OBOXMA > Lifestyle

15 Essential Kitchen Tools (and How to Use Them)

Keven Mawn

2026-05-04 11:51:31

Cooking is a true art form, and if you want to excel at it, you must—like any artist—equip yourself with the right tools. Many cooks, especially beginners, believe that a colander, a potato masher, and a knife are enough to prepare good meals. However, to make complex recipes or simply to work more efficiently and quickly, the range of necessary tools is much broader. Here are 15 essential kitchen tools you absolutely must use.

Essential kitchen tools and how to use them — Crédit: CJMM from Pixabay

The wooden spatula

The spatula is one of the most commonly used utensils in the kitchen. It’s that kind of large, flat wooden spoon with a long handle that makes it easy to use comfortably over a hot pan or pot. Its flat tip is perfect for stirring and scraping the bottoms of pots while simmering your dishes, preventing food from sticking. Since it’s made of wood, the spatula can be used to loosen food stuck to your pans and pots without scratching them during cleaning.

The spatula

Similar to a wooden spatula, the rubber spatula has roughly the same shape, but it’s made of flexible silicone. With its two ends—one flat and the other rounded—the spatula is perfect for handling creams, thick sauces, and other dense mixtures. It can be used to stir your creams while cooking or simply to transfer them from one utensil to another. With it, you can scrape every last bit of your custard so nothing goes to waste.

Kitchen scissors

Kitchen scissors are designed to be practical and comfortable for everyday use. With thick blades and wide handles, they’re easy to grip and can cut through just about anything in the kitchen. They’re perfect for chopping herbs or trimming and cutting vegetables. Scissors are also useful when it comes to unwrapping food or cutting through plastic wrap or parchment paper. Larger kitchen scissors can even be used to cut up poultry or fish.

The pliers

Tongs are often the most overlooked kitchen tools. Yet they are extremely useful in everyday cooking. There are tongs designed for cooking foods such as meat in skillets or on grills. There are also serving tongs. These resemble the cooking tongs but have a more elegant appearance with refined finishes. There are also more delicate tongs that are essential for plating dishes or assembling certain creations, such as refined and richly decorated cakes.

The whip

The whisk is one of the iconic tools of both traditional and modern cooking. It was long made of boxwood or wicker, but today it is made exclusively of stainless steel, making it much more practical. Whether you’re making whipped cream, sabayons, or dishes that require beaten egg whites, you won’t be able to do without it. For greater efficiency, you can opt for an electric whisk instead of a manual one; it will save you a lot of effort.

The skimmer

A slotted spoon is a flat ladle with numerous holes. In the kitchen, it’s an everyday essential. It can be used to remove fries from your frying oil, stir food while frying, or even separate foods cooked in the same pan. A slotted spoon can also be used for serving at the table. For example, you can use it for rice, couscous, or any grain-based food. Here too, the best material for your slotted spoon is stainless steel, due to its many advantages.

The tea strainer

Contrary to what its name might suggest, the tea infuser isn’t just for making tea. It can also be used for every kind of herbal infusion imaginable. Place the herbs in the infuser, let them steep, and remove it a few minutes later. You’ll end up with a clear, delicious liquid. You can also use it for your soups, broths, and stews. Put larger spices like star anise or cloves inside to easily remove them at the end of cooking.

The blowtorch

A kitchen torch is another essential tool you absolutely must have in your kitchen. Without it, you won’t be able to caramelize your crème brûlées and create that delicious layer of crispy sugar. It can also be useful for singeing any remaining feathers on your poultry, or searing your meats, fish, or vegetables. Another tip: use it to smoke your dishes. Its uses are therefore countless and have an impact on both the appearance and the flavors of your culinary creations.

The mandoline

In the kitchen, cutting vegetables is the most tedious task. To get it done quickly, grab a mandoline. This ingenious tool allows you to cut vegetables into chunks, strips, or thin slices. With it, you can quickly prepare julienned vegetables, french fries, potato chips, or other straws and wafers. Note: for optimal efficiency, even with water-rich vegetables like tomatoes, choose a mandoline with V-shaped blades.

The measuring cup

It’s when you try to follow a recipe that calls for 125 grams of flour and 150 milliliters of sunflower oil that you realize a measuring cup is indispensable. This glass or plastic utensil is marked with graduations to help you measure the quantities of various solid and liquid ingredients. Your measuring cup should have at least three markings: one for grams of flour, one for grams of sugar, and a third for the volume of liquids in milliliters.

The thermometer

A good cook must know how to control cooking temperatures, and you can’t do that without a good kitchen thermometer. The ideal choice is a pen-style thermometer with a stainless steel tip that can be submerged in liquids or inserted into foods such as meat, cakes, or vegetables. With this tool, you’ll know when your roast is cooked to perfection. By using it, you’ll brew your herbal teas at temperatures suited to each herb, allowing you to fully enjoy their benefits.

The timer

Cooking time is one of the trickiest factors to manage in a kitchen, especially when you’re multitasking. Using a timer is therefore essential. It’s useful when you’re making hard-boiled eggs, since it helps you achieve exactly the level of doneness you want. It’s also handy for slow-cooked dishes, roasting meat, or even for managing resting or refrigeration times. Be sure to choose a kitchen timer made of a safe, easy-to-clean material like stainless steel.

The grater

If you already own a mandoline, you should add a grater to your collection, because although the two tools look similar, they are not the same; on the contrary, they complement each other. A grater allows you to finely chop certain foods like garlic, onions, or peppers. It usually has two sides, one with large holes and the other with finer holes. A traditional grater can also be used to grate hard cheeses such as Parmesan, Emmental, Gruyère, Edam, and Grana Padano.

Chinese

A colander is a kitchen tool found in kitchens all over the world. It is essential for preparing many dishes. If you’re making pasta, it’s perfect for draining it. If you want to clean vegetables or seeds, it is also incredibly effective. There are two types: one made with a perforated metal half-sphere and one consisting of a metal sieve. The latter is more practical because it has more uses. It can, for example, be used to sift flour.

The steward

The vegetable peeler, a tool used for peeling vegetables, is one of the essentials that every kitchen should have. It’s a highly efficient tool that allows you to peel potatoes, carrots, zucchini, apples, and other fruits and vegetables in a flash. Its triangular tip has another little-known feature: hollowing out vegetables to prepare certain dishes like stuffed tomatoes or peppers. The peeler is therefore preferable to a razor-type vegetable peeler, as the latter is less versatile.