How to Choose a Student Starter Kitchen Set

Cookware is the meat and potatoes of any kitchen cooking set. Choose a kitchen starter pack with the cookware pieces you'll use most, or purchase a standard 10-piece set and combine it with other kitchen essentials to make your own student starter kitchen set.

Essential cookware for a college dorm might include:

• Stock pot. Ranging in size from 5 to 12 quarts and larger, these big pots are perfect for boiling potatoes and corn on the cob or making large batches batches of chili or soup. A 6 to 8-quart stock pot is standard.
  
• Sauce pans. A standard 10-piece cookware set includes 2 sauce pans, usually around 1, 2, or 3 quarts with lids. You need 2 of different sizes so you can make spaghetti sauce in one and cook the noodles in the other.
  
• Skillets. Use these to saute vegetables for a stir-fry or brown ground beef for Hamburger Helper. Most cooking sets come with an 8-inch skillet and a 10-inch skillet. Two might not be necessary, but they make life easier.

Extras for the budding chef:

• Saute or chef's pan. These pans cook like skillets but are deeper with straight edges. These pans are perfect for frozen stir-fry dinners, combining lots of ingredients, or large one-pan meals.
  
• Griddle pan. Flat, square pans that fry like a griddle, this extra is best for breakfast lovers. It also saves the counter space of an electric griddle.

Bakeware is the second major component of your kitchen. You probably need bakeware even if you don't consider yourself a baker. Baking is more than bread pans and pie tins; look for a student starter kitchen set that includes a cookie sheet and cake pan at the very least. If you're combining kitchen essentials to create a custom starter kitchen set, find a small, affordable bakeware set with most of the pieces a college student would use.

Essential bakeware for a college dorm:

• Cookie sheets. These baking pieces are for more than just sweets. Use them to cook chicken tenders, baked potatoes, and roasted vegetables. And for cookies. You probably only need 1, but having 2 or more can be handy.
  
• Cake pan. Mostly used for cake and brownies, a standard 9x13-inch cake pan is also a great casserole dish. Get one with a lid and you can easily store dinner or leftover cake. Only get 1 unless you plan on baking a lot.

Extras for the aspiring baker:

• Muffin pan. A versatile baking piece, muffin tins are good for making rolls (from scratch or frozen dough) and breakfast sandwiches in addition to muffins and cupcakes. Choose either a 6-cup or a 12-cup muffin pan.
  
• Pie tins. For experienced bakers only, these pans are used for pies and not much else.
  
• Round cake pans. A little more versatile than pie tins, round cake pans are for fancier cakes and can be used to make other sweets like cinnamon rolls.
  
• Bread or loaf pans. Also for more experienced bakers, loaf pans are for baking bread. Some sweet treat recipes may also call for a loaf pan. If you want a loaf pan in your student kitchen set, you'll probably need 2, since most bread recipes make enough dough for 2 loaves.

Mixing bowls help you make the most of your cookware and bakeware, and they have plenty of other uses, too. Some cookware and bakeware sets will include a few mixing bowls, usually 3 to 5. If you decide to purchase mixing bowls for your student starter kitchen set separately, get at least 3 bowls of varying sizes that are dishwasher and microwave safe.

Mixing bowls are usually made of glass or plastic and may feature unique colors and patterns. They're usually dishwasher safe and many sets come with lids, making them even more useful.

Some top uses for mixing bowls are:

• Mixing. Many recipes call for some ingredients to be mixed together separately, such as sauces, cookie dough, or crumb toppings.
  
• Marinating. Mixing bowls are the perfect bowls to marinate meat overnight. It gets even better if you mixed the marinade sauce yourself.
  
• Holding popcorn and snacks. Eating popcorn is easier when you don't have to stick your hand in the bag. Bowls make eating and sharing movie snacks easier.

A lot of the food a college student eats is pre-packaged or can be easily thrown together. For those times when you want to make something from scratch just like Mom or try a new recipe, measuring cups and spoons are there to save the day.

Student starter kitchen sets that include measuring utensils usually equip you with the standard 4 of each: 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup, 1 tablespoon, 1/2 tablespoon, 1/4 tablespoon, and 1 teaspoon. If you're creating your own kitchen starter kit, measuring cups and spoons are probably the most inexpensive thing to get.

Measuring is most important in baking, when you need precise ratios of ingredients to get the right effect. They're also important in sauces for the same reason. They become versatile pieces of your kitchen set when you use them as scoops for pancake batter, cookie dough, and other mixes.