I’ve been thinking about kitchens. Namely, what items I use constantly for 95% of my cooking, and what things are just sitting around taking up space until they are used twice a year. While I sometimes dream of upgrading what pots and pans and kitchen knives we have, I don’t actually want to expand our existing collection, because I think what we do have is sufficient for my cooking needs.

Our pots and pans are fairly basic, and can be counted on one hand:

1. saute pan
2. sauce pan
3. stock pot
4. Non stick fry pan
5. cast iron fry pan
6. hot pot pan

Okay, I lied. I forgot about the hot pot pan. I would say that 99% of my cooking utilizes the first 4 items, while the last two are very specialized items. I would say the hot pot pan actually gets more usage then the cast iron fry pan, and comes out of it’s drawer every 1-2 months. The cast iron fry pan, on the other hand, only makes an appearance for bacon (twice a year at most) and pizza. I don’t know why I don’t use it more. While I lust after certain le creuset items and all-clad pots and pans, these relatively inexpensive pots and pans have lasted me a good number of years- and for the amount of use I get out of them, are an amazing deal.

Of kitchen knives: 1 chinese vegetable cleaver, 1 9-inch chef’s knife, 1 santoku paring knife. Necessary and sufficient for all my vegetably and meaty and otherwise-y needs.