There are some things that are essential in the kitchen as far as equipment goes and some things that just make our lives easier.

Let’s start out here though with a few essential culinary items for your kitchen:

1. A slotted spoon

2. A Wooden spoon

3. A Whisk

4. A ladle

5. A spatula

6. A silicone scrapers.

I would actually recommend that you have more than 1 wooden spoon, whisk, spatula and scrapers. These items all come in different sizes which can prove useful in different situations.

What do we use these items for?

1. The slotted spoon – A slotted spoon is an implement used in food preparation. The term can be used to describe any spoon with slots, holes or other openings in the bowl of the spoon which let liquid pass through while preserving the larger solids on top. It is similar in function to a sieve; however, a ladle-sized slotted spoon is most typically used to retrieve items from a cooking liquid while preserving the liquid in the pot, while table-sized slotted spoons are often used to serve foods prepared or packaged in juices, such as canned fruit and vegetables.

2. The wooden spoon – Is used for mixing ingredients for cooking or baking. Before electric mixers became common, wooden spoons were often used to cream together butter and sugar in recipes such as shortbread or Victoria sponge cakes. Unlike metal spoons, they can also be safely used without scratching the bottom of the saucepan. This is useful when making dishes such as scrambled eggs. The wood can be maintained by rubbing it with mineral oil after washing. Do not use vegetable oil, as it can go rancid.

3. The whisk – A whisk is a cooking utensil used in food preparation to blend ingredients smooth, or to incorporate air into a mixture, in a process known as whisking or whipping. Most whisks consist of a long, narrow handle with a series of wire loops joined at the end. The wires are usually metal, but some are plastic for use with nonstick cookware. Whisks are also made from bamboo.

Whisks are commonly used to whip egg whites into a firm foam to make meringue, or to whip cream into whipped cream.

Whisks have differently-shaped loops depending on their intended functions:

The most common shape is that of a wide teardrop, termed a balloon whisk. Balloon whisks are best suited to mixing in bowls, as their curved edges conform to a bowl’s concave sides.

With longer, narrower wire loops, the French whisk has a more cylindrical profile, suiting it to deep, straight-sided pans.

A flat whisk, sometimes referred to as a Roux whisk, has the loops arranged in a flat successive pattern. It is useful for working in shallow vessels like skillets (in which a roux is normally prepared).

A gravy whisk commonly has one main loop with another wire coiled around it.
Similarly, a twirl whisk has one single wire that is spiralled into a balloon shape.

Ball whisks have no loops whatsoever. Instead, a group of individual wires comes out of the handle, each tipped with a metal ball. The heavy balls are capable of reaching into the corners of a straight-sided pan. Since there are no crossing wires, the ball whisk is easier to clean than traditional looped varieties. Manufacturers of ball whisks also purport that their shape allows for better aeration.

4. The ladle – A ladle is a type of spoon used to scoop up and serve soup or other liquids. Although designs vary, a typical ladle has a long handle terminating in a deep bowl, frequently with the bowl oriented at an angle to the handle to facilitate lifting liquid out of a pot or other vessel and conveying it to a bowl. Some ladles involve a point on the side of the basin to allow for finer stream when pouring the liquid; however, this can create difficulty for left handed users, as it is easier to pour towards one’s self. Thus, many of these ladles feature such pinches on both sides. Ladles are usually made of the same stainless steel alloys as other kitchen utensils; however, they can be made of aluminium, silver, plastics, melamine resin, wood, bamboo or other materials. Ladles are made in a variety of sizes, the larger ones being about 1 foot (30 cm) in length, with the different sizes tailored to the intended use.

5. The spatula – A spatula, also called an egg slice, a “turner,” a flipper, or a yiwen or danny in Fiji, is a kitchen utensil with a long handle and a broad flat edge, used for lifting and turning fried foods.

In American English, the word spatula is often used to refer to a scraper.

Spatulas have a handle that is long enough to keep the holder’s hand away from what is being lifted, or flipped. Spatula blades are often longer on the right side than the left, as this is more effective for right-handed people. There are also left-handed spatulas, but these are rare. Most have long slots on the blades to allow liquids to flow through, though some have holes or no perforations at all.

Spatulas are usually made of plastic or metal, with a wooden or plastic handle to insulate them from heat. Spatulas made for outdoor grilling have very long handles.

6. The silicone scraper – A plate scraper consists of a plastic, wooden, or metal handle attached to a flexible rubber head. Although the original use of the implement was to remove food from plates before washing. Although they are now used to remove material from mixing bowls. The long handle allows it to be used to remove contents of bowls as well as jars, such as mayonnaise jars.

Some of the descriptions in this article have been taken in part or in whole from Wikipedia.