(Photo: When we sold our house and purged almost everything we had (see My Minimalist Story, Part 1: A Clean Slate), we discovered that the majority of our “stuff” came out of the kitchen. We had never realized just how many plates, pots, pans, glasses, utensils, and other cooking implements we had accumulated over the years.
After ridding ourselves of all the excess, we thoroughly enjoyed having an ultra-minimalist “kitchen” during our six weeks of transition from the US to the UK: nothing more than our sporks, titanium cups, and a tea kettle (and the occasional hotel microwave). Of course, we relied heavily upon restaurants and prepared foods from grocery stores—not exactly a long-term solution.
Now that we’re “rebuilding” our kitchen, we’re determined to keep things to a minimum. We only want to own those culinary items we use on a regular basis.
Sure, we could have a super-minimalist kitchen if we didn’t cook very often (or ate mostly frozen dinners or convenience foods). However, my husband and I enjoy preparing meals together, and try to base our (vegetarian + fish) diet on whole, unprocessed foods. Therefore, we’ve deemed a functional kitchen one of our necessities.
After an initial run to Ikea for the absolute basics, we’ve been taking it slow when it comes to culinary apparatus—and acquiring things strictly on an as-needed basis. Our main criteria: we must use something at least once a week for it to earn a place in our kitchen. So far, we’ve been getting by quite nicely with the following items:
Pots and pans: large skillet, saucepan, pasta pot, baking pan
Small appliances: tea kettle, rice cooker, French press (instead of coffee maker)
Other: chef’s knife, bread knife, paring knife, colander, steamer, cutting board, measuring cup, spatula, serving spoon, whisk, can opener, corkscrew, stainless steel mixing bowl, water filtration pitcher
For utensils, we purchased an inexpensive, four-place setting (after looking high and low for open stock or single settings, to no avail). It seems excessive to have extra forks and spoons on an everyday basis, but I suppose they’ll come in handy if we have guests for dinner. We also bought four plates, two bowls, two coffee mugs, and a set of four small glasses (to be used for all liquids other than coffee and tea).
[In general, I’m not a fan of owning extra stuff for the handful of times we entertain; when we hosted Thanksgiving dinner last year, I had no problem borrowing extra plates and utensils for the evening. That might be a bit harder here in the UK, though, without friends and family who understand our minimalist lifestyle!]
Plenty of websites and cookbooks offer lists of kitchen essentials; more than a few, however, seem intent on making sure you’ll be able to cook anything at any time. In that sense, having a minimalist kitchen requires some minor adjustments in priorities and lifestyle. I wouldn’t be able to bake cupcakes tonight on a whim, for example—but I’m okay with that. In fact, we’ve decided to forego bakeware almost entirely; instead of making our own sweets, we save those calories for when we travel—and sample the baked goods of the countries we visit. 
Of course, everyone’s list of essentials will be different; ours simply suits what we like to cook, and eat (mainly pasta, rice, soups, salads, and sautéed and steamed vegetables).
I’d love to hear what everyone else finds necessary… Leave a comment, and let me know what’s in your minimalist kitchen!
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We seem to have a lot in common – we’re both minimalists, don’t watch TV, like sitting on the floor, and are pesco-vegetarians! Cool! (We’d love to become vegans one day though, if only we could let go of sushi and the occasional pasta with cream
).
As for our kitchen, the apartments we stay in provide the basics – utensils, pots and pans etc. The only things we need to bring ourselves or buy are a rice cooker and a blender for juicing (we make juice every day). My husband would buy large noodle bowls for his ramen though if ever we settle down.
I basically have one drawer (a large one) in my kitchen for all the extraneous doo-dads that I love to use. After being here for 2 years I recently went through the contents, item by item and found that I consistenly used everything in there. So I was quite pleased. If I had to I could condense but I really don’t need to. The drawer is not overstuffed. Everything is in clear sight and I cook a LOT. We are vegans but I am also a former professional chef so cooking is just a huge part of my life. We love to eat. I love this site because it keeps me thinking about what is important in my life. I know I don’t truly qualify as a minimalist but I definitely lean that way and I want to keep learning. So thanks for your inspiration.
your friend,
janet
Fantastic post. Our kitchen was a clutter bomb. So we purged it of excess stuff and have kept it very minimal. We have eating tools, pots, pans, etc. Just enough for the 2 of us.
It was amazing how much excess stuff we had in the kitchen. For example, we had 2 different sets of dishes that could have fed 12 people! One dish set was from our wedding and another a gift from my mom. We have people over all the time, but we could never seat 12 people. There isn’t enough room in our tiny apartment.
I love your rule of keeping only things you “use…at least once a week”. I used this as a guideline while decluttering my own kitchen, but cheated with my muffin pan (which I use once a year!). Today, after your post, I’m finally ready to give up my pursuit of muffin making – off it shall go into my donation box. When I really think of all that’s involved in the process – brown sugar, butter, white sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, oatmeal, chocolate chips, nuts, lots of stirring, lots of burning – I realize it’s not for me, anyway.
My kitchen has 19 things in it (18 after the muffin pan is gone). I’m trying to get all of my kitchen stuff to fit in one banker’s box. Not quite there yet, but getting closer each week.
I am in love with our minimalist kitchen; perhaps more than any other room! We have very few utensils, pots and dishes. We keep dishes on a wire rack above the sink. Our food is kept on a small metal shelf and towels, electric skillet, cutting board, utensils and French press go under the stainless steel restaurant table which I love. We have one small cupboard that will soon be demo’d. The teapot stays on the stove. The pots and cake pan go under the stove. By the way, we spent about $260 on our kitchen redo after the demo which was necessary after water damage from an overfilled water filter. This includes the shelving, shelf brackets and floor. We still need to paint the walls and cupboard under the sink. I am considering making some curtains also. It’s beautiful, clean and simple! I have a great husband.
Such a timely post as I’ve been eyeing the kitchen cabinets lately.
It’s the entertaining and special events that seem to have guided me to purchase things which I no longer use and then they sit around, taking up space and collecting dust. From experience, like you, I know that friends are more than happy to bring items over for you to borrow and I need to rely on this more.
I prefer to have my countertops uncluttered and by relieving the cabinets from all the one-time used items I’ll have more needed storage with easy access.
Wow, you’re all so inspirational–I love this little community of minimalists we’re building here!
Mia, we sound like two peas in a pod. I’d love to go vegan too, but can’t imagine giving up sushi or yogurt (the latter has done wonders for my digestive system).
janet, I think you’ve found your perfect point of enough–no need to reduce if you’re using all the items. I’ll definitely be hanging out on your blog for menu ideas; your Thanksgiving dinner sounds delicious!
LOL, Tammy–a long time ago I inherited a 12-place set of dishes from my grandmother. After dragging it around for two moves, I passed it along to another family member. They were beautiful, but didn’t fit our lifestyle AT ALL.
Great comment, Sunny. I love how letting go of a *thing* often frees us from an activity we weren’t that into anymore! (Hope you don’t miss the muffins, though…)
Ellen, love the description of your kitchen. It sounds so simple and serene. I’m also frugal, and very impressed with your $260 redo!
Zoe, it was such a relief to let all those seldom-used items go. Borrowing is a wonderful thing! I think you’ll love the space you re-gain.
When I moved from Upstate New York to the Bay Area, I really downsized, especially my kitchenware. I put a bunch of stuff up for sale on Craig’s List and it was great fun to discover that the woman who carted off the majority of it was moving into the house behind my apartment building! I have virtually no bakeware now and don’t miss baking at all. I love my metal wire shelves from Ikea for storing my minimalist stuff. Having everything visible and handy helps me not let things pile up.
Ann, I agree, it’s so nice to know someone else is putting your extra stuff to good use! I really enjoyed chatting with all the people who purchased our things from Craigslist.
I haven’t missed baking, either; in fact, we’ve had a ball sampling the sweets in London (and the European cities we’ve visited) instead!
What I’m enjoying about your celebratory approach to minimalism is that it helps me celebrate my own inner minimalist. I’ve encountered many versions of minimalism that are more like asceticism, which doesn’t resonate with me at all. What resonates with me here in these postings is that I sense the value placed on beauty, which is important to me.
I’ll never forget the sweets in Paris! Hope you’ve enjoyed them.
Thanks, Ann–I think that by eliminating the “distractions” in our environment, minimalism helps us recognize, and appreciate, beauty even more.
And yes, we very much enjoyed the sweets in Paris–it’s a good thing we did a lot of walking!
I’ve gone without measuring cups and spoons for almost 10 years now. I figured out the one cup level on our drinking glasses, and a lot of weights I guesstimate from the packages. Not doing any super precise baking, however! You’d be surprised how unnecessary they are…
Very cool, Tracy! I love learning creative ways to do *without* such things.
Great ideas!
I was able to donate our rice cooker after I learned a great tip for cooking rice from Saveur magazine. Now we just fill up a large pasta pot with water – no need to measure – set that water to boiling and add whatever amount of rice you wish and then let it simmer for its recommended cooking time. Any excess water you can use a colander to strain. Makes perfect fluffy rice every time and it’s one less appliance that does only one thing, and I don’t have to dig it out of a cupboard any longer.
Now I need to go access my own kitchen drawers again – I know there is some egg poaching gadget I don’t think anyone has or ever will use ha-ha.
Thanks for the tip on cooking rice, Kelly — I’ll have to try this. I like my rice cooker, but it would be nice to eliminate another appliance…
I love this post, and love your list. I have been in major declutter mode … having realised that it wasn’t enough to only keep what I ‘use’ but to figure out ways to ‘use’ less! Your once a week rule is a great one! We got rid of our rice cooker as I actually prefer to cook rice the way Kelly suggested. Ours is still a work in progress …
Thanks Gypsy! Best of luck with your kitchen decluttering — have fun with it!
It amazes me reading your blog of the differences between England and Australia. I was just out shopping tonight at the local mall and 1 of the shops there had a large display of single cutlery items, including sporks! I can’t believe the UK doesn’t do that how weird!
Oh and the other thing, you don’t have a garlic press in your minimalist kitchen? I would have thought being almost vegan (sorry can’t remember what you called it) that garlic would have been something you used alot for not only flavour but health benefits.
Hi nathaniel! Admittedly, we had been in the UK for all of one week before acquiring flatware; so perhaps we just never found the stores that sell single settings! No, we don’t have a garlic press; we just use a knife.
Hi. I didn’t know rice cookers existed until I spent a couple of years in Toronto! I’ve always used a pan of boiling water (as have all my family and friends here in the UK – perhaps I just don’t get out enough…).
I read on your profile that you were interested in making your own bread. I tried that last year in the hope of making tastier, healthier bread. Bought an electric breadmaker, lugged bags of organic flour back from the store. Persevered for several months, then realised that we (two adults and small child) just didn’t eat enough bread to finish a loaf before it became stale. And I was perpetually cleaning up crumbs from slicing the loaf, and bemoaning the amount of worktop space the machine and bags of flour occupied. So I ebayed it and am now much happier back with shop-bought bread. If I made my own bread again I’d do it by hand – much more minimalist