Thursday 13: 13 must-haves in a newlywed kitchen

ha Cha, a fellow blogger over at noodleroux, is getting married! This is exciting stuff. She's a fabulous, entertaining writer and it's been fun to follow along in her courtship with My Guy and their multiple dogs (makes me feel like I'm not alone in the nutty pet department!).

Cha Cha just posted this week about registering for her wedding and is looking for ideas on what to register for. She has gotten quite a few useful comments, but it got me to thinking... if I were starting out, what would I want to start with? My kitchen truly overfloweth (just tonight I got caught moving husband's breadmaker out to make room for additional appliances that found their way in over the birthday weekend. I got some splainin' to do...), and I love so many of my little tools and such... but if I had to pick 13? Ponder.

1. Pots. Gotta have pots. And by far, gotta get All-Clad. If at all possible. Beautiful and heavy, wash up fabulously too.

2. Le Creuset. This is WHY you register. So someone else can buy the astronomically expensive pieces FOR you. You know Uncle Mo and Aunt Gertrude are just dying to spend a couple hundred dollars. You know it. So go ahead and register for at least one medium dutch oven. And maybe a small nonstick fry pan too. In fun colors too, naturally.

3. Food processor. Go big or go home. 14 cups. Cuisinart. Vroom vroom.

4. Kitchen Aid mixer. This was the one item noodleroux knew she wanted, and I have to second that. Absolutely. A stand mixer will save the day when you're in a cake or cookie or bread mood.

5. Knives. I'm a big Global fan. Got turned on to them by Anthony Bourdain in his first book, Kitchen Confidential, and have stayed with them ever since. Easy to use, easy to sharpen, not cheap. So register!

6. Good nonstick bakeware: cake pans, cookie sheets, muffin tins. Not very sexy but so essential. And you need to give Cousin Lou something to be able to afford off the list too, right? Feel free to include all kinds of odds and ends like measuring cups and spoons, wooden spoons and the nice Pyrex pourable measuring cups too.

7. Toaster. You might already have one, but splurge (well, get someone else to) on a really nice one. That's something I'd never really make the move for on my own... but so essential to almost every kitchen, don't you think?

8. Mixing bowls, serving bowls, all bowls. Who doesn't need nice, serviceable bowls for all occasions? Big for mixing, small and medium for serving and entertaining. I like a little color on my table, but then I also like the all-white serving options too... so go for both if you have room to store them! (P.S. Those bowls above just went on my Christmas list. Oh boy they are SO me.)

9. China/nice dishes. In noodleroux's comments there was a bit of a split as to whether to get china or not. I say go for it. It's a hard lump to swallow years later when you DO decide you're the entertaining types and you have to splurge for it. Do it now. But (and this is a big but spoken by someone who knows...) pick wisely. Don't date yourself immediately with a very "au courant" pattern. Be neutral. Classic.

 10. Containers for food storage. A must in every kitchen, especially if you cook as I do, like the army of a small country is stopping by for dinner. Leftovers abound, so take good care of them.

 11. Apparatus for coffee making. I've had a good variety of coffeemakers over the years, but right now my love is for the Starbucks stainless steel French press coffee maker. I use mine every single morning, and am not even tempted to stop at a coffee place on the way to work. And, after breaking more than one glass French press... I am quite pleased with how this one is holding up, and keeping my coffee warm. Nice.

12. An indoor grill of some sort. Call it a panini maker, call it a George Foreman, but you need something that will apply heat to both sides of your food at once and cook it. Yum. Hungry for a steak now...

13. Ice cream maker. This one makes great frozen treats and is really economical too. We use ours SO often in the summer. Yum.

So what would your top must-have kitchen item be? Let me know in the comments!

For more Thursday 13s, go here. And have a great Thursday.