The 21 Essential Kitchen Gadgets That Are Guaranteed to Make You a Better Home Cook

Technology in the kitchen is a double-edged sword. Many ill-conceived, gimmicky products are often more complicated than they’re worth and offer minimal benefit. But the best kitchen gadgets, of which there are a handful, can save you time and free up your mental energy for more demanding tasks like mincing garlic, rolling out dough, or grilling over an open flame. 

In many cases, the formalists are right when they say that newfangled kitchen gadgets are no replacement for the tried-and-true methods that cooks have been using for centuries. While they’re not wrong, there are some new techniques that open up doors not possible via old-school cooking techniques, and for those, you need modern equipment. This is why, for this list, we sought to avoid novelty kitchen products and poorly designed contraptions, and sought out the products which complement, simplify, and even enhance those traditional ways of cooking instead of replacing them. Ultimately, they’ll save you time, energy, and, perhaps most importantly, money. 

Whether you want to make sure your ingredients are mixed to proper ratios, your food is cooked to the perfect temperature, or you need some entertainment while you throw down in the kitchen, these 21 kitchen gadgets are sure to help you raise your game.

1. Escali Primo Food Scale

BEST OVERALL KITCHEN GADGET

A good digital food scale is perhaps the single most essential gadget you can have around the kitchen, full stop. Whether you’re cooking, baking, pickling or fermenting, adding precision to your repertoire is one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve your cooking skills. The Escali Primo food scale is a tried and true option that is as durable as it is accurate. You might think you’d be better served by a scale with a bunch of fancy features, but the truth is that the simplicity of the Escali Primo is what makes it so good. On top of that, it’s one of the most affordable options on this list as well. If you only buy one kitchen gadget from this list, make it the Escali.

Buy: Escali Primo Food Scale $24.95 (orig. $29.95) 17% OFF

2. ThermoWorks ThermoPop Food Thermometer

BEST FOR AVOIDING FOOD POISONING

We’ve all been there before: You’re making dinner for friends, and you find yourself, not wanting to give your guests food poisoning, trying to decide if the chicken is fully cooked or not. Or maybe you’re searing a ribeye steak, and you’re in search of that perfect medium-rare level of doneness, knowing that a minute too long will leave you with an overcooked slab of meat. In either scenario, a food thermometer is one of the best kitchen gadgets for the job.

A go-to for many a home cook, ThermoWorks’ Thermopop is cheap, accurate and easy to use, able to quickly register the temperature of your food in Celsius or Fahrenheit. In addition to having a fun design, the probe’s sheath also has a clip, so you can always have it on you while cooking, and won’t have to waste precious seconds hunting through your kitchen.

Buy: Thermoworks ThermoPop $34.00

3. Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus 10-in-One Multicooker

BEST FOR BUSY CHEFS

Advanced home cooks may turn their nose up at the mere mention of an Instant Pot, but there’s no denying the ease of use and versatility of the Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus. This 10-in-one multicooker can make rice, steam vegetables, cook pasta, boil eggs, braise meats, slow cook a stew and more. While some features, such as the Sous Vide function, are better left to a stand-alone device, it’s hard to argue against a single gadget that can replace a rice cooker, dutch oven, crockpot, pressure cooker, bread maker and steamer. This is even more true for those who live in a home where shelf and counter space are limited. TL;DR: Don’t listen to the cooking snobs on this one. Instant Pots are chill.

Buy: Instapot Duo Evo Plus $119.95

4. Anova Precision Oven

BEST SPLURGE

Air fryers may be all the rage right now, but for a more experienced chef, the future of cooking just may revolve around convection steam ovens. And currently, there’s no better steam oven than the Anova Precision Oven. By strategically blasting your food with steam as it cooks, the Anova Precision Oven can control the temperature and moisture perfectly, ensuring that your food doesn’t overcook or dry out. It can even make you look like a genius when it comes to more advanced cooking adventures, such as baking bread. But more than just a really well-made oven, this thing can also air fry, cook meat sous vide, and straight-up steam rice and vegetables. But the cherry on top might be the fact that this is also a connected device that not only lets you monitor progress from your phone, but it has a number of downloadable cooking programs that can automatically take a single dish through multiple stages of cooking so that you get the perfect result every time.

Buy: Anova Precision Oven $599.99

5. Tovala Steam Oven

BEST FOR LAZY COOKS

If you’re more of the type of cook who just wants to achieve the perfect meal with as little effort as possible, the Tovala Steam Oven may be up your alley. While you can certainly use the oven however you like, this little box is designed to be used with Tovala’s lineup of frozen, pre-packaged foods that you can pop in and ignore as the oven cooks up a delicious meal all on its own. You simply tell it which meal you’re cooking before it starts, and like the Anova, it will run through an automatic program that perfectly cooks the food to the specs of Tovala’s professional chefs.

Buy: Tovala Smart Steam Oven $239.99 (orig. $299.00) 20% OFF

6. Anova Precision Cooker Nano Sous Vide Machine

BEST FOR PERFECTLY COOKED MEATS

If you have a tendency to overcook meats, or are just ready to kick your cooking up a notch, The Anova Precision Cooker Nano is the first kitchen gadget you should be reaching for. This wand-shaped device is a sous vide cooker, which means that it heats a bath of water to the precise temperature you want your food cooked at, and then slow cooks your meat (or eggs, or vegetables) to perfection. The best part is that you don’t have to worry about overcooking your food, because no matter how long you leave your food in the sous vide bath, it will remain at whatever temperature you set the Anova Precision Cooker Nano to.

Once dinner time rolls around, just give your meat a quick sear in a pan and enjoy a restaurant-quality meal.

Buy: Anova Precision Cooker Nano $110.64 (orig. $129.00) 14% OFF

7. Meater Smart Food Thermometer

BEST FOR THE INEXPERIENCED CHEF

If you already know what you’re doing in the kitchen, there are honestly better ways to spend $69 than on the Meater thermometer. But — and this is a major but — if you’re still learning the difference between things such as braising and roasting, this little smart thermometer can be downright educational. Before you start cooking, you place the thermometer in the meat you’re preparing, tell it what the target temp is, what type of meat your cooking, and it will deliver updates to your phone, apprising you of what temperature your food is at, and how much longer it likely has to go. Assuming you’re not attempting anything too complicated right off the bat, you’ll quickly learn the ins and outs of preparing different foods in real-time, and hopefully, develop a more intuitive feel for preparing flawless roasted chicken.

Buy: Meater Smart Food Thermometer $66.99

8. Google Nest Hub

BEST DIGITAL SOUS CHEF

Once upon a time, small TVs and radios used to be a fixture in kitchens everywhere. But in the age of the connected home, smart hubs have stepped in, taking up less counter space and adding a ton of functionality in the process. Setting a quick timer is as easy as a voice command. Getting a measurement conversion is as simple as asking Google Assistant. All of your recipes and cooking videos that you need can be viewed on the 7-inch screen via the Chrome browser or YouTube app. And there’s a solid speaker packed in this thing as well, because who doesn’t listen to music while cheffing? And it comes in at under $100, so you won’t be quite as concerned about handling this thing with hands covered in flour and oil.

Buy: Google Nest Hub $89.99

9. Amazon Echo Dot

BEST FOR WHOLE FOODS SHOPPERS

For those who swear by cookbooks and have no use for a screen in the kitchen, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t connected kitchen gadgets that won’t be of use to you. The Amazon Echo Dot will still let you set timers, ask Alexa questions and load up your favorite Spotify playlist. But if you do any of your shopping through Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh or Amazon Pantry, you can tell Alexa things you need to buy (eggs, bread, milk, etc.) and it will add those to your cart. If you’ve bought them before, it will even add the specific brands and quantities without you having to ask. This is one of those scenarios that make smart home devices feel like magic.

Buy: Amazon Echo Dot $29.99 (orig. $49.99) 40% OFF

10. Stump Stand

BEST TABLET STAND

If you have an old iPad laying around, or just aren’t at all concerned about exposing your new iPad Air to the kitchen elements, all you need to get that smart hub experience is a good tablet stand (and maybe a good wireless speaker, such as the Echo Dot). The Stump Stand is a perfect kitchen warrior thanks to its durable silicon exterior which houses a metal weight, ensuring it cleans up easily and won’t tip over as you’re in the middle of a complex recipe. But we also love that you can prop up your tablet at different angles, allowing you to place it in whatever space is most optimal as you cook.

Buy: Stump Stand $24.95

11. Bonavita Connoisseur Automatic Coffee Maker

BEST REPLACEMENT FOR POUR OVER COFFEE

There’s nothing quite like a perfectly made pour-over cup of coffee, but getting your daily fix at home isn’t the most convenient, as it requires more time and effort than most people are willing to put forth first thing in the morning. With the Bonavita Connoisseur automatic coffee maker, you get the convenience of your typical coffee maker, but with a well-balanced quality that rivals that barista-made cup you paid $5 for at the cafe.

The secret is precision. As long as you load it up with the right amount of coffee (protip: get yourself a good coffee scale), the Bonavita Connoisseur will take care of the rest, delivering the right amount of water at the exact temperature needed for a well-balanced cup of joe. But the real secret is in how it delivers that water: After allowing the coffee to pre-infuse in a small amount of water, a showerhead above the coffee grounds evenly and uniformly distributes the water, ensuring a consistent extraction, which ensures — you guessed it — a smoother, more flavorful cup of coffee. Take one sip from this thing and you may never want to go back to your Mr. Coffee.

Buy: Bonavita Connoisseur $189.35

12. ThermoWorks TimeStick Trio Kitchen Timer

BEST FOR THOSE WAY-TOO-COMPLICATED MEALS

If you’ve gotten yourself into an advanced cooking adventure where you’re cooking three courses at once and every second counts, using your voice assistant as a timer may not be the best option. In this case, the ThermoWorks TimeStick Trio is the best way to make sure you don’t dry out that steak, under-roast your vegetables and burn the rolls. Yes, you will absolutely look like a nerd with this thing strapped around your neck, but your friends won’t be roasting you after they take one bite of your perfectly prepared meal.

Buy: ThermoWorks TimeStick Trio $35.00

13. Duxtop 9600LS Portable Induction Cooktop

BEST FOR PRECISION-MINDED COOKS

If you have an electric stove, or an extremely basic gas range, you may have noticed that it’s hard to get your skillet to cook evenly or dial in the exact temperature you want. This is not great for searing chicken and steaks or cooking delicate foods, such as fish. The solution is to grab yourself an affordable induction burner, such as the Duxtop 9600LS Portable Induction Cooktop. As long as you have the right cookware, an induction cooktop will use magnetic currents to evenly heat the entire cooking surface to the temperature you set it to, giving you a degree of control you’ve never experienced before. (Any cookware that sits flat and doesn’t have an aluminum bottom will do, but cast iron and stainless steel pieces are especially great in this scenario.)

On top of all this, an induction cooktop can heat things quicker since the surface remains cool to the touch when there’s nothing on it and you don’t have a gas-powered flame to contend with.

Buy: Duxtop 9600LS Induction Cooktop $116.96

14. Simple Human Touch-Free Soap Dispenser

BEST FOR KEEPING YOUR KITCHEN PATHOGEN-FREE

So you just finished dry brining some chicken, working that combination of salt, pepper and herbs into every nook and cranny of the bird. Naturally, you need to wash your salmonella-covered hands, but grabbing the soap bottle will (ironically) contaminate it. It’s a conundrum we’ve all faced, and while we all have some workarounds, a very convenient one is to get a Simple Human Soap Dispenser, which has a motion-activated sensor that will drop soap into your hands without you having to touch anything. After giving your hands a good scrub, you will likely have killed any harmful germs and can feel comfortable flipping on the sink faucet.

Buy: Simple Human Touch-Free Soap Dispenser $45.88 (orig. $49.99) 8% OFF

15. iRoomba Braava Jet M6 Robot Mop

NEXT BEST THING TO A DISHWASHER

Know what the worst part of cooking is? Cleaning up afterward. And if you’re attempting a multi-course meal on your own, or doing some heavy baking, chances are you’re gonna make a mess on the floor. Luckily there’s the iRoomba Braava Jet M6 which, like its vacuum sibling, will automatically come in and scrub your floors without you having to do a thing. Equipped with a camera and a jet spray nozzle, this bot can automatically map out your kitchen and deal with all the spilled sauce and flour you can throw at it. It even has custom cleaning schedules, so you can have it automatically come in behind you and make those floors sparkle again as you fight off a food coma and struggle through washing that mountain of dishes.

Buy: iRoomba Braava Jet M6 Robot Mop $349.00 (orig. $449.99) 22% OFF

16. AeroGarden Harvest Indoor Garden

BEST FOR ALWAYS HAVING THE HERBS YOU NEED

One of the worst feelings ever is picking up a handful of fresh herbs for a recipe, using a quarter of each package and then not figuring out what to do with the rest before they go bad. Aside from food waste, those things aren’t cheap. But what if you could regularly grow your own. With the AeroGarden Harvest, you can have a whole selection of herbs and greens year-round that water themselves and are ready to use whenever you actually need them. The magic of this indoor gardening system is the LED light array and auto-watering system, along with the seed pods which are custom designed for the AeroGarden.

Buy: AeroGarden Harvest $79.99 (orig. $149.95) 47% OFF

18. Cuisinart 1.5-Quart Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker

Buy: Cuisinart 1.5 Quart Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker $79.99

  

BEST TO FOR THOSE WHO NEED A LITTLE ASSISTANCE

Whether you suffer from arthritis, have weak wrists, or are just plain lazy, the EZ Off jar opener is here to alleviate any aches and pains. Factory sealed, child or tamper proof — nothing stands a chance against its basic design that is built to remove lids from something as small as a nail polish bottle to as large as a jar of pickles. It’s also easy to install; simply peel and stick the device under a counter or cabinet and screw in three tiny nails for extra stability. EZ Off is also proudly manufactured in the USA, so a purchase directly helps our economy.

  

BEST FOR THOSE ALWAYS REACHING FOR SALT AND PEPPER

The future is now with these modernistic salt and pepper grinders, powered entirely by battery and adorned with an uber-cool blue LED light. The device boasts diamond-like ceramic mill grinders to prevent rusting, corrosion, clogging, or jamming and you even have the ability to adjust the coarseness of your spice at a moment’s notice. Its “baby-skin” coating is an added perk, making it easy to grip for those who tend to drop things easily. Honestly, that freshly-cracked pepper on your salad or pasta will never look better. 

  

BEST FOR BREAKFAST LOVERS

If you haven’t invested in some type of egg maker, you are absolutely missing out. Elite Gourmet’s model is particularly fantastic because it does so much more than soft, medium, or hard boils — it scrambles, creates omelettes, poaches, and even steams vegetables. Small and lightweight for easy storage, your new favorite gadget is also transportable, making it perfect for camping trips or dorm-style living. It’s also amazing for meal prepping, cooking up to seven eggs at one time in minutes. As something you’ll inevitably use every single day, the under $20 price mark makes it an indisputable steal. 

 

Buy: Elite Gourmet Maxi-Matic Easy Egg Maker $16.99