How do you feel about your kitchenware? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you love it? If you’re not in love with your cookware, throw it out!

If you’re not having fun in your kitchen, chances are that you don’t have the right tools. You might think you don’t know how to cook. But maybe it’s your cookware that doesn’t know how to cook. If your food sticks and burns, then your pots and pans are probably too thin. If cutting up a  chicken is hard, clumsy work, then your knives probably suck. It’s time to take out the trash.

When you’re just beginning to create your new, more enjoyable kitchen collection, take it easy. It’s best to build it one piece at a time. To start, you only need two good pots, two good pans, two good knives and a good cutting board, as we’ve described in the guide pages below. Get to know them well—they are your new friends. You’ll be amazed at how much fun they are to be with.

Then, what if you spot a new pan in a store or catalog that fires your imagination with visions of all the wonderful things you can cook in it? Make it yours. You can never have too many good friends.

Pots and pans

Knives

Cutting boards