Some of us are technology geeks. Some of us are beauty nerds, and some of us… well, some of us get a little overexcited about our kitchen gadgets. We rave over badass budget blenders, weep over onion choppers and try every nonstick pan on the market. We may have even color-matched our KitchenAid mixers to our toaster ovens (OK, we absolutely did).
This is a list for the kitchen tool aficionados who are always looking for the latest, greatest, most time-saving, clutter-reducing, cleanup-ending products out there. But this isn’t just a collection of fad products — these have been tried and tested and have some of the most enviable Amazon reviews online. Best of all? They’re all under $50.
Get ready to make some of your kitchen prep dreams come true. Give a tip of the hat to your Prime account and then dive into these downright genius products.
A version of this article was originally published in September 2017.
Kitchen Gizmo Snap’N Strain Strainer
Customer review: "Works as advertised. I have both, straight sided pots and pots with a curved lip for pouring. They're both, high quality, thick walled pots, not thin, like some others. I only say this to address some other reviews that state that this product wouldn't fit on their curved pots because the clip doesn't open wide enough. Well, it won't if you try to push straight down over the curved edge but it will if you slide the clip on from the side of the pot and then push over and down, once the clip is on the edge of the pot. Anyway, it's a great gadget that we use often." — Stephen H.Review: 4.5 stars with over 1,500 reviewsKitchen Gizmo Snap'N Strain strainer, $11.95 at Amazon
Fullstar Vegetable Chopper Mandoline Slicer-Dicer
Customer review: "I bought this so that I could easily dice my onions. Everything else was just an added bonus. What a great product! Easy to use and comes with smart cleaning accessories so cleaning them is a breeze. Used it to make homemade French fries tonight and it cut through potatoes so easily. I'm really impressed." — DMSRating: 4.5 stars with over 400 reviewsFullstar vegetable chopper mandoline slicer-dicer, $26.79 at Amazon
3-in-1 Avocado Tool
Customer review: "Great kitchen tool – if you eat avocados daily, this is a must have. I thought it might be one of those gimmicky tools I'd use once and toss in the drawer to never be used again but other reviews made me want to try it if only to not have to dig out another pit. One use and I'm hooked — so easy! Getting out the pit is a piece of cake! It creates nice slices in one swoop. Perfection in a kitchen tool." — JLSon
Rating: 4.5 stars with over 2,500 reviews
OXO Good Grips three-in-one avocado slicer, $9.99 at Amazon
Dough Whisk
Customer review: "This is amazing! I wish I had had one years ago. It mixed bread dough without sticking. The handle has a wonderful feel, and the entire tool is constructed well and will last for many years. Who knows, if I can get any of my kids to want to bake bread, it could be passed down as a family heirloom." — K. Materon
Rating: 4.9 stars with 262 reviews
Bakers Guild Tools original Danish dough whisk, $19 at Amazon
Herb Scissors
Customer review: "Nice for onions, chives and rosemary. They don't bruise herbs so taste of herbs can be mostly retained. And I no longer need to clean the cutting board everytime because I can just cut herbs directly into dishes with these scissors. They work great for paper as well." — hichardRating: 3 stars with nine reviews
HiramWare herb scissors, $2.99 at Amazon
Herb Stripper
Customer review: "I bring home a lot of greens from the farmer's market. And sadly, I really hate to prep them. Enter this little gadget. While it takes some trial and error to get the hang of using it, I am here to report that it does actually work. My tips: (1) be sure pull the greens through from the darker green side; and (2) use the smallest hole that your stalk will fit through. Enjoy, fellow kale lovers!” — Julia ChildlikeRating: 4 stars with over 1,300 reviews
Chef'n LooseLeaf kale, chard, collard greens and herb stripper, $7.99 at Amazon3-in-1 Fruit Prep
Customer review: "Love this set! It literally slices apples, mangoes, potatoes and a bunch of other fruits and veggies that we’ve tried. You can slice and dice the fruits and veggies easily. The blades are sharp and this set is easy to store as well. I will definitely be tossing out my old slicer as this one has much more use.
"All pieces are easy to mix and mingle, they come out and get 'clicked' in back in, makes for simple storage. We’ve been cutting potatoes and apples for our little one with it and he loves to watch, it makes it fun for him too. Another great part about this item is that it is dishwasher safe and with our busy schedule, that’s a huge plus, just leave it on the top rack though. Excellent purchase!" — Kimon
Rating: 4 stars with more than 400 reviewsVremi apple slicer and corer, $9 at Amazon
Maple Tree Tapper
Customer review: "This was my first attempt at maple tree tapping. I placed my first tap too far into the tree (using a rubber hammer) and was convinced it would break when attempting to remove it with a standard claw hammer, but all the posts about the durability of these spile taps are true. No cracks or breaks when removing.
"The tip sheet that comes with this set is exceptionally helpful. A great tip worth repeating is to refrain from blowing into your tap hole with your mouth to remove wood shavings after initial drilling. Doing so can spread bacteria from your mouth into the tree. Instead, insert and remove the drill bit a few times to clear it out." — Daboon
Review: 4.6 stars with nearly 100 reviews
Maple syrup tree tapping kit, $35 at Amazon
Boil-Over Spill Stopper
Customer review: "I don't know why I didn't buy something like this years ago. I cannot tell you how many times my pasta water has overflowed creating a mess on the stove top for me to clean. The thing about pasta is you need it to come to a rolling boil but then it has a tendency to boil over unless I stand there watching it, which I never do, thus my problem.
"These lids really work and it's easy to lift an edge to stir the pasta. Clean up is really easy on these lids and I tend to use them also as a spoon rest when I'm done using them on the pot and am draining the pasta and adding the sauce.
"I recommend this for every kitchen and am giving one of these lids to my daughter to use in her dorm apartment at college." — Nikki Hamilton
Rating: 4.4 stars with over 300 reviewsAuSincere spill stoppers (set of two), $12.99 at AmazonNeedle Meat Tenderizer
Customer review: "Wowza! This is so much easier (and better) than using the bottom of a drinking glass to beat and tenderize the meat, and get them to even levels. I had no choice but to work with what I had, but now that I've been using this tool, I will never do it that way again. The quality is amazing!! Needles are very sharp, giving you the perfect tender cut, and it comes with a plastic safety cover when not in use. It's awesome!!" — Melissa Nicole
Rating: 4.4 stars with over 175 reviewsKlemoo meat tenderizer tool, $13.99 at Amazon
Meat Injector
"I have a culinary school background. Back in school we were always taught to be extra careful and not puncture the meat. I held off on buying a meat injector for the longest time based on this. I bought this injector thinking that I would just use it for the large cuts of cured meats. One weekend I had unexpected guests and needed to put together dinner quickly. I had bought some cornish hens that morning from Costco hoping to freeze them for use later, but ended up deciding to cook the hens on the grill for dinner instead. Since it was already late afternoon, I knew I did not have enough time to allow a marinade to properly penetrate the meat. I quickly threw together a brine with salt, brown sugar, molasses, garlic powder, allspice and cayenne pepper. I injected this into the hens generously and let them marinade in the remainder of the brine for about an hour while I lit the grill. I only cook on charcoal so it takes a bit of time to get it ready. The chicken turned out really tender and juicy with flavor that had penetrated all the way through the meat and not just on the surface.
"This has now become my go-to method for meats. Chicken, pork chops, turkey breast, roast, you name it; I use this beast to inject incredible flavors into my food. The family loves it too. This is a great product and one that you will use more than you realize you will." — Khush
Rating: 4.8 stars with nearly 1,600 reviewsGrill Beast stainless steel meat injector kit, $22 at Amazon
Pineapple Corer
Customer review: "We finally got a pineapple corer and wow! Where has this been all my life? It couldn't be easier to use either. You just cut the top of the pineapple off, center the pineapple corer over the pineapple, and start twisting; the hardest part is chopping the top of the pineapple off. You are left with a beautiful spiral of juicy pineapple that is ready to gobble up in less than 2 minutes flat!" — Candy
Senfhome pineapple peeling corer, $6.99 at AmazonPot Lid-Spoon Combo
Customer review: “Holds my heavy large glass cover without tipping. Nice sauce catch for the lid & spoon. Rubber bumpers underneath the brushed stainless. Great practical item! This speaks quality, and saves a mess on my counter and stove top. Perfect!" — Diane
Rating: 4.3 stars with nearly 100 reviewsCollections Etc pot lid holder and spoon rest combo, $17.99 at Amazon
Russian Piping Tips
Customer review: "My mom is a cake decorator so I'm trying to surprise her with decorating tools whenever I get a chance. She was very impressed with this set when I gave it to her. They are made with high quality stainless steel, easy to use and clean.
"Perfect from cute box to variety of tip designs. My mom said that some of tips in set are really hard to find and there is also a few kinds she never even saw before, even though she has a good experience in decorating and always trying to get every new design she can find. In this set you get them all and in first class quality and for a great price. Extremely happy with the purchase!" — Pavel Sementsov
Rating: 4.9 stars with over 50 reviewsLambow Russian piping tips, $40 at Amazon
Strawberry Huller
Customer review: "This is the coolest tool on the face of the planet. It cores the strawberry and then you can stuff it with whatever you like. I do cream cheese and a sweetener (sugar, sweetener whatever) and then add vanilla to it and put it in a zip loc and cut the end to pipe it in. Granddaughters like it when I put chocolate in of course. (I put them in the freezer for a few seconds to thicken the chocolate then refrigerate.) I bought one for my granddaughters and now they make their own." — Robbins
Rating: 4.6 stars with nearly 3,000 reviewsChef'n StemGem strawberry huller, $6.95 at Amazon
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