What are your favourite kitchen tools?

WindSock

What do you think are the best tools to have in your kitchen? I need to buy some knives etc and I don't know where to start.

olaola

A hinged tongs. I used them for everything - not the ones that just bend. You need the ones that self lock and have a proper hinge! Can't live without it!
Kinda like these boys: http://www.nisbets.ie/products/productdetail.asp?productCode=J604

Also - I have a Circulon non stick saute pan. I cook EVERYTHING in it. It even goes into the oven. Best purchase I ever made. Mine is similar to this with a plastic handle: http://www.buy4now.ie/arnotts/images/cropped/p8633.jpg

Mr. Presentable

Nine inch cooks knife. No question.

Mr Magnolia

One of my wusthof chef's knive's. I can't find a picture of it so it must be dis-continued.

Actually, I've just found a photo of it.

I also love my wok.

Beruthiel

I have this baby:



A Japanese kasumi titanium knife which will cut anything like it's butter.
It's also essential to have a good set of sauspans and a pan.
A strainer for things like pasta and rice etc..
A casserole dish.
A good peeler, my last one died and I'm heart broken. I cannot find another one like it anywhere
It was a very basic peeler that would peel both ways and swivel both ways and I was able to peel at great speed. The one I have now is so frustratingly slow and rigid that I have to get my bloke to peel stuff for me or people could die.

/edit
a HUGE thanks to olaola.
I just found my potatoe peeler on that nisbets site!

P. Breathnach

Not quite top of my list, but high on it: a probe that tells me when fish is cooked.

CJhaughey

I do nearly everything that needs processing with a 600w Braun Handblender.
It comes in a kit with a large blending jug.
Small blending jug (sauces salsas etc)
Ice crusher (never used for ice just to make breadcrumbs from hard bread)
balloon whisk.
Great bit of kit.
Knives
I personally like the Victorinox 50233.19 for small jobs and a Sanelli large cooks knife for other stuff.
Magnetic knife rack to hold them away from other knives.
Spyderco Tri-angle sharpmaker to keep them cutting well.
I think the Victorinox are great for the price, not the best but not the worst either hold a great edge and the fibrox handles grip well.
If/when someone wrecks it you won't cry.

Minder

900mm twin oven dual fuel range cooker - the small 300mm oven has a rotisserie that is fantastic for roasting chickens.

Woks of all shapes & sizes. A cast iron ridge pan - great for cooking steak.

Global knives of all shapes and sizes.

Stellar saucepans - I have one that is 21 years old.

Sugar thermometer - James Martin's recipe for raspberry marshmallow would be difficult without it.

Bourgeat non-stick pans from Nisbets - sturdy but also cheap enough so that when they are banjaxed, they go in the bin and I buy another.

A hot air popcorn maker - for when you just can't watch a film without a skip full of popcorn.

I recently bought a wok burner for the garden - one of those jobbies that Ching He Huang uses in her programme Chinese Food Made Simple - 7kw of heat - no more smokey kitchen if I cook a steak. There was an old patio heater left in the garden by the previous owner - I dismantled it and am building a worktop to sit on the base. The idea is to sit the wok burner on that.

Tree

as much as i love my knife, i also love my tungsten carbide knife sharpener.

The Sweeper

[Julie Andrews]
These are a few of my favourite things:

Global knives. Bamboo chopping boards. Granite mortar and pestle. Le creuset cast iron enamelled 26cm round cocotte. Three extensively seasoned carbon steel woks. Two-tier 10" bamboo steamer. Japanese rice strainer. Clay pots for Vietnamese claypot pork among other things. Peugeot nutmeg mill (gadget wise, that thing's just for the WIN.) Vitreous enamel roasting trays. Madeline tin.

Oh, but my new house will be finished before the end of the year, and there's just so much moooooore I wannnnnt...

[/Julie Andrews]

The Hill Billy

My chinese cleaver - I do not need any other knife. I even use it for "fiddly knife-work" like peeling ginger.

I also wouldn't be without my tongs.

NewFrockTuesday

I always ended up picking bristles off the eggwashed pastry before I put it into the oven - no matter how expensive the brush. I discovered plastic brushes a while ago and love it....except maybe the fact that it streaks the eggwash a bit more than the bristley one. Theyve prolly been around forever but I only found them a while ago.

Planet X

Wooden Chopping board and 10'' Sabatier Knife. :mad::mad::mad:

Twee.

Metal and plastic palette knives. I make a lot of cakes so these come in handy! Also the big metal spoon.