The Tools That Started It All
These are the essentials I packed for my first day at culinary school in 2005. Twenty years later, I still reach for them first.
The required equipment list from Seattle Central College's Culinary Arts program was specific: a long list of tool requirements, some of which I had never even used or heard of.
I showed up to orientation with everything on the list, a fresh knife roll, and no idea that most of these tools would still be in my bag two decades later.
The Knives That Survived Everything
Victorinox Fibrox 8" Chef's Knife
This was the workhorse. Prep work, butchering, vegetable cutting—everything ran through the 8-inch. I've replaced the handle once in twenty years. The blade is still sharp enough to matter.
Victorinox Fibrox 10" Chef's Knife
The 10-inch was required, but I rarely reached for it in school. That changed at Purple Café when I started breaking down larger proteins. Now I keep both within arm's reach.
Victorinox Fibrox 4" Paring Knife
Two paring knives felt excessive until I spent a shift brunoise-ing shallots and realized having a backup meant not stopping to clean the first one. The 4-inch handles detailed work. The 3.25-inch is better for turning vegetables and in-hand cutting.
Victorinox Fibrox Granton Edge Boning Knife
Required for butchery class. I thought I'd never use it outside of school. Then I spent six years at Purple Café and Feierabend. The sheer joy if taking a silverskin of a tenderloin with no effort was enough to make me love this knife. It paid for itself in the first month.
Victorinox Fibrox Offset Bread Knife
The offset handle keeps your knuckles off the cutting board when you're slicing through crusty bread to make croutons or slicing bread for crostini. Mine is twenty years old and still cuts clean.
The Tools That Earned Their Space
OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler
I've peeled thousands of pounds of potatoes, carrots, and apples with this peeler. Somehow, it has retained its edges when my backup peeler just sits in my drawer unused after the first month.
J.A. Henckels Sharpening Steel (Review coming soon)
This was part of the required kit. I hone every knife before service. The steel keeps edges aligned between using a whetstone to sharpen. Make sure to clean it every once in a while to keep the ridges clear and functional.
OXO Bench Scraper
I use this more than almost anything else in my kit. Portioning dough, moving chopped vegetables, cleaning cutting boards, scraping down work surfaces—it handles all of it. I never imagined it would be so useful when I bought it.
Winco 12" Tongs
Every professional kitchen uses these. They're long enough to keep your hands away from heat, sturdy enough not to bend, and cheap enough that losing one doesn't matter. They last forever and are by far the most utilized tool in the bag.
Microplane Zester (Review coming soon)
Required for baking class. Turns out zesting citrus, grating hard cheeses, and finishing dishes with fresh nutmeg became regular parts of the job. This tool earned permanent space in my roll.
The Tools I Never Used
The equipment list included a few items that seemed important at the time but never found their way into regular rotation.
Channel Knife and Traditional Zester
If I'd ended up working in bars or high-end cocktail service, these would've mattered. In restaurant kitchens? I don't think I used either one after the practical exam that required them.
Wine Opener
Same story. Useful for front-of-house staff and sommeliers. Not something line cooks reach for, unless I was making those port-braised pears for a winter pizza.
ChefCraft Instant-Read Thermometer
This was the cheap version the school recommended. It fits in the little pocket on the arm of a chef coat, where it remained full time until I graduated. I replaced it with better models over the years and learned that thermometers are worth the investment.
The Third Quarter Addition
By the third quarter, I'd added three things to my knife bag that weren't on the required list. Two of them were a Ziploc bag of bandaids and a tube of Neosporin Pain.
Everyone asked for bandaids. Constantly. Burns, cuts, blisters from new knife handles—culinary school is rough on hands. I got tired of watching people bleed into paper towels while looking for first aid supplies, so I kept my own stash. And the Neosporin pain, gold for keeping the distraction of burns and cuts from derailing your momentum.
The third was a pair of fish tweezers to remove pin bones from salmon. Indispensable and nothing else besides a pair of pliers works as well.
I also started carrying an extra Sharpie. You only forget to bring one to service once before learning that backup tools matter as much as primary ones. I can still hear my chef now, 'Bradley, where's your sharpie!?'
Twenty Years Later
Most of these tools are still in my knife bag. The knives have been steeled hundreds of times. The peeler has been replaced once. The bench scraper's handle is worn smooth. The tongs keep on keeping on.
But they all still work. They've survived culinary school, professional kitchens at Mellow Mushroom and Purple Café, years of various other jobs, and now daily use in my home kitchen.
If you're starting from scratch—whether you're heading to culinary school or just tired of fighting with dull knives and flimsy tools—this is what actually matters. Not the expensive knife sets with pieces you'll never use. Not the gadgets that promise to make cooking easier. Just solid, professional-grade tools that show up when you need them.
Start With What Works
These eleven tools handled everything from culinary school to professional kitchens to daily home cooking. Browse the individual reviews to see why they've earned permanent space in my knife bag.
Browse All Reviews →Frequently Asked Questions
Why Victorinox Instead of Higher-End Knives?
Victorinox Fibrox knives are the America's Test Kitchen winner for a reason. They hold an edge, survive heavy use, and cost a fraction of premium brands. After twenty years, I still haven't found a reason to replace them with something more expensive.
Do You Still Use All These Tools?
Most of them. The six Victorinox knives are still in my bag. The OXO peeler and bench scraper see daily use. The tongs are the most used of all of them. The Microplane is permanent. The honing steel gets used before every shift. The channel knife and traditional zester? Sitting in my kitchen drawer collecting dust.
What Would You Add Now That Wasn't on the School List?
A proper instant-read thermometer—something like the Thermapen or Thermoworks models that respond in under two seconds. If you break down salmon, the fish tweezers and a flexible boning or filet knife. A Benriner mandolin and a cut glove are amazing for making veggies beautiful and thin. And more bandaids. Always more bandaids.
Is This a Complete Kitchen Setup?
No. This is the foundation—the tools that handle prep work and most cooking tasks. You'll eventually need cutting boards, pots, pans, mixing bowls, and measuring equipment. But if you get these eleven tools right, everything else becomes easier.
Where Should Someone Start If They Can't Afford All Eleven?
Start with the 8" chef's knife, a paring knife, the peeler, and the bench scraper. Those four tools handle about 80% of daily kitchen work. Add the others as you can afford them.
About the Author
Scott Bradley has 24 years of professional kitchen experience, including roles as Kitchen Manager at Mellow Mushroom and line cook positions at Purple Café, Feierabend, Il Pizzaiolo, and Paragary's. He graduated from Seattle Central College's Culinary Arts program in 2007 and still uses most of the tools from his required equipment list twenty years later.