While it may seem needlessly obligatory, the most important tool any cook has is their knife (I have a more in depth post about knives here ). They come in all shapes and sizes, and can be highly customizable, but the most important thing is to take good care of her; keep her sharp, honed, and clean, and she will treat you right, whether you’re peeling apples or julienning carrots.
My second go to item may seem a bit like a luxury/unnecessary item to some, but every time I have been without my microplane, my cooking life has been hell. Oh dear reader, do not mistake this wonderful kitchen tool for a mere zester or grater, it is a fairer lady than those. A traditional zester works (in theory) much the same way as a microplane, but it is constructed slightly differently, either with multi-directional blades or with jagged perforations, these items either don’t work or just f*ck up the item you’re trying to zest/grate. A microplane has angled blades in a single direction that expertly take just the skin (and not the bitter pith) of any citrus fruit, or finely grate garlic and whole spices. I promise you, your life (at least in the kitchen) will be so much easier with a microplane.
The last item is probably the most specific to just me (or bakers)…it’s a scale. I started my career as a pastry cook and EVERYTHING was done by weight. Baking, at it’s core, is absolutely a science, each recipe a perfected experiment, and the only way to duplicate it time and time again is to have exact measurements, which is most easily done by weighing your ingredients. While a scale may not be too important on the savory side, I cannot bake without one.
There are a lot more kitchen items that I find extremely helpful, which I will have various other posts about, but these 3 are absolutely my must haves.
Provisioned Kitchen 