Pots, pans, olives and Aesop… of course.

LATELY, I’VE BEEN THINKING a lot about the contents of my kitchen. I’m positive it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact I’m closer to 30 than I am 29, but then again, maybe it does on some subconscious level. But I’ve been thinking about what makes a kitchen feel complete, and by extension, what makes me feel complete. Is it knowing I have martini ingredients in the cupboard, and a couple of fun glasses to serve them in on hand? Hard yes. But it’s also about functional things—like owning a non-stick pan that hasn’t been in a fight with metal tongs, as well as a nice pump bottle of hand soap by a recognisable Australian arbiter of good taste.

If you’re someone who likes cooking, drinking, cutting things with a sharp knife and waking up to spend at least 20 minutes brewing a cup of coffee, there’s a chance you’ve been thinking about the contents of your kitchen too. You might not have your shit together—you might only cook toasted cheese sandwiches—but it’s amazing who you can fool with a put-together kitchen (sometimes, when I look at my colour-coded stack of cookbooks, I fool myself).

No matter what stage of life you’re at, or who you’re trying to impress—not that you need to impress anybody!—I think we can all agree on the importance of a kitchen filled with sensible, stylish things. If you’ve been thinking about tossing your rusted cutlery, or upgrading your coffee game from instant to batch brew, why not consider making a few more upgrades while you’re at it? Scroll on for 11 essential suggestions.


Our Place

1

A grown-up pan

If you’re still using that scratched-up pan you inherited from your first share house, it’s probably time to switch it out with a shiny new model. Our Place’s Always Pan sautés, fries, roasts, boils, bakes, braises, sears, strains, serves and stores whatever cooking experiment you happen to be undertaking, while its ceramic nonstick coating is totally free of PFAS, lead and cadmium. It even comes with a beechwood spatula that’s designed to sit on top of the handle when not being used, meaning no more greasy spoon splotches on your bench top.

Global

2

An intimidating set of knives

You can tell whether someone takes cooking seriously by their knives. If yours are blunt, either you rarely cook or you don’t own a sharpener, whereas a set of shiny, sharp knives lets visitors know that yes, you slice and dice. Extra points for keeping yours on display in a fancy knife block, ready to show the next cut of meat, potato or onion who’s boss.

Fazeek

3

Fun martini glasses

The martini is back in a big way, which means anybody who’s anybody is sipping them. Once you’ve mastered the art of stirring one, impress your guests with these conversation-starting martini glasses from Australian homewares brand Fazeek.

Le Creusot

4

An imperiously large pepper grinder

Cracking pepper from an unnecessarily huge mill is such a power move—just look at the waiter at the restaurant dusting your carbonara in black pepper. If he had it his way, you would never say ‘when’. Give your guests the same, elaborate performance by keeping an unnecessarily large pepper grinder topped up with black corns ready for cracking.

5

A book about meat

If there’s one thing carnivorous guys love more than eating meat, it’s reading about where said cut of meat came from. There’s also something comically masculine about having a ‘meat’ related cook book on your shelf. This complete manual offers step-by-step preparation and cooking techniques as well as butchery skills you can practice at home. Don’t eat meat? The Modern Cook’s Year by Anna Jones is an impressive alternative.

Apple

6

A tune amplifier

You can’t possibly cook without backing tracks. Lift the mood in your scullery with Apple’s HomePod Mini, which pumps out a sound that defies its size.

Aesop

7

Something Aesop

If the black and beige branding of an Aēsop vessel isn’t visible, you might as well forget it. You might have bowls from Ikea and mismatched wine glasses from Vinnies, but if you’ve got a bottle of Resurrection Aromatique Hand Wash on the sink, you can rest assured you’re doing life right. And aesthetics aside, your hands will thank you for it.

G.H. Mumm

8

Mumm

If you have nothing else in your fridge, please, make sure you’ve got a bottle of Mumm chilled at all times. Pouring a glass of Champagne is ten times cooler than handing a mate a VB—especially when that bottle of Mumm is a special limited edition Cordon Rouge Brut NV in celebration of the Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary, which is characterised by an explosion of freshness in the mouth, followed by strong persistence. Case closed.

9.

A corkscrew bottle opener combo

Self explanatory.

108 Warehouse

10.

Fancy drip coffee kit

Pourover coffee is the new oat flat white, and thankfully, it doesn’t require an espresso machine to make. But having all the right gear is fundamental, whether it’s for making a good cup (or making it look like you know how to make a good cup). Either way, you can find all the pieces you need at 108 Warehouse.

Woolworths

11.

Multi-purpose olives

Actually, you do need more than a bottle of champagne in your fridge—you need olives. Their main function is for swimming in the hundreds of dirty martinis you stir for guests, and, if we may offer a little bit of a life hack, you don’t need purpose-brined martini olives to make a good concoction. Woolies’ brand do a perfectly good job.


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