Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Kitchen equipment: quantities and kinds?

[Berrins (Berrins]

Liz covered most of it.  Get good pots and pans and anything else that will 
get used a lot, like big serving and mixing bowls, large baking trays (we use 
ours a lot) and water pitchers.  Once you see the quantity and quality of the 
donated spoons, slotted spoons, wire whisks, spatulas, wooden spoons, and so 
on, you may want to invest in a few high quality ones.   Don't try to get 
away with a few chintzy kitchen knives- be sure you have a variety of good 
ones and a place to put them away.  Oh yeah, get some flame spreaders if you 
have a gas stove.  The ingredients in large pots need a lot time to heat up 
and can burn easily on the bottom.

This list-serve had the cutting board controversy thread a year or two ago- 
plastic vs wood.  Turns out, keeping them clean in the main thing.  To 
sterilize, wood can be microwaved  and the plastic ones put in the 
dishwasher.  Get several to protect your counters and knives. 

I also recommend getting quite a few real solid stacking dinner plates and 
bowls of the same kind.  They stack more easily and are less likely to fall 
over. 

To save money, find a good used restaurant supply store.  Restaurants go out 
of business regularly and you can find a LOT of good stuff there, including 
the stainless counters and spray stations that can be cut to fit when the 
kitchen is put together.  

We opted to go with new major appliances (stove, dishwasher, refrigerator), 
both for the warranty and for piece of mind- you never know what parts wore 
down on the used stuff.


        Roger Berman
        Pathways
        Northampton, MA
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