12 Little Kitchen Gadgets Our Editors Secretly Love

When you work for a home-cooking site, there are certain assumptions made about you. One is that you love to cook (which is true for all of us!); the other is that because you love to cook, you must relish every single moment of chopping, peeling, and grating. And to that we say … um, sorry, no.

We all have busy schedules, with families to feed and friends to see, so sometimes we rely on handy little gadgets to help us take shortcuts in the kitchen and make the cooking process speedier and more efficient. (Kitchn editors! They’re just like us!)

Here are our guilty-pleasure kitchen tools that make life in the kitchen so much easier.

“No, you don’t need this gadget, but you want it. Yes, we can chop garlic with a knife, but this zoom-y thing feels like a toy, entertains the kids, and makes the most delightful silly gift. And oh yeah it works well too.” — Faith Durand, Editor-in-Chief

Buy: Chef’n GarlicZoom Garlic Chopper, $13

“Sometimes you need something to do one thing really well. For me, nothing is a better example of that than garlic tube peelers. Throw a few cloves in the tube and roll away until the skins slip right off.” — Hali Bey Ramdene, Food Director

Buy: ZYLISS Garlic Peeler, $6.50

“We ate a lot of grapefruits for breakfast as kids, and I always just thought having a few serrated edged grapefruit spoons on hand was common practice. As an adult, I learned this isn’t quite the case, but I’d never let my kitchen go without a couple. Besides using them for grapefruit, of course, I love using them to scrape the seeds from melons and winter squash, scoop out avocado flesh, and de-stem strawberries.” — Sheela Fiorenzo, Assistant Food Editor

Buy: Hiware Grapefruit Spoons, $7 for four

“It may be old-school, but I’ll forever stand by my melon baller as the easiest way to prep watermelon, cantaloupe, or honeydew. I scoop it all right when I get home (sneaking a few pieces as I go), then keep the bowl of melon balls in my fridge for easy snacking. Sometimes we’ll even serve them with toothpicks like we did when I was a kid. The baller is also great for de-seeding apples or pears.” — Grace Elkus, Senior Food Editor

Buy: OXO Good Grips Melon Baller, $9

“Call it completely unnecessary, but this butter spreader is a staple in my house during the summer since we’re always eating corn on the cob. If you ask someone to pass the butter, this gadget is what you’ll get!” — Lauren Masur, Staff Writer

Buy: Norpro Butter Spreader, $5.50

“I used to spend a lot of time during the summer cutting up cherry and grape tomatoes for salads. Then I got one of these. Now, I spend less time halving tomatoes and more time eating tomatoes. And, yes, I know there’s that viral hack where I could sandwich the produce between two takeout container lids before slicing away, but this zippy gadget is so much more fun.” — Lisa Freedman, Lifestyle Editor

Buy: Prepworks by Progressive Zip Slicer, $11

“I once hid my garlic press from Alton Brown when I worked as part of his culinary team, but I’ve since decided there’s no reason to hide my love for this gadget. Pressing makes a sharper, spicier garlic in less time, and it gives my daughter something to do while I cook pasta.” — Meghan Splawn, Associate Food Editor

Buy: OXO Steel Garlic Press, $20

“When cherries are in season, I go wild at the grocery store and farmers market. This handy pitter makes quick work of the pounds and pounds of cherries I buy, so I can easily prepare them for freezing (for smoothies!) and pie-making. It’s totally worth it to me to not have my kitchen look like a bloody crime scene after an hours-long cherry-pitting session!” — Lauren Kodiak, Managing Editor

Buy: Chef’n QuickPit Cherry and Olive Pitter, $14

“If I’m ever just making one egg, I’d so much rather use one of these than a big whisk or even a fork. These little baby whisks seriously do spark joy when I use them.” — Ariel Knutson, News & Culture Editor

Buy: 5-Inch Mini Whisks, $6 for four

“I’ll confess that when I get to the point in a baking recipe where it tells you to stop the stand mixer and scrape down the bowl, I usually just keep on going. That is, until this bowl scraper came along. I love how it really gets every last bit of batter off the side of the bowl.” — Tracey Gertler, Production Assistant

Buy: Ateco Bowl Scraper, $3.50

“I never thought I’d be the kind of mom to cut the crusts off sandwiches, but then real life happens. Sandwich cutters like these do double duty making fun shapes and cutting the crust off in one fell swoop.” — Patty Catalano, Contributor

Buy: Sandwich Cutters for Kids, $10 for six

“I know a Mason jar does a fine job for dressings and sauces, but I like this spouted measuring cup-shaker mash so much, I bought two.” — Kelli Foster, Associate Food Editor

Buy: OXO Salad Dressing Shaker, $15

What are your guilty-pleasure gadgets? Tell us about them in the comments below!