What should actually be in an Airbnb kitchen?

Guests rarely mention a kitchen in their review when it's good. They mention it when it isn't: no sharp knife, a frying pan with the coating peeling off, two mugs for four people. The fix isn't a bigger kitchen. It's stocking for what guests actually cook.

Think about the meals, not the gadgets

Most short-stay guests cook three kinds of meal:

• Breakfast: coffee or tea, toast, eggs, cereal.
• Something simple in a pan: pasta, stir-fry, sausages.
• Reheating: takeaway leftovers, ready meals, food from a local shop.

If your kitchen handles all three well, almost every guest is covered. Elaborate equipment for baking or slow cooking rarely gets used.

The essentials list

Cooking

• One good non-stick frying pan and one larger pan or wok.
• Two saucepans: one small, one large enough for pasta.
• A baking tray and an oven dish.
• A colander.
• A sharp chef's knife, a bread knife and a small knife.
• Two chopping boards.
• A wooden spoon, spatula, ladle, tongs and a whisk.
• A can opener, bottle opener and corkscrew.
• Kitchen scissors and a grater.

Eating and drinking

• Plates, bowls, cutlery, glasses and mugs for your maximum guest count, plus two. Breakages and dishes left in the dishwasher mean you need spares.
• Wine glasses, if your guests are likely to want them.
• A couple of serving bowls.

Breakfast

• A kettle and a toaster.
• A way to make coffee. A cafetière is cheap and reliable; a pod machine is popular but needs pods.

Basics

• Oil, salt, pepper and sugar.
• Washing-up liquid, a sponge, a tea towel or two, foil and cling film.

Our post on the turnover supplies worth stocking covers the consumables side in more detail.

Quality where it counts

You don't need expensive kitchenware, but two items are worth spending a little more on: the frying pan and the main knife. These are the two things guests notice when they're bad. A scratched non-stick pan looks dirty even when it's clean, and a blunt knife makes every meal frustrating.

Replace pans when the coating starts to wear. Check knives at each deep clean.

What you can leave out

• Specialist gadgets like stand mixers, slow cookers and spiralisers. They take space, need explaining and are rarely used on a short stay.
• Large sets of mismatched extras inherited from your own kitchen. They fill cupboards and make it harder for cleaners to check everything is back.
• Fragile or valuable items. If you'd be upset to see it broken, don't leave it in a holiday let.

Families may need a few extras, like plastic cups and a high chair. Our post on whether to provide a cot and high chair covers that.

Make it easy to find and check

Label cupboards or include a simple "where things are" section in your house manual. Guests stop opening every door looking for the colander, and cleaners can see quickly if something is missing.

A photo of each cupboard as it should look, kept with your cleaning checklist, makes turnovers faster and catches missing items before the next guest finds out. Our house manual template has a kitchen section you can fill in, including appliance tips for anything that needs explaining.

Tick the amenities

Finally, check your listing's amenities. Guests filter on "kitchen", "cooking basics", "dishwasher" and "coffee maker". If you have them and haven't ticked them, you're missing from those searches. Our post on the amenities that actually move bookings has more on which ones matter.