YOU COULD spend a fortune to outfit your kitchen at Williams and Sonoma, but any restaurant supply store or even your local Target will do. Here are five essential tools no kitchen should be without.

Cast Iron Skillet Before Teflon pans, there was cast iron. These heavy, virtually indestructible pans are great for everything thing from roasting a chicken to cooking pancakes.

Chef Knife Eight inches is the standard. If there's one essential kitchen tool, this is it.

Cutting Board Bigger is better here. While they can be a bit expensive, bamboo cutting boards are good investment. They fact they're made from a quick to grow, sustainably produced material is another bonus.

Paring Knife These little guys come in handy for jobs when a big chef knife is too big.

Sauce Pot An ample pan in the 4 1/2–quart size is good for making soup, boiling water for pasta and braising meats.

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