Timeless classics

Over the past 11 years we’ve written numerous features about our favourite pieces of kitchen kit, based on what we use at home, and what has stood the test of time and serious hard work in the O test kitchen. It’s telling that the majority of the pieces of equipment we rated all that time ago are still our first pick.These six items are permanent fixtures in our kitchen.

MICROPLANE GRATER Still the best available in our opinion, and with a big range of sizes, shapes and grating blades. Microplane’s graters’ tiny razor-like edges are formed by a process called photo-etching, in which holes are made with a chemical (rather than being stamped out), leaving edges that slice finely instead of tearing. From £14.95, widely available.

MANDOLINE Mandolines really speed up making dishes that need lots of slicing or shredding; they’re essentially a really sharp, long-lasting blade. I like the Benriner Japanese mandoline that has a flat blade for slicing, three shredding blades of different widths, and a guard that stores flat (which means it’ll fit in my kitchen drawer). £16.44, MAGIC NON-STICK LINERS PTFE coated fabric you can use to line your baking sheets and cake tins. It wears well and will save you a fortune in baking paper.You can also use a sheet for rolling out pastry on. 33 x 100cm sheet/£10.25, lakeland. co.uk THERMAPEN Modern cooks need a meat thermometer – it’s the only way to tell if your meat is cooked to the degree you want it to be. From £36, thermapen.co.uk PYREX JUG Accept no imitations. Only a real Pyrex jug will stand the test of time and still have readable measurements however many times you wash it. From £3/0.5l jug, widely available.

NYLON DOUGH SCRAPER It doesn’t matter if you never make bread, this tool is much more than it appears to be. Use it for lifting chopped veg into your saucepan, dividing dough into pieces, levering brownies out of a tin, or for scraping purée through a sieve. Cheap as chips.You’ll wonder how you ever did without one. From £1, widely available.