Starter Korean Kitchen Tool Kit: 10 Tools Korean Home Cooks Reach For (and the Pantry Basics)
한국 부엌 기본 도구
You can cook a lot of Korean food with an ordinary Western kitchen. A good knife, a cutting board, a few pots, and a rice cooker will take you far. But a handful of inexpensive tools show up in almost every Korean home kitchen, and they make the most common tasks — cutting meat, julienning vegetables, mixing namul, serving rice — noticeably easier.
Here's a starter kit of ten tools, with the Korean names, how each one is typically used, and what to look for. At the end, there's a short list of pantry basics to go with them.
1. Kitchen scissors — gawi (가위)
If you only buy one thing from this list, make it a sturdy pair of kitchen scissors. In Korean cooking they are used constantly:
- Cutting grilled pork belly or galbi into bite-size pieces on the grill.
- Snipping whole kimchi leaves into pieces at the table.
- Cutting cold noodles (naengmyeon, 냉면) before eating.
- Trimming scallions, chives, and seaweed sheets.
What to look for: Heavy-duty stainless blades, comfortable grips, and ideally blades that come apart for cleaning, since they'll touch raw meat. Some have micro-serrated blades that grip slippery meat.
Search Korean kitchen scissors
2. Julienne peeler and slicer — chaekal (채칼)
Korean recipes call for a lot of finely julienned vegetables: radish for musaengchae (무생채), carrot and onion for japchae (잡채), cucumber for cold noodles, potato for gamja-bokkeum (감자볶음). A handheld julienne peeler with a toothed blade makes thin, even strips quickly. The larger flat slicer with interchangeable blades is also called a chaekal.
What to look for: A sharp, stainless blade, a comfortable handle, and — for mandoline-style slicers — a hand guard. These blades are very sharp; use the guard and consider cut-resistant gloves.
Search julienne peelers Mandoline slicers with guards
3. Long cooking chopsticks — jori-yong jeotgarak (조리용 젓가락)
Longer than eating chopsticks, cooking chopsticks are used for frying jeon (전, savory pancakes), flipping and separating meat in a pan, stirring noodles, and tossing japchae. Wooden or bamboo versions don't scratch nonstick pans and stay cooler to hold.
What to look for: Length of around 30 cm or more, heat-resistant material, and textured tips for grip.
Search long cooking chopsticks
4. Stainless spoons and chopsticks — sujeo (수저)
The Korean word sujeo combines sutgarak (숟가락, spoon) and jeotgarak (젓가락, chopsticks). Korean tables traditionally set a long-handled flat spoon with metal chopsticks; rice and soup are commonly eaten with the spoon, and side dishes with chopsticks. Stainless steel is the everyday standard. The chopsticks are typically flat or flattened, which takes a bit of practice compared to round wooden chopsticks.
What to look for: Solid stainless steel (many listings describe the grade), dishwasher-safe labeling if that matters to you, and sets with a matching spoon. Hollow chopsticks are lighter; solid ones are more durable.
Search Korean spoon and chopstick sets
5. Rice paddle — jugeok (주걱)
A flat paddle for fluffing and serving rice. Most rice cookers come with one, but a spare is handy. Many modern paddles have a textured surface so rice doesn't stick. Use plastic, silicone, or wood rather than metal to protect your rice cooker's nonstick pot.
6. Large stainless mixing bowls
Korean home cooking involves a lot of tossing by hand: seasoning namul (나물, vegetable side dishes), mixing bibimbap, dressing salads, and making kimchi. A couple of wide, lightweight stainless steel bowls in different sizes get used daily. Korean kitchens often have very large basins for salting cabbage.
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7. Grater — gangpan (강판)
Korean marinades often use grated Asian pear, apple, onion, garlic, and ginger — think bulgogi and galbi marinades. A sturdy box grater or a flat grater with fine teeth does the job. Some traditional Korean graters are ceramic with raised teeth.
8. Doenjang strainer — doenjang georeumang (된장 거름망)
A small, fine-mesh strainer basket with a handle that you lower into a stew pot, then press doenjang through with a spoon so the paste dissolves smoothly without lumps. It's also handy for straining anchovy broth. Any small fine-mesh strainer works.
9. Broth pouch or stock bag
Korean soups and stews often start with yuksu (육수), a quick broth of dried anchovies (myeolchi, 멸치) and dried kelp (dashima, 다시마). Reusable stainless infuser baskets or disposable broth bags let you pull everything out at once instead of fishing for anchovies.
Search stock infuser baskets Disposable broth bags
10. A ttukbaegi or small stew pot
Not a tool exactly, but a small earthenware ttukbaegi (뚝배기) or a small heavy saucepan is the vessel for jjigae — the everyday Korean stew. See our full guide: Dolsot vs Ttukbaegi.
Pantry basics to go with the tools
These ingredients cover a large share of everyday Korean home cooking. Most are available at Korean and pan-Asian grocers and online.
| Ingredient | Korean | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Gochujang | 고추장 | Fermented red chili paste: savory, sweet, spicy. For bibimbap, tteokbokki, marinades, and stews. |
| Doenjang | 된장 | Fermented soybean paste. The base of doenjang jjigae and many soups. |
| Soy sauce | 간장 (ganjang) | Everyday seasoning. Korean kitchens also keep soup soy sauce, guk-ganjang (국간장), which is saltier and lighter in color. |
| Gochugaru | 고춧가루 | Korean chili flakes. Essential for kimchi and many stews; coarse and fine grinds exist. |
| Toasted sesame oil | 참기름 (chamgireum) | Nutty finishing oil for namul, bibimbap, and dips. |
| Toasted sesame seeds | 깨 (kkae) | Sprinkled on almost everything. |
| Fish sauce | 액젓 (aekjeot) | Anchovy or other fish sauce used in kimchi and seasoning. |
| Dried anchovies and kelp | 멸치, 다시마 | For quick broth. |
| Short-grain rice | 쌀 (ssal) | The everyday staple. |
| Rice syrup or corn syrup | 물엿 / 조청 | Glossy sweetness for braises and stir-fries. |
Storage tip: Once opened, gochujang and doenjang are generally refrigerated. Gochugaru keeps its color and flavor better in the freezer or fridge in an airtight bag. Check each label.
Search gochujang Search doenjang Search gochugaru
How to build the kit without overbuying
The links below open Amazon search results, not a specific product we've tested. Read each listing's materials, size, and care instructions, and check recent customer reviews before you buy. Prices change often, so we don't list them.
- Start with what you'll use this week. Scissors, a julienne peeler, and a couple of mixing bowls cover a surprising number of recipes.
- Add the specialty pieces as recipes call for them. A doenjang strainer earns its spot once you're making stew weekly.
- Prefer simple, durable materials: stainless steel, wood, and silicone.
- Read the listing details: material, dimensions, dishwasher safety, and the seller's care instructions.
Bottom line
None of these tools is expensive or complicated, and that's the point. Korean home cooking leans on a few hard-working basics — scissors at the table, a peeler for matchstick vegetables, long chopsticks at the stove, stainless sujeo at every place setting. Pick up the ones that match the dishes you cook most, add the pantry staples, and you'll have a kitchen that feels a lot more like one in Seoul.
Frequently asked questions
Why do Korean cooks use scissors instead of knives?
Kitchen scissors (gawi, 가위) are fast and practical for many Korean dishes: cutting grilled meat at the table, snipping kimchi into bite-sized pieces, trimming scallions, and cutting cold noodles. Knives are still used for most prep; scissors just handle many jobs more conveniently.
What is a Korean julienne peeler?
It's a handheld peeler with a toothed blade that cuts vegetables into thin matchstick strips. Korean cooks use it, along with the larger slicer called a chaekal (채칼), for julienned radish, carrot, cucumber, and potato in dishes like japchae, muchim, and kimbap.
Why are Korean chopsticks flat and made of metal?
Stainless steel chopsticks and spoons are standard in Korean homes and restaurants. They are durable and easy to wash, and the flat shape is traditional for metal chopsticks in Korea. They are thinner and heavier than wooden or bamboo chopsticks, so they take a little practice.
What Korean pantry items should I buy first?
A practical starter set is gochujang (red chili paste), doenjang (soybean paste), soy sauce, gochugaru (chili flakes), toasted sesame oil, and toasted sesame seeds. Add fish sauce, dried anchovies, and dried kelp for broth when you start making stews.
Do I need a special knife for Korean cooking?
No. A sharp chef's knife or a vegetable cleaver handles almost all Korean prep. Korean home kitchens use a variety of knives, but there isn't a single required Korean knife style for home cooking.
This guide was written from Seoul and is based on research into how these tools are made and used, not on hands-on product testing. Product details, sizes, and prices change; always check the listing and the manufacturer's instructions before you buy. Questions or corrections: hello@seoulstove.com.