You open a kitchen drawer looking for a vegetable peeler and find three gadgets you haven’t touched in months. One promised to save time. Another looked useful in a cooking video. Now they’re taking up space that could hold the utensils you actually reach for every day.
Most kitchens don’t need more equipment. A sharp knife, cutting board, saucepan, and a few reliable utensils can handle nearly everything you cook. The exceptions are tools that fix a familiar annoyance or produce results your existing equipment struggles to deliver.
A salad spinner gets water off lettuce before you add dressing. A fine grater turns lemon peel into delicate zest. A potato ricer gives mashed potatoes a smoother texture. None of these tools is essential, but each can earn its place when you use it often enough.
These five kitchen tools solve specific problems. Some belong in almost any kitchen. Others make sense only when you cook certain dishes regularly.
1. OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner: For People Who Actually Eat Their Greens
You wash a head of lettuce, shake off the water, and start making a salad. By the time you finish tossing everything together, dressing has collected at the bottom of the bowl. The leaves are still wet, and the dressing has lost some of its flavor.
The OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner fixes the preparation step causing that problem. Put your washed greens inside the removable basket, press the pump, and the basket spins to remove excess surface water. A built-in brake stops the spinning, while the nonslip base keeps the bowl steady on the counter.
Price: $32.92
Where to Buy: Amazon
The large model has a 6.22-quart bowl and a 4.95-quart basket. That’s enough capacity to handle a substantial batch of greens for a family salad without drying individual leaves with paper towels. The basket also works as a colander, so you can rinse vegetables before spinning them.
At 10.5 inches across and 6 inches high, this is a sizable kitchen accessory. You’ll need a proper cabinet shelf for it. The lid separates for cleaning, and the spinner is dishwasher safe.
The benefit goes beyond lettuce. Spinach, parsley, cilantro, and other leafy ingredients can be dried before cooking. When you’re making salads several times a week, that convenience adds up.
The drawback is obvious: the spinner occupies almost as much room as a mixing bowl. If you make a salad once a month, a colander and clean kitchen towel will do the job.
At $32.92, the OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner is worth buying if fresh salads are part of your weekly routine. You’ll get more use from it than another decorative kitchen gadget, and the removable basket gives it a second purpose.
2. Microplane Premium Classic Series Zester/Grater: The One You’ll Keep Reaching For
You’re making pasta and want a little lemon zest. Your box grater produces coarse pieces, while using a knife means carefully removing the peel and chopping it afterward. Neither option gives you the fine texture you wanted.
The Microplane Premium Classic Series Zester/Grater makes that job straightforward. Its narrow stainless steel blade produces fine shavings from citrus peel, Parmesan, chocolate, ginger, and other firm ingredients. You can grate directly over a saucepan, mixing bowl, or finished plate.
The tool measures approximately 12 inches long, with an 8-inch grating surface. That’s long enough to work comfortably over a bowl while remaining slim enough to fit beside your everyday utensils. A soft-touch handle provides grip, rubber feet help stabilize the blade against a work surface, and a protective cover shields the cutting teeth during storage.
What makes the Microplane useful is the number of small jobs it handles. Lemon zest adds aroma to cakes and sauces without introducing extra liquid. Finely grated Parmesan settles across hot pasta, and ginger can be incorporated into marinades without leaving noticeable chunks.
Price: $17.49
Where to Buy: Amazon
You don’t need a separate appliance for any of those tasks. You need a fine grating surface that gives you control over the amount you’re adding.
The Microplane won’t replace a box grater for shredding large quantities of cheese or vegetables. Its sharp teeth also deserve attention when you’re working with small ingredients.
At $17.49, this is the easiest purchase to justify on the entire list. If you cook with citrus, cheese, or ginger, the Microplane earns its drawer space quickly. You can skip it if you rarely use finely grated ingredients.
3. Chef’n FreshForce Citrus Juicer: For the Lemon You Squeeze Every Day
You need fresh lemon juice for a dressing, so you cut a lemon in half and squeeze it over a bowl. Juice runs down your fingers, a seed drops into the mixture, and you’re left pressing the fruit repeatedly to extract the remaining liquid.
Doing that once is hardly a problem. Doing it several times while preparing marinades, sauces, and drinks makes a dedicated citrus press more appealing.
Price: $25.99
Where to Buy: Amazon
The Chef’n FreshForce Citrus Juicer uses a dual-gear mechanism to apply pressing force through its handles. Place a cut lemon or lime inside the cup, close the handles, and juice passes through openings while larger seeds and pieces of pulp remain inside.
The geared design multiplies the squeeze from your hand, so pressing the fruit takes less effort. You don’t need electricity, batteries, or a countertop appliance. The press fits into a utensil drawer and is ready whenever a recipe calls for fresh citrus.
It’s most useful when you’re making several servings of vinaigrette, preparing lemon-based sauces, or squeezing limes for drinks. The pressing cup keeps the fruit contained, so the job involves less handling of wet citrus halves.
Chef’n recommends hand washing the standard FreshForce Citrus Juicer, and it’s also top-rack dishwasher safe. Its cup is intended for lemons and limes, so larger citrus fruits need a different tool.
At $25.99 on Amazon for the standard yellow version ($29.99 at Chef’n), the FreshForce is a sensible purchase if you use fresh lemons and limes several times a week. If you only squeeze an occasional lemon wedge over fish, keep the drawer space.
4. Zyliss Easy Pull Food Chopper & Processor: For the Onion You Don’t Want to Chop
You’re making salsa and need to chop an onion, garlic, and a handful of herbs. A knife will handle everything, but you still have several ingredients to prepare before cooking begins. Getting out an electric food processor creates another job when it’s time to clean up.
The Zyliss Easy Pull Food Chopper & Processor gives you a middle option. Put the ingredients into the bowl, secure the lid, and pull the cord to rotate three stainless steel blades. Additional pulls chop the contents more finely.
The bowl holds 800ml, approximately 27 ounces. That’s a useful size for small quantities of vegetables, herbs, and ingredients for dips. It measures roughly 5.8 by 5.3 by 5.6 inches, so it takes up less cabinet space than a full-size electric processor.
Price: $29.95
Where to Buy: Amazon
The enclosed bowl keeps ingredients contained while the blades work. You can use it for onions, garlic, herbs, salsa ingredients, and certain mixtures that need a finer consistency. Its manual mechanism also means you can work anywhere on the counter without looking for an electrical outlet.
Cleaning is straightforward for the removable bowl and blades, which are dishwasher safe. The pull-cord lid needs hand cleaning and must not be submerged in water.
A knife still gives you better control over uniform cuts. The Zyliss is designed for chopping ingredients into smaller pieces, with the final texture controlled by how many times you pull the cord.
At $29.95, the Zyliss Easy Pull is worth keeping if you regularly prepare small batches of chopped vegetables, salsa, or dips. It’s particularly useful when a full-size processor would be excessive. If you enjoy knife work and rarely prepare those dishes, you won’t need it.
5. Joseph Joseph Helix Potato Ricer: For Mashed Potatoes Worth Making Properly
You’ve boiled potatoes until tender and started mashing them. Most of the mixture looks smooth, but small lumps remain. You keep pressing with the masher, working the potatoes longer than you intended.
A potato ricer gives you another way to prepare them. The Joseph Joseph Helix Potato Ricer uses a twisting mechanism to push cooked potatoes through a perforated surface, producing fine pieces before you add butter, milk, or cream.
Its two-part construction combines stainless steel and nylon components. The pieces separate for cleaning, and both are dishwasher safe.
Price: $24.95
Where to Buy: Amazon
The Helix measures approximately 10.5 inches long, 3.75 inches wide, and 3.5 inches deep. It occupies more drawer space than a simple potato masher, but it’s still compact enough to store with larger kitchen utensils.
The advantage is texture. Potatoes pass through small openings and emerge in fine, relatively uniform pieces. That gives you a smoother starting point for mashed potatoes without repeatedly working the mixture. The tool can also process suitable cooked vegetables for purées.
It earns its spot when you’re preparing mashed potatoes for family dinners, holiday meals, or dishes where a finer consistency is important. You can also avoid using a blender or food processor, which can make potatoes sticky when their starch is overworked.
The Helix is specialized equipment. You’ll need to fill and empty it repeatedly when preparing large batches, and a conventional masher remains perfectly suitable for chunky mashed potatoes.
At $24.95 on Amazon, the Joseph Joseph Helix Potato Ricer is worth owning if you regularly make smooth mashed potatoes or vegetable purées. If you prefer rustic mashed potatoes with some texture, your existing masher is enough.
Which Kitchen Tools Actually Deserve the Space?
Start with the Microplane Premium Classic Series Zester/Grater. It’s slim, versatile, and useful across sweet and savory recipes. You don’t have to cook elaborate meals to appreciate finely grated Parmesan, lemon zest, or ginger.
The OXO Salad Spinner is the stronger investment if fresh greens are part of your weekly meals. The Chef’n FreshForce makes sense when you’re regularly squeezing lemons and limes, while the Zyliss Easy Pull earns its place through repeated small chopping jobs.
The Joseph Joseph Helix Potato Ricer is the most specialized choice. It’s worth keeping for the texture it produces, especially if mashed potatoes are a regular favorite at home.
You don’t need all five. Buy the tools that address the preparation jobs you already do, and keep the rest of your storage space for equipment you’ll reach for tomorrow.
