12 Kitchen Safety Must-Haves for Home Cooks

Not to be a buzzkill, but kitchen safety is no laughing matter. Take it from the guy (me) whose shirt caught on fire because he used a flame too large for his tall stockpot — or the people who experience more serious incidents, like full-on housefires. I promise that both of these events are ones you’d rather avoid. Best of all, they’re entirely preventable with the right precautions.

In addition to knowing your equipment’s safety instructions, grabbing some important kitchen safety tools can help ensure your well-being and also streamline the cooking process. Something as simple as this Amazon Basics silicone baking mat can keep your cutting board stable, prevent knife slips, and speed up food prep. Other tools, like a splatter screen and thick oven mitts, protect your skin from hot oils and heat sources. Keep scrolling to equip your kitchen with the right gear to prevent accidents.

Best Kitchen Safety Tools Overall

Slicing an avocado in your hand is an easy way to prick yourself, and removing the pit can be a horror scene in the making. Avoid the knife entirely, and use this gentle OXO tool instead. The 3-in-1 device has a “serrated” edge, a slotted scoop, and a pit remover to tackle any avocado without involving sharp blades.

This writer-recommended splatter screen stops fry oil and bacon grease from spattering all over your kitchen. With a 13-inch diameter, it covers most pots and pans, and its sturdy silicone construction doubles as a steam rack, cooling rack, or pizza pan. With one shopper reporting “zero stickiness after six months of frequent use,” this splatter screen is also long-lasting.

You shouldn’t be bracing yourself for oil splatter from flipping chicken cutlets, long slabs of bacon, and hunks of tofu with a spatula — that’s what these Misen kitchen tongs are for. Misen topped our kitchen tongs test for its durability and comfortable handle. Its silicone-lined heads are also safe for nonstick pans, making them versatile in any kitchen.

Silicone mats are typically considered a nonstick baking tool, but they’re also a non-slip kitchen essential. Place one of these $5 mats under any cutting board, and your slicing surface won’t move an inch, whether you’re chopping scallions or carving a roast.

Keeping knives exposed in drawers is one of the worst knife storage mistakes you can make. Not only do the blades clash and quickly suffer damage, but also reaching between sharp edges to find a knife can be dangerous. These edge guards are a simple, affordable fix with felt liners that are gentle on your kitchen knives.

Whether you’re quickly sliding food across a mandoline slicer or shredding the last inch of cheddar cheese on a box grater, your hands could probably use some extra protection. Luckily, cut-resistant gloves are a simple solution to nicking your fingers or slicing your palm — and keeping skin out of the mac and cheese.

Never again will you feel wary of your knife while cutting fruits and vegetables with this onion holder. The sharp prongs hold your produce in place and conveniently provide intervals to guide your cuts, so slicing tomatoes, squash, onions, and more feels safer.

Removing a hot sheet pan from the oven shouldn’t feel like a race, but using cloth oven mitts that aren’t heat-resistant will make you feel otherwise. Rather than risk a burn injury, use these heavy-duty, silicone-lined oven mitts to protect your hands while holding pans of up to 484°F temperatures.

Avoiding burns from the rack you’re reaching for with oven mitts is easy. In the moment, avoiding unintentional burns from other racks is not as simple. Cover the racks in your oven, air fryer, or toaster oven with these heat-resistant silicone guards for added protection, and never look back.

Food safety is an integral part of kitchen safety, including cooking meat, poultry, seafood, and even wheat to temperatures that are safe for consumption. An instant-read meat thermometer like the Thermapen One gives you an accurate temperature reading in seconds, so you can be sure that your poultry is fully cooked or that your cakes are fully baked.

The importance of washing produce can’t be understated, and hard fruits and vegetables (such as apples, cucumbers, and potatoes) benefit from a scrubbing to help remove dirt and bacteria. This bamboo ring scrubber is perfect for looping your fingers through to clean produce, and it’s only $7.

These flame-retardant blankets are the emergency tool you want around for kitchen oil fires, out-of-control grill fires, or even campfires. Just pull the tabs, unravel, and cover the fire — a much cleaner solution than fire extinguishers if they’re not needed. The fiberglass fabric withstands temperatures of up to 1,076°F, doesn’t expire, and can be reused as long as it’s not damaged.