What a Minimalist Keeps in Her Kitchen
Executive summary: This is my personal list of kitchen “essentials,” and it is shorter than most I’ve encountered online (or offline), thanks to my minimalist approach.
Disclaimer: I don’t mean for this post to sound judgy. You do you! This is a look at my minimalist kitchen and all the smart and simple solutions I’ve figured out over the years to keep it as streamlined as possible.
We’ve been moved into this (town)house for two months now, and my constant refrain is that it’s way bigger than we need (2,200 sq ft). I laugh at articles that say “who wouldn’t like more storage space?” because I’m who, that’s who! A sizeable portion of our home sits empty (this was true in our 1,300 sq ft condo too, which was already so much bigger than our 800 sq ft apartment). Our closets are at 15% of combined capacity. Our garage can fit cars in it, which no longer seems to be what garages are used for these days, lol. In our kitchen, I only filled about half the cupboards and the rest sit empty. I simply don’t own enough stuff to take up more space, and I accomplish this by following two rules:
No duplicates of tools/accessories
Find the most multifunctional version of each item and keep only that one
Our kitchen is easy to maintain and clean because it’s minimal!
I make meals for my family every day, but I don’t need very much to accomplish this. One reason is that my capsule pantry ensures my recipes are highly efficient and not labor or gadget-intensive. Another reason may be that my husband and I never had much to start with, so every item we’ve added since college has been carefully considered as opposed to blindly acquired for the sake of outfitting a kitchen. We didn’t do a registry or gifts for our wedding either (which may have traditionally been a source of kitchen accessories), and a couple of cross-country moves meant that we only brought tried-and-true items with us, shedding anything that wasn’t imperative. None of this happened overnight, and I’ve definitely made swaps over the years as I’ve found smarter and simpler solutions (e.g., blates to replace separate bowls + plates), but here is where we currently stand in each kitchen category:
Food prep
1 cutting board (I can use both sides instead of having different boards for different foods) — Epicurian
1 chefs knife, 1 paring knife (I skipped the serrated knife cuz the others can do the trick in a pinch, and I also skipped a knife block in favor of using a book for knife storage. Yes, I stick my knives in a book and it works great) — Victorinox
1 pair kitchen shears — KitchenAid
1 can opener, 1 corkscrew, 1 digital thermometer (I talk about the Lavatools Javelin in my post here)
1 oven mitt, 4 flexible silicone trivets (that can double as extra oven mitts or jar openers when needed)
1 double-sided measuring spoon (I talk about it in my post here)
4 cooking utensils (ladle, pasta scoop that also works as a slotted spoon, silicone “spoonula,” wood spatula) — mostly from Crate & Barrel
3 pots/pans (8-qt, 3-qt, nonstick pan) — Cuisinart, All-Clad, T-Fal
1 baking sheet (that my 3yo also eats her meals off of since ditching the high chair tray, to help contain her mess at the table), 1 baking dish
1 toaster (thanks to the kids), 1 rice cooker (with steaming function too) — Black+Decker and Aroma
1 collapsible colander (that the kids think makes a great hat in the bath, so see, multifunctional)
Food consumption
8 forks, 8 spoons, 4 dinner knives (as a side note, I don’t own drawer/utensil organizers either — I corral our kitchenware in a fungible set of plastic trays that I can use anywhere around the house) — Target
8 blates (bowl plates! I lusted after this multifunctional dinnerware for a long time before taking the plunge, and … they’re beautiful. The sweet spot is being wide enough to serve as a plate but also deep enough to serve as a bowl) — Crate & Barrel
6 mug bowls (have hot chocolate or hot soup, your call!) — Macy’s
6 drinking glasses (that work for water, juice, wine, liquor, anything!) — IKEA
4 coasters (these I admit I’ve held on to because I bought them on an MBA trip to Myanmar)
Food storage
4 lidded glass bowls ranging from 1 qt to 4 qts (also good as mixing or serving bowls) — Pyrex
2 lidded wide-mouth mason jars (I used these as drinking glasses for years, but now I keep a couple around to be dual measuring cups/storage containers) — Ball
Clothespins, rubber bands, plastic bags, food wrap, foil
1 water filter (that lives in the fridge) — PUR
Special kids items
1 mini fork and 1 spoon — OXO
1 suction-bottomed bowl — Munchkin
2 small plates — Corelle
2 sippy cups — Munchkin 360
3 lidded cups/tupperware (for snacks and fruit on the go in a non-breakable container) — Zak Designs and Rubbermaid
This is basically everything in our kitchen and takes up a fraction of the available cupboard space. Our food “pantry” is in the upper cabinets you see in this picture.
We don’t have a dedicated pantry in the kitchen (and haven’t since we left our childhood homes 20 years ago), but I can commandeer as many shelves as I want for food. Not that I need very many due to my minimalist capsule pantry. Other cupboards in the kitchen store our toolbox, cleaning supplies, Costco packs of paper towels, etc. but they’re still almost half empty. I am practically allergic to single-purpose “unitask” items (avocado slicers, spoon rests, and that ilk, I’m looking at you). I don’t even own more mainstream tools like whisks (I use a fork or spatula), griddles (use a nonstick pan), vegetable peeler (use a paring knife), measuring cups (use the aforementioned mason jars), grater/microplane (not necessary for my capsule pantry recipes), and I could go on and on but will spare you a recounting of the full list. But you get the idea: I only keep items that are constantly used and/or can serve multiple purposes.
If you’re someone who enjoys making complex recipes or hosting opulent parties using 3 kinds of wine glasses simultaneously, my minimalist kitchen probably isn’t for you. Like I said, you do you! Maybe someday I’ll aspire to more, but for now, efficiency and simplicity are my priorities. I have a highly practiced process of getting meals onto the table at super speed, because that’s what I need in my life right now (plus I have a decidedly un-fancy personality). But even when I decide to make the occasional prime rib or red wine chocolate cake, I find that my minimalist kitchen still supplies all the tools I need. I leave you with this haiku:
More is not better
Neither is bigger better
Fight kitchen clutter