The good thing is, you really do not need many of the shiny, sharp knives out there. When building your first knife arsenal, the key word is versatility. That's why you only really need four knives until you decide to get really fancy with your slicing and dicing. 

Those four knives are:

• 8" Chef's Knife
  
• Paring Knife

• Serrated Bread Knife
  
• Kitchen Shears

Ok, so maybe it's three knives, and one pair of sorta knives, but with these four tools, you will be well prepared to start slicing, dicing, mincing, and more. Let's look into these in more detail.

Like any master of their craft, you can't begin cooking without the proper gear. In this first installation of Gear, we will focus on getting you set up with the essential cookware to tackle 90% of all the dishes you will likely cook. Sure, maybe that Tagine would be cool, that is something that we will save for a later day. For your kitchen, there are five basic pieces that every newly independent adult should own:

• 1 8-9" Non-Stick Skillet
• 1 12" Sauté Pan with Lid
• 1 2-3 Quart Saucepan
• 1 5qt Covered Pot
• 1 10 inch Cast Iron Skillet
  

These five pieces of hardware will get you through 90% of the dishes you would want to tackle as a new entrant into the kitchen. Let's break down the pieces, explore them more in depth, talk about where to buy them, and answer a key question about each: non-stick or no?