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 (though currently I am considering adding a boning knife.) 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.

To go with your bread machine! If you get the above breadmaker, don't bother with their included recipes. Get this book instead, seriously!

It really is perfect. Measures liquids in every scale imaginable.

All the glass measuring cups you will ever need. Pyrex sets are hard to keep track of in Listmanias, and there are other colors out there, but you get the general idea!

A round casserole dish with lid, a 13x9 glass baking dish, and a 8x8 square glass dish. This has all the glass bakeware you're going to need unless you make a loooooot of casseroles!

Great for brushing butter or eggs when baking, BBQ sauce or marinades when grilling , butter or juices when basting, and so on. Silicone cleans up great and the bristles won't melt or fall off like a normal brush!

Great little tool for making cookies, meatballs, scooping ice cream and other things. So much easier on your hand muscles!

Handy for all sorts of tasks around the kitchen. Actually 2 funnels + 1 strainer insert. Try using the large funnel lined with several coffee filters for purifying and storing frying oil for reuse.

I love this set of pots and pans. Heavy and perfectly weighted, with lids that fit great. They look gorgeous and clean up easily. Goes into the oven too! I had considered fancy anodized, nonstick... meh! This is cheaper, yet amazingly good.

Like its bigger 12" brother above, still going strong after many a scrambled egg and seared fish fillet and the subsequent trips through the dishwasher. Best nonstick pans I've ever seen. Lid from the set 2 items up fit this pan too.

Great-looking dishwashable cutting boards, don't skid around on the counter, and are easily color coded so you can avoid cross-contamination! Mine hold up great.

Saves soooo much time. Great for making coffee, tea & oatmeal and anything else you need hot water for. It's been a month and I've gone through 8 lbs. of coffee and all my teabags because I actually drink it daily now! Microwave? Messy boilover. Stove? Takes forever and hard to pour out of a pot. Kettle? Crazy expensive! And it just sits there taking up room the rest of the time!