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20 Essential Tools That Every Kitchen Should Have

We've tested hundreds of cooking gadgets to isolate the indispensable and sort out the superfluous. Here are the best ones to buy in 2023.

Updated Nov. 14, 2023 6:26 a.m. PT

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Written by  David Watsky
Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement
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David Watsky Senior Editor / Home and Kitchen
David lives in Brooklyn where he's logged more than a decade writing about all things edible, including meal kits and meal delivery subscriptions, cooking, kitchen gear and commerce. Since earning a BA in English from Northeastern in Boston, he's toiled in nearly every aspect of the eats business from slicing and dicing as a sous-chef in Rhode Island to leading complex marketing campaigns for major food brands in Manhattan. These days, he's likely somewhere trying the latest this or tasting the latest that - and reporting back, of course. Anything with sesame is his all-time favorite food this week.
Expertise Kitchen tech, cookware, small appliances, food innovation, meal delivery and meal kits.
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$110 at Target
Ninja Twisti blender on counter
A small blender that punches above its price
Ninja Twisti
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$50 at Target
Pasta pot with drainer lid
Save yourself a step on pasta night
Pasta pot with handy strainer lid
View details
View details
$15 at Amazon
citrus juicer with lemons and limes
A citrus juicer that really puts the squeeze on
A Fluicer
View details
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$11 at Amazon
cutting board with berries and knife
For that quick slice and dice
A set of small cutting boards
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$60 at Amazon
blue kitchenaid food chopper with chopped nuts
Because carrots won't chop themselves
Food processor
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$40 at Amazon
Splatter Döm on stove with steak inside
Keeps grease off the stovetop
Splatter Dom guard
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$30 at Amazon
two paring knives
For intricate jobs that a bigger knife will bungle
A pair of paring knives
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$25 at Amazon
zero-water
Tastes better than bottled
ZeroWater filter
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$80 at Amazon
person holding black electric kettle
Boiled water in under two minutes
An electric kettle
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$51 at Amazon
all-clad kitchen shears
The Swiss Army knife of the kitchen
Kitchen shears
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$9 at Amazon
knife sharpener
Keep your best blades around for longer
Knife sharpener
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$7 at Amazon
pan scraper being rinsed
For those scorched skillets
Pan scrapers
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$203 at Amazon
staub dutch oven from above
Practically a perfect pot
Staub Dutch oven
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$100 at Amazon
all-clad.png
One great frying pan
All-Clad's 10-inch skillet with lid
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$10 at Amazon
sharple being closed
A self-sharpening veggie peeler
Sharple
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$119 at Made In
Made In knife handle held up in front of kitchen
A knife you'll find excuses to use
Made In 8-inch chef's knife
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$75 at Amazon
tiger rice cooker
A must-have for the absent-minded
Tiger rice cooker
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$17 at Amazon
hyperchiller-ice-coffee-review-cnet-2021
Make iced coffee in a minute
Hyperchiller
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$39 at Target
person holding crock pot with beef stew inside
A classic for a reason
Slow cooker
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$289 at Amazon
A coffee grinder on a kitchen island
A coffee grinder to show your friends
Fellow Ode Brew grinder
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I spend a lot of time in the kitchen testing meal kits, cookware, chef's knives and small appliances, so it's not surprising when folks ask me what gear they should buy to bolster their own collection or give to a friend or family member. My answer often depends on their approach. If they seem vaguely tired of cooking and in need of a shortcut, I might forgo hardware suggestions altogether and nudge them to try aa healthy prepared meal service or edible subscription. If I sense culinary ambition, I have another list of kitchen essentials -- some well-worn and some newly discovered -- that I've heard slip out of my mouth again and again. 

Spending your money in the right places on cooking tools and small appliances will get you closer to your dream kitchen more quickly. You can use that extra money to stock the pantry with better ingredients or good wine to sip while the stew simmers.

A cheap blender may technically turn frozen fruit, peanut butter and ice into a smoothie, but that smoothie is going to be a lot smoother if it comes from a quality machine with sufficient power. Nonstick cookware, on the other hand, need not cost you an arm and leg. You can spend $100 or more on a premium frying pan, but it's not going to scramble eggs or brown pancakes better than this $22 Tramontina

After years of testing everything from portable grills to stovetop splatter guards, these are the kitchen tools I recommend most.

performance model blender, and you'll feel the difference immediately -- and it might even help you change your diet. I was a piecemeal breakfast eater relying mostly on empty carbs until I started using a blender with some real get-up-and-go. Now it's protein- and vitamin-packed smoothies or bust. I can absolutely feel the difference throughout my day (oh hello, energy, I've missed you), and I don't have to shell out $10 on a fancy juice bar shake or smoothie. 

Ninja makes a number of good blenders and most offer terrific value for the money. My favorite is the modestly sized Ninja Twisti ($120) -- about the best blender I've ever used for making smoothies and other small-ish recipes. 

One unique feature I love is the rotating mixer blades that protrude down from the lid. You can spin those babies to loosen the contents mid-blend. That means I almost never have to stop and stir sticky ingredients such as peanut butter or chunky ice.

The Twisti has 1,500 watts of power packed into a machine. It won't eat up tons of space on the counter or coins from your bank account as a pricey Vitamix or Blendtec will.

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Editors' choice
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$110 at Target

A small blender that punches above its price

Ninja Twisti

Upgrade to a performance model blender, and you'll feel the difference immediately -- and it might even help you change your diet. I was a piecemeal breakfast eater relying mostly on empty carbs until I started using a blender with some real get-up-and-go. Now it's protein- and vitamin-packed smoothies or bust. I can absolutely feel the difference throughout my day (oh hello, energy, I've missed you), and I don't have to shell out $10 on a fancy juice bar shake or smoothie. 

Ninja makes a number of good blenders and most offer terrific value for the money. My favorite is the modestly sized Ninja Twisti ($120) -- about the best blender I've ever used for making smoothies and other small-ish recipes. 

One unique feature I love is the rotating mixer blades that protrude down from the lid. You can spin those babies to loosen the contents mid-blend. That means I almost never have to stop and stir sticky ingredients such as peanut butter or chunky ice.

The Twisti has 1,500 watts of power packed into a machine. It won't eat up tons of space on the counter or coins from your bank account as a pricey Vitamix or Blendtec will.

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$50 at Target

Save yourself a step on pasta night

Pasta pot with handy strainer lid

This simple invention saves you from having to take out a colander. The draining holes do double duty as they allow steam to escape so your water doesn't boil over during cooking.

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$15 at Amazon

A citrus juicer that really puts the squeeze on

A Fluicer

I'd all but given up on handheld citrus juicers since they seem to leave more juice in than they get out. Enter Dreamfarm's excellent Fluicer.

This innovative kitchen brand has found ways to improve many of the most common culinary tools. This handheld citrus squeezer not only squeezes front to back but also bends each half of a lemon, lime or orange as it squeezes, leaving nothing in the rind and everything in your bowl, jar or cocktail shaker. 

At just $15 for the small size -- good for limes and lemons -- this kitchen upgrade doesn't cost much more than the original. In short: Everyone I know is getting a Fluicer for their birthday this year. As a regular lemonade and margarita maker (OK, mostly margs), this is my favorite addition to the miscellaneous kitchen tools drawer in years.

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KitchenAid. You can also get a set of three small and medium-size plastic cutting boards for around $20.

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$11 at Amazon

For that quick slice and dice

A set of small cutting boards

I'm all for investing in one or two high-quality cutting boards or a chopping block to see you through an involved recipe. When all you need is to slice a piece of citrus for a cocktail or dice some fresh herbs to finish a soup, it's a small, light cutting board that you'll be glad to have at the ready. They're easier to handle and way simpler to clean and care for.

In addition to a few substation boards, I suggest an 8x10-inch model such as this one from KitchenAid. You can also get a set of three small and medium-size plastic cutting boards for around $20.

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$60 at Amazon

Because carrots won't chop themselves

Food processor

If you're in the right mood and have the time, chopping vegetables can be therapeutic. If you're not and don't, it can be an arduous task. A food processor will dice your carrots, onions, garlic, celery, herbs and nuts with just a few pulses so you can focus on other kitchen tasks.

KitchenAid makes some of the best food processors, including this 3.5-cup model, which can be found in a range of bright colors.

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$40 at Amazon

Keeps grease off the stovetop

Splatter Dom guard

Cleaning a greasy stove after cooking a fatty steak or package of bacon is a pain. The Splatter Dom works to help catch all that grease before it blasts out of the skillet. It not only makes for a cleaner stove, but lessens the chance of burning your arm. There are loads of splatter guards out there, but we love this one for its collapsible and adjustable accordion sides and dishwasher-safe silicone build.

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$30 at Amazon

For intricate jobs that a bigger knife will bungle

A pair of paring knives

For certain cutting and slicing tasks, only a paring knife will do. The short, thick, sharp blade gives you outsized control when taking the core out of an apple or extracting the last bits of flesh from a crustacean. Henckels set of two paring knives for $30 is about as good a deal as you'll find on quality German blades.

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testing filter pitchers and discovered ZeroWater. The brand is named "Zero" for a reason, since these puppies take every last bit of dissolved sediment out of the water, leaving it as crystal clean and delicious as anything. 

My pick is the large 20-cup dispenser ($35), which only needs filling once a week or so, making it the path of least resistance for keeping yourself fully hydrated and happy. You can class things up with this smaller, cylindrical glass dispenser for $60.

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$25 at Amazon

Tastes better than bottled

ZeroWater filter

I always used the filtered water that comes out of my fridge. It's fine -- better than tap, more eco-friendly than bottled, and I got by. Then I started testing filter pitchers and discovered ZeroWater. The brand is named "Zero" for a reason, since these puppies take every last bit of dissolved sediment out of the water, leaving it as crystal clean and delicious as anything. 

My pick is the large 20-cup dispenser ($35), which only needs filling once a week or so, making it the path of least resistance for keeping yourself fully hydrated and happy. You can class things up with this smaller, cylindrical glass dispenser for $60.

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$80 at Amazon

Boiled water in under two minutes

An electric kettle

This is one gadget on the list that might not be necessary for every kitchen, but if you make tea with regularity or use a pour-over coffee method, a cool-touch electric kettle such as the excellent $80 Zwilling Enfinigy will greatly streamline the process.

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five things you can do with a pair of shears in the kitchen.

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$51 at Amazon

The Swiss Army knife of the kitchen

Kitchen shears

Kitchen shears are about as underused and underappreciated as kitchen tools get. Get yourself a sturdy pair like All-Clad's sleek stainless steel shears and start putting them to use. Here are five things you can do with a pair of shears in the kitchen.

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$9 at Amazon

Keep your best blades around for longer

Knife sharpener

If you've wisely invested in a few good knives, you'd better have a plan to keep up with sharpening them or they won't be good knives for long. This $9 KitchenIQ sharpener won't take up a ton of space in your cupboard, and it's easier to master than a sharpening rod.

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$7 at Amazon

For those scorched skillets

Pan scrapers

If you're cooking at home with even a little vigor, good on you, but it might result in the occasional scorched pan. And nobody likes having to wash one of those. A pan scraper is the safe and easy way to get a big head start on cleaning caked-on cast iron, stainless steel and even enameled cookware. These Lodge scrapers are just $6 for two and will make post-dinner cleanup a whole lot less painful.

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$203 at Amazon

Practically a perfect pot

Staub Dutch oven

At the risk of sounding like a snob, I'm astonished at the number of accomplished home cooks in my life who still don't own a Dutch oven. I use this piece of cookware more than any other, in fact, I use it so often for making sauces, stews, searing chicken thighs or sauteing spinach that it just stays on top of my stovetop. 

Enameled Dutch ovens are great for a multitude of cooking jobs. They also look nice and are nearly as nonstick as Teflon. You can find a solid Dutch oven such as the Lodge 5.5-quart model for under $50, but my pick goes to the French-made Staub 4-quart cocotte (a good size for cooking for 2 or 3 people). It's beautifully designed and has a strong enamel coating that won't easily chip or scratch.

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$100 at Amazon

One great frying pan

All-Clad's 10-inch skillet with lid

If you've become reliant on your nonstick skillets, it might be time to learn your way around a stainless-steel pan, since they offer better surface heat for browning and searing, and are far more durable than Teflon. 

The fastest way to get used to a stainless skillet is to get a great one, and All-Clad's 10-inch tri-ply skillet with a covered lid is our favorite option. While $100 might sound like a big splurge for one pan, if you care for it, it's going to last for many years. This pan is light, heats evenly and includes a lid for recipes that require covered cooking and to help manage splatter. 

TL;DR? This frying pan makes cooking a joy and I'm totally obsessed.

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$10 at Amazon

A self-sharpening veggie peeler

Sharple

This is another one of Dreamfarm's simple innovations we're filing under "why didn't I think of that?" and it took just a few swipes across a carrot to fall in love. The Sharple may look like your standard peeler, but on closer inspection you'll discover the sliding case is also a sharpener, keeping the device razor-edged for years without having to do anything more than open and close it. I love a kitchen tool with high function and staying power, and this self-sharpening veggie peeler has got it all.

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$119 at Made In

A knife you'll find excuses to use

Made In 8-inch chef's knife

I like this Made In knife so much I'll go out of my way to find things to chop. Kitchen knife weight and length preferences are admittedly subjective, but I find this blade to have a perfect heft, a comfortable handle and impeccable balance. 

There's no kitchen tool you'll likely put your hands on more than the chef's knife, so it's a no-brainer to upgrade to one you love. This is my absolute favorite, and it's reasonably priced considering the quality. 

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hands-on testing of several rice cookers last year and the Tiger made the most consistent rice -- never mushy or undercooked. It features fairly basic settings and cooking programs and clocks in around $115.

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The Tiger cooked excellent white rice faster than the rest of the field and made the best brown rice of any cooker we tested. 

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The Tiger cooked excellent white rice faster than the rest of the field and made the best brown rice of any cooker we tested. 

","imageCredit":"David Watsky/CNET","imageAltText":"tiger rice cooker","imageFilename":"tiger-2.jpg","imageWidth":4032,"imageHeight":3024,"imageDoNotCrop":false,"imageDoNotResize":false,"imageWatermark":false,"imageDateCreated":"2021-08-31","imageParallax":"","imageCrop":"","imageEnlarge":false}" usepricing="true" ng-block="{"id":"rrr50sk5d5jhbc3","type":"listicle"}" edition="us" data-key="cnetlisticle__ad3c0cf7-bf4f-44d0-99ff-0921de2f0042" index="17" imagecredit="David Watsky/CNET" tagslugs="bl-promo-banner,ninja" contenttype="Best List - Precap" isbestlistredesign="true" filtershortcodetypes="" totalfilteritems="0" pagelayout="Default - Article Page" showdetails="true" tocheadlineitem="[object Object]" class="c-bestListProductListing">
$75 at Amazon

A must-have for the absent-minded

Tiger rice cooker

Rice is one of the most versatile side dishes that go with so many mains, but making it at home takes time and practice to master. Even when I'd start to get the hang of time and temps, I'd need to keep at least one eye on the range and remove the heat source or I'd have some badly burned brown basmati on my hands -- not to mention some serious pot soaking and scraping to do. 

Enter the rice cooker. When I brought one into the house, I started swapping healthier brown rice and ancient grains in for mostly nutrition-free potatoes and bread. Having just one button to push for a satisfying starch makes all the difference. I did some hands-on testing of several rice cookers last year and the Tiger made the most consistent rice -- never mushy or undercooked. It features fairly basic settings and cooking programs and clocks in around $115.

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$17 at Amazon

Make iced coffee in a minute

Hyperchiller

For iced coffee drinkers who find cold brew too intense, cooling down hot-brewed is the best way to make the stuff at home. But it takes time to do and throwing warm coffee over ice results in a watered-down mess. Enter this smart chilling device. The Hyperchiller sloshes warm liquid around between two cold chambers and will chill hot coffee to room temperature in under a minute. You can also bring the temp down on wine or whiskey in even less time without diluting your favorite boozy beverage. 

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$39 at Target

A classic for a reason

Slow cooker

If you're never used a slow cooker before, you're going to be amazed at how easy they are to operate. The internet is teeming with slow-cooker recipes that take less than 10 minutes of hands-on time and turn out extremely tender meats or super flavorful soups that cook away all day while you're at work.

The best part is you don't need to spend more than $40 or $50 to get a good one. This is a fairly low-tech piece of kitchen equipment and so they are priced accordingly.

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coffee grinder on the market. Sometimes I catch myself grinding more beans than I even need just to hear the calming whirr. And if the price feels too steep, Fellow sells refurbished models for less.

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","imageCredit":"Patrick Holland/CNET","imageAltText":"A coffee grinder on a kitchen island","imageFilename":"img-0095.jpg","imageWidth":1280,"imageHeight":960,"imageDoNotCrop":false,"imageDoNotResize":false,"imageWatermark":false,"imageDateCreated":"2022-10-10","imageParallax":"","imageCrop":"","imageEnlarge":false}" usepricing="true" ng-block="{"id":"a1mlw5wz41z1u86","type":"listicle"}" edition="us" data-key="cnetlisticle__e915db5b-fddf-4a45-bbd6-5e48d856cc60" index="20" imagecredit="Patrick Holland/CNET" tagslugs="bl-promo-banner,ninja" contenttype="Best List - Precap" isbestlistredesign="true" filtershortcodetypes="" totalfilteritems="0" pagelayout="Default - Article Page" showdetails="true" tocheadlineitem="[object Object]" class="c-bestListProductListing">
$289 at Amazon

A coffee grinder to show your friends

Fellow Ode Brew grinder

This is admittedly a big splurge, but the Ode grinder is a joy to use and has unmatched precision when it comes to grind size. That's especially helpful if you regularly make espresso, which calls for a fine grind, or use a pour-over method that requires a coarse bean.

It's also about the best-looking and quietest coffee grinder on the market. Sometimes I catch myself grinding more beans than I even need just to hear the calming whirr. And if the price feels too steep, Fellow sells refurbished models for less.

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