Knives out: How to stock your first kitchen

Find a knife that feels good in your hand. Add a pan, a cutting board, a few other gadgets and pantry essentials. Then, get cooking.

Watch any amount of the Food Network or wander the aisles of a cookware shop and your mind will inevitably start playing tricks on you.

"I can't live without a tortilla warmer," you tell yourself.

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Kendall College dean Christopher Koetke examines a knife at Northwestern Cutlery, 810 W. Lake.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)

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Stocking your first kitchen

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Where to shop

•  Local
Northwestern Cutlery, 810 W. Lake, is a favorite among culinary school students and chefs alike for its impressive selection of knives, good prices and service, courtesy of manager Marty Petlicki and his staff.
The store also stocks cookware, small appliances and a range of gadgets. You can buy a 99-cent swivel peeler there -- or a $349 Vita-Mix blender. All-Clad cookware is always priced 20 percent below retail.
(888) 248-4449; northwesterncutlery.net.
•  Olympic Store Fixtures, 4758 S. Cicero, stocks a wide range of items, from heavy-duty equipment meant for the restaurant kitchen to knives, pots and pans and gadgets for home cooks.
(773) 585-3755; olympicstorefixtures.com.
•  National retailers
Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma are one-stop shops for your kitchen and dining room.
Sur La Table: 755 W. North, (312) 787-5111; 52-54 E. Walton, (312) 337-0600; surlatable.com.
Williams-Sonoma: 900 N. Michigan, (312) 587-8080; for suburban locations, go to williams-sonoma.com.
•  A few other picks from Chicago chefs:
Naha's Carrie Nahabedian likes the Spice House, 1512 N. Wells, for pepper grinders and mortar and pestles (for other locations, go to thespicehouse.com). She's also a fan of Bridge Kitchenware in New York. You can shop there, too -- bridgekitchenware.com.
•  Kitchen geeks will get into JB Prince (jbprince.com), a favorite of chefs including Perennial's Ryan Poli and Blackbird's Mike Sheerin. Find a good selection of knives and gadgets at various price points, as well as specialized restaurant gear (molds, sous vide accessories, etc.).
•  Troy Graves of Eve and Dirk Flanigan of The Gage favor the Korean grocery Joong Boo Market, 3333 N. Kimball, for peelers, mandolines and basics such as mixing bowls and skillets, all at bargain prices.
(773) 478-5566; joongboomarket.com.
•  Jill Barron of MANA food bar scours Marshall's (marshallsonline.com) and TJ Maxx (tjmaxx.com) for discounted kitchen goods, and yard sales for cast iron pans. "You find interesting pieces that may no longer be made, and they last forever with proper care," she says.

"A strawberry huller -- so quaint! A must-buy."

"Oh 27-piece All-Clad set, you complete me."

This kitchen envy is particularly pronounced if you are on your own for the first time and/or living on limited means, and you love -- or long -- to cook.

Well, tuck away your id. That 27-piece All-Clad set, perfectly lovely in theory, is inessential when setting up your first kitchen (though if someone has offered one to you out of the kindness of their heart, by all means, take it!).

Indeed, less is more when creating a kitchen that works from scratch. Elmhurst native Jill Carle knows this firsthand.

Carle, 23, and her sister, Megan -- authors of two cookbooks aimed at the starter cook, College Cooking and College Vegetarian Cooking -- liked to cook as kids. It helped that they learned in their parents' well-stocked kitchen. And then off they went to Arizona State University.

Carle had "maybe one pot, maybe one pan," castoffs from her mom's kitchen; steak knives; a 9-by-13-inch pan, and no mixing bowls.

"You have a reality check," says Carle, who in May earned a master's degree in political science. "So then you figure out what is the bare minimum you need in order to make what you want to make."

Yes, you'll need to spend some money to get started, but it's a matter of spending your dollars where it counts.

"With kitchen equipment, you truly get what you pay for," says Chris Koetke, dean of the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College. "Instead of buying five knives of marginal quality, buy one really good one. It's going to last you a lifetime."

And so we -- you -- begin. With a knife.

A chef's knife, a paring knife, a boning or utility knife and a steel. These are the essentials in order of importance, and these will take you far.

A chef's knife will handle most everything -- chopping, slicing, mincing, smashing. One size doesn't fit all. A 10-inch chef's knife is pretty standard, but some cooks feel more comfortable with an 8-inch.

A paring knife is for small tasks.

A boning knife is like an extended paring knife. It's good for midsize tasks such as trimming a chicken breast.

A steel will maintain your knife's edge. Ask for advice on how to use it at the cutlery or cookware store.

When shopping, ask a lot of questions; be touchy-feely with the selection.

"You want to try it out, see how it feels in your hand," Koetke says. "Some have larger handles, some have smaller handles. It's all personal preference."

Don't scrimp, and remember -- you'll get what you pay for. "If you spend 80 to 100 bucks on a chef's knife, you're going to get something that's of high-quality, that's going to last you a lifetime," Koetke says.

At Northwestern Cutlery, 810 W. Lake, you can get a good-quality chef's knife by Forschner -- the kind Koetke recommends to his students starting out at Kendall -- for $27.

When you have more money to spend, go for a serrated knife and later, a slicer, Koetke suggests. Serrated knives are ideal for cutting bread, slicers for roasts, whole turkeys and so forth.

As with knives, "buy a few and buy really good ones," Koetke says. "A well-made pan . . . will hold up for years."

Look for pans with heft.

Start with 10-inch saute pan and a three- or four-quart saucepan with a lid.

As you cook more, add a stockpot for soups and a smaller saute and/or saucepan.

Many cooks insist on having one nonstick pan in the mix.

Koetke favors tri-metal pans -- typically stainless on the outside and inside with an aluminum core. Aluminum conducts heat well.

But again, personal preference counts.

"My favorite pan is a big cast-iron skillet," writes Thomas Keller in his forthcoming cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home (Artisan, $50). "If you could have only one pan in your kitchen, this is the one I'd give you."

Bunny Crumpacker, author of How to Slice an Onion (Thomas Dunne Books, $25.99), says one of her favorite saucepans is 50 years old. She cooks in it, sure, but also makes coffee with it.

A 9-by-13-inch baking pan (glass or metal) comes in handy, and not just for baked goodies (think lasagna, roast chicken).

Got spare change? A heavy-duty cookie sheet would be a good addition.

Stainless steel bowls of varying sizes are indispensable, Koetke says. They're cheap, durable and easy to clean.

But no need to be picky, Crumpacker says.

"I have nothing against matching mixing bowls; I just happen not to have them, and I believe they aren't necessary. Matching, that is," Crumpacker writes.

Ideally, you should keep separate cutting boards for meats and vegetables.

But if you're just starting out, one large, solid wood or polyurethane board will suffice.

"Get it a little bigger than you probably think you need," Koetke says. "And just take care of it."

Tongs. They cost but a few bucks and are incredibly useful when sauteeing, grilling, flipping and so on.

Whisk. "The most efficient way to mix, by far," Koetke says.

Spoons. Again, super cheap. Wooden is nice because it's gentler on food than metal. And, Crumpacker says, "they feel good in your hand."

Spatula. Another all-purpose tool. Silicone is key because you can use it for both hot and cold foods, Koetke says.

Measuring cups/spoons. No second-guessing when trying out recipes.

Colander/strainer. For draining pasta, a kitchen staple, rinsing and draining produce and more.

Can opener. The moment you realize you don't have one is when you really need one. And then you'll smack yourself. So get one.

The right equipment is a big part of the equation when setting up your kitchen. The right ingredients complete the picture.

For Bunny Crumpacker, author of How to Slice an Onion: Cooking Basics and Beyond (Thomas Dunne Books, $25.99) no pantry should be without -- take a guess -- onions.

"They add so much to so many things," she says. "There's the old story that every recipe begins, 'First you take an onion.' "

Your pantry is a personal thing and will vary depending on what you like to cook and eat.

But with onions and these other ingredients on hand, you'll be ready for just about anything.