Architectural Digest’s Starter Home Essentials (2026)

Moving is stressful enough; the last thing you want to do once the truck is unloaded is scroll through endless shopping pages. Luckily, the Shop AD team has done our fair share of moving, sometimes multiple times in a single year. And while our college cutlery and starter apartment towels have served us well over the years, it's never a bad time for a fresh start.

So we asked ourselves: If we were outfitting our homes from scratch, what would we buy first? These are our starter home essentials—spanning bed, bath, and kitchen—we recommend time and time again. In every category, you’ll find three options: an entry-level pick for those just getting started, an AD-tested favorite, and a splurge-worthy option for those ready to upgrade. Whether you’re buying, renting, moving in, or moving on, consider this your guide to setting up a home with style and longevity in mind.

Bedding

When the boxes are still strewn across the living room and your kitchen is in shambles, you’ll at least want a freshly made bed to fall into. (And if you don’t set up your bedroom first, this is your sign to.) After hundreds of hours testing sheets, a few favorites have stood out across the team’s various preferences and sleep styles.

Quince offers affordable, quality bedding we reach for year-round. The linen sheets are favorites, as they are beautifully textured, breathable, and available in over a dozen colors and patterns to fit your new bedroom’s aesthetic. A step up, and for the percale devotees among us, we love KOTN. Simple, dependable, and Oeko-Tex-certified, the brand’s bedding is one of those IYKYK items we’re taking mainstream. Frette offers a sense of luxury akin to five-star hotels—they’re used in The Palace Hotel and St. Regis locations worldwide. The 100% cotton set, made in Italy, is slightly softer than your typical percale, while retaining the crisp, cool feel that makes the material a perennial favorite.

Duvet Inserts

What’s inside your duvet matters just as much as what’s on top. Our favorite duvet inserts are made from down to down-alternative materials and range from cooling to all-season. One of the most versatile, crowd-pleasing options is the Brooklinen down comforter, which shopping writer Julia Harrison describes as “never too hot or too cold, and it’s easy to fluff up in the morning when I’m making my bed.” For those who run warm, there’s the Buffy Cloud cooling comforter. This plush down-alternative option has a satisfying weight while somehow still being temperature-regulating, even through the summer. Ostermoor is an investment, sure, but its heavyweight fill of white duck feather and down creates a cozy, cocoon-like feel. Designed for extra warmth, it keeps you comfortably insulated through cold fronts and nights, even with the AC on full blast.

Towels

This time around, prioritize plushness, absorbency, and aesthetics with your bath towels. There’s no need to hang onto the bleached, fraying ones from your college days. Perhaps our favorite bath towels ever, Brooklinen’s Super-Plush towels live up to their name. Beyond their soft touch, they’re highly absorbent and dry surprisingly fast, not holding onto dampness longer than an hour or two, even in contributor Kate McGregor’s windowless bathroom. For those looking beyond neutral hues and basic prints on their linens, Autumn Sonata offers a more decorative approach. The brand’s Alma Essential Set, a favorite of Harrison, brings vintage sophistication to your space with its take on a classic grid pattern. Matouk, known for its designer-beloved bed linens, also excels in the bath category. Its Milagro towels are our splurge pick, having earned a permanent spot in shopping editor Audrey Lee’s linen closet for years. “So far, they’ve stayed ultrasoft, and the fibers haven’t matted or gotten stuck together,” she says. Playful animal prints are available, as are monograms, so you never question which towel is yours.

Dinnerware

The right dinnerware can make even a night of leftovers feel like a special occasion. Best known for its chef-approved cookware and durable stainless steel, Made In also makes some of our favorite plates. Its porcelain plates offer an everyday take on fine china that’s meant to be used, not left gathering dust in your cabinets. For a broader choice of colors and glaze finishes, we recommend Jono Pandolfi. Handmade in New Jersey, the brand’s dinnerware was originally developed for countless restaurants and award-winning chefs, but you can bring a set home too. McGregor notes that these plates have a hefty weight to them, and the unglazed base makes for an easy grip. Noble, an earthenware brand based in Brooklyn, crafts small batches in unique glazes (and recently unveiled a chartreuse hue). These plates feel special, like you’d want to reserve them for guests and serveware, but they’re designed specifically for commercial use, making them durable enough for three meals a day, every day, for years to come.

Glassware

Water bottles may follow us from room to room but we still believe in a well-designed drinking glass. IKEA feels basically like every starter apartment’s go-to retailer, but tucked among its flat-packed furniture are a few surprisingly elevated finds. The glasses from its 2025 Stockholm collection boast a curved silhouette that McGregor says is ideal for iced coffees and juices. In classic Scandinavian fashion, the glassware is superthin and minimal, suiting a more modern aesthetic. For a little more color, East Fork offers hand-blown glass tumblers in a wide array of hues, although we’re partial to the cobalt blue. The thicker recycled glass leans eclectic, and there are various sizes and a coordinating pitcher to form a complete set. At the splurge end, there are few glassware options as aspirational as In Common With’s collaboration with Laguna~B. Abstract Murano glass flowers and hand-blown silhouettes make each item one-of-one.

Stemware

Raise a toast to the start of a new chapter, but put down the solo cups. Instead, celebrate your housewarming with a set of stylish stemware. An Amazon favorite from contributor Rachel Fletcher, the JoyJolt white wine glasses are sleek, affordable, and durable. They’ve lasted months in Fletcher’s apartment, a feat not many wine glasses have managed to achieve. For the design-minded, look to Kelly Wearstler’s collaboration with Serax. The AD100 designer’s Dune wine glasses appear almost planet-like, with a thin band encircling their widest point. They’re satisfying to hold, substantial enough for your most full-bodied red. At the top of our wish list are the Josephine No. 3 wine glasses. Dramatic and voluptuous, these curvy glasses are designed for you to swish and swirl. The ultrawide base gives your wine plenty of room to breathe—no aerator needed.

Flatware

Like dinnerware, cutlery can play a big role in elevating your place settings. Trade the plastic cutlery for a proper set with plenty of forks for your future dinner parties. Sleek, solid stainless steel, and under $200, West Elm’s Promenade flatware is the closest we’ve come to a one-size-fits-all flatware. Its streamlined silhouettes are easy on the eyes, and the pieces can go straight into the dishwasher. A favorite of actress Mandy Moore, the Oxford Mirror cutlery from Crate & Barrel is the perfect midrange pick. Subtle banding along the handles adds a bit more flair than a straight handle without feeling overly ornate, while the mirror finish gives each piece a satisfying shine. We’d be remiss not to mention Sabre. The Parisian brand’s enameled handles have made waves among the influencers, the It girls, and the editors. There are dozens of colors to choose from, but the black offers a simplistic palette that will pair well with every future place setting.

The Finishing Touches

A home is not complete without a few finishing details. They may not be the first priority to unpack, but these accents and accessories are here to help you make that empty box feel more like a home. When it’s time to break in the new kitchen, Le Creuset’s signature Dutch oven is a worthy investment. The brand’s braiser is a more versatile alternative, with McGregor reaching for hers to make the one-pot recipes dreamed up by our friends over at Bon Appétit, as well as pancakes, pastas, and stir-fries. Whether you’re a tea or coffee connoisseur, Fellow’s Stagg kettle is a must-have for all countertops. Harrison keeps one on her office desk, and there’s regularly a queue for tea top-ups. Lastly, Piper’s pepper grinder is a worthwhile upgrade from the grocery-store variety. Its walnut form and ergonomic handle aren’t just satisfying to use; it's designed to keep your peppercorns as fresh as possible.