12 Kitchen Tools That Actually Make Cooking Easier According to Chefs

It wasn’t until I moved to France that I started taking an interest in cooking. Before that, I would usually eat either takeaway or out at a restaurant. It wasn’t that I didn’t like food; I just didn’t seem to have time to cook.

However, all that changed when I moved to rural France, where takeaways were nonexistent, and restaurants were only open between 7 pm and 9 pm – and I’m not kidding. Forget about Uber Eats or any kind of home delivery because that didn’t happen either.

This meant I needed to get serious about cooking unless I wanted to live on bread and cheese. Although both are fabulous in France, they lose their appeal if you eat them daily. So it was time to find some tools and gadgets to help make cooking easier, so I didn’t find it such a chore, and it would hopefully cut down the cooking time.

A Decent Pair of Tongs

In my French kitchen, tongs are essential, from flipping meat on the grill to tossing salad. I have three because I use them so much. One piece of advice on kitchen tongs: don’t, and I repeat, don’t, get tongs with rubber ends because they can’t grip anything.

Trying to pick up spaghetti with rubber-ended tongs is a nightmare, so get the cheap-looking metal ones; they work far better. I also have tongs of different sizes for different things. These are the ones I swear by, no rubber in sight.

A Probe Thermometer

I don’t know about you, but every time a recipe tells me to cook something to a certain temperature, I have no idea if that temperature has been reached. Short of sticking my finger in to test whether it’s hot, which obviously hurts and isn’t accurate, the only option is to get a probe thermometer.  It’s especially useful for thick cuts that are tricky to cook evenly. 

I love mine, and it never lets me down. All you have to do is insert the probe into the thickest part of the meat, and you’ll get an accurate readout in seconds. This is the one I have in my kitchen >>>

An Omelet Pan

I’m a big fan of Julia Child, the American TV chef and author who taught American housewives how to master French cooking. One of her favorite kitchen utensils was her omelet pan, a staple in any French kitchen. It was her prized possession, and she even bought it with her when she appeared on the Today show in 1961. 

Even when the studio’s electric hot plate failed to heat properly, she still managed to whip up the perfect French omelet using her pan. This is my favorite omelet pan >>>

A Proper Chef’s Knife

Sticking with Julia and her passion for cooking, another essential tool for your kitchen, according to Julia, is a proper chef’s knife. If you’ve seen the movie Julia and Julia, starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, there is a memorable scene where Julia masters the art of chopping onions. It all came down to practice and the right knife. My husband got me this knife, and it’s now my go-to for chopping and pretty much everything else >>>

A Potato Masher With a Good Handle

Julia Child’s garlic mashed potatoes are legendary. But not all potato mashers are created equal, and they can do so much more than just mash potatoes. The best mashers are, without a doubt, those with a rubber horizontal handle. The ones with a pointy handle hurt your hand, and you can’t get a good mash action.

I also use them to mash bananas for making banana bread, avocados, and swede and carrot mash. This is the potato masher with the rubber handle >>>

A Handheld Garlic Press

To make her famous garlic mashed potatoes, you need a good garlic press. Without one, cutting garlic into tiny pieces and then chopping it so it’s small enough is hard work. A garlic press will smash the garlic up once you’ve cut it quickly and easily.

To make Julia’s mash, you need thirty cloves of garlic, so without this presser, you’ll be at it all day. Plus, doing it by hand makes your fingers stink to high heaven. My garlic masher is more like a potato masher, and it’s great because the garlic doesn’t get stuck in the same way. You’ll find it here on Amazon >>>

Some Sturdy Copper Pans

If you’ve ever seen pictures of Julia Child’s kitchen in Provence, you’ll have seen all the copper pans hanging up. Julia adored copper cookware for its superior heat conduction. She often warned readers about cheap knock-offs and explained the importance of thickness and durability​.

She even shared her cleaning method for copper: a mixture of vinegar, salt, and scouring powder to keep it shiny. It’s a bit of an investment, but it’s worth it >>>

A Label Machine

My husband is obsessed with his label machine and labels everything that’s not nailed down, including my kitchen jars. However, there is a method to his madness, and in true Julia style, who also labeled everything in her kitchen, I can now find everything quickly. There is a sense of satisfaction when you open the pantry door, and everything is neatly organized and labeled.

An Egg Cooker

This little machine is an egg game-changer. Julia loved boiled eggs, but we don’t all have her talent for getting them just right. However, an egg cooker takes the guesswork out of it.

Simply choose how well done you want your eggs—mine are always dippy—add the required amount of water, and away you go. I’ve yet to have a bad boiled egg; they are always cooked to perfection. I get perfect eggs each time with this egg cooker >>>

A Stackable Egg Tray

If you make boiled eggs, you’ll need something to store your eggs in. Enter the stackable egg tray. Egg boxes look ugly, and you can’t see your eggs. 

A wooden egg tray looks good and gives your kitchen a French country feel like Julia’s. They hold twelve eggs, but as they’re stackable, you’re not limited to how many eggs you have.

Measuring Cups and Measurement Converter

Julia understood the importance of measurement in cooking. Too much of one thing and not enough of the other could cause all sorts of kitchen disasters. The issue we have is that not every recipe uses the same measurements.

This leaves you needing to convert cups into grams and pounds into kilos, which can be a pain. I found the perfect solution: my measurement board. Not only does it have all the cups I need hanging up with their measurements, but it also has spoon measurements.

It looks fabulous in my kitchen, and I use it whenever I cook.

A Food Processor

Julia adored her food processor, and no kitchen is complete without one. Introduced to the machine in the 1970s, she became an advocate for its versatility in chopping, slicing, and pureeing. Her favorite brand was the Cuisinart, and she suggested her audience wait till they could afford it, as it was the best one out there.

Julia even described it as “the most useful machine” for any cook, praising how it made preparing food easier and more enjoyable​.

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