In honor of our wedding anniversary this month, I thought I’d share some of my favorite kitchen items that make our lives better. Some of these items were given to us when we got married; others we bought before, as single people, or after our wedding, to help us with uniting our lives and belongings.
I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so having an organized space and trustworthy tools makes a huge difference. I’m grateful for the items that assist in organization or make cooking more streamlined.
Often, as I use the gifted items, I say a quick prayer of thanks for that person and their generosity in helping me and my husband start our married lives together. If the items are ones we purchased for ourselves, I give thanks for how helpful it is and for God’s provision.
I’m sharing these items mainly because a) I love these things and want to share the wealth – er, recommendations – with you, b) it’s wedding season, so some readers might like some suggestions of what they could buy the happy couple, and c) it’s moving season, and any time you settle into a new space, you have to figure out new organization. Either way, you or someone in your life probably could benefit from these reviews.
And if you’re one of the people who gave us one of these items, know we thank God for you and your gift!
This post may contain affiliate links, which help me cover the cost of running this website. At no extra cost to you, I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links. Please read full disclosure for more information.
Kitchen Tools & Accessories
Acacia Wood Tablet and Recipe Holder – I love love love this recipe holder. As the name says, it can hold a tablet and recipes. I put my big purple recipe binder on it, various cookbooks, and my tablet and it holds each one. Plus, the kickstand folds up or you can hang it for storage, so it doesn’t have to be on your counter all the time – though it would look beautiful if it was!
Mini Spatulas set of 5 – this was a non-registry gift that surprised me. The giver said she has begun to get them for every wedding she is invited to because she has found them so helpful for everything under the sun. I nodded politely and wondered if that would actually be true. It is! I often reach for these before my other spatulas and scrapers, especially for scraping things out of smaller jars. If you want to give a gift people might not receive or ask for, this is a great one!
Cushioned floor pad – Okay, so this is not a tool per se. However, we live in a condo that has cement block under the flooring, so spending time cooking or washing dishes can be hard on our feet! I wanted a cushion that held up pretty well and was easy to clean. This has done the job well – even though we have a few melted spots from when I accidentally exploded our deep dish Pyrex pan while trying to roast a chicken. . . sigh. It cleans easily and cushions our feet for extra comfort in the kitchen. Bingo.
Spoon rest – I love that you can rest multiple utensils on there but they’re not laying on top of each other like more traditional spoon rests. It cleans super easily since it’s silicone and prevents lots of drips on your countertop. Though not the most aesthically pleasing, there are plenty of colors to match your color scheme. 🙂
Ninja Knife Sharpener – When I told my husband that I was working on this post, he asked if he was allowed to contribute. That tickled me, because he generally stays in the background of my blogging. He likes this sharpener because “it is compact, you don’t have to plug it in, and it even sharpens serrated blades, since my wife thought no sharpener does that.” It’s true. I didn’t know. But this one has a “serrated” setting, and worked like a charm on our bread knife a few weeks ago. Plus side for me: it can be used left-handed too, so it works for both of our dominant hands.
Navy Cloth Napkins – I decided (probably after running it past my husband-to-be, though I can’t remember) that we would use cloth napkins at our house, both for budget purposes and for the planet. I scoured all sorts of reviews and studied the pros and cons of 100% cotton vs. linen vs. cotton blend.
I landed on these cotton blend napkins since reviews said they don’t shrink (they haven’t) and since I figured the shade was dark enough to hide stains (they do). The color has faded somewhat with multiple washings, and one or two need a corner rehemmed. However, we use them daily for napkins and I also use them to cover dough that is rising.
They’re a great size and low maintenance. I recommend them if you’re thinking of changing to cloth!
Angled Liquid Measuring Cup – While I wish these could be made in glass, I find these angled liquid measuring cups so very helpful. We have larger glass ones that have the measurements on the sides, and I thought that having just one angled cup in the one-cup size would be sufficient.
However, my husband decided that it was the best for measuring water for his coffee and doesn’t like when I measure other liquids in it for baking. So we may end up buying a second one that I get to use. 😉
Kitchen Dishes
Salt and Pepper Cellar Set – I meant to put a cellar set on our registry and never got around to it. However, one of my husband’s coworkers graciously gave this to us, and I was delighted! I still am. I love having these next to my stove so that measuring out salt and pepper in the kitchen is easy. Plus, they’re pretty.
Fiddle & Fern mini taster bowls set of 4 – Another delightful surprise! A coworker of mine gave me this set of tiny bowls. When they say mini, they mean it! I put them in my cupboard and thought, “I guess I might use these for dipping sauces or something.”
I use them every. single. day. Mostly, I use them to measure out spices when prepping for cooking. They’re the perfect size for that! They’re also the perfect size when you’d just like a few small bites of ice cream and know that it will help only get a couple bites from the carton.
Kitchen Organizers
A compact living space means that I’ve had to get creative and use vertical storage in our cupboards. You’ll obviously need to measure your cupboards to see if these will fit your space, but hopefully it helps you get a start on organizing your kitchen.
Pot Organizer Rack – This rack is amazing for storing our frying pans (cast iron) and our glass baking dishes. While it takes some set-up initially to figure out the width that each specific dish needs, it was absolutely worth the twenty or so minutes it took to figure that out.
Mug Stackers – full disclosure, I’m not sure if this is the exact brand we got, but they look like the same design. They have helped us fit our mugs in so well in our skinny cupboard! You can adjust the width of the stacker depending on the mug’s diameter, and they are quite stable. No leaning tower of mugs here!
Adjustable Shelf – I was serious about using vertical space. And we needed some help in our plates and bowls cupboard! This shelf is sturdy, works great for our needs, and makes plates accessible. Win!
NOT recommended:
Pot Lid Holders – these did not work. I don’t know if it was just our lids (Cuisinart glass) or if it is the holder itself. But the lids would start to pop out of the holder and were clearly not very secure. Then the holder itself would fall off and both it and the lid would clatter to the ground. We tried different cupboard doors, and we thought about gluing it to the cupboard instead of just using the adhesive it comes with. But then we gave up and tossed them. I don’t recommend these at all, ever. So far, we haven’t found a good alternative, so our pot lids are haphazardly stacked on a shelf in our carousel cupboard.
Diagonal Drawer Organizer – this was discontinued at Target, but I found that it is still available on Amazon. While I liked that it was pretty, it did not work for our drawer or our utensils.
The concept seems great that it’s expandable according to drawer width. However, in order to be expandable, it is deeper than it appears. This means you have less height in your drawer than you originally did. Plus, the diagonal design means that your longer utensils can basically only go in the very middle. Your utensils would have to be just the right size and just the right amount to work with this.
I ended up going with bamboo dividers like these. They are adjustable in depth and in width. While they sometimes get knocked around a little in our drawer and small things might sneak under the extenders, they help keep our wide utensil drawer organized far more effectively.
What are your favorite kitchen tools and organizers? Share in the comments 🙂
Do you know someone who is looking for some of these tools? Please share this post with them!
a Look at a Book 
Leave a comment