We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.

Kitchen Gear and Tools We Think You Should Have Two (or More) Of

You can never have too many spatulas.

By
Rochelle Bilow
Rochelle's headshot
Rochelle Bilow
Editor
Rochelle Bilow is an editor for Serious Eats, as well as a novelist. Based in Vermont, Rochelle specializes in stories about home cooking, techniques, tools, and equipment. She has been writing about food professionally for over a decade.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Published April 11, 2025
Pastry cream being strained through a fine mesh strainer into a stainless steel bowl

Serious Eats / Eric King

At Serious Eats, we’re not just cooking people. We’re cooking gear people. Not only do we believe that the essential kitchen tools make cooking better and easier, but we love testing new stuff and finding the latest and greatest versions of our favorite gear. However, our utensil crocks and cabinets aren’t just full because we like collecting whisks. We have two (or more) of some cooking utensils because it’s just better to have more than one. I’ve combed through our years of tested reviews and found 21 products you’ll want to buy in multiples. Don’t believe me? Try making dinner with only one mixing bowl or having to wash tongs mid-cooking.

Unless you’re a more coordinated cook than I am, you can only use one knife at a time. But you’ll still want to store a few on your magnetic knife strip. It’s nice to have an extra chef’s knife around if you ever cook with another person—no need to wait your turn while they chop the onion. And if you’re going to invest in two chef’s knives, I suggest getting both a Western- and Japanese-style knife, like our favorites from Wüsthof and Misono. Both keep an incredibly sharp edge and are comfortable in hand.

A person chopping red onions with a chef's knife.

Serious Eats / Russell Kilgore

Invest in one great wooden cutting board (our team loves The Boardsmith) and it’s all you need for slicing meat and bread and chopping vegetables—and it can even stand in as a makeshift charcuterie board. But for messy tasks like slicing beets or working with raw meat, a plastic cutting board is where it’s at. As soon as you’re done using it, pop it in the dishwasher to clean and sanitize. Having two on hand means you don’t have to wait for the machine to deal with cleanup. The (grippy) reBoard came out on top in our review of plastic boards (overhaul publishing soon!), but if you’re looking for an affordable workhorse, you won’t do better than the Plastic Utility Cutting Board from OXO.

Why It’s Editor-Approved

“I’ve had the OXO plastic cutting boards for many years. I love that their rubbery bumpers are non-slip and that they come in a variety of sizes.” — Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm, associate editorial director

A person placing two OXO cutting boards down onto a countertop.

Serious Eats

Wooden Spoons

FAAY Teak Cooking Spoon

FAAY Teak Cooking Spoon
PHOTO: Amazon
$12 at Amazon

I have a knack for tossing my wooden spoon in a sinkful of soapy water before I’m done using it. You too? You’ll appreciate having more than one. When we tested wooden spoons, the FAAY cooking spoon was one of our favorites. It’s made from water-resistant teak, and it’s cheap. If you want to mix things up, you can also add a spurtle to your cache of tools. This one is ideal for cooking oats and more.

a wooden spoon with an oval head on a white marble backdrop

Serious Eats / Jesse Raub

You can use a silicone spatula anywhere you’d use a wooden spoon, but they’re better at scraping the edge of a pot or pan. Plus, they’re ideal for high-heat cooking applications. Because they’re dishwasher-safe, you can stockpile a few and never worry about whether you have a clean one in the crock. The OXO and GIR spatulas were great at getting into nooks and crannies and had just the right amount of flexibility.

A read GIR silicone spatula on a marble surface

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Turners are a close cousin to spatulas. They can stir and scrape, but their wide heads and thin edges make them perfect for sliding under sticky food and, well, turning it. It’s the tool of choice for pancakes and fried eggs, not to mention griddled burgers. Given their varied uses, you absolutely need two turners. Material’s The Soft-Edge Turner is the best, all-purpose turner you can buy, and the GIR Premium Silicone Mini Turner is the one you need for maneuvering around small pans. They’re both safe to use with nonstick skillets.

A person using the Material Soft-Edged Turner to flip food

Serious Eats / Madeline Muzzi

Although metal fish spatulas aren’t safe to use on nonstick cookware (I warned you!), they’re fantastic on carbon steel and cast iron pans. This one is super affordable, and the angled head is ideal for shimmying under delicate foods like pancakes, eggs, and—surprise—fish.

winco on marble

Serious Eats / Grace Kelly

GIR and OXO topped our whisks review. These balloon whisks have 12 and 10 wires, respectively—the ideal numbers, according to our tests. Just as important, their handles are coated in comfortable silicone or rubber. That’s crucial for whisking tasks that take a long time, like making whipped cream. Because so many savory and sweet recipes rely on whisks, I constantly find myself reaching for one. I currently own two and don’t think it’s enough.

Why It’s Editor-Approved

“This is the first silicone-handled whisk I’ve ever owned, and I tell everyone about it (sorry to my friends). It’s so comfortable to hold, I can’t imagine why you’d want anything else.” — Rochelle Bilow, editor

Whipped cream being mixed in a bowl

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

There’s no easy way to sharpen a vegetable peeler’s blade, and because they’re so cheap, why would you want to go through all that trouble? This one from Kuhn Rikon topped our review because it’s comfortable to hold and has a carbon steel blade that stays sharp for a long time. It also comes in a three-pack, so you’ve got a backup when yours (finally) kicks the bucket.

A green y-peeler on a green cutting board surrounded by potato skins and a peeled potato to the side of it

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Kitchen tongs are another one of those tools that seem to always be dirty when you need them. And until I bought our winning tongs from OXO, I believed that all tongs were the same. Not so! These tongs have incredibly thin edges, which deftly grab even the slipperiest of noodles. They’re strong, too—they can lift a whole chicken without missing a beat. Pick up another pair of OXO tongs with silicone tips, and you can use them in enameled cast iron pans.

Hand using the OXO 12-Inch Silicone Tongs to pick up shrimp

Serious Eats / Ashlee Redger

Pro cooks know how essential a bench scraper is. These tools are ideal for shuttling ingredients from a cutting board to the stovetop because of their wide, flat metal sides. But the edge is sharp, which makes it great for portioning dough, scoring and cutting pastries before baking, and cleaning up a messy cutting board. Our favorites from OXO and Norpro are comfortable to hold, and their slim size makes them easy to store.

using the oxo bench scraper to cut up pizza dough

Serious Eats / Eric King

Of course, a grater can grate things (like cheese). But it’s also a good choice for zesting citrus, creating delicate chocolate shavings, and turning garlic and ginger into a very fine mince. That’s too many tasks for one grater! Having a couple-few rasps on hand will keep your chocolate cake from tasting like carbonara. Plus, they don’t stay sharp forever. It’s good to have a backup for when you notice yours is no longer in top shape.

Two bowls of Parmesan cheese grated by two different rasp-style graters

Serious Eats / Irvin Lin

You wouldn’t dare dip that quarter teaspoon in the cinnamon after using it for cayenne powder, would you? That’s why you need at least two sets of measuring spoons. This set from Sur La Table has rectangular-shaped bowls, which is a must for slipping in small spice jars. And this set from Le Creuset is rounded, so it’s easier to scoop out sticky ingredients, like honey. Both sets are dead-accurate.

a collage of a rectangular measuring spoon scooping spices out of a spice jar

Serious Eats / Eric King

Weighing ingredients on a kitchen scale is more accurate than measuring by volume, as it’s hard to eyeball exact amounts. But it’s still handy to have a couple of sets of measuring cups. (I like to do the scoop-and-fill method with my measuring cups and dump them into a mixing bowl set on the scale so I can dial in the amount.) This set of dry measuring cups aced our accuracy test and could sit flat on a table without tipping over. This set was accurate, too, and it snaps together with magnets. A liquid measuring cup is equally important; you can’t get a precise liquid measurement in a dry cup. You can’t beat this set from Pyrex, which raced to the top of our review. It’s made from durable tempered glass and comes in three different sizes.

Scraping honey from OXO Stainless Steel Measuring Cups

Serious Eats / Taylor Murray

Portion scoops are an undersung hero of home and restaurant kitchens. They’re the best way to get picture-perfect cookies. They’re ideal for shaping uniformly sized meatballs. They’re fantastic ice cream scoopers. Need I go on? Invest in a few of these inexpensive ones from Winco, and I guarantee you’ll find even more ways to use them.

Six portion scoops on a marble countertop

Serious Eats / Eric King

Sauce spoons aren’t fairly named—as my colleague Grace wrote, they do so much more than just slide sauce over a plate. They’re perfect for basting, spreading, scooping, and tasting food as you cook. (It’s their large bowls and tapered tips that make them so useful.) They’re bigger than a soup spoon, but more delicate than a serving spoon. Pro cooks hoard them, but you can get by with just a few. Grace recommends the ones from Mercer Culinary.

Why It’s Editor-Approved

"While a sauce spoon might not seem like a necessity, I'd argue that you should have not just one, but two of them. I'm always grabbing mine to make a beautiful swoosh of yogurt or hummus when friends come over, and they double fantastically as serving spoons. Plus, their capacious-but-shallow bowls drizzle sauce beautifully—a boon if you want to impress someone by serving steak au poivre or other dishes that require a drizzle of sauce." — Grace Kelly, senior editor

using a sauce spoon to pour and spread sauce on a plate before topping with roasted vegetables.
Sauce spoons, as their name implies, are great for spreading sauces on platters or drizzling them on ingredients.

Serious Eats / Grace Kelly

Even the best mesh strainers are a pain to clean. So you’d be wise to have two—just in case the one you need is covered in strawberry seeds. This handsome strainer from Rösle is worth every penny. Its hook is spacious, which means it stays put when balanced on top of a bowl. The handle is cylindrical, so it’s more comfortable to hold. We also like this cheaper strainer from OXO—it’s tightly woven and has a padded silicone handle.

an upvclose look at the seeds left in a strainer after making strawberry sauce

Serious Eats / Eric King

Take it from someone who once needed to drain a pot of pasta and boiled potatoes at the same time: You need two colanders. Our favorite one is a basic, no-fuss footed model that didn’t let a single grain of rice escape during our tests. It also has two roomy handles for easy maneuvering.

a closeup look at the RSVP colander sitting on a wooden surface

Serious Eats / Madeline Muzzi

Half-sheets are the most common size of baking pans for home cooks. (Full-sheet pans are too big for residential ovens.) Quarter-sheet pans are smaller and so useful—they’re great for salting meat, roasting a serving or two of vegetables, and baking a few cookies from the freezer. We like the half sheet pans and quarter sheet pans from Nordic Ware. The edges are rolled, which makes them easy to grab, even when wearing thick oven mitts. Plus, they’re practically warp-proof. Nonstick sheet pans won’t last as long because their coatings will scratch and fade with use. But it’s still worth having a couple of them for cookies that don’t stick, and they’re easier to clean. We like this one from Cuisinart because it bakes evenly, with no hot spots, and it has tall edges that keep ingredients where they belong.

The Best Nonstick Sheet Pans of 2022

Irvin Lin

Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls

Vollrath Economy Mixing Bowl Set

Amazon Vollrath Economy Mixing Bowl Set
PHOTO: Amazon
$13 at Amazon

Frankly, mixing bowls could have started and ended this list. I use them for mixing dough, making whipped cream, portioning out my mise en place, whisking together a vinaigrette, then dressing a salad right in the bowl. Get a few of these, and you’ll never be without a sturdy, easy-to-pour bowl again.

using a hand mixer to whisk whipped cream in a mixing bowl
Shallow bowls let us maneuver more organically, be it with a whisk or a hand mixer.

Serious Eats / Grace Kelly

You don’t always need a couple of casserole dishes on hand, but when you do (in other words, “when it’s the holidays”), you really do. While our favorite casserole dish from Staub is a looker—and top performer—it’s not the most budget-friendly option for buying in multiples. This one from Williams Sonoma was neck-and-neck in our tests, and it’s almost $100 cheaper. This glass option from OXO is even more affordable and comes with a lid.

a closeup of four different dishes with baked macaroni and cheese, showcasing the different handles
We preferred larger, looped handles (like the one on the Staub) rather than arched handles.

Serious Eats / Grace Kelly

If you never, ever bake layer cakes, you can ignore this suggestion. But if there’s even a whisper of a chance you will someday bake a gorgeous, towering cake, I encourage you to invest in the right bakeware now. This simple pan from Nordic Ware may seem unassuming, but in our tests, it baked the most beautifully domed, perfectly golden cake.

a stack of cake pans on a kitchen countertop

Serious Eats / Eric King

Why We’re the Experts

  • Rochelle Bilow is an editor at Serious Eats. She is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and a former line cook.
  • Previously, Rochelle worked at Bon Appétit and Cooking Light magazines. 
  • For this story, Rochelle rounded up essential gear from our many tested reviews. We regularly revisit reviews to ensure our findings are current.

More Serious Eats Recipes