The Most Ingenious Kitchen Tools, According to Chefs 2026

There are countless varieties of heavy presses on the market, like the cast-iron ones good for panini-making or the pricey round fish weight beloved by Carla Lalli Music and Sohla El-Waylly. But the Chef’s Press — a classic design used by a ton of pros — is perhaps the best. It allows for ventilation out of the top so you don’t steam your food into soggy oblivion as it crisps. And it’s designed so you can stack more than one for even more weight. One more tip: I use a press for submerging frozen vacuum-sealed proteins to defrost.

If you’ve ever pulled a sampling of parchment paper from a full roll, you know it’s the worst. The way smarter move is to buy pre-cut sizes. These, originally recommended to me by recipe developer and cookbook author Anna Stockwell a few years ago, fit into cake rounds. But you can also buy half-sheets (which are then very easy to cut exactly into quarter-sheets and eighth-sheets for your toaster oven).

Though you probably don’t think you need a spaetzle-maker, Chicago’s Common Decency chef-owner Mark Steuer insists otherwise. Even cooks who hate unitaskers will appreciate this made-in-Germany Goldspatz gadget for the sheer number of tasks it can take on, he says. In addition to using it for spaetzle, “it makes perfect mashed potatoes, presses garlic, and juices citrus,” Steuer says.

I first heard about this greens stripper from recipe developer and cookbook author Jess Damuck, who uses it to make quick work of the usually tiresome and time-consuming task of separating leaves and stems from hearty greens and herbs. It’s a true unitasker, but one so cheap and so small it’s completely worth keeping around.

Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang received this as a wedding gift more than a decade ago. “I cook a lot of short pasta shapes, so this not only is useful for retrieving a single piece for testing for doneness, it also allows me to scoop and drain all my cooked pasta while retaining all the starchy cooking water for emulsifying or binding my pasta sauce,” she says. Not to mention it takes up much less space in the dishwasher than a colander. It’s also useful for fishing vegetables out after blanching them.

Sometimes, a small design choice makes a big difference. Unlike rounded ones, these measuring spoons fit into spice jars.

Gestura’s spoon often sells out — but it’s worth the wait. I love this thing so much I wrote an ode to its tasting, basting, skimming, stirring, tossing, drizzling, measuring, and serving capabilities.

I’m also a big fan of all of Misen’s spoons. The set includes a measuring spoon (this one has actual markings), a scraper spoon that lifts up ingredients beautifully, a slotted spoon, a plating spoon with a tapered lip, and a serrated spoon that can cut and lift.

Bench scrapers are necessary for baking — but they’re also one of the handiest tools to have around for transferring chopped ingredients from cutting board to bowl or skillet. (It can be tempting to use the edge of your chef’s knife for this, but it’s not nearly as efficient and will also dull the edge.) I also use mine to gather compost scraps after I’ve peeled potatoes or onion and garlic skins, and to gather together miscellaneous crumbs that have accumulated on my counter before I wipe it down.

Here’s a dedicated crumb brush that can be hung up on your kitchen wall. I think it would be particularly useful for a coffee station, where tiny coffee grounds inevitably end up all over.

Cake testers aren’t just for cake. Chefs often test the doneness of meat, fish, and vegetables with one, too. This can take some getting used to, but it’s a good way to build confidence. This particular one — yet another pick from Gestura — is recommended by chef Evan Snyder of Emmett in Philadelphia because the heavyweight base allows for a better handle, and the thick metal holds the temperature longer than others.

The Fluicer is a pretty genius version of a citrus juicer. The appeal is its fold-flat design, meaning it both fits easily into kitchen drawers and offers a lot of leverage, which makes squeezing feel absolutely effortless, says Strategist contributor Maria Yagoda. Yang is also a fan. The Fluicer has a built-in strainer, which keeps seeds back while funneling the juice into your receptacle of choice.

If you’re in hot pursuit of the best scrambled eggs, chef Mike Lata of FIG and the Ordinary in Charleston says it’s worth investing in some chopsticks or batons specifically designed for cooking. Compared to a spatula, they’re capable of moving deftly through a pan. Lata says they “help develop the tiniest curds. I crack the eggs into a two-cup measuring cup and beat them with the batons. It’s quick, easy, and much quieter than a whisk, which is nice because I’m an early riser.” Another bonus: You can use them to reconstitute oil-based spreads. “The batons are great for stirring separated peanut butter, tahini, and anything else that needs stirring in a small container,” Lata says. They’re also a far more precise alternative to tongs for stirring and flipping.

I reach for my tweezer tongs — a tool halfway between cooking chopsticks and traditional tongs — nearly every time I cook. They’re great for grabbing and flipping more delicate foods, like individual vegetables (think: potato wedges and broccoli florets that you want to get golden-brown and crispy on all sides). But they’re still sturdy and have a firm-enough grip to maneuver larger pieces of food, too (like chicken thighs or skirt steak). More often than you might expect, they come in handy for random tasks like nabbing a piece of fallen food from the bottom of your burner or grabbing that one slippery noodle left in your pasta water.

Strategist contributor Margaret Eby first recommended these tongs to us, and as soon as Yang clicked on the link, she could tell they would be useful. “I cook pasta and noodles a fair amount and prefer to scoop them out of the pot and directly into sauce or broth,” Yang says, “rather than dumping them into a colander to drain.” (Remember, she also uses that Joseph Joseph scoop for the same purpose.) “These tongs make it easy to grab and move a bunch of strands without them slipping back into the pot (or onto the stovetop), and they’re gentle enough to not mash them (important when I’m making something like udon).”

Another Yang favorite are these large block-shaped silicone molds, which she uses to freeze just-right portions of beans, stock, or soup. When she unmolds the frozen bricks, she keeps them stacked together in gallon freezer bags so that everything is neat. And one piece of advice: Get the slightly larger two-cup size because you have the option of freezing smaller amounts as well, like up to the one-cup marking.

Grinding whole spices is one of the most foolproof ways to up the punch, brightness, and overall freshness of your food. And while we have an entire dedicated roundup of the best spice mills and mortar and pestles, I’d be remiss not the mention the Finamill here, loved by two experts I spoke to for that story. It’s an easy-to-use electric model that comes with several removable pods — which is the brilliant part. You can swap them out as needed and have several of your most-loved whole spices ready-to-go at all times. A tap of the button at the top pulverizes whatever is inside to your desired size.

Earlywood’s flat sautés are great for mixing, just as a wooden spoon or spatula is. But they come with some added benefits, too. The shape allows them to get in pot and pan corners especially easily, they can double up as a bench scraper, and they’re especially great at breaking up ground meat.

The brand also makes a wooden spoon that is angled to the left or right, depending on what your dominant hand is.

Material Kitchen’s resting stones are, as the name suggests, a place to put down your dirty spoon. But unlike more traditional-looking spoon rests, their shape lends itself to being a beautiful holder for salt, chile flakes, lemon slices, and more.

This is a pricey one, but any cook worth their salt knows how important it is to label and date prepped ingredients and leftovers in the fridge and freezer. Instead of keeping your roll of masking tape in a drawer, consider a dedicated dispenser. This one looks chic and is made from cast iron so you can rip pieces off without it moving around.