Kitchen Tools That Earned Their Place
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I have bought my share of kitchen gadgets over the years.
Some were brilliant.
Some were supposed to be brilliant.
And some are probably still hiding in the back of a cabinet waiting for the day I suddenly remember why I bought them. 😆
Sound familiar?
The truth is, most of us don’t need more kitchen stuff.
We need the things we already own to actually make life easier.
Over time, I’ve developed a pretty simple test for the kitchen tools I keep—and the ones I recommend.
Do I actually use it?
Does it solve a real frustration?
Does it make something easier or faster?
Is it worth the space it takes up?
And maybe the best question of all:
If it disappeared tomorrow, would I replace it?
If the answer is yes, it has probably earned its place.
The Vegetable Chopper I Actually Reach For
There are certain kitchen jobs that aren’t difficult.
They’re just annoying enough to slow everything down.
Chopping onions and vegetables is one of them.
I can absolutely do it with a knife. I did for years.
But when I have several vegetables to prep—or I want everything chopped quickly and fairly evenly—I reach for my Mueller vegetable chopper.
That is why it stayed.
It removes friction from a job I do all the time.
Less chopping. Less mess. Faster prep.
And when cooking feels easier to start, I’m more likely to actually do it.
The Little Tool That Makes Garlic Prep So Much Easier
I use a lot of garlic.
And this little tool wasn’t even something I went looking for.
My best friend Nicole bought it for my husband for Christmas.
Turns out, I may be the one who uses it the most. 
It’s a small garlic mandolin, and it solves one very specific annoyance: standing there trying to get those nice, thin, even slices of garlic with a knife when I’m already in the middle of cooking.
And I use it for fresh jalapeño and ginger too.
It’s quick, takes up almost no space, and because it’s so easy to grab, I actually use it.
That’s an important part of my test too.
A tool doesn’t have to do ten different things to earn its place. Sometimes it just needs to do one thing really well.
Yes, I Own Onion Goggles 😆
I know.
They sound ridiculous.
Until you’re halfway through chopping an onion with mascara running down your face wondering why you’ve accepted this as part of cooking for the last 30 years. 😂
My onion goggles solve one very specific problem.
And they solve it well enough that I use them.
That alone earns them a spot in the drawer.
This is also a good reminder that something doesn’t have to be essential to everybody to be incredibly useful to you.
If it repeatedly removes a frustration from something you already do, that counts.
RSVP Onion Goggles
Sometimes the Best Tool Is Just a Really Big Bowl
Not everything that earns its place has to be clever.
One of the most-used things in my kitchen is a large stainless-steel mixing bowl.
Nothing trendy about it.
It’s just big enough to handle the jobs smaller bowls make irritating—mixing dough, tossing salads, prepping vegetables, marinating, or cooking for a crowd.
And I reach for it constantly.
That matters more to me than whether something is innovative.
A useful kitchen tool doesn’t have to impress you.
It just has to make the job easier.
Before You Buy Another Kitchen Tool
I think this is where we get ourselves into trouble.
Something looks clever.
We can immediately imagine ourselves using it.
And suddenly it is on its way to our house. 😆
Before you buy it, ask:
What problem is this actually solving?
And then:
Do I have that problem often enough to give this thing space in my kitchen?
That one question can save you a lot of crowded drawers.
Because the best kitchen tools for everyday cooking aren’t necessarily the ones with the longest feature list.
They’re the ones you use.
The ones that remove friction.
The ones that make a recurring job easier.
The ones you would replace if they disappeared tomorrow.
The Kitchen I Want to Build
I don’t want a kitchen filled with more things.
I want a kitchen that works.
A place where the tools I use are easy to reach, the things taking up space have a reason to be there, and cooking feels just a little easier because of it.
That is really what this comes back to for me:
Designing environments that make good choices easier.
Sometimes that means using what you already have.
Sometimes it means finally letting go of something you never use.
And sometimes it means finding one useful tool that solves a problem so well it quietly earns a permanent place in the drawer.
Those are the ones worth recommending. 