More often than not, the room we do the most in is the kitchen, so the tools we use can make or break our cooking experiences. Food and its creation can be a passion and an art form, so why not upgrade your brushes?
There’s a wide world of kitchen innovations out there just begging to make your life easier. Cook faster, with more finesse, or just add a teaspoon more whimsy with these life-changing inventions.
This Simple Leaf Stripper
This aptly designed leaf stripper looks just like a leaf. One side can strip your larger greens like kale and chard in one swift motion. The other side has smaller holes for your herbs for quick additions of some fresh rosemary.
This Self-Steeping Tea Cup
For all the serious tea lovers out there, you need this little cup in your life. The cup comes in six different colors and each has two sections with two tilt options. Tilt the strainer side down and pour hot water in order to steep your favorite loose leaf tea. Once it’s ready, tilt it the other way and enjoy your cuppa!
This Citrus Reamer
If you’re the kind of cook who likes to add a bit of fresh lemon juice right into a pan, this gadget is for you. You get an excellent reamer head with a comfortable handle that allows you to skip straining. The scoop-like design includes small holes that let the juice through while keeping any pips, pulp, or poltergeists from getting into your dish. Okay, you’re probably on your own with that last one, but stop shopping at the haunted farmers’ market!
This Set of Pickle Forks
Look, the pickle is a staple of American life, but some people are way more serious about their devotion to these brined cucumbers. Now, whenever you want a pickle straight out of the jar, there will be a fork ready and waiting. No more getting your fingers wet; just stab the pickle of your choice and chow down. A secure band attaches to the jar and holds the fork caddy which prevents any fork drippings from dirtying the fridge.
This Little Blender
Sometimes, all you need is a good immersion blender and this beauty is fantastic. For single-serve smoothies or milkshakes that don’t dirty an extra dish, just pop use this slim blender. You can get more ambitious by creating creamy soups and purees on the fly or you can use the whisk attachment to whip up any batter you’d like.
The Vibrant Cafe Retro Maraschino Red Butter Bell® Crock – A Genius Gift for Fall and Holiday Cheer
Brighten up your kitchen this fall with the Cafe Retro Maraschino Red Butter Bell® Crock, a striking blend of classic design and vibrant color. This butter crock isn’t just a nod to tradition; it’s a genius invention that keeps your butter soft, spreadable, and fresh with every bite. Whether you’re preparing for festive gatherings or hunting for the perfect holiday gift, simply add cold water to the base, pack butter into the lid, and let the airtight seal keep your butter at its best. It’s a touch of retro charm that every modern kitchen needs!
This Cast Iron Skillet
It’s 2019; get yourself a cast iron skillet! There are so many out there, but this pre-seasoned model from THE trusted name on the scene, Lodge, is a solid choice for a 10.5-inch pan. Oven-safe up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, this skillet is also one of the deepest out there, giving you more space for saucier dishes and roasting large cuts of meat. The included rubber grip provides great maneuverability and protection to easily grab only the handle.
This Omelette Maker for the Microwave
Who has the time to babysit an omelette before work? You will with this dishwasher-safe silicone mold. Weekday breakfast just got fancier and healthier. Just whisk up two eggs and some milk, add any veggies you’ve meal-prepped (or bought pre-chopped at the supermarket; no judgement), and slide this into your microwave. You can use butter if you’re Julia Child or French, but the non-stick interior makes it unnecessary and reviewers report it doesn’t affect the taste.
These Dip Clips
May your sauces never touch anything they shouldn’t ever again. This set of dip clips is great for personal servings of salsa, ranch, or any other dippable condiment. Each bowl holds ⅓ cup of sauce and can clip onto virtually any plate, including paper ones. But don’t think they’re delicate; these soft-grip dip clips (say that five times fast) are sturdy enough to handle your dishwasher.
This Wild Whisk Technology
Okay, there’s a personal relationship with whisk innovation here that may have resulted in tears at various Bed Bath and Beyonds over the years, but this takes the cake. Literally. Just whisk away at your batter and twist the handle for a flat, balloon whisk that you can use as a spatula. Due to the rigid wires, the balloon whisk setting has some limitations, but can still create peaked egg whites and gorgeous caramel. The best part? You can remove each rung for easy cleaning and it’s completely dishwasher-safe!
These Hilarious Muffin Top Baking Cups
We all know by now that muffins are stealthy harborers of calories, so these tongue-in-cheek baking cups are sure to be a hit. In addition to the side-splitting visual of the actual muffin’s top, each cup has a little give, so the jeans fill out as the batter expands. The muffins might not be the best for your or these baking cups’ waists, but they are more environmentally friendly than their disposable alternatives.
This Helpful Corn Stripper
Unlike those other corn strippers out there that require a bowl and send kernels flying, this gadget offers a more refined experience. Think of it more as a corn grater that fits ergonomically in one hand as you slide it down each side of a cob. As you slide the stainless steel blade, the base collects all the kernels and holds about one cobs worth.
This Cooking Mesh for Your Veggies
Blanche away! This Golden Girl is a mesh pouch that can handle the heat of a boiling pot of water. Blanche, cook, boil, and steam your veggies, eggs, or seafood in the same pot. Okay, so leave the seafood for last, but this dishwasher safe net is a dream for anyone looking to save time on their vegetable dishes.
This Perfect Egg Timer
Stop guessing and know for sure when your eggs are done boiling. This timer goes in the pot along with eggs. It responds to the heat the same way the eggs do, so it will determine doneness at different times depending on how many are in the pot. The timer darkens from the outside in, showing when the eggs have reached varying stages of soft, medium, and hard boiled.
This Cherry Stoner
Eating cherries can be the pits, but they’re so delicious! This portable, compact stoner removes that hard center quickly and easily, so you can get right to the good stuff. No more spitting, just elegant enjoyment. Maybe you can even find someone to feed the pitless cherries to you?
This Anti-Sogginess Cereal Bowl
Are you ready for a life without soggy cereal? This bowl is as practical as it is fun thanks to its two chambers with a connecting spiral slide. Load your cereal in the top chamber and milk in the bottom. Then, you just swoop down the cereal into the milk for perfect, crunchy bites from beginning to end.
This Flexible Scoop
Some things require a bit more flexibility than the rigid scoops and cups of the kitchen. The soft head can fit into narrow containers and also act as a controlled funnel if you like to use your own pantry containers. Where this scoop really shines, however, is your freezer’s ice collector. The handle remains comfortable to touch when frozen and the scoop is sturdy enough to break up stuck cubes. Remember that funnel action? When you’re filling glasses, say goodbye to rogue ice, ice, baby.
This Reusable Strainer Bag
There are a lot of things you can use a fine mesh bag for in the kitchen, but in this modern world, you’re probably going to make nut milk. Or maybe oat or rice milk. But cheesecloth is as 2000-and-late as this musical reference. This reusable bag shall not let any pulp pass and you can squeeze to your heart’s content without worrying about breaking it. This tried and true bag is a chef favorite, in no small part due to its wide opening for easy pouring.
The Only Pizza Cutter You Need
How many practical and novelty pizza cutters have you seen in your lifetime? Well, feel free to drag all of them to your brain’s trash folder. This palm-sized cutter is sharp, safe, and effective. Get perfectly cut slices and more space in your utensil drawer with one purchase. The ergonomic wheel is comfortable to hold, exposes less blade than other cutters, and has a sliding plastic cover for when it’s not in use.
This Dumpling Maker
Who doesn’t love a dumpling, empanada, pierogi, or potsticker? Who loves painstakingly making a batch of any of these hand pies? Well, now you bring more crescent-shaped foods into your life with this single tool. When opened flat, this press cuts perfect circles out of your dough. When you’re ready for fillings, just fold the press for perfectly sealed and crimped edges.
This Whisk Cleaning Tool
You already know where this writer stands on whisks and this gadget remains an all-time favorite. The Whisk Wiper fits over most whisks (but comes with a perfect one, just in case) and makes clean-up a breeze. Slide it on before you start whisking and slide it off to remove all the batter when you’re done. This little tool also acts as a footrest to keep batter off your counters and a little spatula for those last drips in the bowl.
This Versatile Bread Maker
Buying a bread maker? In this economy?! Relax, this bread maker is completely mechanical and affordable. The flexible silicone opens up to a bowl where you can mix your bread and let it prove (rise). When folded into its “closed” position, steam can circulate while still allowing the hot air from an oven or microwave to create a golden crust.
These Cut-Proof Gloves
If you’re a kitchen klutz or you just suddenly feel like Gordon Ramsay after one glass of wine too many, get these gloves. Your fingers will thank you. These comfy gloves come in four different sizes and keep your hands safe from the many blades of the kitchen. From your vegetable dicing to those last few slices on a mandoline, your prep work just got safer, you brilliant sandwich.
This Can Colander
Don’t you love trying to strain the water out of tuna or beans from that can you just cut a bunch of jagged edges into? This can colander snaps securely onto most cans for fast, safe, hygienic water drainage. Instead of using a gigantic colander, dirtying an extra utensil, or getting can juice all over your hands, just get this little strainer.
This Pan for Cheese
Get a nice, big swath of melted cheese in only a few minutes with this pan. For the fancy among us, you may recognize this method as raclette and feel free to actually use raclette cheese. You can also melt cheese on the grill without getting (re: wasting) cheese on the grill. This pan is also excellent for your next batch of nachos … or veggies, if you’re into that sort of thing.
This Oreo-Dunking Mug
This mug has three cookie pockets for storing Oreos and you gotta love an inanimate object that thinks you have restraint when it comes to these cookies. The fourth, largest pocket holds about 8 ounces of milk which is enough to submerge the cookies without losing them to the bottom of the glass. The mug comes with a pack of four Oreos, but when you blow through those, you can always use this mug for other dippable snacks!
This Batter Spatula
Give the spatula lickers in your life their own spatula, in case you need to use the actual one again. This quirky spatula has a comically large finger as its end for those final taste tests. If you like just using one spatula, this novelty item actually does a great job as a practical spatula. The wooden handle is nice in the hand, but you should hand wash it to help it last.
These Finger Tongs
For all those messy finger foods in your life, these little tongs are a must-have. Cut down on the napkins and hold onto your wings, ribs, and other saucy foods. You can set them down tong-side and they’re easy to pick back up to resume chowing down. Pro tip: slip these on when you’re enjoying your next bag of Cheetos! You’re welcome.
This Next Level Manual Coffee and Espresso Maker
Third wave coffee is a wonderful era to live in. Everyone you know seems to have more barista knowledge than expected and this press is sure to make them geek out. The AeroPress uses rapid immersion to create one to three cups of coffee in about a minute. Yes, a minute. Espresso only takes 30 seconds and a microfilter puts French presses to shame by making cleanup just as fast.
This Magnetic Spice Rack
Keep your most used (or all your) spices close by with this magnetic rack. This is a safe space; there’s no spice shaming. The minimalist design looks great in any kitchen and all you need is a metal surface to set it up. The rack holds about 3 pounds of spices and extracts which is more than you think!
This Bagel Maker
Even if you’ve never made bagels before, these molds will make you want to start. The conical tops gently create that central hole and stay cool to the touch for boiling and baking. Perforations at the mold’s base allow for easy draining before you pop the bagel in the oven. You’ll get six of these dishwasher-safe molds in this set, but New York water is not included.
Out of stock? Try this option!
This Cake Server
Leave the big knives for your meal prep and stop scaring the children. We hear you, even cake servers can be a source of disaster thanks to the necessary balancing act. Try this little tool, which comes in seven colors, for your next cake instead. This cake cutter creates uniform slices when you press down and then you just squeeze the sides gently to transfer them to plates.
This Warming Butter Knife
Cold butter is no match for this knife. Its conductive interior uses the body heat from your hand to warm the blade, so it cuts through butter like … butter. The serrated edge shaves off little curls of butter that are easier to spread and they melt as you slide the knife over your toast.
This Cast Iron Cleaner
Congrats on that cast iron skillet you bought a few scrolls ago! Guess what? It’s gonna get gross and you shouldn’t wash it with soap. For those caked-on foods, just add water and The Ringer. This chainmail scrubber is made out of premium stainless steel that won’t rust. You might think that all those chainmail holes make it tough to clean, but debris washes right out. Just don’t wad it up and start scrubbing; always use it flat.
This Pistachio Snack Bowl
From shelled nuts to pitted fruit, this serving bowl has you covered and us shell-shook. The removable top dish holds your fresh snack while stylish spouts funnel chucked pits and shells to the bottom. Your snack trash is out of site and easy to empty out when you’re ready for a refill. In a pinch, you can also use both bowls as individual serving dishes!
This Avocado Scooper
Get all of the avocado for your toast so you can make the best out of never owning a home! This simple tool is highly effective at scooping out avocado flesh and minimizing waste. You can also free mangoes and kiwis from their rinds with one motion. And since it’s just a big, flexible loop, cleaning is effortless.
This Rice Cooker for the Microwave
If you’re thinking about getting a rice cooker, save precious counter space with this set. A measuring cup gets you the perfect rice to water ratio and the internal tub is also a colander for easy washing. Pop it back in the cooking pot, add water and the lid, and get the microwave going. The included rice paddle can lock the lid in place while doubling as a carrying handle. Even you guys with rice cookers want one now, don’t you?
This Ceramic Lunch Container
Your hunt for lunch containers is over. This ceramic bowl is chic, microwave-safe, and has an airtight lid. Your salads will stay fresh and your soups won’t leak everywhere. There’s a plastic version that people also love, but the look and feel of ceramic will make you look forward to lunch even more. There are five colors to choose from in the ceramic version — one for every day of the work week!