For those who haven’t been following along, we’ve been documenting various lists of essentials we feel belong in our Airbnbs. This is also one of those! In today’s post, we’ll talk about the Airbnb kitchen essentials on our list, our thoughts behind the items, as well as some things to try out that are on our next property list. Let’s help make guests able to cook meals right in our kitchen! But first, something to think about:
Keeping Cleaning In Mind
One of the biggest things we wanted to consider was the amount of time it would take to clean the items we offered. So we went with items that were easy to clean, and we kept from providing too many appliances. That’s not to say you can’t. But you’ll want to keep a few things in mind:
Be Mindful Of Dishwasher Space
One thing to keep in mind is dishwasher space. Usually with Airbnb’s, you’ll have from roughly 11am to 3pm, just four hours, to clean everything. And you don’t want to be there when your guests are there, so shorten that by fifteen minutes on each end to make it just three and a half hours. Depending on your dishwasher, that’s two loads. Three if you do the drying.
It’s much easier to think about when you have only a few guests (we had up to five). But those dishes do add up. And also keep in mind the time it takes to clean those dishes that don’t belong in a dishwasher, such as knives!
Coordinating With Your Cleaner
If you do plan to add quite a bit of appliances, extra dinnerware, coffee mugs or wine glasses, etc., it may make sense to coordinate with your cleaner. It’s a good idea to give them the expectation upfront that they will sometimes have to do more than just loading the dishwasher. That way everyone is on the same page. You may pay slightly more, but it’s well worth having a happy cleaner who knows the full details of the job.
Setting Guest Expectations
Letting guests know what you expect to be cleaned in your property is a great way to make kitchen duty much easier. I wouldn’t recommend going overboard, but a simple “if you use it we ask that you please clean it” message can go a long way. Not all guests will listen, but it can help lighten the load for a good majority.
Now onto the good stuff!
Our Airbnb Kitchen Must Haves
Plates, Bowls, Silverware & Cups
The essentials of the essentials. We won’t go into too much detail here. Just that we recommend buying decent quality. No plastic cups or plates (unless you’re catering to kids! See Things To Try for more). And we recommend keeping a set or two extra of everything. You never know what guests may need! Our set for up to 5 guests looks like:
- 6 small plates
- 6 large plates
- 6 bowls
- 6 sets of silverware (butter knife, fork, spoon)
- 6 glasses
Knife Set
This is one that we didn’t put too much effort into, but it still worked out great. You could go the single knives route, but we thought purchasing a block of knives would look and feel better. I went back and looked and our knives were only $40 on Amazon. And it came with a built-in sharpener!
Depending on the style of your property, you may want some more expensive knives. Especially if you are catering to those who like to entertain or cook for the entire family. But having a set to begin with feels like a big upgrade for the money.
Spice Rack
Similar to the knife set, you could probably get away with purchasing single bottles of spices. But we felt this added convenience and a bit of extra luxury feel to the space. Our spice rack came from HomeGoods for about $30, and it was prefilled so it really didn’t cost a lot more than just buying the spices. We’ll be tracking these down for our future properties too!
Pots & Pans
You can get a set of pots and pans for a very affordable price nowadays. And if you’re on a budget these are items that can be thrifted pretty easily as well. But make sure you have them if you plan on having guests that cook. I’d argue pots and pans are the absolute bare minimum when catering to anything more than someone heating up microwavable meals. Adjust the quality for your space. And while I love our cast iron at home, it may be a little too much work to keep up with it at your Airbnb.
Bakeware
This is one area where looking back we definitely could’ve done better. What I mean by that is I forgot to even purchase anything similar to baking sheets until a guest brought it up. We made it right and purchased 2 baking sheets, measuring cups and bowls, and some mixing bowls. Really just the basics in terms of bakeware, but we won’t be caught without at least the basics moving forward.
Pro tip:The pack of mixing bowls came with a very large bowl, so we took it home to save on dishwasher space (there were 3 other bowls in the pack).
Cutting Boards
Save your counters by getting cutting boards! Wood ones are nice, but aren’t meant for the dishwasher. Use your best judgment on whether it’s worth the tradeoff of not being able to throw it in a quick wash.
Toaster
I feel like this is the most basic of cooking appliances aside from a microwave. They’re very affordable, don’t take up a lot of space, and are highly useful.
Coffee Maker
There’s a bit of flexibility with this one. We went the easy route with a Keurig and K-cups because we happened to have an extra one. But you could also provide grounds and filters as needed (possibly with a hot water kettle, which happens to be a listed Airbnb amenity). This is more tricky but would give the chance to provide local flavors for guests to try. But no matter what, a way to brew coffee seems like a necessity with how many people drink it nowadays!
Drying Towels
I probably sound stupid when I say this, but I had no idea there were different types of towels for drying and hand towels. Just never realized it. So when a guest asked where the drying towels were because all he could find was hand towels, I realized getting dedicated towels for drying dishes was a must. So we’ll be making sure we purchase both for our next properties!
Things To Try
As we’ve been doing in our previous essentials posts, we like to add a section on items that have made our list to try on future properties. Depending on the style of your property, it may be beneficial to try some of these out. And we’ll be sure to mark things that are also Airbnb amenities, which are searchable!
Blender (A)
A very simple item that seems to be in every kitchen. However, we thought it would be a pain to clean so we left it out. If we have a property on the more pricey side we will likely be including this in the future though. Just be sure it gets washed and dried properly so it can be used by each guest!
Barbecue Utensils + BBQ Grill (A)
Weirdly enough, we had a guest leave a charcoal grill at our property. They apparently bought it but didn’t want it. That one guest mixed with a couple others who asked over the past year have made us add this to the list of things to try.
Air Fryer/Toaster Oven
We use our air fryer/toaster oven combo so much at home. We feel like it would be worth trying, especially if the kitchen were big enough to fit it without it being out of place. It would be especially great for guests who want quick meals without using the microwave. Definitely on our list to try!
Rice Maker (A)
Rice is a huge staple in food of all types. Having an easy way to set it and forget it when cooking is a huge time saver. This is another appliance we use a ton at home and will be exploring for our Airbnb’s.
Children’s Dinnerware (A)
If you plan to cater to kids, there is a huge list of child-friendly amenities found in the Airbnb amenity list. Children’s dinnerware is one of them. They also have high chairs listed if that’s something you have room for. Depending on our next property we are considering making it very kid-friendly, and this is an easy win for that!
Assisting Home Chefs In Your Property
While we aren’t expert cooks, we feel these items are essential for our Airbnb kitchens. We hope that by documenting our experience we make things easier for you to furnish your property. And with our kitchen list we hope to inspire and assist the personal chefs who stay at our property!