Well, Linda, my kitchen doesn't qualify for the front cover of any magazine, but it is the best equipped kitchen any of my friends have seen. It is all a matter of priorities. I don't have fine china, but am able to cook great meals. Simply priorities.

Some of the best meals I've had have come out of a basic kitchen, very basic, as a matter of fact. People may have to make do with the kitchen they have, and I don't feel it's a reflection of their food and/or cooking knowledge or abilities.

As to the comment about the electric range...perhaps it wasn't the equipment, but instead operator error, lol

Oh my, you hit a nerve here. I have two children (out of four) that are raising families and don't have a working kitchen. I really don't understand how that happens! They don't really eat out that much but everything they make is partially/fully made and put in a microwave or oven. This includes french toast????????? What??? Yes, I sure must have done something wrong -- I was a stay-at-home mom and I can, freeze and make most all stuff from scratch.

They are both moms that stay home although one of them works at home. I just don't get it.

Linda, did you say you were in my Step-mother's kitchen?? Oh, so totally frustrating!! I bought her an expensive non-stick skillet a few years ago. I've never seen her use it. A couple of weeks ago I went looking for it, but it was gone. Her pans are thin garage sale trash. No decent knives, peeler, turner...you get the idea. I made pizza all from scratch for Christmas evening. Took my portable induction unit, pans, pizza stone, peel, oil, flour, sugar...EVERYTHING. She never batted an eye! I'm just someone who wastes money on anything expensive when something much less costly will do. She and Dad always gobble up anything I bring, and she wants the recipes. Arrggghhh!!!

I can't even imagine no sauce pans, or fry pans, no oil and not one big knife. You did good and sounds like it must have been served on beautiful dishes. Glad you all have a good meal and pleasant time.

My friend never had kitchen stuff....she doesn't cook...much. She can make a breakfast casserole, but I expect it's a huge chore with much measuring etc.
She can assemble a lovely salad and dress it with bottled dressing, she can buy deli meat and rolls or bread and make a sandwich tray. But I suspect the only use that cheap warped cookie sheet has seen is heating a frozen pizza.
I am sure the money has no issue at all. She doesn't know that a good chef's knife makes cutting up the veggies for the salad easier, or that a big enough cutting board keeps the veggies off the counter.
All her life dinner has been either at the local diner or carry out. She never needed decent equipment...doesn't know anything about cooking, it's a big bother. And she doesn't realize that the proper equipment makes the task easier.
One time years ago, she was entertaining some of the state officers in some educational organizatiopn ( she is a college professor, has her PHD) and we were sitting around the pool and she was worrying what she was going to feed these women. She had bought the makings for sandwiches at the deli, and a lovely dessert from somewhere....but wanted an interesting side dish....something besides slaw or potato salad.
Several suggested a marinated salad, because it could hold for several hours. She didn't know how....I said I'll make it for you....she protested and I said you buy the stuff and I'll make it for you...
"oh! No....that's too much!! I can't let you do that for me!" I told her it might take 20 minutes....and she bought broccoli, peppers, snow peas etc.....and I made pieces out of them in the Cuisinart andw hipped up a vinaigrette in a bowl....and all in the promised 20 minutes! I was a wizard!!! magic! A genius!! LOL!
She just doesn't cook...likely never will...doesn't need to and when she gets too old and feeble to run out to the take out window at Culvers....why then the retirement home will provide her 2 meals a day!
But it's definitly an adventure cooking in her kitchen!!!
Linda C

Oh, what an adventure you had! It sounds like a lovely time was had by all though.

It's times just like these which compelled me to buy a knife case to hold some ''equipment''; like a Chef's/paring knife, microplane, tongs, skinny spatula, spreader, large spoon and a potato peeler. I even take this along when we go on vacation, just so I can have the most basic things to function with, and have even made up a kit to include certain oil/spices.

People who don't cook have no idea that it takes longer to run for take-out than just walking into the kitchen and making real food; and Worrying about what to serve often takes much more energy than just fixing what's available! I'm usually amazed when I get together with others, how different we all are, and try to remember to celebrate that no matter what!

Linda, some people don't have the interest. You said she doesn't cook, probably doesn't ever want to, and doesn't need to. So she gets along fine with ordering out and having helpful friends like you! You actually brought your microplane! I have friends like that too, just aren't interested in the process, the meal and end results are good enough be it bottled dressing or deli platters. I always have a good time with them and it sounds like you do with her.
It's just different for us who like to do it all, glad you had a good time.
Di

I have a friend who rarely cooks and has a beautiful kitchen.....but no sharp knives.
I recently visited and took a couple of knives......and made her try one. She was amazed but is way too frugal to spend money on kitchen things.
So I bought her a good utility knife and told her NOT to let her DH use it.
They eat out daily. Money is not a problem for them.
I love her kitchen.....sigh.

Your lady friends are so very fortunate to have you, LindaC, to help them put on last minute small dinners as well as organize funeral lunches for a larger crowd.

Oh Linda! I can so appreciate this!!!

Two years ago, my brother (divorced dad) wanted to have Thanksgiving at his house. He was going to fry the turkeys and my sister and I would bring the sides. My sister is a state away and I'm about 35 miles. He has a gorgoeous home with a HUGE kitchen, granite, BlueStar range, cabinets all the way up to the 10' ceilings.... crazy beautiful. I'd never cooked there, but I wrongly assumed that he had the basics.

We wound up having to go to the grocery store to get flour (he had none), spices (he only had salt and pepper), foil, coffee, milk, butter, on an on.... it was hilarious. I would open empty cabinet after empty drawer... my sister and I had to share one spoon for stirring...... At the end of the day, I finally came up with an adequate description: "Like tent camping in a mansion"

Grace

Yep....but this kitchen is not fabulous....just under equipped! LOL!

I have enjoyed cooking at DS and DDIL's house a few times in the last decade. Questions: Do you have a big chef knife? Any sharp knife at all? Do you have a rolling pin? Do you have any flour? Shortening (this after being asked to make an apple pie)?

They eat well, apparently, but not the way I was raised to eat. Consequentially, they don't need the tools or the materials I need in order to function. They are foodies, but not the foods that I am familiar with..so don't have the tools I need. It all worked out..someone went to the store and bought a little bag of flour and a little can of shortening and we had a delicious pie! Next time I'm out there I'm going to make an old-fashioned oven pot roast. I don't think DS has had one one since he left home. I KNOW there's a pan in some cupboard which will work..if not, I'll buy one.

The best cook I have ever known had a small dark kitchen. Her only counter space was an old rickedy gate legged table. I don't know quite how she did it but she thought nothing of turning out a seven course Chinese banquet for 12. It always made me pretty embarrassed for my nice big bright well equipped kitchen where I prepared rather mundane meals. Go figure

That kitchen doesn't sound like a far cry from my mother's. Although I tried for years, now that she's almost 80 I know she won't ever even TRY using a chef's knife. I did get her a Wusthof paring knife at one point, followed by a "sandwich knife", but that's as big as she'll go. Cookie sheets are the same thin brown ones that she's used as long as I can remember. Dutch oven - what's that? Food processor - you kidding me? The sauce pans are an abomination that could never be pried away from her because they belonged to a dear friend, long deceased. Save for a few sentimental pieces, when Mom passes on that stuff will go in the garbage. Not even worth donating to the church sale. I absolutely hate cooking in that kitchen.

I don't have any recollection of ever going out for dinner, growing up. I remember one time getting a bucket of fried chicken, and one time we ordered a pizza. Aside from that, mom cooked. Every night. Unless we were invited to someone else's house. I miss those meals. Not because they were familiar, but because they were good. She was not much of a recipe follower, and whatever she happened to throw together turned into a very good meal. Me, I probably couldn't make decent scrambled eggs in that kitchen.

I can make do with very basic equipment but I can't even imagine not owning stuff like onions, garlic, oil, flour and a variety of spices.

I remember one thread on the Kitchen forum someone asking what they like best in their new kitchen. All kinds of fancy things were listed. With all the best of the best listed I had to say "I treated myself to a few good Wusthof knives and the chef and parer were the best part of my new kit".

LOL, I cooked for years using a stockpot and a dish towel as a hotwater bath canner and a well sanded and oiled slab of 1 x 10 walnut as a cutting board.

Not too recently I did not even have the financial capacity to buy a hand mixer, everything got made with my wooden spoon, after I broke a few commercial ones I made my own.

My knives came from the Dollar Store and my pans were 30 year old unbranded cast iron skillets and the Revere Ware my mother bought me one at a time for Christmas and birthday gifts. I used the same old flimsy jelly roll pans as cookie sheets for over 30 years.

On Christmas Eve I helped peel potatoes for 30 people with the Swiss Army knife that I carry in the glove box of my Jeep, but it got the job done.

Did that keep me away from the Cooking Forum? Heck no, although I did migrate here from Harvest many years ago, LOL. I figured I was lucky, I had a gas stove, Grandma made better bread and pies than I ever did in my life on a wood stove, and she carried in the wood herself.

So, when you're standing in your nicely equipped kitchen, whether new or old, large or small, just be thankful that you have the tools to make cooking the enjoyable activity it is.

Oh, and take a page from Ann T's book. Carry a pepper grinder and a corkscrew in your purse, you never know when you'll need it! (grin)

Annie

When I met my best girl she was using vise grips, even these were dollar store junk, on a non-stick skillet without a handle. I have used better stuff to catch the used oil from my motorcycle. She used a steak knife for everything. She couldn't believe how easy it was to use my sharp knives, it astounded her that everything I cooked in my skillets didn't turn black on the outside and raw in the middle. Her oven had never been cleaned, EVER. I had to show her how to take the top off the stove and clean under the burners. She had no idea that a grill needed to be cleaned. She's not dirty, or stupid, she just never knew how to do any of it and neither did her parents.

When some good friend's, non-cooks, daughter got her first apartment recently I got her a kit of very simple basics; a sauce pan, a non-stick skillet, a small cast iron skillet, 2 sheet pans, a paring knife, a chef's knife, and a dvd of cooking basics from Sam's club. Not sure if she uses any of it but here's hoping.

augie

Oh, Linda. Ya did good, for sure.

I always take knives and cutting boards whatever I need to cook in when I make something at someone else's house. And potholders and tea towels. Spices and oils. I just never know!

Well, my mother doesn't even own a cookie sheet and never has. She only has salt and pepper in the house and doesn't have sharp knives. Never has olive oil. She has nice pots and a cast iron skillet (wedding gifts from about 50 years ago), but never uses them. Cooking to her is making a sandwich, heating up a can of something in the microwave, or cooking in her toaster oven. My dad was a builder so she has always had a nice kitchen with nice appliances, but never used them. She eats fastfood alsmost every meal, unless a neighbor or relative brings her something good.

Well, I have got to add my two cents worth to this.
First of all, don't knock the electric ranges, especially the glass topped ones. They are wonderful! I have cooked on one for many years now, almost since they first came out. And have not boiled anything over or burned anything any more often than I ever did on a gas range. And that is almost never. It's all about using a little common sense as to when & how much to raise or lower heat settings, or when to remove the pan entirely.
And good equipment does NOT a good cook make.
But most of all, "DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS". God knew what He was doing when he made each of us unique. This would be a terrible world if we were all alike.
Rusty

Rusty - I "almost" chimed in about the ceramic, but now that you have... Over the holidays I used my MIL's gas range a few short times. Yes, the instant control was wonderful. But then the drop of egg, that I had to wait for the cast iron grates to cool down so I could remove them to I could wipe away. And then bringing a pot of water to boil for the potatoes - FOREVER, even though it was on the 17k BTU "power burner"... and I thought to myself, "Maybe I should rethink my hate for my ceramic cooktop."

We have been married for almost forty years. When I am not around for a meal my wife will simply open a can of soup and heat it in the microwave. She has no idea what I have in the kitchen to prepare meals with.

Here is a link that might be useful: traveling and cooking with grandpa

The campsite we went to every summer for years and years was said to have a "fully equipped" kitchen and, in a way, it was. There was one of almost everything you'd expect, including things like a hand powered egg beater and a rolling pin, but by the time we got there in late August the equipment had been used and abused by the other campers for the whole summer. Out of self defense, I learned to bring from home a Chinese chef's knife, a heavy saucepan with a tight fitting lid, a cast iron skillet and a Swing-Away can opener.

--Doug

When I visit family and know there will be food prep (& clean-up) I always pack a good knife and my apron. Even in well equipped kitchens, I like the safe, familiar feel of my own knife.

The only problem is no matter how nice I'd dressed for the gathering, most of the photos in family albums show me wearing an apron. But I don't think it's a bad way to be remembered -

BTW, none of my closest friends are cooks/bakers which makes this forum such a godsend.

Years ago I tried to cook in a dear friend's kitchen. When I opened the drawer just to the right of the range (where one might expect to see potholders or utensils?) I found it was her junk drawer--filled with pens, rubber bands etc! I knew she wasn't too into cooking, but that really confirmed it for me!

Doug, I can relate. We always like to go to cabins for vacations and that's about what I take too, with one addition. A collander. I've yet to find one in a rental place. For some reason we always want to cook pasta when on vacation. Fast, easy, filling for those hungry times the outdoors creates and....yummy leftovers for breakfast or lunch. I've also learned to never expect a friend to have a collander if you are going to cook at their house. Even if they requested pasta. I have no idea how they think you'll strain it.

Oh yeah, I always keep a knife sharpener with me too. Ya never know what beast might have dulled that knife you brought along.

coconut-nj -- Oddly, there was always a collender in the camp site kitchen box. A Chinese chef who taught me a lot of what I know about cooking would touch up the edge of his knife on the unglazed bottom of a ceramic coffee cup. There always seemed to be something similar at camp so I didn't bring my oil stone. If it got really bad there was a foot treadle operated whetstone in the barn that the managers used for axes and things.

--Doug

I have a ceramic cooktop and I detest the thing! I'm go glad someone likes them because that's about all you can buy anymore except for gas.

We can make all the snide and churlish remarks we want to about peoples lack of cooking skills and lack of wanting to cook and lack of proper equipment. I can tell you that I've heard those same type of remarks about me because I do love to cook, want great equipment and refuse the eat certain places and certain things. It just goes to show that what interests one does not necessarily interest another. I bet those same people who have no interest in great food have other real interests. Many people enjoy crafts for example. I do not. Many people like to do stained glass. I do not. Many people like to climb icy mountains. I do not. And on and on the list goes. Just goes to show how different everyone is, not better.

Beverly,before you get on your high-horse about remarks and judgement etc etc.../
Please re read my post.
We all are different and vive la difference....but we all eat.
However some people can tolerate things I wouldn't put into my mouth because they are "food".
The woman who is my friend, loves fine food, wonderful dining. She loves dinner at a street cafe in Paris, brunch at the Drake as well as a good dinner at a friend's. But she will also eat dinner of Burger King take out because cooking is hard and a chore.
I have sure made my share of meals in an ill equipped rented condo or a lakeside cabin or a kid's college apartment.....but its' easier with a sharp knife and a decent spatula and a pot that wasn't chosen for it's color.
I "caught" my husband when I learned that he loved apple pie and went to his apartment and made him one....using an I. W. Harper bottle for a rolling pin and a Frisbee pie plate to bake it!
But...preparing meals is easier in a kitchen that has basic equipment I took her one of thsoe flexible cutting mats and told her that it would keep bits and pieces of salad together and off the counter! LOL!
Beverly, did you really think what I said about my dear friend were snide and churlish???
I certainly didn't mean my remarks to be taken that way.
Linda C

You've said much of what I was going to say, Linda! Yes, folks, it IS possible to turn out great meals using a blunt pocket knife and a garbage can lid, but it's not easy or enjoyable. I wonder how many people say, "I hate cooking, it's so hard," and the underlying reason is that they have carpy equipment that MAKES it hard.
I once worked in a place where the owners bought everything as cheap as they could, including a set of blunt unsharpenable knives from KMart. I got tired of the owner's wife always being on my case about how long it took me to cut up carrots and other salad ingredients, and the veggies always ended up in wired, unattractive lumps. I know they old saying is, A poor workman always blames his tools, but once I started bring in my good knife the prep took a third of the time and the results were ten times better.

Linda, your post set me to thinking....my knives haven't been sharpened since JoAnn's moved last year. About 3 times a year they would bring in an independent guy who would sharpen anything. I would take my knives in a hard plastic gun case which was the safest way I could transport them. He was startled the first time, but admitted it was a good use of an existing product.

Anyway. My knives are now beyond dull and I'm very annoyed. Today I went to BBB and they had only one electric sharpener. I know of no other local source--this is a fairly small market. I purchased the one they had, promising I would return it if it didn't perform. It was a bottom of the line Chef's Choice. Got it home, husband is under the weather, but willing to try. An hour later every knife is sharp, and we are both happy campers!

About the different interests. I've mountain climbed, raced cars, shot automatic weapons .... I love that stuff. But basically I love to garden and love to cook. Each of us is different and no one can say what skill is better than the other. But as Linda says, we all have to eat. It's just a lot easier doing it with good tools.

I was raised by a German uncle who had been a barber. His personal belief was that a tool should be used properly and that each tool should be used appropriately. Ahhh, SHARP knives rule!

Thanks for the nudge, Linda!

Linda, you perfectly described my mother. She loves to eat -- good food or fast food. When she is around us, she marvels at how "easy" it is to prepare everything we do. She says she can't cook like that. She just never buys quality kitchen utensils -- she buys pretty. She thinks all knives are made the same, so why buy expensive ones. Sharp knives would be more dangerous (might cut your finger off easier), so she has never sharpened any of her knives and they are all dull. She bought a food processor when they first came out and she hates it -- it's some off-brand thing that barely works -- she says it's too much trouble to use, and she's right because it's a piece of junk. With just a few good things, she could make cooking so much simpler, quicker and enjoyable. But, she refuses to because she has convinced herself that she just can't do it -- and she can't with that junk she has in her kitchen.

My kitchen is very small and I have almost no counter space but I have been buying a few new utensils since I joined this forum, and do cook some pretty good meals from time to time.
So I now have some decent carving and chef's knives and a couple of microplanes, as well as a couple of new pots.

But when I go to Canada and stay with one of my daughters, I find it frustrating, even though both she and her husband are good cooks, to find a different set of utensils in her kitchen. When I cook meals there it's dificult to know which pot or utensil will do the job that my home utensil would do and in which cupboard/drawer I would find it.

So the easiest solution was for me to buy her one or two of my favourite items each time I'm there, so that when I'm cooking at her house it gets easier each year.

She now has a large maple cutting board, a microplane grater, a good chef's knife and bread knife, a salad spinner, olive oil can with fine spout, pressure cooker and large stew pot (with help from Stacy3), and perhaps one or two other items. Now if I only could figure out a way of finding them all once they've been put away in her cupboards!!

SharonCb

Linda, I totally know what you mean!! I made Thanksgiving dinner at my dad's apartment this year on his anemic stove that is missing many basics. I brought a box with what I consider to be kitchen basics and also borrowed from his neighbors who are close friends of mine.

I don't think you were being churlish or snide. You were venting to like minded people. On the contrary, making a gourmet dinner in your friends kitchen and enjoying the evening for what it is was very gracious!!

btw, the kitchen kit i took to my dad's is the one we take on vacation to the cottage with the "equipped kitchen." Cutting board, large saute pan, spatula, whisk, colander etc. One year I asked the owner of the cottage if there was a pot I could borrow to make pasta. She gave me a 3 - 4 qt pot to use, like the one already there. Which is great if you want the pasta to stick together. So we bring a large pt as well.

Last year I helped my aunt to chop the veggies for the Thanksgiving ratatouille. When I asked if there where any larger knives then the paring one she gave me she said, we don't have any "fancy" equipment like that. No wonder she finds it hard to host large gatherings.

-Robin

Linda, I don't think you mean to be snide and churlish and I wasn't speaking to any one person. I know things you have done that you don't know that I know that tells me you have a very good heart.

I thought of this post when I was reading a letter from the editor in Penzey's "One" food magazine last night. He's pondering why some people go out of their way to go to a store that only sells spices. A section that struck me was

"Somewhere over the decades of talking face to face with the people who came out of their way to buy spices and seasonings, it hit us why people actually make the effort to cook. People aren't cooking to become rich, or powerful, or famous. People go to the effort of cooking to make the lives around them better. Cooking is ultimately an act of kindness. It may seem like a small thing, but I have come to believe that it really is one of the biggest things out there."

I think this is what distinguishes cooking from other hobbies and pursuits. We cook to nourish ourselves and other people. I presumed the OP just wanted to make the point that this could be done more easily by having just a few basic, good tools.

By George! I think shes' onto something...
My mantra has always been "Cooking is love"!
One of the most satisfying things I ever experience is that little "um" people say when they first taste something they like. Putting some mashed banana into a baby's mouth and see him open up for more. Carrying a plate of warm cookies into the room where your daughter and her friends are gathering for a slumber party and seeing then dive in.
I am cooking a funeral lunch for 100 on Saturday. I could make a pasta tomato, ground beef and cheese casserole and it would be fine....but I will spend all day friday making my sauce and mixing ricotta and make 10 pans of lasagna, because I can, and I know people will enjoy it more than a school lunch typs of dish. And, I selfishly like people to enjoy what I do for them.
People who don't cook don't have that pleasure. I am sorry for them and I really really don't understand it.
I have another friend who is an average cook, who will go out to a local greasy spoon type of place of a weekend morning and eat breakfast alone. She says she likes to go and just sit and read the paper. I don't understand why she doesn't sit in her own beautiful house, in her lovely garden room and watch the birds in her jammies rather than get dressed and go out to drink bad coffee at a chain type restraunt on the highway? I don't figure it out...

Linda, regarding your post and your friend who drinks bad coffee in a diner. I do that, too, but I go to a coffee house and visit with the regulars while I work on my laptop. My French press coffee is far better than their drip. And the food is so-so. The cafe owner is NOT a foodie, though she has an amazing kitchen at her house (she eats take out).

But even if I do nothing but sit quietly and read, I have a sense of community there. Good food would make it fabulous but I can eat elsewhere (and I do!).

This thread has been quite interesting. Having been Corporate Nomads for 40 years has allowed us to know many people all across this Nation. I have always been amazed by the number of people (usually housewives) who can't boil a stone. Some just haven't a clue. Some just don't care. Some have other interests -- as noted above. Others want to learn but need a teacher. Then there are those who had good food growing up and want to eat that way as adults on-their-own.... my children are a good example. But the worst, to me, are the ones who think they can cook wonderful food, but what they produce is barely eatable.

I had to laugh at the camping descriptions because I've been there too. One place we went to not only didn't have any cooking equipment at all, but also no bedding. To this day I still have all the Sears sales stuff I bought to "furnish" that cabin. LOL

When we go to vacation at a condo somewhere I always take the proverbial knife and sauté pan. BTDT.

I especially like the Penzey quote... it is so true.

And I totally agree that the Kitchen doesn't make the Cook!

I'm sure my inlaws think I don't cook because I don't have any of the things they use. And I do a lot of takeout/eating out when they are around after the "this jambalaya has too much rice" comment. But at least they cook. (They were also amazed that one could cook a tasty steak in a cast iron skillet when the grill ran out of propane...)

And then there are those who just don't like to cook.

As long as they are good company and there's something for ME to eat, I guess it's alright!