Shelley’s Should Haves

New feature on the blog this week…the “Shelley’s Should Haves”. After spending the last few weeks putting my recently renovated basement kitchen back together and planning to actually use it as a full kitchen for the first time, I realized there were quite a few things I didn’t have- as in the basic things. I was running upstairs to get things from the main kitchen and then running back down only to need to go back up…while my iwatch was loving the added steps, I was over it after my fifth trip!

Like I mentioned, I was missing most of the basics so I sat down and made a quick list of things I SHOULD HAVE and today, I am highlighting some of my favorite picks.

Basement Kitchen View

If you saw my IG post on January 14th, you know that I plan to add lots of navy accents in the kitchen so when I was looking for items I needed, I had navy in mind along with some warm wood tones. First on my list was cooking utensils and I knew I wanted a wooden set. I had spied the cutest Serving Set from Serena & Lily a while back, but it was only a serving set and it was $48 for only two pieces. I made a mental note to look for a dupe with more pieces when the kitchen was done and guess what friends…I found this Wooden Cooking Spoon Set on Amazon! Five pieces and can be used for cooking or serving and they come in three different colors, including my favorite navy and you know what I did: ADD TO CART! I also added this Pineapple Spoon Rest . I love pineapples (hello, there is a pineapple in my logo so there was no way I wasn’t getting this) and this was a cute way to add it to my kitchen decor and also bring some warmth to the counter with its wooden crown.

Next up I needed a utensil crock for those cuties. I had two trains of thought here; either go white and maybe oversized or slim and navy, but no matter what it had to be a solid color and not a pattern that would compete with my backsplash. I was honestly leaning towards the white to sit against the backsplash, but the more I looked at my options the more drawn I was to the solid navy. I ended up purchasing this Utensil Crock and I love it. Its just the right size for the wooden set and I think the solid navy is going to “pop” against the backsplash.

I guess if I have cooking utensils, I need to actually cook (ugh, the worst chore ever)! I’m not sure how much regular cooking we’ll actually do in the basement kitchen so to start off I just got two things that I know will get used often. Pictured in this post is the Ceramic Cookie Sheet I had put on my “wish list” long ago and just love the look of. I can imagine that I won’t want to use it so that it stays this pretty forever, but for only $17 I can always grab a second one. Not pictured here is the Always Pan and if you haven’t heard of it yet, please do yourself a favor and click on the link to learn more about it. I have one in my main kitchen and since I bought it, we’ve used it for almost everything. I do not like cooking. I repeat, I do not like cooking but I do love this pan. It makes cooking easy and the clean-up even easier…that is a big “W” in my book. I have the pan in the Steam color and I bought the Blue Salt for the new kitchen and that should save me from needing anything else for meals for a bit. FYI, they also have a matching pot that I have not yet purchased for my own use, but I did give it as a gift this past Christmas and the reviews are great thus far. Each piece is bit on the pricier side so watch for sales; they offer a sale price on each piece individually, but also as a set.

To round out my “Should Haves”, I added these Kitchen Towels and this Oil Sprayer to my cart as well as flatware! I do have a set, but I mostly use it outdoors during the summer months and I plan to leave it outside this coming summer. I was looking for a set for indoors, but one that also could be used outside if I wanted to switch things up now and then. This Bamboo Flatware set fit the bill. Its dishwasher safe, useable outdoors (won’t rust if left out) and I really like it because it can be used not only for daily casual meals but could also be used to “dress up” the table a bit as well and therefore, its a SHOULD HAVE for me! What are your “should haves”; message me on IG if you think I’m missing something!! :)

xoxo-Shelley B.