How does setting up a home relate to elegance? A well-set up home is comfortable without being cluttered. It is filled with beautiful things without being overwhelmed with them. Let’s have a look at some of the basics.
Kitchen – Appliances
You don’t need every appliance out there! Unless you would make regular use of a pie maker, don’t buy one! The main small appliances (ie, not a fridge, freezer, microwave, oven or dishwasher) are an electric fry-pan, a food processor and/or blender and electric beaters.
Electric fry-pan – the general cooking surface options are stainless steel, non-stick and ceramic. The ceramic ones can be a pain to clean. My recommendation would be the stainless steel – there is much less concern about damaging the surface.
Food processor and/or blender – a food processor can come with time saving attachments like a slicer and grater. It can make short work of nuts, dried bread for breadcrumbs and biscuits for cheesecake bases. But if you plan to make smoothies or sauces, a blender would work better.
Electric beaters – if you want to do any baking, electric beaters are a must. If you only need to whip cream or egg whites, hand held ones will do the job. For cakes, biscuits, buttercream or bread dough, a stand mixer will be necessary.
These are basic items to look for when setting up your home – you can always add to it as you need down the track.
Kitchen – Crockery and Utensils
Next, let’s look at utensils. An elegant home needs to be prepared for guests. So you will need both preparation utensils as well as serving utensils.
Some key preparation utensils would be:
- Bread knife
- Paring knife
- Meat knife
- Large vegetable knife
- Peeler
- Cheese knife
- Silicone spatulas
- Egg flip
- Tongs
- Rolling pin
- Whisk
- Grater
- Hand juicer
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
Serving utensils would include serving spoons, small tongs and a cake slide.
Of course, you will also need some things to eat off and with! My recommendation would be a dinner setting for at least eight people. You may be surprised how quickly the numbers can add up, especially if it is your turn to host the Christmas festivities.
Kitchen – Bakeware
Bakeware are your pans and tins. A useful starting list would include:
- Standard hole muffin tin
- Round cake tin
- Square cake tin
- Cookie/biscuit trays
- Stainless steel roasting pan
- Lamington/slice tray
- Springform tin
- Pizza trays
- Loaf tin
Linen – Bedroom and Bathroom
Last, but not least, you need bedding and bathroom linen. I prefer to have two sets of sheets for each of the beds plus a spare in each size. In our house, that looks like five single bed sheet sets (two for each of the kids’ beds plus an extra set). We also have three queen bed sets for our bed. If you have guest beds, one set for each bed plus a spare would usually be sufficient.
It is recommended to use a mattress protector on each bed. Obviously, on children’s beds, you will need waterproof protectors. We also have a woollen underlay on each bed – the mattress protector goes on top of the underlay.
Depending on your climate, you will also need to factor in blankets and quilts for both your family’s beds and any guest beds.
When setting up your bathroom linen for your new home, two towels and washcloths for each person is usually sufficient. You will also need two bathmats and two hand towels – this will give you a spare set when one is being laundered. For a touch of everyday luxury, use the larger bath sheets instead of standard size bath towels. In our house, we actually use bath towels for hand towels as they do not get so damp with the kids constantly drying their hands.
I hope this has helped you think of the main items you will need when setting up a new home (aside from furniture of course!) Drop me a comment or DM me over at thethrivingmum on Instagram if you think I have missed something you think should be on the list.
