What an inspired idea. I would have loved to have that when I was starting out on my own.
Years into my adulthood, my aunt recreated as many of my grandmother’s dishes as she could—my grandmother was no fan of recipes—and wrote them down for me. How I treasure that little collection even though I know will never actually cook some of those dishes myself.
I’ve aggregated the responses and added one. Thanks everyone!
Chef’s knife
Bread knife
Skillet (stainless)
Smaller skillet (nonstick)
Microplane
Grater
Colander
Stock pot
Peeler
Good pepper mill
Mixing bowls
Storage containers (disposable or otherwise)
Whisk
Spatula
Measuring cups and spoons
Sheet pan
Can opener
Rice cooker
Big spoons
Tongs
Heat-safe silicone spatula
Ice cube trays
Oven mitts
Meat thermometer
Recipes
Thanks all!
I’ll add honing steel.
The chef’s knife and nonstick skillet are gonna get wrecked by the housemates and guests, so don’t go too high end 
My inexpensive Chinese cleavers / vegetable knives survived in part because no one else would touch them.
Consider a bowl scraper or two, the 5” bench scraper like ones , makes for easy cleanup.
Add painters tape to the list— good for labeling/dating things in the fridge.
Oven thermometer as rentals to undergrads a aren’t gonna have calibrated ovens.
How to Cook Everything has an app, btw. Useful when at the grocery store.But the book form is really good for general knowledge
Just for fun: We’re reminded of a Ken Bruen book (Jack Taylor series) where Zen for Dummies is described as “blank pages”.
