Once you have furnished your kitchen with all the basics, it’s good to move on to the more unique items – those irresistible items which at first appear to be an added luxury but soon become an essential part of your kitchen.
We’ve put together a top 10 list of kitchen items which every kitchen should have. As well as looking impressive, these are accessories which you will never regret buying and which you will find yourself using regularly.
1. Heal’s Koziol Luigi Spoon Rest
There are a variety of spoon rests on the market but this one just looks as if it is the best designed for the job. Rather than leaving the wooden spoon on the worktop or on the pan lid you can sit it in this spoon rest, propped up by the man in green or the man in red. If you’re inclined to have food simmering for a few hours this will be well used. The Koziol Luigi spoon rest costs £22 from Heal’s.
- Stylish spoon rest
2. Pampered Chef egg separator
Whether your favourite dinner party dessert is crème brulee or filled meringues, life is much easier when you use one of these egg separators. No more yokes accidentally mixing with the whites while you use cups to separate the two. And the stainless steel finish means that it can hang proudly with the rest of your utensils. Price is £6.25 from The Pampered Chef.
Egg separator
3. Gulp pan scraper
Gulp is a relatively newcomer to the market. While they do have a good website, they currently only have one shop in North Berwick which is like an Aladdin’s Cave. If you are on a tight budget but want to buy something, pick up one of their pan scrapers. Much more attractive than a scourer, the scrapers come in a variety of colours, and at a bargain £1.50 will have paid for itself in no time.
Pan scraper
4. Crate & Barrel recipe rock
Who doesn’t have a recipe folder sprinkled with flour? Crate & Barrel have brought out this delightful red recipe rock costing £7.52. With most of us finding our recipes from magazines nowadays, rather than traditional recipe books, the recipe rock ensures that you can keep your recipe clean. The earth magnet holds the recipe in place and so dirty hands won’t cause you any problems.
Recipe rock
5. Cakes, Cookies and Crafts icing sculptor set
If you find that your iced cake only looks good on top, then you have to pick up one of these icing sculptor sets. It comes with sixty four blades so you can mix and match to produce different designs, making your cake look professionally made. At £16.33 from Cakes, Cookies and Crafts, you will soon recoup your money by baking your own cakes instead of buying.
Get icing
6. Lakeland Perfobake baguette tray
Lakeland has recently launched a baguette tray to make baguette baking much easier. The micro-perforated tray allows the bread to bake evenly. At £9.99 it is worth purchasing in order to give French baking a go.
Perfect baguette baker
7. Nigella Lawson Chopping board
Nigella Lawson obviously knew what every chef needs when she brought out this solid beech chopping board with stainless steel tray drawer. The drawer pulls out, allowing for chopped vegetables to be transferred to the cooker. We wonder why someone didn’t invent this years ago! It sells at £47.
Nigella chopping board
8. Pampered Chef turnip cutter
If you have ever struggled with chopping turnip then you have to try the Pampered Chef crinkle turnip cutter. The ergonomic handle ensures that with the minimum of effort the blade goes through the vegetable, helping make the days of hacking and sawing a thing of the past. The thought of eating turnip becomes much more appealing when it is this easy to cut.
The crinkle shaped blade also allows for a bit of variety in the cutting of your vegetables, or for the most authentic crinkle cut chips. At £11.50 this is really reasonably priced.
- Vegetable cutter
9. Marks and Spencers spaghetti measurer
At a mere £6 from M&S, this spaghetti measurer is a must have for every kitchen. The idea behind it is so simple. Ensure you don’t cook too much spaghetti by using the holes to measure how much you need.
Spaghetti portion control
10. Whittard teabag squeezer
A teabag squeezer is the type of thing you don’t tend to think about buying, but once you have one you will be singing its praises. This stainless steel squeezer ensures that your cup of tea contains the best of the tea’s flavour as you squeeze the last drops out – great if you like your tea strong. Priced at £4 from Whittard, it will look good in any kitchen.
Tea bag squeezer
By Jackie Cosh
