The 5 Best Kitchen Tools That Came Out in 2020

There wasn’t a lot to get excited about this year. (At least not excited in a good way.) There was this package of Quarantine Cookies, our list of Essential Groceries, and lots of Ina content. And then really just some great new kitchen gear, which kind of came at the most perfect time, considering we were all at home cooking more.

These 2020 newcomers — including a gorgeous casserole dish and an adorably small cutting board — had us clicking “add to cart” as fast as humanly possible. They’ve brought us joy, become our go-to gifts this holiday season, and allowed us to make dish after dish of perfectly cooked baked ziti. All things that are important this year — and every year.

These are the five best kitchen tools that came out this year.

We were (and remain!) immensely excited about Vitamix’s new food processor attachment. It’s compatible with all Ascent and Venturist Vitamix models and eliminates the need to store yet another appliance. Like stand-alone food processors, the attachment comes with different discs and blades to slice, shred, chop, mince, and more — all of which nest inside the food processor base for compact storage. It’s also (mostly) dishwasher-safe.

Read more: Vitamix Has a New Attachment to Turn Your Blender into a Food Processor — And It’s Seriously Brilliant

There’s a new kid in Casserole Town and its name is Hot Dish. We love the retro look of Great Jones’s newest offering. Its looped handles are super spacious, making the dish easy to move into and out of the oven — even when full of baked ziti and with the bulkiest of oven mitts on. It also cooks evenly, cleans easily, and comes in three fun colors (Blueberry, Mustard, and Broccoli).

Read more: Great Jones Just Launched a Bunch of Bakeware — And The Casserole Dish is Ridiculously Amazing

The multitasking pan you’ve seen all over your Instagram and this very site now has compatible steamer baskets (available for pre-order). The set, which was announced this year, comes with two stacking steamer baskets, a pair of cooking chopsticks, 25 paper liners, and a loofah for cleaning. While it’s set to ship in March, we’ll just be dreaming about all the dumplings we’re going to steam in it until then.

The (mini) reBoard is a smaller version (smaller by 25 percent, to be exact) of Material’s super-popular reBoard. Made from dishwasher-safe recycled plastic and sugarcane, this small-but-mighty board is the perfect size for slicing an apple, cutting a lemon into wedges, assembling and slicing a sandwich … you get the gist. You can also buy the board as part of Material’s Snack Set, which includes a 4-inch paring knife. It’s such a good bundle that one of our editors named it her go-to gift this year.

Read more: The Cutting Board That Sold Out in Just 3 Days Is Finally Back in Stock

And for some happy news to end the year: This month, Made In re-released its previously limited-edition bread knife as part of the company’s permanent offerings. Co-designed with chef Nancy Silverton, this sturdy 9-inch knife has 24 serrated points to tackle the crustiest of loaves. You can choose from red, black, and grey handle options, too.

Feel like something else should have made this list? Add it in the comments below!