Especially since KOSHER means duplicate or even triplicate...

What do you really need to buy to set up a kitchen?

When I got married, in 1970, the best in kitchen pots was stainless steel Revereware. Next best was Farberware, and I ended up with its "starter sets" for meat and Eko, which seems to be out of business, for dairy. Besides my cutting board and knife, which I still use, nothing was parve.

In Israel, way back then, most everyone used cheap aluminum, but it was possible to get Soltam, which is similar to Farberware. Over the years, I've bought quite a few, especially giant ones for my enormous vegetable soups. Many of the new pots are parve, since I find it more efficient to make parve side dishes which can be eaten with either meat or dairy meals.

I can't say that all the pots still have handles, but none of those good stainless steel pots have had to be retired to the dustbin, too holey to hold water.

I rarely use small electric cooking appliances. The big, hardly touched, mixer was once put away in the attic before Pesach and never missed. It took up too much space on the counter and was the last model before they had dough hooks. So if I have to knead by hand, I can mix a simple one-bowl cake. No mixer! I have a small food processor on the counter, rarely used, same for the primitive microwave. There's a blender stick in a closet; it's not too heavy to lift out.

I can't tell you where you can find bargains, but I can tell you that quality lasts. As far as I see it, it's "no frills;" though due to the Laws of Kashrut, the quantity of cooking equipment is enormous.