Dutch Oven. $50 (splitting the difference).

10" Tri-Ply skillet from Sam's. $25

2 Knives. .

Baker's and Chef's Knives from Sam's (8 and 10" for $14 combined, counting as one b/c they are in the same package). Like them more than Victorinox knives, personally.

Henkels cleaver. $40

2 Utensils

Dexter-Russell 4" spatula and 6" fish turner. $38

2 Wild Cards

Big cutting board from Sam's. $10

A 2nd cast iron skillet. $10

I'll spend my extra $263 on beer and brisket.

 

[proninja]

Lets say you're wanting a very streamlined but functional kitchen setup.

This is for hard goods used for preparing meals. It's safe to assume for the purposes of this thread that there is a stove, microwave, blender, toaster, silverware, service (plates/bowls/cups).

• Pick 4 Pans

• Pick 2 Knives

• Pick 2 "Utensils" (tongs, whisk, spoon, etc)

• Pick 2 Wildcard items

BUDGET: $500

Go!

Doing this off the top of my head, the linked items are items I already own that I find useful, but not going to link to things like a CIS or spatula. My main assumption is that our hero isn't going to need to cook large meals for people, so I'm going to skip the really large pots.

Lodge combo dutch oven/skillet - $35

6.5 qt enameled cast iron pot - $90

12'' Lodge CIS with glass lid - $40

9x13'' glass baking pan - $30

This gets me two pots and two pans, both pans effectively have a lid. One smaller pot, one larger pot, both can go in the oven, both can be used over any kind of heat. Same with the skillets. The glass baking pan is super versatile too. $195 here

Knives - Other people have put good stuff in here. I'd want a 6'' chef knife and a 8'' sunkotu knife, get something tolerably decent but not good. Say $60 here.

Utensils - This is really hard, and kind of unrealistic. They're cheap. Give me a couple more options here. I need something with a flat bottom to cook in the skillets with and something to serve soups, mashed potatoes and such with. So I'll take some kind of a serving spoon and a spatula. Say $20 here. Would really like a few different types of spatulas (wood, silicone, soft plastic) and a ladle too. You can get them at the dollar store if you really are budget conscious.

This leaves me with two Misc items and $225 to go. I'll take an immersion cooker for $150 and a cutting board, say $25.

For the purpose of thiI'll take the $50 extra and get some better knives. But really I'd get a few more utensils and a cheese grater.