I Never Thought I’d Use This $6 Tool and Now It’s Seriously My Favorite

I am generally a minimalist, but especially so when it comes to kitchen tools, gear, and gadgets. It’s fairly easy to resist buying new things, and whenever my mother-in-law brings over tools she thinks I’d find useful, I tend to politely decline. Normally, I get away with it but a few years ago, after one too many refusals, I finally agreed to take a teeny-tiny spatula. I figured I’d just stick it in a drawer and only take it out when she comes over. Oh, how quickly I realized how wrong I was: It’s now one of the most-used tools in my kitchen!

Why is a mini spatula necessary when you have a perfectly good regular-sized spatula, you ask? I kept asking myself the same thing when I reached my hand out to accept my mother-in-law’s generosity, but soon after I brought it home, I quickly understood its worth. There are a whole lot of small jobs that are made much easier with a mini spatula.

At about eight inches long and one inch wide, it can fit into spaces that regular-sized tools cannot. Like getting every last drop out of jars and bottles be it peanut butter or mustard. Or scraping homemade pesto and hummus from the food processor. Or when making a single serving of scrambled eggs. It also helps smooth out batter in cake and muffins tins, and even makes frosting cupcakes easier, too.

I’ve found so many uses for my mini spatula that I now reach for it at least a few times each and every day. It’s so well-loved, in fact, that it almost never even makes it back to its home in our utensil drawer. Most of the time, it simply lingers on the drying rack, ready and waiting to be grabbed again. I’ve since purchased a second one — all-silicone model — so that I’ll never be without at least one mini spatula, ready for whatever small cooking task is on hand.

Buy: di Oro Seamless Series Mini Silicone Spatula, $9.97

Do you have any tools that you thought you’d never use but now reach for all the time? Tell us about them in the comments below!