my favorite kitchen tools!
Unless otherwise noted, I've personally purchased and frequently use and love all these items listed. This page contains affiliate links. See our disclosure policy.
Cuisinart Stainless Steel Triple Ply Sauce Pan
This is a hefty little saucepan for sauces and smaller meals. The stainless steel finish is superb and this pan is typically just as quick to clean up as any non-stick I’ve had.
Cuisinart Preferred Pan 4 Piece Set
This really has become my “preferred pan” for so many meals. I cook up gluten free pasta in it as well as whatever meat and sauce combo I’m planning to add to it. Cleanup is a breeze!
Nuwave Bravo XL Pro Air Fryer Speed Oven
With non-toxic ceramic grill plate and even has a probe to cook perfectly to temp! Ever since I moved out on my own as an adult, my one mandatory small appliance has always been a toaster oven. I’ve always loved the versality to be able to reheat foods and do things like roast peppers without using as much energy as a full size oven. And now with so many of them having full convection, air-fry modes, this appliance is absolutely my most used! I love the size of this model and ability to cook on multiple racks at the same time. I routinely will have salmon on one rack while roasting sweet potatoes or other veggies on another and they both come out absolutely perfect. I have even tested the grill plate to cook a steak and it was quite good. Not quite the same as getting a good pan sear, but it works, and with the cook to probe temperature you really can just set it and forget it.
Air Fryer Parchment Paper Liners
For the Nuwave airfryer above. HIghly recommend liners if you’re using your air fryer as frequently as I am! This allows me to get away with a few uses of the air fryer basket between washes.
Microplane Classic Zester Grater
Of course it will do a great job giving you lemon, lime and orange zests, but this is used for any case where you need something finely grated or finely chopped. I use mine for garlic, for parmesan, for nutmeg.
Microplane Extra Coarse Cheese Grater
This is perfect for grating the cucumber needed to make my tzatziki sauce or small amounts of grated cheese. If grating a large quantity of anything, see below for the rotary cheese grater!
This makes a super fast job out of any grating job! I first purchased this when I was eating keto and needed to stay away from prepacked shredded cheeses due to the extra potato starch added to the cheese to keep it from clumping. I'd buy a big block of cheese, use the rotary grater to grate it all into a bowl and then package it in quart size ziplock freezer bags. No extra starch, and it's super cost efficient!
GreenPan Swift 8" Ceramic Fry Pan
Great little non-toxic non-stick pan for frying up a couple eggs or making a grilled sandwich (with gluten free bread of course!)
GreenPan Swift 10" Ceramic Fry Pan
Same as above but in a larger size. I’ve even cooked steak in this multiple times and got an amazing sear! Much easier to clean up than my cast iron.
No exaggeration, I've had this bad boy coffee maker now for nearly 20 years! It's the primary way I made coffee for about 10 years, and now that I'm a pour over convert - mostly because it's easier when just making coffee for one - I still use it regularly whenever I'm making coffee for two. These are built to last a lifetime, with the only potential maintenance being occasional replacement of the inexpensive mesh filters.