What Kitchen Equipment Do You Need on a Boat?

Ever wondered if kitchen equipment is different on a boat? Do you have as many spoons? What about a blender? A microwave?

These are all things you might be wondering, and fair enough! If you've never cooked in a boat kitchen before, it can be a tricky thing to comprehend... which is exactly why I'm here to tell you!

So, what kitchen equipment do you need on a boat? Let's find out.

The Basics

There are some things you simply can't operate a kitchen without. These are the essentials every boat needs, so let's start here:

• Cutlery: spoons, forks, butter knives, teaspoons, etc.
• Tableware: bowls, plates, etc.
• Measuring utensils: measuring cups, jugs, etc.
• Pots & pans: at least one pot and one pan are absolute must-haves.
• Cups & bottles: coffee mugs, drink bottles, etc.

Obviously, these are the "can't cook without them" items, but on a boat there are a few extra things worth mentioning.

Glass Isn't Always Your Friend

Glass isn't very suitable on a boat... I know, you want to drink wine out of a proper glass, and it just doesn't taste the same if you don't. If that's you (ahem... Kris might be in that boat), just be aware that you may need to carry a few spares for when one inevitably breaks—especially on a monohull.

Crockery Choices

Glass-based crockery breaks. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience!

On our monohull we had reusable bamboo tableware (it looked much cooler than it sounds... here's a link), and honestly, it was amazing. On the catamaran, there was already a simple white corelle dinner set on board, so we've mostly stuck with that. So far, we still have six of almost everything left!

It really comes down to what you prefer, whether you have kids on board, and what type of boat you sail.

Pots & Pans Need to Work Hard

Your pots and pans need to be multi-purpose because there simply isn't room for one designed for every occasion.

For us, we have:

• one large stainless steel frying pan that can cook almost anything,
• one smaller non-stick pan for eggs and smaller meals, and
• one large pot for rice, potatoes, soups... pretty much everything else.

These three get used almost every day, and we've rarely wished for anything more.

Cutlery

As far as cutlery goes, we have a random mix of everything: everyday knives, forks, and spoons, plus the usual extras like a soup spoon, silicone spatula, pan flipper, tongs, and the like.

One of everything that serves multiple purposes.

Basically... the basics are pretty basic. 😉

Cooking with Gas

Onboard Happy Days, we run on gas (propane) for the majority of our cooking. That's how we bought the boat, and most of the time it works really well.

We have:

• three burners on the inside stove,
• a small-ish oven, and
• an old BBQ that has plenty of character.

All of these run from a gas bottle stored in an outside locker.

How Much Gas Do We Carry?

Good question!

We carry two 8kg bottles and a smaller 4kg spare for emergencies.

The key isn't really how much gas you carry—it's whether the country you're visiting can refill your bottles.

We definitely had issues with this in Indonesia because their fittings are completely different from Australia and America. But, like so many things in sailing, we eventually figured it out.

One of the best purchases we made while in Indonesia was a little camping butane cooker.

It was absolute gold because:

• we could cook outside where it was cooler,
• butane canisters were available all throughout Asia, and
• it became the perfect backup if we ever completely ran out of propane.

While we cook almost all our meals with this gas setup, there is one secret weapon on board...

More Unique Boat Kitchen Equipment

This is where things get a little more interesting—and maybe a little random—but everything has earned its place onboard.

The Thermomix

Want to start with my favourite thing in the kitchen?

The Thermomix.

If you don't know what one is, you wouldn't be the first person, so prepare to have your mind blown.

The Thermomix is a blender, steamer, cooker, mixer... and pretty much anything else.

A few things we regularly use it for include:

• butter chicken,
• smoothies,
• blending coffee,
• mixing muffin batter, and
• mixing up cookies.

Mind blown? Maybe just a little.

Yoghurt Maker

Believe it or not, this is actually a thing.

And we use it a lot, which is why I'm mentioning it here.

Basically, we use both the Thermomix and the yoghurt maker together so that, come Sunday morning, we can have homemade yoghurt on top of our pancakes.

Electric Kettle

Yes, we have one.

Yes, it uses a bit of power.

Yes, we use it anyway.

For years we used a whistling gas kettle, and it worked perfectly fine. But when gas became harder to refill and using the inside burners made the boat unbearably hot, we looked into getting an electric kettle.

Now we use it every single day and haven't looked back.

Stove Top Pressure Cooker

This is a super handy contraption that we use to quickly cook things like chicken and beans. It's simple and though I do sometimes dream of an instant pot instead, this is what we've got - and it works!

Our Full Boat Kitchen Equipment List

Here's absolutely everything we have and use in our boat galley. Don't get overwhelmed—it's still less than most houses!

Cutlery

• 8 × tablespoons
• 8 × teaspoons
• 8 × forks
• 8 × cake forks (I actually don't know why...)
• 8 × butter knives
• 6 × sharp "Kiwi" knives (our steak knives)
• Way too many pairs of wooden chopsticks

Cooking Utensils

• 5 × sharp knives of varying sizes
• Soup spoon
• Rice serving spoon
• One long pair and one short pair of tongs
• Plastic pan flipper
• Metal BBQ flipper
• Pasta server
• Silicone spatula
• Silicone basting brush (I think that's what it's called...)
• Measuring cups from ¼ cup to 1 cup

Crockery

• 6 × plastic plates
• 4 × white glass plates
• 6 × plastic bowls
• 8 × small white glass bowls
• 2 × large white glass bowls (for salads, etc.)
• One 2-cup glass measuring jug

Pots & Pans

• Large stainless steel frying pan
• Large stainless steel pot
• Small non-stick frying pan
• Small stainless steel pot
• Spare metal gas kettle
• Stove-top pressure cooker
• Four baking trays (that fit the oven)
• 2 × muffin trays
• 2 × loaf tins
• Dutch oven
• Very well-used metal pot for baking bread

Cups

• 6 × coffee mugs
• 4 × mix-and-match glass cups
• 6 × metal/plastic cups

Other

• Metal grater
• Two multi-purpose metal bowls
• Yoghurt maker
• Several multi-purpose glass jars
• Thermomix
• French press (or three)
• Collapsible silicone colander
• Silicone oven mitts
• 2 × fridge/freezers
• Portable plug-in fridge
• Portable plug-in freezer

Summary

Well... that was kind of a long list! I've never actually gone through everything like that before.

I really hope this gives you a better idea of what kitchen equipment you need on a boat. We've slowly narrowed things down over the years, learning what works, what doesn't, and what we actually use. We absolutely love our little galley.

There might be a few things that surprise you—like the fact we don't have a microwave—and that's totally fair.

What I want you to know is this: if there's something you regularly use on land and you're wondering whether you can make it work on a boat, chances are you probably can.

Every boat is different too. Friends of ours have had ice makers, slushy machines (that's taking it a bit far if you ask me), espresso machines, microwaves, and even bread makers.

We've also met sailors who only have a little butane cooker and nothing else.

It all depends on you, your boat, and how you like to live aboard.

To be honest, this post could go on for much longer, but I think it's time to wrap it up and let you get on with deciding how to outfit your own boat galley.

I'd love to hear from you in the comments—what kitchen equipment couldn't you live without onboard? Or do you have any tips you'd add to this list?