Kitchen Equipment for Newlyweds

Everything your first kitchen will need.

Cooking for two not only requires you to scale back recipe quantities, but you’ll also need to downsize baking dishes, pans, and skillets. Appliances such as toaster ovens and smaller microwaves are helpful, too, because they use less energy and take up less space in your first home kitchen. Use this list as a guide to outfit your kitchen and give you confidence as you begin cooking for your small family.

Helpful Small Appliances

Toaster Oven: While a toaster oven will not brown bread as evenly as a toaster, there are models available now that can broil burgers, bake small cakes or pans of cookies, roast a chicken, and cook everything from casseroles to a pork tenderloin. Some come with a convection feature, as well. Look for a model with an electronic touchpad and a porcelain interior.

Slow Cooker: The faster the pace of your day, the better these appliances look. Slow cookers come in two basic shapes and many sizes; round or oval, a smaller 1- to 2-quart size is better for preparing meals for two. Look for a model with electronic controls that let you program a dish and automatically switch to “warm” when cooked. If unavailable, get a slow cooker that has at least 2 heat settings.

Indoor Grill: If you are in a hurry and have a thin cut of meat to grill, a contact grill, that sandwiches the food like a waffle iron, is a quicker alternative to outdoor grilling. An open grill, that cooks one side of the food at a time on an open broiler plate, can handle thicker cuts of meat and will sear the food with grill marks. On both types, a drip pan is positioned beneath the surface to collect grease and juices. One drawback is that indoor grills only heat to 400 degrees F, so grilled foods will not have a charred outside crust that they would get if cooked under an oven broiler or on an outdoor grill.

Food Processors and Blenders: When you are chopping smaller amounts for recipes for two, a 10- to 14-cup capacity food processor doesn’t seem like a necessary tool, however, there are 4- to 6-cup capacity food processors that are convenient to use for chopping, mixing, and puréeing smaller amounts of ingredients. All you need are two speeds: on and pulse.

A blender is always nice to have for making smoothies and other beverages and pureeing soups and sauces. Hand-held immersion blenders are great for pureeing soups and sauces right in the pot you are cooking in, so cleanup is easier.

Hand-Held Mixer: Unless you are a dedicated baker, all you need is a hand-held model that feels balanced and comfortable in your hand. Three speeds are sufficient, as long as they are well differentiated. A sturdy hand-held mixer is easier to store and lighter to maneuver than a stand mixer, and it will see you through years of dessert making.

Skillets, Pots and Baking Pans

Cast-Iron Skillets: A 9-inch, factory-seasoned cast-iron skillet will be your new best friend. You can make the perfect-sized omelets and frittatas, cook the right amount of bacon, make cornbread, bake biscuits or an upside-down cake, sear 2 steaks, chicken breasts, or fish fillets, and roast a pork tenderloin in it. A 10- to 11-inch, 3-inch-deep cast-iron skillet with a cover is a good size for braising or cooking stews and chili. Preseasoned cast-iron skillets are not designer cookware, but they conduct heat well, and are a less expensive choice. They can be used on top of the stove to sear and simmer, and transferred to the oven for longer cooking.

Saucepans: Deep, heavy 1-, 2-, and 3-quart saucepans will accomplish most boiling and simmering jobs.

Wish List of Baking Pans:

• 1-, 2- and 4-cup casseroles or ramekins for cooking casseroles, meat dishes, or baking puddings
• Small roasting pan, fitted with a rack, for roasting meats
• Quarter- and half-sheet pans from restaurant supply store for baking cookies and roasting vegetables
• 8- or 9-inch square baking pan for baking small sheet cakes, cornbread, gingerbread, etc.
• 9 x 5-inch loaf pan for breads, loaf cakes, and meat loaves
• Baking pans that hold six muffins or mini-loaves or mini-Bundt cakes