Kitchen Tools That Look Familiar But Might Confuse You

Most kitchen tools and gadgets are well-known, even for those unfamiliar with kitchen duties. Can openers, colanders, potato mashers, slotted spoons, and spatulas are items we’ve all seen lying around, and most of us have even used them fairly regularly. These are basic, simple kitchen tools that don’t need much explaining on how to use them. 

But the kitchen tools of today are seriously complicated and if you’re not familiar with the ins-and-outs of food prep, or even if you are, many of the innovative gadgets on the market today can be confusing. Designed to make cooking easier, you've likely seen these devices before but have no idea what they are or what they do.

While you may not need all of these to prepare meals effectively, some can aid making the process more efficient–or at least make it fun. Others should be left at the store.

Avocados are highly nutritious and come with many health benefits, but peeling and cutting them can be inconvenient. This tool allows you to peel and slice an avocado efficiently. Although not all avocado slicers come with this function, many also come with a pit remover so there’s no more struggling with the pit when you want to make avocado toast or guacamole.

Many people who drink tea are used to purchasing tea bags at the store. However, many tea lovers prefer to purchase loose-leaf tea. When making loose-leaf tea, you need some kind of a tea strainer. This tool allows you to steep your tea, easily remove the strainer, and dump out the leaves when you’re finished.

Not everyone is familiar with this kitchen tool but for those who love to bake, it’s useful to have on hand. A pastry cutter is used to make different types of dough. The purpose of a pastry cutter is to cut the butter or other fat into the flour. While you can use your hands to do this, this tool makes this process less messy while still effectively cutting the fat into the flour.

Like many other ingredients used for cooking, garlic tastes best when it’s fresh. You certainly can’t beat the convenience of buying minced garlic, but if you’re cooking with fresh garlic cloves, a garlic press is a handy tool to have in the kitchen.

This tool allows you to easily mince garlic without having to chop it. It’s a plus that you don’t have to worry about your hands smelling like garlic for days after using this tool.

Meat tenderizers come in different varieties, but the simplest type of meat tenderizer is the one that looks like a spiky hammer. This kitchen tool might not be as common nowadays, but they’re still used in many kitchens to tenderize various types of meat before cooking it.

You can also use a meat tenderizer for other purposes in the kitchen such as crushing spices, and nuts, or baking ingredients like graham crackers or chocolate.

Considering how many ingredients you can buy pre-ground or crushed, not many people own a mortar and pestle unless they’re serious about cooking with fresh ingredients. Even though they’re not as common nowadays, a mortar and pestle is still one of the most effective ways to grind, smash, or crush ingredients such as herbs or garlic.

If you plan on serving corn on the cob, there’s nothing wrong with picking up the corn with your hands. However, this simple tool is great to have if you serve corn often. Corn holders allow you to hold corn on the cob without having to get your hands dirty. These holders can be especially useful if you’ve added melted butter, cheese, or other toppings to your corn.

There are numerous recipes out there that call for egg whites or egg yolks. This requires you to separate the yolk from the egg whites and trying to do it with your hands or by using the shell can lead to a mess. This egg separator is a simple way to perfectly separate your egg whites and yolk every time without any hassle.

If you don’t have one yourself, you’ve likely seen a milk frother before and wondered what it was used for. Battery-powered milk frothers are pretty inexpensive but they’re a great way to make your beverages more fancy. You can use this tool to froth your milk to add to your morning coffee or tea. You can even use it to make a delicious cup of chocolate milk.

Bench scrapers, also sometimes known as multi-purpose scrapers, are great for all kinds of tasks in the kitchen. You can use a bench scraper to chop vegetables, cut dough, or even slice pizza. If you’re making something that has a particularly wet or sticky dough, you can use the bench scraper to pick up the dough and shape it properly.

While you can cut the stem off of strawberries with a knife, if you’re baking with strawberries, this kind of tool can be incredibly helpful. A strawberry huller or stem remover can be used for easily scooping out the stem of a strawberry, which is perfect if you’re preparing strawberries to add to a dessert or if you’re preparing a snack for your young kids.

You’re likely familiar with cookie cutters but a cookie press is another way to make cookies in fun shapes in the kitchen. A cookie press is typically used to make cookies that are smaller and thinner than cookies you make with a cookie cutter. This kitchen tool is simple to use and they come in many different designs.

If you’ve never made pasta at home before, you might not know what this contraption is for. While most people buy dry pasta at the store to cook at home, it can also be fun to make your own pasta with tools such as this handheld pasta maker. After making the pasta dough, this kitchen tool allows you to make pasta in different shapes.

A salad spinner allows you to dry off lettuce, spinach, or other greens before you make a salad to avoid having soggy vegetables. After washing your greens, you can place them in the salad spinner and remove most of the water. You can also use it for sliced vegetables as well, such as peppers or zucchini.

If you generally buy ground spices, you wouldn’t believe the difference in how they taste when you grind spices yourself. Freshly ground spices have a lot more flavor and taste fresher than store-bought spices. A nutmeg grater makes it easy to grind your nutmeg, no matter what kind of recipe you’re using it in. It also doesn’t take up too much space so it’s easy to keep in one of your kitchen drawers.

Sprializing vegetables isn’t a necessity in most recipes but it makes life in the kitchen more fun. A spiralizer is a kitchen tool that allows you to quickly spiralize vegetables or fruits that you can add to salads or stir-fries. Certain vegetables, like zucchini, can also be a low-carb substitute for pasta and a spiralizer allows you to make your zucchini noodles to use instead of spaghetti or linguini.

Considering you can steam many store-bought vegetables in the bag they come in, you might not have a separate tool for steaming your vegetables. However, a steamer basket can be handy if you buy fresh vegetables that don't come in a bag. There are many types of steamers out there, but these collapsible stainless steel steamer baskets save space by collapsing into a smaller size for easy storage.

There are plenty of ways to cook eggs that don’t require any fancy tools. However, if you cook a lot of eggs in your home, this egg cooker can be a helpful kitchen tool to have around. Egg cookers are a kitchen tool that cooks eggs with a steaming process. They allow you to make soft or hard-boiled eggs without having to boil them.

There are many ways to cook potatoes but if you’re planning on making french fries, it can be challenging to cut them right. If you’re a fan of crinkle-cut fries, this tool makes it easy to cut your potatoes into crinkle shapes so you can bake, fry, or air-fry your potatoes and make the perfect crinkle-cut potatoes at home.

When you’re sprinkling powdered sugar on a dessert, it’s not easy to get the amount right. While you can choose to use a spoon to sprinkle your sugar, it often leads to uneven dusting. This sugar duster is the perfect way to spread an even amount of powdered sugar for tasty and beautiful desserts made at home.