The Buy Me Once Kitchen: Build a Kitchen to Last a Lifetime
We spend a healthy chunk of our lives in the kitchen. Whether we’re pouring a glass of wine after a trying day, catching up with friends and family over a dish of Grandma’s lasagna or cleaning up sticky messes from a weekend bake with the kids, the kitchen is a universal area of joy and disappointment. Despite how you’re feeling from one day to the next, your kitchenware should never be a source of disappointment; your cast iron pan should only bring you happiness when you look at it or hold it in your hand. A kitchen should be filled with long-lasting, durable products that withstand rigorous daily use and are robust enough to pass on to the next generation. Whether you are an amateur cook or professional baker, we at Buy Me Once feel these products will serve you (and your children) for many years to come. Buy these items once and you’ll never buy them again.
Cooking EssentialsÂ
A Classic Cast Iron Skillet
Cast iron is one of the toughest and best materials available: it’s durable, retains heat, boosts your iron intake and provides you with a safe non-stick surface for your cooking. Cast iron pans are also exceptionally versatile, meeting all of your sauteing, frying, baking, broiling and roasting needs. Solidteknics have engineered one of the best iron pans on the market. The pan is completely composed of metal — no rivets, no synthetic non-stick, only ergonomically designed brilliance, which means there is less of a chance it will break. If I haven’t convinced you yet, you should also know that they’re a snap to clean. Solidteknics also backs all of their cast iron products with a multi-century warranty, meaning you’ll be set for your lifetime, your kid’s lifetime, and your grandkid’s lifetime!
An All-Rounder Dutch Oven
Using their decades of experience in food (and with help from top cookware designers), our new award-winning pans were developed by distinguished food publication SAVEUR. When we saw the SAVEUR Selects range, what first caught our eye was the lifetime guarantee - a great indicator of a quality build. If you’re not familiar with tri-ply cookware, it means that a layer of highly conductive aluminium is sandwiched between the mirror-finish 18/10 stainless steel. This gives the pan fast, even heating - no hotspots here. More design features include stay-cool handles with a grippy milled texture, as well as a rivetless join for a smooth, hygienic surface. A flared rim makes pouring easy. These super-practical pans are dishwasher safe, work on any heat source (induction included) and can even go in the oven at temperatures up to 260°C.
A Set of Hardy Cooking Pots
There’s a reason your grandmother swears by this pot. Le Creuset has long been a household name for long-lasting cookware; in fact, they were an inspiration behind the entire Buy Me Once movement. While the Creuset roasts your bird to succulent, fall-apart tenderness, you’re going to need a set of pots to cook the accompaniments to your holiday feast. 360 Cookware makes an excellent line of high-quality stainless steel saucepots and pans that would look right at home next their cast iron pals. Designed to keep up with professional chefs, all 360 Cookware products are built to last, USA-made and feature three-ply bonded construction. Their stainless steel cookware also comes with a lifetime guarantee, so you can rest easy knowing every festivity is covered. Just be sure to set a timer!
A Sturdy Cutting Board
An elegant chopping board can spruce up the most dismal kitchen countertop. etúHOME excels in heirloom-quality wooden boards made from high quality materials with a focus on design and sustainability, using reclaimed materials from Central Europe and giving them a second life. Each wooden cutting board is unique, making it the perfect wedding or housewarming gift.
BuyMeOnce Tip: A wooden cutting board should last a lifetime if proper care is taken with its maintenance. Check out our article on How to Care for Your Wooden Cutting Boards for a detailed how-to!
Heroic Cooking Utensils
“A hero is only as good as his weapon,” says Disney. I would like to amend this to “A cook is only as good as his utensils.” While a perfectly balanced knife is a chef’s most essential tool, there are many other components that make up a kitchen toolkit. Every day I use either a slotted turner, soup ladle, solid serving spoon or slotted spoon to make a meal, and I bet you’re the same. Origin Utensils has passed the test of professional chefs. Their beautiful stainless steel utensils are attractive and extremely strong. Trust me, get a solid set of utensils and you’ll be a hero (in the kitchen) for life.
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A Tough Strainer
While a strainer may not seem like a kitchen essential, I assure you owning a quality set of mesh colanders will make your life much easier. How many times have you rinsed quinoa or rice and ended up losing half of it down the drain because the holes of your colander were too large? Have you burned yourself draining pasta because your strainer’s handle was too flimsy or bent? How often have you had to extract cement-like mashed potato from the open underwire of your colander? Rosle has set out to make these common strainer struggles a thing of the past. This mesh colander offers super fine wire mesh, ergonomic handle and sealed stainless steel rims. Rosle also offers a stainless steel colander in a conical shape that's perfect for straining vegetables, pasta and washing salads. This colander has evenly distributed perforations over the side and base to ensure quick and efficient drainage. Never flush another grain or pry another potato!
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A Technologically Advanced Grater
My family has owned the same box grater for over 60 years. The 5-sided tool was presented to my grandparents on their wedding day; they then passed it down to my mother and father as part of a housewarming gift. It still possesses the same sharp edge it had in 1948. While the manufacturers of my family’s box grater have long gone out of business (boo!), I have found a suitable 21st century alternative in Rosle. This standing multifunctional grater not only looks smart but is also the perfect workhorse for effortless grating and planing food. Along with three different graters for various grating needs, the unit also comes with a non-slip handle and a removable planing surface makes it easy to clean. A Buy Me Once exclusive lifetime warranty comes with the grater to make sure it lasts well past your silver anniversary.
Stylish Salt & Pepper Mills
Salt and pepper is a staple of any well-stocked kitchen and freshly ground is best. A set of sturdy, reliable salt and pepper mills will last you a lifetime of seasoning, which is why we at Buy Me Once recommend Skeppshult's Cast Iron Salt and Pepper Mills. They come with a high-quality solid cast iron body with walnut wood tops, and are already pre-coated with organic canola oil to protect the iron. These classic grinders look timeless and will last a lifetime.Â
Have a look at our high-quality cast iron grinders and shakers here.
Crusading Cutlery
Whether you’re sleepily spooning cereal into your mouth on a Monday morning, slathering a slice of whole wheat bread with mayonnaise or diving fork-first into your mom’s triple chocolate cake, you’re going to need a sturdy set of cutlery with which to do it. It’s no wonder we chose Liberty Tabletop as our top pick for table settings. Liberty flatware is formed from the highest grade 18/10 stainless steel and designed with weight and balance in mind. Furthermore, the company champions the environment; Liberty has a responsible environmental policy encompassing non-toxic chemical and oils, renewable hydroelectric power, recyclable packaging and locally-based manufacturing. American made, built to last and secured with a 25-year warranty, you can expect a Liberty Tabletop cutlery set to last well past your great-granddaughter’s 30th wedding anniversary.
Invest in heirloom quality flatware here.
Resilient Cups
In a perfect world, dropped drinking glasses would bounce off of the ceramic tiled kitchen floor and into your hand in pristine condition. Unfortunately, reality tends to shatter these illusions. We can’t tally the number of glasses we’ve broken between us here at Buy Me Once, but we can decide on a brand we would choose to replace them. Beautiful and unbreakable, Sertodo’s striking alternatives to traditional glassware will take your table settings to a whole new level. From cocktail kits to cups, coasters to cups, these tools make a statement that elevates the entire experience - as additions to your own collection, or as the perfect gift. And with a Lifetime Guarantee across their tableware, you can consider these permanent fixtures to your dining table.
Baking Essentials Â
An Award-Winning Stand Mixer
If you’re going to buy one pricey piece of kitchen equipment that will last the rest of your life, let it be a stand mixer. Stand mixers are brilliant tools. Not only are they perfect for whisking up any dessert you fancy, many mixer companies now sell a range of attachments to turn your humble friend into a ten- or twelve-function super machine. Now you can own a pasta maker, a meat grinder, a spiralizer, and a food processor without shelling out hundreds of extra pounds. But with so many different stand mixers available, it can be difficult to decide which one to get. Thankfully, Buy Me Once has done the homework for you. The Ankarsrum Assistent Original is the only food mixer you will ever need. In terms of longevity, power, ease of use, multifunctionality and classic design, this Swedish mixer beat out the likes of KitchenAid, Kenwood and Bosch! That is some serious competition. The Assistent first appeared on the market in 1940 amidst the chaos of the Second World War when families were reviewing expenses and preserving more homemade goods than ever before. This machine provided a durable, reliable solution to this problem, allowing families to produce and store more food during a time of crisis.
Over the years, the Assistent has been voted “best in test” on various occasions, and Ankarsrum is the only food mixer company to offer a 5-year warranty on their appliance. (The other companies provide a 1-year limited guarantee.) The mixer is made from chrome and steel and boasts an 800-watt motor, which is located underneath the bowl. This unique design is what gives the Assistent the edge in power and longevity over its competitors. By using the motor to turn the bowl instead of the paddle, it allows an even distribution of power and results in a longer-lasting product. Like a KitchenAid mixer, the Assistent is available in a myriad of colours. It comes with a dough roller and hook, scraper, proofing lid, double beater, cookie and balloon whisks, a 3.5 litre plastic bowl and a 7 litre stainless steel mixing bowl. Various extra attachments are available for purchase separately.Â
A Brawny Set of Bowls
Mixing bowls are so versatile. You can toss a salad in them, spoon cookie dough from them, melt chocolate in them, store last night’s soup in them and bring them on a picnic. Whatever you choose to do with them, you better make sure you have a robust, durable set in your arsenal. Sertodo Copper’s range of copper mixing bowls are in a class of their own, mixing both function and aesthetics. These copper mixing bowls are inspired by the legendary French omelette house, Madame Poulard’s, which uses copper bowls and pans for their famous omelettes.Â
Have a look at all our Sertodo Copper products here.
A Whippy Whisk
Even if you have a stand mixer, it’s always great to have a good old-fashioned wire whisk on hand. You know, for those days when you don’t want to drag out the mixer for a batch of pancakes or to whisk up some scrambled eggs for dinner. Rosle's balloon whisk is our recommendation. This whisk comes with a slender, ergonomic handle and silicone coated wires, perfect for batters that require airy or semi liquid consistencies. Like all of their products, this sturdy 18/10 stainless steel whisk is backed by Buy Me Once's exclusive lifetime guarantee and is dishwasher safe.
A Solid Wooden Spoon and Spatula
Before they had electric mixers, hand whisks and food processors, they had the wooden spoon. This simple tool has been used by professional and home bakers for centuries, and it doesn’t appear to be going out of fashion any time soon. Whether you’re checking the consistency of jam on the back of it or stirring chocolate chips into cookie dough, a wooden spoon will serve you well for years to come. Earlywood makes a durable wooden spatula that's handy for a multitude of tasks. From folding fluffy egg whites into batter to scraping every last drop of caramel sauce out of the pan, this gadget makes sure you stick to your zero waste pledge! All of their tools are made from sturdy hardwood and come with a lifetime guarantee.
Sturdy, sustainable, no-waste tools; you can’t do any better.
The Ultimate Baking Pans
You’ve weighed your ingredients and you’ve mixed your batter. The oven is warm and you’re drooling in anticipation of eating your moist cinnamon coffee cake. But first, it needs to bake. Any serious baker knows you need a quality set of baking tins if you intend on producing well formed, perfectly baked treats. 360 Cookware has been creating quality cookware and bakeware for over 50 years. Their products set the standard for commercial quality bakeware and are trusted by professional bakers across the country. Proudly American-made, 360 Cookware's bakeware range produces even heating from corner to corner and won’t warp, thanks to its 5 ply construction and cladded metal and stainless steel materials.
Check out our extensive bakeware range here.
Concerning Knives
We chose to leave knives out of this article not because we think they’re inessential. We are aware of exactly how essential they are to a well-stocked, long-lasting kitchen, so much so that we felt the Buy Me Once Kitchen Knife deserved its own article. We wrote a piece here on the different types of kitchen knives and how to take care of your investment.
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