There is a lot of joy that rushes over you when you move into your first apartment; though that joy is quickly overcome by anxiety and worry once you start getting moved-in and you realize that your kitchen is nearly completely empty. You think-back to when your were living at home, and all of the appliances and utensils and actual food that was in your parents’ kitchen and realize just how much you took those things for granted. Well, this article is a general and helpful overview of everything that you need to get your kitchen in-order. Relax, and just follow down our list of suggestions for fitting-out your kitchen with the necessities.
Kitchen Utensils
First off, you can make it several months or even years on plastic forks and spoons, but the expense is unnecessary — if you have just one set of metal utensils. The tip when buying forks, spoons and knives:
***Buy Sets of Plain/Cheap Forks, Spoons and Knives — Always Buy More Forks than Butter Knives and Spoons***
Here are some of the other kitchen essentials that are not exactly extremely-needed, but will make your life much easier:
- 1 Pair of Long Tongs
- 1 Potato Peeler (Many uses)
- 1 Overly Large Bowl (You never realize you need a big bowl until you really need a big bowl)
- 1 Large Kitchen Knife and One serrated knife (A large, straight-edged knife and a knife with teeth with basically cover all of your slicing and dicing needs)
- 1 Large Soup Pot (Covers the Big Stuff)
- 1 2-Quart Saucepan (Medium sized meals, veggies and sides)
- 1 Medium Saucepan (Shallow dishes, sauteing, frying, etc.)
- 1 Medium casserole dish (for baking)
- 1 Medium Cookie Sheet (Baking)
- 1 Thermometer (You will be much less afraid to cook meats and proteins if you are 100% sure of when they are fully cooked-through)
Kitchen Appliances of Your First Apartment
Let’s face it, your first apartment is not likely to be a luxury penthouse, it is more likely to be plain, affordable, and a bit lacking. Your home appliances especially will likely be outdated and inefficient. The best way to combat this is to just take the extra steps to ensure that you don’t have to rely so much on those inefficient appliances. Don’t have a dishwasher? Invest in a drying rack and stock up on scrubbing pads from the dollar store. If your Stove has burners that don’t heat evenly, or has burners that don’t work, forgo the stove when you can, and buy a large electric skillet. A skillet is actually easier to clean that most older stoves, they heat evenly and efficiently, and you can actually fit more in a skillet and cook multiple items at the same time.
Kitchen Trash and Kitchen Cleaning
Keeping your first apartment kitchen clean can be quite a challenge, but it doesn’t have to be such a chore to simply keep up with the maintenance and kitchen duties; here are some helpful tips on keeping your kitchen of your first apartment clean and maintained:
- Buy 1 Large and 1 Small Trash Can — Having one large can and one smaller one will allow you to put food scraps and things that will spoil quickly in a smaller bag, to be quickly taken out. This will allow you to not fill up large trash bags so quickly and waste them.
- Have a set of 10-20 Kitchen Towels — They do not need to be expensive or nice, but they just need to sit in the cabinet waiting for that one time when you are getting ready to clean your kitchen and realize you don’t have ant paper towels left — ouch!
- Always Keep a Bottle of Bleach Handy — You never know when you may need to disinfect something. Also, this is the best cleaning aid for counter-tops!
Moving out on your own CAN be difficult, but it just takes a little planning, innovation, and foresight to make sure that your kitchen — though small — does not have to be a constant pain for you.
The Family Dining Room 