I can't tell you how many questions I get about people asking me what my top are and what they should get. I'm gonna take you through my top 20 essential kitchen tools with a few bonus extras that every serious should consider buying if they don't already have it. Sounds good ? Let's go.
The first one is of course the chef's knife. Whether it's 8 inches, 10 inches or even a 12-inch chef's knife, this is your workhorse, use it for , cutting, , heck I've even with it before. Get yourself a great chef's knife it, it should cost you at least $100 and it will go all the way up to 5 or 600 bucks. Make sure you've got a good one .

Now to keep that thing , number two is going to be my . This is what helps to bring your edge of your knife back if it starts to get dull. It won't create but it will help to bring it back if it's already sharp. Have you ever sliced a tomato or sliced 5 or 6, it goes really , hit it on that steel a little bit, go back to the tomatoes and you'll be in good shape.

Now is the . There are essentially two : one is this hand sharpener that has a coarse and a fine, you simply pull back on with your knife to sort of make it nice and sharp, the other one is an electric, there's usually three different . This is a great great tool to have if you have a ton of knives that get all off and your steel can't help. Try to get an you will not regret it I promise you.

Now for the . There are a million different brands out there when it comes to cutting boards but I like wood and either maple or walnut is really all that I have, and a good cutting board should you a super long time and using wood has a lot of materials in there, which is awesome but of course it's up to you to keep it clean keep it it will last you forever.

And for number five, it's a tool that I probably use in just about every single thing that I make and that's a . This is a half size sheet tray you may have heard it called a cookie sheet tray, I put things on there for , I put things on there when I'm done cooking, I make cookies on them, I put meat on them, and put them in the , you name it, this is such a workhorse. Get a half size cookie sheet tray or half size sheet tray and it will last you a long time. If it gets a little dark in color, that's that beautiful patina, it doesn't make the pan any different, it works the exact same.

Now for that pan and for a lot of things : . I don't ever really use that often unless I may be doing some barbecue. Parchment paper I use all the time and in any professional kitchen, it is used all the time. Often, when you cook directly on a sheet tray, it can kind of have a metallic , sometimes a tinny taste. To help with that, parchment paper goes underneath whatever it is you're cooking on the sheet tray and the best part about it is makes it easier to clean, it helps brown up whatever you're using and here's a bonus : you can also wrap it up and so it becomes a , just like you see here.

And then coming in at number seven I've got a very large pot. This beast is 10 quarts, that's two and a half , that's quite a bit, you can even go higher, I've got some that are 10 gallons for things like stock. But this should be good enough for your home usage. You can bread in this, you can make soups in this, stocks in this, you name it, this thing is a beast. Make sure it does have a lid.

Now along with a big pot comes a small pot. This is a nice sauce pot, it is eight inches in diameter, it's fantastic. If you want to make smaller soups, obviously sauces work great, or it's also a great pan if you want to foods in there. It's fantastic.

Next is probably one of those important things and that is a great . It doesn't matter if it's 8, 10, 12 or even 14 inches, you have got to invest in a good saute pan. I only use either stainless steel and here's why. When pans or pots get , they secrete whatever the materials are. So iron gets hot, it secretes iron, it's good for you. Stainless actually doesn't really release that much but think about Teflon, aluminum, when those get hot, that's what you're putting into your body and you don't need to spend thousands of dollars on any of these pots or pans. I always say if you can learn how to cook, you can cook on a hot rock, but do take the time to do some research, invest in some pants that can last you forever.

Now for number 10 a microplane. This is yours , this is your very very fine grater, you can do things like nutmeg on here it is used so frequently in a professional kitchen, you won't believe it, they're not very expensive and you can keep them nice and clean, and cleaned out because stuff gets stuck in there it will last you a super long time.

And with a fine grater comes a more coarse grater. This simple grater is a fantastic tool to have in your kitchen. Whether it's cheese or you need to shave something, whatever it is. Also be careful, these are the things you can really cut your fingers on and it's not pretty, so please be careful with this.

And now for number 12, the strainer. I've got quite a few different , of strainers, some are more fine, some aren't. These are great to strain pastas, veggies, rinsing off fruit or vegetables that are raw, if it's fine enough you can run some sauces through there to strain any unwanted stuff in there. Have at least one good strainer.

Now number 13, a . Super essential. Obviously you can peel all sorts of vegetables or fruits or even , if you want to get them nice and , I like to shave vegetables too for like a nice shaved veggie salad. Iit is essential to have a really nice sharp peeler. Now this one is a Swiss style peeler, maybe used to just a regular sort of hand peeler that runs this way, this you sort of run down in this sort of fashion. Regardless, get one that you love, you'll be fine, it'll last you forever.

Here we go for the next one: . You definitely need a good set of tongs. I remember being in the restaurant industry where there we said, the left hand becomes the you're holding, and the right hand becomes your tongs, because you're constantly using them, moving things around, nothing worse than things not being able to flip because you lose grip or perhaps, you've got rubber ends on the end of those tongs, and they burn up. Get a nice pair of metal tongs, you won't regret it.

Now for number 15, we've got a . I highly recommend getting a metal whisk because some of those batters are super , or sauces are super thick, and nothing worse than having a little rubber plasticky whisk. Also, if you keep it clean, it will last a very long time. There was a whisk that I used to use back one of the restaurants that was 25 years old. Keep everything clean it will last you a super long time.

Now to the next one, a . If you're Italian, you've already got 50 of these, whether you're mixing sauces or soups, anything in a potter pan, it's great to have and most of them are obviously, well, this is wooden, so keep it clean don't put in the , scrub it by hand, let it dry.

Now for this one, the rubber spatula. This is your money saver in the restaurant industry because you can get every last little out of that pot or pan, save your restaurant some money but it's also a great to have to keep things really clean. You can plate things up with it because you can smooth things out, make them look really really pretty. Definitely invest in a really good rubber spatula.

And next we have a . I've learned to love these over the last 15 years, such a great time-saver. You can make vinaigrette, sauces, you can even make dough, in a food processor. I absolutely love them. Never put them in the dishwasher, scrub them out by hand. like I said with anything on here, if you take good care of it, it will literally you forever.

Now to the next one may seem a little crazy, but it's . I have a huge jar over my shoulder here. I use them to taste things, to things, to plate up, you see me always plating up in slow mo in a lot of my videos, the spoon is essential. Some nice metal spoons, be sure to get a bunch. I’ve got small, medium, large, a bunch of different sizes, obviously keep them super clean, you'll be good to go.

And last but not least, in my top 20 essential list are . I like glass bowls, I feel like they're very neutral in and by that I mean, if you ever had a big metal bowl, and use a wire whisk, and you mix it in, all of a sudden, you're tasting sort of a metallic taste or almost like a tinny taste. are great for that to not have that happen to you. Metal bowls obviously are essential if you're using it as a but any sort of shatterproof bowl that's nice and thick like this will be awesome.

Now obviously you can see from all the video clips in here that I use all these things all the dang time in my recipes, but that's 20. I'm gonna give you 10 bonus items that I oftentimes use and you should consider purchasing. Starting with number 21, the serrated knife. I obviously make and slice and eat a ton of bread and it's not only good for slicing bread but it's also great for peeling large melons or even watermelon or even slicing pies. What happens is the serrated edge will allow you to kind of saw a thing so it doesn't smash down. Get a good serrated knife.

And another knife that I love number 22 here, the . You may not need a maybe you always want to hone those cooking and knife cutting skills so grab a paring knife and you can pair away at those potatoes and carrots, you can peel anything. Also it's good if you have a lot of little foods that you're cutting up or need to kind of get that knife in small areas, a good paring knife goes a long way. Be sure to always keep it clean.

And for number 23 we have something called the that I often call the “chinoice”. This is a very very fine . It's really only great for stocks and sauces, it will make those beautiful because you will strain up any little unwanted particle that you do not want in your sauce. These can be up to a hundred bucks, they can be a little expensive, again I was always taught to never run this in a dishwasher, keep it clean by hand, let it dry, it will last you forever.

Next I've got the . This was the blender before the blender was the blender. This is what you use to anything, sauces, soups, whole peeled tomatoes that you get from the can, you want to smooth out these, also make insane mashed potatoes, you like smooth mashed potatoes, this is for you, you will love it.

And next I've got the . I obviously use this thing all the time, whether I'm making doughs or batters, I mean you can do anything in a stand mixer. Obviously this KitchenAid has been around for a long time you see them in a lot of my videos, it can get expensive, two, three hundred even four or five for some of the bigger ones, but a great if you love baking this is definitely, this will be in your top 20 essentials.

Now for the next one: blenders .I have become obsessed with blenders in the last five years probably because I drink a lot of smoothies. But you can actually use a food blender oftentimes in replacement of a food processor. It's great to sauces, soups, make smoothies obviously, it's such a wonderful tool and you definitely got to get a good one. You have to spend some money on a good blender because it will last you a super long time. I can't tell you how many cheap blenders I've blown through that weren't worth a dang thing, and now I've got one. I've already had it for eight years and it's been fantastic.

And for number 27 we have a . This is great to sauce things up, this is great to food before it goes on the grill or vegetables, whether it's meat, doesn't even matter, it's good for doing that ,it's really great for plating up anything and being very delicate, the pastry brush is awesome, and if you're a big barbecueer, this is obviously a huge essential, probably in your top 20.

I've got three more. This next one though is a thermometer. I used to be super super anti-thermometer, especially when I was in the restaurant industry because we did everything by , we just knew it cuz we have so much practice, but if you're starting out or even if you're not, a good thermometer is essential. It is so so great to have especially if you cook a lot of meats or smoke a lot of meats outside on your smoker or barbecue, it tells you exactly what it is, there's no getting around it, you want -, 125 or 130 is what I mean, you got it, you're good to go you want to smoke that brisket, you want to get to 204, boom, stick it, go it, it even can do bread. it is a great tool to have and honestly this thermapen is by far the best one I've ever seen.

Two more. Here we go. The . I mean, I make a ton of pasta, you don't need a pasta roller. You've seen my video, you can do it by hand but obviously this is great if you're making biscuits, , you name it. A good rolling pin should last you a super long time. Again keep it clean, never in the dishwasher. Get a good one, last you forever.

And finally for the last one, and prep containers. Everyone has that cupboard where you open it up and all the and all of the containers fall out. none of them match, none of them fit, oh my gosh, so frustrating. So about 7 or 8 years ago, I was like, you know, I've had enough of this, I'm going back to my roots and that's the restaurant industry. These are also known as delis or solos, they come in a bunch of different sizes. I have 8 ounce, 16 ounce and 32 ounces. The great thing is they're BPA-free and they all have . That is huge. Whenever I'm making big meals, I prep everything out into these little containers or I obviously store them, put them in the fridge. These are just gold, my friends and commis I say it, every single week, even when it comes to kitchen tools, you start putting these things into practice and using them, you come more , it’s just better overall cook, it will make all your homemade food from scratch taste better, it always does.