Kitchen Makeover

Over the years I have gradually filled my kitchen with various gadgets and kitchen appliances that I believe make life in my kitchen a little easier and a lot more fun. Whilst this is a pretty long list, the only ‘truly essential’ items are the ones listed in #1 and #2 essentials.
I have listed them in order of importance for starting out.

#1 ESSENTIALS 

• large wooden chopping board - Don't skimp on this, there's nothing better than having a lovely big surface to work on!
• good sharp chef’s knife - You'll be using this all the time. Good knives can be expensive, but you probably won't buy another, so purchase the best you can afford. Better to buy one good knife than 3 not-so-great ones.
• small sharp vegetable knife 
• vegetable peeler 
• box grater 
• vegetable steamer basket (for easy vegetable steaming) 
• colander (for rinsing and draining) 
• salad spinner (to get your salad greens as dry as possible) - This is something you can pick up really cheaply and it's so worth getting! No more wet salad greens!
• large fine sieve (for washing rice and other grains) 
• wooden spoon 
• large ceramic or stainless-steel pan 
• vegetable scrubbing brush (to scrub your fruit and veggies) - I love my coconut bristles brush!​

Microplane fine grater

#2 ESSENTIALS

• sprouting jar (to make bean sprouts and micro-greens)
• microplane fine grater (for grating ginger root and citrus zest)
• nut milk bag (for straining plant milk)
• small fine sieve (for rinsing small amounts)
• glass bowls of various sizes (for soaking grains, quinoa, legumes, etc.)
• glass mason jars of various sizes, with lids (for storing dressings, creams, cream cheeses, etc.)
• glass mason jars/bottles with lids (for storing plant milks and fermented drinks)
• cheesecloth (for straining amaranth & for making some nut cheeses) - I love Baldwins unbleached muslin cloth
• measuring cups & spoons - Not all cups and spoons are the same size as those in recipes (mainly U.S. recipes) so these measuring cups and spoons take away all the guess work!

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Cheesecloth

Sprouting jar

​NOT ESSENTIAL, BUT VERY USEFUL

• sushi mat (for rolling sushi rolls) 
• lemon squeezer
• garlic press
• olive pitter (to remove olive pits - actually this is really handy!) 
• julienne peeler (for matchstick size vegetable pieces, especially handy when making sushi rolls or veggie wraps)
• mandolin slicer (for finely sliced vegetables, and great for getting perfect apple slices to dehydrate - just mind your fingertips...)
• spiralizer (to turn raw vegetables into beautiful spirals, such as Cheezy Zucchini Noodles)
• pineapple cutter (a great gadget which with a few twists removes the skin and core of the pineapple - don't forget to keep that core though, it might be hard, but it's full of nutrition. Blend it or juice it with some greens.)
• apple corer (for removing the apple core - handy when dehydrating apple slices as the core gets a bit hard.)
• silicon spatula (for easy scraping and when you want to get every last bit out of your blender/food processor.)
• bottle brush (for cleaning out your empty homemade almond milk bottle!)
• stainless-steel whisk (for mixing ingredients)
• stainless-steel wide-mouth funnel (for packing vegetables into jars for fermenting. I love the Kilner one.)
• sauerkraut ‘pickle packer’ (for pushing the cabbage/veggies down tightly into the jar-not essential, but handy)
• freezer bags (for freezing fruit for smoothies - we know that fresh is best, but sometimes it's very handy to have some frozen pineapple chunks in the freezer, ready to throw into a smoothie. Or when you buy a big tray of fresh strawberries at the market because they were going cheap but can't consume them all before they start going off. Freeze them for smoothies.) ​​

SMALL APPLIANCES

• immersion blender (for puréeing soups and sauces directly in the pan or bowl)
• coffee grinder (for grinding seeds) 

THE BIG GUYS
I have listed these in order of importance, although in my opinion a blender and food processor both come in at first place.
Whilst blenders such as Vitamix and Blendtec are truly fantastic, they are also pretty expensive. If your budget doesn’t stretch that far, don’t worry, a Nutribullet, or other small, high-powered blender does the job just fine. The Nutribullet comes with two different blades, one of which also grinds seeds in seconds so you won’t need to buy a coffee grinder. 

• high-powered blender (such as Nutribullet, Ninja, Tribest Personal Blender, Vitamix, Blendtec)
• food processor (such as Magimix, Cuisinart)
• slow juicer (such as Tribest Slowstar, Omega, Kuvings, Green Star)
• dehydrator (such as Sedona, Excalibur) 

High-powered blender to make smoothies

Food processor for cutting, shredding, combining

Slow juicer to extract juice from your fresh produce

Dehydrator to make these exceptionally delicious kale chips!

Since I'm always on the lookout for new gadgets that I 'need', this list is likely to be updated from time to time! :)