My Minimal Kitchen Essentials - 5-Piece Great Jones Cookware Set
There I was: 33 years old, mom of two, mediocre at cooking. Trying my best to make healthy meals for my family while still using my pots and pans from ten years ago. I had a hard time figuring out what I actually needed, and would buy $10 pans to do one job for one meal (and then throw them into the cabinet that was bursting to the brim.) I was living with the daily perpetual annoyance of scavenging my cabinet to find a pot or pan that would do what I needed it to do.
It was finally time to pare down the clutter and focus on just the minimal kitchen essentials. It was time to upgrade my family’s cookware to a smaller collection of high quality, versatile pieces. Cookware that was both practical and beautiful. Cookware that would actually fit into my cabinet because each piece is well thought out and multi-functional.
Meet the Family Five-Piece Collection of essential cookware by Great Jones. I’m here to give you my honest review of the collection, and tell you why it’s the only set you’ll need for your minimal kitchen.
Table of Contents
About Great Jones
Great Jones is the kind of company that you are proud to purchase from. They are about way more than cookware pieces; they truly want to help you feel empowered in your kitchen. Their company mission is to inspire you to cook more frequently and confidently. They have a ton of recipes and resources on their site, and they even have a number you can text to ask questions about cooking. How cool is that?
Shop Their Products
Here is the Family 5-Piece Collection featured throughout this post. I’m trying out this new commerce tool built by Fermat Commerce that allows you to safely buy products directly from the brand while staying on my page and not having to jump through a million hoops. Let me know what you think!
Five Minimal Kitchen Essentials - Cookware
Two pots, two pans, and one dutch oven. The five pieces of the Great Jones Family-Style Collection are all you need for your minimal kitchen cabinet. It’s a mix of cast-iron and stainless-steel designs.
My favorite part about the collection is that the four stainless-steel pieces share two lids to help save that sacred cabinet space. It’s so much more convenient to keep track of just two lids than four separate ones. I can’t even explain how life changing this detail is!
The dutch oven and stainless steel mixed-metal designs are brilliantly multi-functional. Plus, they are so, so beautiful. Here is a breakdown of each piece.
1. Cast-Iron Dutch Oven - The Dutchess
This Dutch Oven is what Great Jones is best known for. I had never owned a dutch oven before getting this collection, and it truly is a game changer in the kitchen. It’s my favorite piece in the collection!
The beauty of The Dutchess is it goes straight from the stove top into the oven and onto your table. It’s the master of the one-pot meal, so you have less dishes to wash after dinner. I have a delicious One-Pat Pasta Recipe using it that you just have to try, it’s our family’s go-to dinner.
The Duchess is the perfect oval-shape and is a nice, large size. The interior is light grey so it hides stains while also being easy to deglaze and clean. It comes in seven beautiful colors – we chose the gorgeous green shade called ‘Broccoli.’ It’s also so stylish that you’ll want to always leave it out on your stovetop (and trust me, all your house guests will ask where it’s from.)
2. Classic Stainless-Steel Stockpot - Big Deal
This 8 quart pot is perfect for super fast boiling. I mostly use it to boil pasta, potatoes and rice . It’s also great for meal prep! Make a large batch once and you’re all set for the rest of the week.
Big Deal is strong and sturdy and is dishwasher-friendly (woo!) The oversized handles make it easy to move, and it shares a lid with Deep Cut to save storage space. I also love the little detail of the built-in measurements – yay for less dishes after dinner!
3. Stainless-Steel Saucier - Saucy
This 3 quart pot is awesome. Saucy has a cool pouring spout on the side. I never realized how much I needed this spout until now, I use it all the time! It has a beautiful metal handle and shares a lid with Small Fry. And it has the handy measurements lasers-etched on the inside so I don’t have to do math while I’m cooking or wash any separate measuring cups.
Also – cleaning is a breeze because it has curved sides so food doesn’t get stuck. Where has this detail been my whole life?
4. Sauté Pan & Skillet - Deep Cut
Deep Cut is super versatile. I love to use it for all sorts of foods from stirfrys to meats to pancakes. It’s a custom-built deep sauté pan and skillet. It’s nice and deep so liquid doesn’t splash out, but the sides are sloped (not straight) so you can toss veggies in the air like a professional chef (which I still need to spend some time practicing.)
Deep Cut also makes a great one-pot pasta and is large enough to make dinner with leftovers for the next day! The long metal handle is gorgeous and makes for a beautiful cookware piece to hang to display in your kitchen.
5. Nonstick, Nontoxic Small Pan - Small Fry
Small Fry is probably what I use the most from the Great Jones Five-Piece Set. For example, our family loves eggs and omelettes in the mornings and the nonstick surface is perfect for that. We use Small Fry pretty much every single day. It’s nontoxic and even oven safe! And just like all the stainless steel pieces from Great Jones, it can handle up to 500 degrees (F), it’s dishwasher safe, and it has the beautiful ergonomic metal handles.
Final Thoughts
I hope this post has inspired you to declutter your kitchen, and only keep pieces you use often and love. Having cookware that’s both functional and stylish keeps me more motivated and confident cooking for my family, and I hope it does the same for you, too.
It’s such a satisfying feeling to declutter this cabinet and only keep the high-quality minimal kitchen essentials. Shall we do my bakeware cabinet next?
Thank you for reading!
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Hi, I'm Teresa!
Thank you for taking the time to read my little space on the internet. I’m a digital creator, blogger & environmental advocate.
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