Knives & Chopping Boards 

Keep one plastic board just for raw chicken and meat. It's cheap, it goes in the dishwasher, and it keeps raw juices well away from your salad.

A good wooden board is kind to your knives, steady under your hands and lovely to look at. Look after it and it'll last for years.

A sharp knife is a safe knife. A good electric sharpener brings a dull blade back in a couple of minutes, as long as you match the angle and go gently.

The small knife for small jobs: hulling strawberries, peeling apples, trimming beans and checking the potatoes. A good one costs less than lunch.

A serrated knife saws through crusty bread without squashing it, and it's brilliant for ripe tomatoes and layer cakes too. A great one costs about $16.

If you only buy one good knife, make it a chef's knife. It chops, slices, dices and minces, and it'll do almost every job in your kitchen.