Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from John and Dana Shultz. John and Dana share simple, delicious recipes on their website Minimalist Baker.
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Minimalism isn’t just about the number of things you own. It’s about paring down to the essentials and finding contentment in owning less. This applies to every part of your life, for example, your wardrobe, the items in your room, and even your kitchen.
Practicing minimalism in the kitchen doesn’t require sacrificing your ability to make incredible meals. In fact, having less clutter in the kitchen actually makes it easier to get in there and cook up something wonderful.
Simplifying into a minimalist kitchen always starts with removing the utensils and appliances you aren’t using and don’t need. This means your kitchen can be decluttered very inexpensively with only a little time and thoughtful consideration.
Below is a list of 16 kitchen utensils we don’t own (and we run a cooking blog!). The list is partially inspired by A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks, a New York Times article packed with tips and suggestions for keeping a simple kitchen.
This list is neither exclusive nor conclusive. Rather, it’s merely a starting point to hopefully inspire you to reevaluate how much you keep in your kitchen. Be honest with your situation and only keep the tools you are using to create a minimalist kitchen.
16 Kitchen Tools We Do Not Own
1. Kitchen Aid Mixer. Not owning this guy is pure heresy in the food blog world, but we survive just fine. Replacement: A $13 handheld mixer.
2. Crock Pot. It’s big, it’s bulky, and you probably only use it once a year. Replacement: Varies by dish, but usually a large pot will suffice. If you really need one, borrow it from a friend.
3. Knife Block. These can be more bulky than necessary. Replacement: Keep our knives in the silverware drawer.
4. Excessive Pots and Pans. We simplified down to 3 pots and 3 pans. Replacement: Clean cabinets.
5. More than 8 plates, glasses, and bowls. We love to host. Rarely do we have more than 8 guests, but even when we do, we still have options. Replacement: Use specialty disposable plateware.
6. Extra coffee/tea mugs. Again, we decided we rarely ever need more than 8, and we don’t even have that many. Plus, these can double as glasses if you have more than 8 guests!
7. Bread Maker. Bulky and likely eating up cabinet space. Replacement: Bread recipes that don’t require a maker such as our 7-ingredient Muesli Bread!
8. Toaster oven. If you don’t regularly use this, then it’s just eating up space. Replacement: Regular toaster or a traditional oven.
9. A wok. Although a fun device, it’s rarely used. Replacement: The largest pan you own.
10. A Juicer. Big, bulky, and hard to clean. Replacement: If you love to juice, you can juice without a juicer.
11. Espresso machine. First, you probably don’t use this as much as you thought you would. Second, to get a really good espresso you usually need very high quality equipment and the time to adjust your grind/machinery to get that perfect shot. This simply isn’t practical for the average coffee lover. Replacement: Sell the espresso machine and go to a coffee shop when you want good espresso.
12. Grilled cheese maker. You don’t need this. Replacement: Almost any pan.
13. Rice maker. Only keep this if you regularly make a lot of rice. Replacement: Prepare rice in a traditional pot.
14. Doughnut pan. When is the last time you made doughnuts? Exactly. Replacement: Go buy doughnuts when you want them, or try a pan-free version.
15. Quesadilla maker/ Panini press. Ah! Replacement: You can get the same effect by using a skillet, tin foil, and pressing down on a pan on top.
16. Egg scrambler/milk frother/other trinkets. Be honest, you don’t really use these things. And they are only taking up space. Replacement: Just a little creativity.
+1. Fine china / heirloom dishes. This was intentionally saved for last, because it’s likely the emotional attachment is greater than the pragmatic realization that you are not using them. This quote has helped us in this area: “The truth is, neither our love for the person, nor their love for us, nor our memories, are in the possession.”
I want to finish by admitting we keep things that others might consider superfluous, but we use them every day and continue to enjoy them. Ultimately, we feel that should always be our guiding principle and hopefully one that empowers you to question the same.
What else can you/have you removed from your minimalist kitchen?
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You can find more of John and Dana’s fabulously wonderful recipes on their website, The Minimalist Baker.
Marie says
I got rid of my knife block yesterday and kept the knives in a drawer. I had never thought of this! Thank you so much, my countertop is grateful ! Would get rid of the espresso maker since I only drink tea or instant coffee, but my husband likes his morning espresso !
Kristin @ Payment Free Life says
There are three items on the list that I couldn’t live without:
My kitchen aid mixer: I use it at least twice a week for making bread, pizza dough or some other baked concoction. I also use it to make mashed potatoes and pasta. We get a lot of use out of ours.
My crockpot: I usually use this one or twice a week, more during tax season when I’m out at clients all day. If we didn’t have the crockpot, we probably would have eaten take out this tax season, which we were able to avoid saving us a ton of money.
My espresso maker: This gets used five days a week. I got a great deal on a great machine and have been able to save a ton of money with this. I worked at Starbucks in college so I can recreate the same drinks that were costing me a fortune at home for less than $1 each.
Sarah Mueller says
I do have about half of the items on the list, but it use them frequently. It’s a constant battle to keep a hungry family of 6 fed without resorting to processed food!
What DON’T I have? Gadgets. (My mother completely disagrees with me and actually travels with some of her gadgets on vacation.) things like a lemon zester, rotary grater, special pans for certain dishes, melon knife. I have no patience for these things cluttering up my kitchen drawers!
joan says
Kept, so far, kitchen tools bought around the world. I’m a former Peace Corps volunteer and retired US Diplomat. Noting what I use: delft handled cheese knife and slicer, cutting board from Germany, custom vanilla bean storage box from Madagascar. Not using but hard to give up: hand carved hot chocolate mixer from Mexico. Silver ice tea spoons from Sri Lanka whose handles work as straws. Things not working as I imagined: baguette bag embroidered Pain, the French word for bread, not seen as chic but why does she have a bag that says pain, i.e., hurt !
Gave to Habitat: dishwasher and clothes dryer; put front loading dryer where dish washer was and repurposed laundry room- space is a big deal in a Florida condo! Kitchen is normal place in France and Spain. Doesn’t bother their cooking or mine.
Gave to Habitat: huge ugly range. Dominated a warm, furniture like kitchen. Big armoire from Mexico was perfect match to wooden cabinets. Plus oven too low for my older back and now room for over stove microwave. Replaced with on the corner convection/microwave oven that fits in a corner. Doesn’t dominate. I wanted to try induction cooking before buying/installing very expensive induction cooktop. Seven years ago I bought a one burner one @$100 to try. Perfect and still working like a charm. Plus frees up tons of counter space. A bought a second single unit for the few times I need two burners; it is kept in armoire along w blender only other appliance….ah, other the high use toaster w egg poacher, a house gift from friend who knows I love poached eggs.
joan says
correction: put front loading washer, not dryer, in kitchen. Air dry clothes.
Catherine says
Ha ha, I love seeing how emotional people get over someone else’s list. They aren’t saying that no one in the whole entire world should have these items and could do without them. Sure, technically, everyone ‘could’ do without them but they have value if you use them a lot. For instance, I use my panini press multiple times a week. It is super hot and whips toasted sandwiches out in record time – way faster than a pan with another pan on top to weigh it down. But, you know, I take this list as a guide for thinking about what I really use and what I don’t. Going to go and get the waffle maker out to sell right now…. My plates/glasses/mugs situation is a little out of hand too. Thanks for the encouragement to think about this.
Laura says
My family just replaced our knife block with a magnetic knife holder! It attaches to your wall or backsplash above your cabinet and it keeps it away from little hands too. They even look nicer than the big block. They usually cost about 20$. (I don’t know if anyone mentioned it but there were so many comments that I couldn’t read through them.)
Laura says
above your counter* haha sorry!
April says
And recommending disposable dishes as a regular use item is environmentally irresponsible. Especially the day after EARTH DAY.
joshua becker says
Thanks for the comment April. I’ll use it clarify a misconception I keep reading. Disposable dishes were not offered as a regular use item in the post above. They were suggested as an alternative for infrequent large gatherings.
April says
I completely disagree with most of these. I actually traded in my KitchenAid for a Bosch mixer, but it is in the same category. I bake bread nearly every day, and don’t have the time to knead it all by hand. I also use it to shred chicken/beef in about 10 seconds, make cookie dough, etc. I have 2 crock pots that often get used simultaneously, but I may get rid of one bc I now have an Instant Pot which is a combination rice maker/slow cooker/pressure cooker/yogurt maker/saute function/steamer, etc., machine of amazingness. I wish I had another bc I often want to make rice or steam veggies to go with whatever I’m already cooking in it. Slow cookers also use less energy and put off less heat, which in the summer means I’m not paying to cool down the kitchen that my oven/stove is heating up.
I use the panini press several times a week. I have 6 kids and can whip out grilled sandwiches much faster than on my griddle. We also like to have panini night a few nights a month. We all try all different combos. Lots of fun and an easy clean out the fridge dinner. There is no way I would put my expensive Wusthof knives loose in a drawer. It would ruin the blades. I have a knife block that goes in the drawer. I also juice for breakfast with my juicer, and when I was pregnant and had little energy, I switched to my bread maker. It was also how I first learned to make bread.
I do agree with the wok, espresso machine (bc I don’t drink coffee), quesadilla maker and donut pan.
I’m interested in possibly replacing my microwave with a toaster oven. I think microwaves ruin food. I usually reheat my food in the oven, but it is a lot of gas to heat that big oven to reheat my small dish of food, and that seems wasteful.
I have cleaned out my kitchen on more than one occasion. I got rid of my avocado slicer, my cute blue mini ramekins that are perfect for individual cheesecakes (which I haven’t even considered making since I had kids), my holiday dishes and the accompanying sideboard whose sole purpose was to house said dishes, excess pitchers and cheap kitchen utensils that I had much nicer versions of.
I also got rid of several pots and pans. I kept 1 four quart and two 6 qt enameled cast iron pans (and those do most of my work), a 2-quart and 4-quart stainless steel pans and 3 skillets 8, 10, and 12 inch. I also have an 8-qt stockpot and a 12 qt (for when I’m canning). My least used are the two stainless steel saucepans. We are a family of 8, and I do a lot of cooking and baking.
Snow Hawkins says
I kept the toaster over & threw out the big oven I never use. I used that big space to build a cabinet to store my toaster oven. I did throw out the toaster. Kept the crock pot too. Living in the tropics, I never use an oven and the crock is excellent to cook ribs, roasts, etc without heating up the house.
Christy King says
What a controversial post – we’re all so attached to our kitchen stuff! I think this, rather than your list, is the important point: “Be honest with your situation and only keep the tools you are using.”
Because how and what people cook varies dramatically.
I use my KA mixer for kneading bread dough, which you can’t do with a handmixer. Yes, I make a lot of bread. And yes, I do know how to hand knead bread and how to make no-knead bread, but I don’t always have time to knead by hand and no knead bread, while delicious, can’t replicate all kinds of kneaded bread. I also have 2 brotforms and a couche.
We have way more than 3 pots – and often using 4 or more at a time. The wok is quite frequently used in our house, even for breakfast (if we have a little leftover rice from dinner, I scramble some eggs and make a plain fried rice for breakfast).
I agree about the knife block, but not the drawer. Unless you keep them in sleeves in the drawer of course. I do love the magnetic knife holder on the wall.
On the other hand, when the toaster oven died, we didn’t replace it, and when the microwave dies, it’s not getting replaced now either. Pretty much it’s used only by the kid now. Instead, we heat leftovers on the stove. Even pizza – comes out crispy if reheated in the cast-iron skillet.
Oh – granola is a great use for the crockpot. Much easier than trying to keep it from burning in the oven.