1. Panini press
   Countertop grill
2. Griddle
   Waffle maker

Chef Alton Brown says he can't live without a panini press, and neither should you. This machine heats up and creates the perfect environment for melty cheese sandwiches and crispy, buttery bread.

1. Potato masher
   Immersion blender
2. Soup stirrer
   Thermometer

Immersion blenders are the type of blender that you can stick right in your pot of soup or a sauce you're making to smooth it out without having to transfer it to an actual blender. It's also a heck of a lot easier to clean.

1. Oven
   Toaster oven
2. Dehydrator
   Air fryer

A dehydrator can serve many purposes, and is becoming more popular with adventurist home cooks. You can dehydrate meat for jerky, or even vegetables and liquids to make flavored powders.

1. Rubber spatula
   Spoon
2. Slotted spoon
   Silicone spatula

A silicone spatula is the utensil of choice for scraping down the side of mixing bowls and getting every last drop out of whatever cooking vessel you're using. Silicone is great because it is flexible and allows you to get into every nook and cranny and is FAR more heat-resistant than plastic or rubber.

1. Bamboo steamer
   Bain marie
2. Double boiler
   Saute pan

A bamboo steamer is the vessel of choice for properly steaming dumplings. It allows you to steam and serve all in the same container, and is the traditional way to cook steamed dumplings.

1. Strainer
   Salad spinner
2. Collander
   Chopper

A salad spinner is a great, and inexpensive way to dry out salad greens that you've just washed. They can be a bit bulky to store, but they really come in handy. As it spins, it throws all of the excess water into the catch-all bowl surrounding the spinner.

1. Grater
   Meat pounder
2. Citrus press
   Garlic press

If you're someone who drinks a lot of fresh-pressed juice or makes a lot of sauces and marinades from scratch. a citrus presser is essential!

1. Nutri-Bullet blender
   Hand-held Food chopper
2. Cuisinart Food processor
   Vitamix blender

A Vitamix blender is one of the most sought-after blenders for home cooks and professionals alike. It is powerful, attractive and lasts forever, according to many reviews. They're pricey, but worth it.

1. Stand mixer
   Hand-held mixer
2. Whisk
   Egg beaters

Stand mixers are an essential part of making bread, cake batters, cookie doughs, pretty much anything that needs to be mixed, hence the name. There are very popular brands that are worth the money, but you can also get really quality ones for more reasonable prices.

1. Pounder
   Mortar and pestle
2. Grinder
   Rolling pin

A mortar and pestle is like a mallet and a bowl that you use to crush spices, and make things like pesto if you want to do it the old-fashioned way, or if you don't have an electric appliance to make it in. It's also really fun.

1. Shredder
   Box grater
2. Mandolin
   Spiralizer

A mandolin is an incredibly sharp slicing contraption that gets paper-thin slices of vegetables without electricity. Make sure to wear a glove or use the guard provided to protect your fingers from the blades.

1. Glass measuring cups
   Measuring spoons
2. Regular kitchen silverware
   Digital scale

Volume measuring is better for liquids, but regular measuring cups don't always give the most accurate measurement for dry ingredients like flour. A digital scale will allow you to get accurate baking measurements in ounces or grams.

1. Kitchen shears
   Boning knife
2. Chef's knife
   Paper scissors

Kitchen shears are much stronger than normal scissors, have bigger, thicker blades, and can get through things like chicken bones. They are handy for breaking down whole chickens or cutting through tough cartilage.

1. Food processor
   Spice grinder
2. Coffee grinder
   Manual chopper

Buying whole spices like peppercorns, clove, coriander, etc. and grinding them yourself makes for much more intense flavor. Pre-ground spices lose their potency over time, so being able to grind them yourself increases the flavor profile.

1. Wax paper
   Parchment paper
2. Silpat
   Butter and flour

Silpats are completely non-stick and the best option for lining a cookie sheet for any kind of baking or cooking anything sticky on a sheet pan. It's the silicon that provides the non-stick surface.

1. Oven camera
   Oven thermometer
2. Tenderizer
   Meat thermometer

There are different varieties of meat thermometers, like digital, in-oven, etc. It is important to put the thermometer at the thickets part of the meat because that will take the longest to reach temperature.

1. Slow-cooker
   Pressure cooker
2. Instant pot
   Air fryer

Slow-cookers are designed to cook things at a lower temperature for a longer period of time, with indirect heat so you don't have to worry about burning what you're cooking. This method is good for tough cuts of meat and hard vegetables.

1. Non-stick pan
   Cast iron skillet
2. Stainless steel pan
   Anodized aluminum pan

A cast iron skillet is great for cooking almost everything. It works for pancakes, burgers, searing scallops, etc. You'll get a good crust and added flavor from the seasoning of cooking with it for so long.

1. Knife case
   Honing pole
2. Knife sharpener
   Knife protector

Knife sharpeners can get really elaborate, but there are simpler options that are loved by chefs and home-cooks alike. You just run your knife through each step a few times, and good as new.

1. Mashers
   Spatulas
2. Spoons
   Whisks

Whisks serve a bunch of purposes, with whipping things like cream being the most common. Balloon whisks are larger and can handle bigger quantities of liquid, but smaller versions can do just about anything.

1. Serrated knife
   Paring knife
2. Chef's knife
   Filet knife

Serrated knives are so great for things like bread, but they are also really handy for slicing tomatoes. The knife can cut right into it more efficiently than a smooth blade, unless that knife is razor-sharp, which most aren't.

1. Mandoline
   Vegetable peeler
2. Slicer
   Vegetable spiraler

The classic vegetable peeler is still making the rounds to this day because it is an essential kitchen tool. You can peel carrots, potatoes, the fibrous outside of asparagus, and more. They can dull after a while so it's important to keep an eye on that.

1. Spatula
   Chopsticks
2. Tongs
   Pan handle

Metal tongs, rubber tongs, silicone tongs, whatever tong you choose is a great help when flipping meat or taking heavier or uneven things out of a pan that would be hard to a spatula to get up. Pro tip: Get a long-handled one to avoid oil splatter on your hands and arms.

1. Mixing bowl
   Garbage bowl
2. Mise en place bowls
   Cutting board

Cutting boards make for easy prep and easy cleanup. Once you've chopped and cut and portioned everything you need to on the cutting board, you can just put it right in the dishwasher. This isn't recommended for bamboo or other wooden boards, though.

1. Mixing bowls
   Soup bowl
2. Blender vessel
   Food processing bowl

Glass mixing bowls come in every size you could possible need, and you can never have enough. A lot of them can even be used for storage of leftovers if they come with airtight lids.

1. Mallet
   Tenderizer
2. Pounder
   Meat press

A meat tenderizer is a special tool with little needles in it that punch holes in the meat in order to break up the tissue and ligaments in order to make the cut of meat more tender. Cuts like skirt steak and brisket respond really well to this tool.

1. Napkin
   Paper towel
2. Side towel
   Apron

Side towels come in packs of like, 100, and good thing too because chefs go through them very quickly. Wiping up messes is just part of working in, or just being in, a kitchen, so being prepared with enough towels is key. Chefs also use them to take things out of the oven.

1. Roasting pan
   Stock pot
2. Steam pot
   Double boiler

Double boilers prevent chocolate from burning when melting on the stove. It's just one smaller bowl or pot set inside a bigger one so that the steam from the boiling water in the bigger one melts whatever is in the smaller one.

1. Pasta machine
   Rolling pin
2. Hydraulic press
   Food processor

A pasta machine will help you get your dough thinner than a rolling pin ever could. You can get the attachment for your stand mixer, or buy a separate one that clips to the edge of your countertop.

1. Peeler
   Spiralizer
2. Food chopper
   Curly fry maker

A spiralizer helps turn things like zucchini and carrots, as well as other long vegetables, into noodle-like strands. People use this as a low-carb alternative to pasta, as it can have a similar satisfying texture.

1. Level spatula
   Fish spatula
2. Off-set spatula
   Butter knife

An off-set spatula is better than an even spatula for icing cakes because the back part is raised off of the surface of the cake. This can prevent that part of the spatula from damaging nicely frosted cake, and having to do it twice.

1. Scissors
   Knife
2. Tongs
   Tweezers

Bone tweezers are a little heftier than your normal cosmetic tweezers as they need to be strong enough to take bones out of fish. The shape is also a little different. While not 100% a kitchen necessity, they are helpful.

1. Bench scraper
   Plate
2. Dough cutter
   Transporter

A bench scraper is usually metal, but they do make plastic ones. It is used to scrape things off your cutting board or counter-top in order to transfer them to a waiting pan. Doing this with a knife will dull your blade.

1. Mezza luna
   Pizza wheel
2. Half knife
   Kitchen scissors

A pizza wheel, while used mostly to slice pizza, can also be used to cut and portion pasta, trim pie dough or even section a free-form pie. There's a few kinds of pizza wheels and they all work basically the same.

1. Heavy-bottomed skillet
   Cleaver
2. Rolling pin
   Grinder

A rolling pin is most commonly used for rolling out dough, but it can also be used for crushing cookies for pie crusts and cracking peppercorns if you don't have a grinder. Whether you choose French style, marble or plastic, it's definitely a kitchen must-have.

1. Saber
   Can opener
2. Bottle opener
   Corkscrew

Drinking wine while cooking is very common. Cooking with wine is also very common. Using the right tool to take the cork out of your bottle is important. A corkscrew, whether mechanical or manual, gets the job done.

1. Corer
   Slicer
2. Seeder
   Peeler

A corer is a tool used to take the inedible core out of fruits like apples and pineapples. All you have to do is stick the sharp-edged tool into the fruit and push it through the other side to remove the core.

1. Trivet
   Oven mitts
2. Latex gloves
   Apron

Oven mitts are given the name for a pretty simple reason: They are gloves you wear to take things out of the oven. There are so many different kinds, colors, sizes and materials, but they are definitely a necessity.

1. Whisk
   Hand chopper
2. Hand mixer
   Wooden spoon

A hand mixer is a more compact, affordable option for those who like to whip up creations just like the pros. Even professional utilize hand mixers for smaller batches of things, or if their stand mixer is already in use.

1. Shaver
   Grater
2. Microplane
   Zester

A zester is used to get long strands of citrus rind without getting any of the white, butter pith underneath the colored part. This is a good option if you are going to candy the zest, or want to use it as garnish for a dish.