26 Cooking Utensils That Every Kitchen Needs

�Oh my God! I just bought a lot of kitchen utensils! Like twelve wooden spoons, eight spatulas, nine whisks, twenty serving, pasta and salad spoons, eighteen soup ladles, twenty one splatter screens, eleven vegetable peeler's and fifteen can openers! I so love it! My kitchen will be complete and so full! I can't wait to use all of them! They would look so---� Whoa! Wait. Contain yourself. Breathe. OK, slowly. Relax. Inhale...exhale. Excellent. So now, I'll tell you what I think. I don't know if I should be happy because you have the tools that every kitchen needs, or punch you in the face for buying too much of every tool. Well, I would love to do the latter. Like what?! Do you have a kitchen that can accommodate an entire nation?! Are you mad?! What's up with the eighteen this and that?! *calms down* But if you really want to have all of those, you must know how to take care of it then. Never mind the number. Geez.

So, for your twelve wooden spoons (my goodness), cleaning requires hand washing. According to Jenny Harrington, do not use the dishwasher for it may degrade the wood. It will cause it to crack and deform. Use warm soapy water when washing them and rinse thoroughly. If your thirty cutting boards are also made of wood, you will have to double your effort in cleaning them. You rub them with salt before washing and drying. You can also wipe them with mineral oil to avoid cracks and store them properly to prevent it from warping.

For your almost one hundred stainless steel flatware, remove all food residues first. Wash them right after using. Then soak them in your soaking solution. Or if you aren't into soaking thing, you can hand wash your flatware with mild detergent and warm water or clean with dishwasher. For sterling silver flatware, separate them from stainless steel and place them in separate baskets in the dishwasher. Failure to do this may damage your silver flatware. Also, according to Lifetime Sterling website, �if your stainless steel flatware does stain, using a worn toothbrush or fine natural-bristle brush, gently scrub the stains with a paste made from water and baking soda, and rinse thoroughly with warm water.�

OK, it's not a serious crime to own a million pieces of complete kitchen tools. It's not even a crime. But be sure that you know how to take care of those equipments. In those tools lie the cleanliness and safety of the food you eat. So? Go and...have fun with your new kitchen tools.