Every kitchen needs at LEAST one cast iron skillet. Why not, they're cheap! The sheer weight of cast iron makes it hold heat evenly for beautiful, easy cooking. Lodge is the last "Made in the USA" cast iron manufacturer, and they've been around a long time.

The only knife I've needed to add to my Anolon set. Santoku are a knife workhorse and it's worth having at least one big one.

Why 7 cups? If you wind up doing a lot of cooking you'll be grateful for more than just the 4 basic cups. This set of stainless steel beauties is dishwasher safe and will not rust. No OXO here, as their handles are weaklings. If you do not plan on doing much baking there is a MIU 5-piece set that's cheaper.

Why buy new what you can get cheaper refurbished? My mom has a KitchenAid so of course I wanted one too. The Artisan mixers have a tilt-back beater, which is very handy.

NOTE: This used to cost around $35-$40. The only vendor still selling on Amazon jacked up the price. At its original $40 price, it makes it affordable to own a breadmaker, even if you don't use it every other day. Also saves on electricity by not running your oven, or having a bunch of bowls and pans to wash up!

Many times, especially if baking, you will want to measure by weight rather than volume to ensure your recipe doesn't fall on its face. This scale is small, inexpensive and fits the bill. There are lots of very fancy kitchen scales out now that calculate nutritional value and calories and blah blah blah... who actually uses that consistently?

Great for washing and drying veggies. Does multiple duties as a salad bowl, storage bowl and colander.

Nothing makes you feel like a spoiled cook like bunches of mixing bowls, from large down to the teeniest wee ones. These are great because you can pop them in the microwave if you're making something that requires melted chocolate, butter, etc. Also good for serving food or storing leftovers.

No more melted or stained spatulas, yay!

So useful all over the kitchen. I use them for grilling, pan frying, deep frying, retrieving stuff that's slid on the rack or fallen to the bottom a hot oven and countless other duties. I personally own 2 of these, so I often use one when dealing with raw meat and the other once the meat is cooked.

An absolute must have if you want to make delicious steaks. You can get some good results using forks, but this takes it to another level and is much faster (and easier on your hands!)