One of my favorite parts of cooking is the use of herbs & spices.
What do you consider “well stocked” not just your “have to haves” but just about every spice you’d need for things you cook, & maybe a few you’d like to try… My list would be:
Allspice
Almond extract
Basil
Bay Leaves
Black Pepper
Caraway Seeds
Cardamom
Celery Seed
Chili Powder
Chinese Five Spice
Chives
Cilantro
Cinnamon
Cinnamon-sugar
Cloves
Coriander
Cumin
Curry powder
Dill
Garam Masala
Garlic
Ginger
Herbs De Provence
Liquid smoke
Italian Seasoning
Jerk Seasoning
Lemon Pepper
Mace
Marjoram
Meat Tenderizer
Mint
Mustard powder
Nutmeg
Old Bay Seasoning
Onion (Minced)
Onion Powder
Oregano
Paprika
Parsley
Poultry Seasoning
Poppy Seeds
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Red Pepper Flakes
Rosemary
Sage
Saffron
Salt
Savory
Seasoning Salt
Sesame Seeds
Sriracha
Steak Seasoning
Tarragon
Thyme
Tumeric
Vanilla extract
White Pepper
Does this seem like a pretty complete list? what am I missing?
Meat tenderizer is a waste in my opinion. Link
Must haves:
Accent (MSG)
Cayenne Pepper
Of your list, here is what I would ditch:
chives
cilantro
cinnamon-sugar
dill
italian seasoning
jerk seasoning
steak seasoning
pumpkin pie spice
poultry seasoning
(I’ll keep the Old Bay, though)
sriracha? How does that end up in the spice cabinet?
There’s a few others that are borderline for me, but I don’t need any of the stuff above in a well-stocked spice cabinet. Some of these are a little niche, but for stuff I cook, it’s helpful to have (and these I do have in my cabinet now):
Mustard seed (black and your standard yellow)
Asafoetida/hing
A variety of dried, ground chiles (I typically have ancho, cayenne, arbol at the least)
Fenugreek (both seeds and dried leaves)
Fennel
Mexican Oregano (this is a different plant than regular oregano)
Sichuan peppercorns
Sumac
Of these, in a “basic” well-stocked spice cabinet, I expect the fennel at the very least, and cayenne pepper (or other red peppers) as well. The rest are a little more dependent on the cuisines you typically cook.
ETA: Oh, yes, and the post above mine reminds me. MSG. I just use the generic spice bottle sold at my local grocery simply labeled MSG that costs $1, compared with the little bottle of accent which is like half the size and three to four times the price.
ANd I should say, meat tenderizer is borderline for me. If the cabinet has it, I may make use of it. I typically don’t have it on hand. It does do a good job for when I want to stir fry some of the tougher cuts, and none of the natural tenderizers (other than papaya, which is what is in many meat tenderizers) help me. The problem with it is that it sometimes works too well and leaves meat a bit on the mushy side. You have to be careful with it.
I’ve used meat tenderizer a few times, which is why it’s on my list, but I don’t use it a lot, and could probably ditch it (thanks for the article, Grrr). I don’t buy cinnamon sugar separately, but I make some on my own, & leave it on my spice shelf.
I like to keep culinary dried lavender on hand for baking. I think that’s a pretty good list, although I do agree with a previous poster that you could ditch some of the blends. Just thought of another one - Hungarian paprika. There’s also garlic powder. I usually use fresh garlic but occasionally the powder works well for a recipe.
Allspice
[del]Almond extract[/del]
Basil
Bay Leaves
Black Pepper
[del]Caraway Seeds[/del]
[del]Cardamom [/del]
Celery Seed
Chili Powder
Chinese Five Spice
Chives
Cilantro
Cinnamon
[del]Cinnamon-sugar[/del]
Cloves
Coriander
Cumin
Curry powder
Dill
Garam Masala
Garlic
Ginger
Herbs De Provence
Liquid smoke
Italian Seasoning
[del]Jerk Seasoning[del]
Lemon Pepper
Mace
Marjoram
[del]Meat Tenderizer[/del]
Mint
Mustard powder
Nutmeg
Old Bay Seasoning
Onion (Minced)
Onion Powder
Oregano
Paprika
[del]Parsley[/del]
Poultry Seasoning
[del]Poppy Seeds
Pumpkin Pie Spice[/del]
Red Pepper Flakes
Rosemary
Sage
Saffron
Salt
Savory
Seasoning Salt
Sesame Seeds
Sriracha
Steak Seasoning
Tarragon
Thyme
Turmeric
Vanilla extract
White Pepper
Plus a buttload more chiles, chile powders, various pepper flakes (Where’s the Aleppo pepper?), more hot sauces than you can count, several types of Piper nigrum, a bunch of Penzey’s blends, some Goya blends. But that’s just us.
Lose the liquid smoke; it is an abomination.
I’d add that a lot of those I would only keep fresh. Cilantro, garlic, mint I find the dried versions sadly lacking to the point of uselessness.
Allspice
Almond extract
Basil
Bay Leaves
Black Pepper
Caraway Seeds
Cardamom
Celery Seed
Chili Powder
[del]Chinese Five Spice[/del]
Chives
Cilantro
Cinnamon
[del]Cinnamon-sugar[/del]
Cloves
Coriander
Cumin
Curry powder
Dill
Garam Masala
Garlic
Ginger
[del]Herbs De Provence[/del]
[del]Liquid smoke[/del]
[del]Italian Seasoning[/del]
[del]Jerk Seasoning[/del]
Lemon Pepper
Mace
Marjoram
[del]Meat Tenderizer[/del]
[del]Mint[/del]
Mustard powder
Nutmeg
Old Bay Seasoning
[del]Onion (Minced)[/del]
Onion Powder
Oregano
Paprika
Parsley
[del]Poultry Seasoning[/del]
Poppy Seeds
[del]Pumpkin Pie Spice[/del]
Red Pepper Flakes
Rosemary
Sage
Saffron
Salt
[del]Savory[/del]
[del]Seasoning Salt[/del]
Sesame Seeds
[del]Sriracha [/del]
[del]Steak Seasoning[/del]
Tarragon
Thyme
Tumeric
Vanilla extract
White Pepper
AT the cafe where I work we have a small gardern and I dry our own sage, basil, oregano, rosemary, and some thyme. Lots of parsley too. We have fresh mint and dill in season. I orefer to use fresh garlic but powdered or granulated garlic can be useful. I know I’ll remember some other herbs and spices as soon as I post this.
Garlic powder/dried garlic I can deal with for certain applications–more than I’d like to admit to, to be honest. The rest, I agree–especially the Liquid Smoke.
Aniseed
Cubebs
Fenugreek
Galangaal
Grains of paradise
Juniper berries
Nigella
Sichuan pepper
Star Anise
Pink peppercorns (not actually pepper)
Poppy seed
Rosewater
Tamarind
Smoked paprika
Vanilla pods.
Since you seem to be into premixes, may I recommend raʾs al-ḥānūt and za’atar and Panch phoron andChaat masala?
Seconded on the smoked paprika.
I agree–especially with cilantro. The dried stuff is worthless.
My spice cabinet:
Mixed Herbs
The thing is, if you’re making any kind of dry spice rub, you’ll want to have garlic powder around. Almost all my rubs start with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. The cilantro and mint I’ll agree with. Same with dried parsley and dill.
I totally forgot about star anise. That’s another one I like to have around. In terms of paprika, I’m particularly picky: My basic paprika must be Hungarian paprika, preferably from Kolocsa. Must be sweet, preferably különleges or édesnemes (there’s like eight or so different types of Hungarian paprika.) After that, I like to have a smoked Spanish paprika around, and I do like some of the paprikas I’ve had from California via Penzey’s.
And if we’re counting dried pepper pods for our spice cabinet, I need ancho, arbol, guajillo, plus some Asian varieties around.
**Baker’s **amended list is pretty much what I would have said as well.
I’d also add/clarify that minced and powdered garlic are both very useful at times.
Additions to the list:
Most of what **pulykamell **suggests - mustard seed, fennel, fenugreek, powdered chiles (ancho, chipotle, etc…)
Smoked paprika is awfully useful as well.
If we’re talking about shelf-stable sauces and what-not like sriracha, I’ll give a huge thumbs up to fish sauce. Vinegars too- cider, red/white wine and rice are pretty much mandatory.
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned baking soda or cream of tartar yet. Not exactly spices or herbs per-se, but usually sold and kept with them.
Big bottle of Tequila.
If you don’t mind going to a specialty shop, my recent favorite spice is called Aleppo Pepper. It’s similar to the red chili flakes you listed, but it’s a little milder and has a really neat smoky taste under the heat.
It’s not really critical, but it’s a great addition to any spice cabinet. And after you try it on pizza, you’ll never go back to red chili flakes. 
I think it’s important to have some melange on hand, especially if you want to engage in interstellar navigation or just perk up a veggie burrito.
Meh - I have it on good authority it just tastes like cinnamon…