25 Useful Kitchen Tools You Need That Are Under $15

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Home chefs should have a few items at their disposal at the bare minimum. A few pots and pans and skillets. One or two cutting boards. A paring knife and a chef's knife. But there are tiny ways to not only up your game when it comes to the quality of the food you're preparing, but also minimize the time you spend in the kitchen. 

It's easy to focus on the big-ticket items, especially if you're making a wedding registry or other kind of gift list. But be sure not to overlook some of the little guys that can help you a lot, regardless of whether you're making a small spread or a giant feast.

Certain products can save you some major elbow grease in the prep part of the meal, the cooking itself, and also the dreaded and inevitable clean-up. We're happy to recommend a list of items that will come in handy and also come with a low, low price tag that's below $15.

When a family-owned company has been around since 1889, you might want to trust its products, especially when it comes to your hardworking hands that go into making a hot meal. Trudeau's Stay Cool Silicone Mini Pinch Pot Holders are small but mighty, and we recommend buying one or two.

These are much more convenient than slipping on a giant oven mitt, and we can confirm from our experience that the construction is sturdy. This is a hardy sculpture of silicone that really stands up to the heat. The design is slender on one side to accommodate just your thumb while the other side is wider to take on the other four fingers. So snap up one or two of these handy grips and you can focus on charring some tasty meat and not yourself.

A stainless steel zester from Microplane appears unassuming at first, but it is a game changer. When you're looking to season a dish that calls for finely shredded lemon zest or top some Bolognese-covered pasta with gentle snowflakes of Parmesan, you're going to be happy you have a zester from Microplane in your kitchen toolbox.

The company started up in the 1990s and has an extensive line of culinary gadgetry that employs a stamped metal process to ensure maximum sharpness. So if you purchase this zester and become a fan of its quality, scrape up even more items they offer that are geared towards specific ingredients like garlic, ginger, nuts, and herbs.

There are three sharp edges to this meat tenderizer from The Pioneer Woman, and each side delivers a certain smack that gives this utensil extra value. There's smooth, coarse, and fine, which makes this an especially useful tool. If you're looking to grill skirt steak within a minute or two, get chicken parm to the ideal thinness before it hits the oven so it gets an even bake, or show a hefty swordfish who's boss, this tenderizer is truly a utility player.

A tenderizer is also great to use before you dip your protein in a marinade. The more you can break down the tough muscles of the meat, the more it will absorb from the sauce you've prepared.

Whatever ingredients you might want to throw into the mix, and beyond a well-seasoned wok, a quality wooden spatula is a key component to making a tasty stir fry. And, as opposed to a metal spatula, a wooden one is not going to damage your pan.

The ideal wooden spatula for stir frying has slightly sharp edges to scrape the ingredients around, and it's also smooth enough to not break those precious ingredients apart and keep them intact for presentation. And despite being made of wood, this spatula needs to hold up to the high heat. Helen's Asian Kitchen has all of that in mind with its thick wooden spatula that's made from bamboo. 

While the color scheme of this trio of finely meshed strainers from Farberware is a bit loud, their exceptional functionality wins the day. The largest of these is helpful to give a big batch of rice a good rinse before you cook it. The mid-sized strainer is great to remove excess liquid from canned beans when you're making a chili. We like using the smallest one to catch pulp and seeds when we're juicing citrus for a cocktail.

Each size comes with a long handle, and two extra knobs come through to form a nice trifecta. You don't need to call for an extra set of hands to help you with the sieve because Farberware's design maintains a balanced composure.

A generously sized measuring cup is an essential item when you're serious about cooking or baking. Arguably the gold standard when it comes to glass kitchen utensils given that it's been around for over 100 years, one that's offered by Pyrex has the benefit of not only functionality but a timeless, nostalgic design that fits into pretty much any kitchen's aesthetic. It's also giving you a lot that you need to know about measurements. It holds two cups and also provides the metrics on milliliters. 

This cup is made of thick glass, so if you or a sous chef are a bit clumsy and drop it during the chaos of prep, it should remain intact. It's also microwave safe, but keep it out of the oven.

If you're a fan of going to the farmer's market, you really need to have a good brush to spruce up that produce. Those fruits, veggies, and fungi are always better when they come fresh from the local farm and not the grocery store, but they tend to require a little bit of cleaning before they're ready for consumption.

Full Circle has a produce-cleaning brush that really lives up to its name. Literally — it's shaped like a circle. It's a helpful design in that you can simply hang it from your faucet handle as a reminder to scrub those mushrooms. It's also made from recycled plant fiber, so metaphorically speaking, it's also going full circle.

A basting brush is a must-have item to have at the ready within your kitchen arsenal. This is an especially useful tool if you're baking — use it to give biscuits a gentle coating of butter, or to add a sugary glaze to a pie. With grilled meat — especially if it's pork ribs — you're going to want to keep applying dabs of delectable barbecue sauce over a long cook.

The Pioneer Woman was intent on delivering a quality brush for culinary purposes, and comes through with one that has a healthy head of firm boar's hair and a sturdy stem made out of hardy acacia wood.

Certain scissors belong in the home office and others are best at home in the kitchen. When you're preparing food, a solid set of scissors is helpful to have around for a variety of everyday reasons. You can easily snip herbs. You can divide a large slab of meat into cubes for a stew, or turn a chicken breast into tender slices for a stir fry. They're just as useful to perform the basic task of cutting open a package of food.

KitchenAid sells a pair of shears very worthy of keeping within arm's length when you're cooking. The brand also offers them in a variety of colors to match the color scheme of your kitchen.

If you're intending to make candy that requires using high heat, precision is key. If you're off by a few degrees, you're either going to end up with something rock solid that's going to break a few teeth, or a disastrously soft and chewy concoction that wasn't all what you had in mind.

A confection thermometer from Minnesota-based Escali can come to the rescue in these situations. This is also a useful tool when you're going in a savory route and doing a deep fry — it will help ensure that the oil is hot enough. You want to be confident in the temperature if you're making a batch of fried chicken so that it's not only delightfully crispy but also safe to eat.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson allegedly wrote, "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door," and Gorilla Grip has definitely built a better mousetrap with their design on a box grater. Maybe actually lay out some mousetraps because you're going to be shredding a lot of tempting cheese, but this is also a great device to have around for breaking down vegetables like carrots and ginger.

In addition to its sturdy construction, what we especially like about this item is that it has a container that attaches to the bottom to catch everything you're grating. Gorilla Grip went the extra mile to not only add a base to that base container to prevent it from slipping on your countertop, but also helpful measurements on the side to show you just how many cups, ounces, and milliliters you've accumulated.

Sometimes aesthetics and plating technique are important ways to show you put some extra effort into a dish. Other times it just doesn't matter at all as long as it tastes good. Why try to cut fruits, herbs, and vegetables to perfection when no one will notice the difference? A couple of examples come to mind immediately — salsa, chili, and chutney.

You don't need an electrical outlet to do a time-saving chop in your food prep. A manual device from Brieftons will get the job done, and for that reason, it's an excellent companion on camping trips. There's a solid trio of blades that fit into the base, and once you load in your desired ingredients and lock in the top, all you need to do is rip the cord. How coarse or fine you want the chop depends on how many tugs you take.