Must have kitchen gadgets

GreyQueen

I'm a firm believer in good saucepans. A good pan should last a lifetime. I'd suggest stainless steel, perhaps with a sandwich base of copper. You can get good pans at charity shops and boot fairs; have seen lidded stainless steel frying pans go for 50p and saucepans for well under a fiver. Tiered steamers are great; energy and space efficient, mine is 25. y.o and going strong.

Textile-wise, look for good quality sheets in plain white cotton. Why? Cotton is pleasant in all 4 seasons and a good sheet should last for decades. Plain white will mean that you can bleach it if necessary and boil wash it. Towels? Unless you like wandering around your home wrapped in a giant bathsheet, you really only need 2 sizes of towels; bath towels and hand towels. Half a dozen of each should be plenty for a singleton. Choose plain deep colours which won't show every mark. If you have a pastel towel it'll fade eventually and look like a white towel which has gone dingy. Good buys are available at c.s or bootfairs. If you have to buy new, check out your local streetmarkets/ sunday markets as they can have stalls which sell slight-seconds from the chainstores. Otherwise, Debenhams and similar are good (on sale, naturally).

One thing I'd definately say not to skimp on is a good quality mattress for your bed. This is very much where if you buy cheap you'll buy often and have poor quality sleep to boot. Go for a pocketed-spring kind. I have mine on a slatted-pine bedbase and the mattress vendor told me that it's best to put sheets of hardboard over the slats to help support the springs evenly and I have done this. The idea that is when the mattress is eventually replaced, the bedbase will be re-used.

Really, it's so important to your comfort that it's worth scraping along with an inflatable if you need to wait to save your pennies for a proper mattress. A mattress-protector is a good thing to protect your investment and keep things clean, as is turning the mattress as per the manufacturers' instructions and vacuuming it on low suction.

I'd avoid buying into the basics range of small electricals which you can get in the supermarkets and other stores; they're pretty rubbishy and you'll be buying and buying again. Cheap vacs don't last but a Numatic Henry, the preferred vac of the pro cleaner, is yours for 100 quid and virtually indestructible.

I've always run my home on pre-owned items, often better quality than I could've afforded if I was purchasing them new. Always rub textiles twixt finger and thumb to gauge the thickness of the cloth and the tightness of the weave. They'll only get thinner and slacker with use. Good quality towels and sheets fell heavier than you'd expect for their size. If you can get at pro-grade stuff, such as for the hotel trade, go for it.

Heft your saucepan at the new shop, the charity shop or the bootfair. If you think you'd kill someone if you clouted them with this pan, then it's a good weight and probably a good purchase.

(NB hitting people with kitchenalia is not to be contemplated in real life, of course.)

Practice makes perfect at selecting good quality items which are well-made from decent materials. Don't assume that something with a big brand name is necessarily good, nor that an unbranded or obscure item from a cheap store is going to be rubbish.

If you learn to "buy the goods, not the store," you'll save a lot of money over a lifetime, as well as a lot of aggravation and landfill space.

All the best and happy hunting!

[Deleted User]

I definitely agree with a good mattress plus good shoes, as if your not in one then your in the other I have to have happy feet.I have a lot of miles on my clock so comfy shoes are a must. Gone are the days of high heeled strappy shoes (sadly) but common sense and old age brings us all to our senses.
Good saucepans (I still am cooking in once given as a wedding present in 1962) I'd love a pound for everytime I have used them, and sometimes burnt stuff in 'em, but they still are going strong
I think perhaps its a case of cutting your coat to suit your needs. If you can afford a bit more then think how long you want something to last for. I have still in use my ironing board that I got with green shield stamps in 1971
A lot of stuff has a built in obsolence today that is because its not meant to last T.V.,washing machines I had to buy a new washing machine earlier this year It cost me £200 and the chap tried to sell me a 5 year warranty for another £200.00 but I said if it lasts me for five years then its only cost me £40.00 per year less than a pound a week I may not be around in five years,:) at my age I would rather have the spare £200 in my pocket I think

oldtractor

Your Grandchildren! also cookwear ,tools,shoes,bedding,quality ingredients for HM food.

Seakay

invest in buildings and contents insurance (read the small print and if you don't understand then phone the company and make the agent keep going over it until you do understand. I find the easiest way is to make a list of what I want covered and then go through it item by item) and never get insurance on individual items if you do buy new - this is where shops make profit and salespersons make commission

foxgloves

Good quality cotton bedlinen. Yes, it needs more ironing than the polycotton cheapo stuff but it will continue to look good for ages & is much cooler to sleep in. I look for vintage cotton bed linen on ebay & at antique/flea fairs/charity shops. You can pick up vintage bed linen for a fraction of the price you'd have to pay out new for equivalent quality. Although I'm not the sort of person to be swayed by brand loyalty, I wouldn't be without a Dyson......but I think they ARE expensive so I wouldn't buy unless on offer....and a good offer at that. I'd also suggest a good quality LARGE pan which you can use to cook for a lot of people without spending a fortune (by making a big casserole/curry, etc) really cheap saucepans are false economy as the handles come loose and they often burn on the bottom. We were given a set of Stellar pans for our engagement 11 years ago and they still look like new. If you like cooking and want to save money by making lots of meals from scratch, then a good quality chef's knife is essential, plus something to sharpen it.

MaggieBaking

I think you can buy things relatively cheap that you know are good quality - we bought 4 knives/spoons/forks years ago from a Pound Stretcher and they're still in great nick now.

You get used to what is cheap and flimsy and what's good quality and quite often you will find things that are carp for a big price! As GreyQueen said earlier about saucepans - get used to picking anything and everything up, touching it, feeling it and even smelling it sometimes.

Most things in our home are good quality but really shopped around for.

And for a couple of high quality items I love - Tefal tough coated frying pans are brilliant, I have had one for 5 years at least and the sides are a little bashed in from moving but the non-stick is still going strong.

I also have a Mermaid baking tray with high sides. Great for small roasts, tray bakes etc. It hasn't warped and it looks like I will have it for years. Over time I'm hoping to upgrade all my oven ware to this brand, I'm very impressed - but for now I can live happily with my bent trays!

I also own cheap kitchen electricals - kettle, toaster, hand whisk, stick blender, carving knife. They are lasting longer than I expected them too and I wouldn't spend a lot of money on these items.

(Some of them aren't the cheapest though - it's one of those, pick it up, look over it, poke it does it seem like you'll be happy with it till the day it stops doing it's job? Etc - so my toaster might be £15 compared to the cheapest at £5 but it does 4 slices of toast etc.)

RachelS

My personal opinion, learned from setting up home myself, is it's often not worth buying the cheapest for household stuff. I am thinking particularly of things like pans and appliances, even can openers etc (though Ikea is usually good for that kind of small thing). Almost everything I bought cheapest has been replaced a couple of years on. No need to push the boat out too far, but there is such a thing as false economy.

oldtractor

It is interesting that price sometimes no longer reflects quality. I have bought expensive bed sheets only to find that although decent quality they are not as good as they should be for the cost. It pays to do research.

browneyedbazzi

I'm definitely in agreement on pots and pans...good quality pots give much better results when cooking (ruining less food!) and also don't warp have handles come off etc. I went to a Boundary Mill outlet and got a really good set on sale for much less than department store prices and they're worth every penny and more!

Also, if you're a keen cook, I think it's really worth investing in good quality knives. Again, shop around because you can find really good quality knives for reasonable prices (the clearance bit of TK Maxx is a good one for these!). I think good knives save time when cooking and as you use less force when cutting you're less likely to cut yourself.

rachbc

I'd buy 1 good something than a set of mediocre things - start with one large and 1 small pan that are good than a full set - def steel with a copper base, not non-stick. 1 really really good knife - the best you can possibly afford will make cooking a pleasure - I got a wusthorf at christmas and everytime I use it (several times a day) it makes me smile - I am saving for a small paring knife in the same stle and a carving knife too, but for now my santoku does for everthing

Bedding I spend on good cotton, but i buy cheaper towels as no matter what colours fade/ whites go grey. Good goose down duvets and pillows will last a lifetime.