Which kitchen gadget should you splurge on? There are so many out there. Some look great but don’t deliver as promised. Others are worth much more than their cost. Below I have listed my top 5 kitchen items that you should splurge on.

(I get commissions for purchases made through the Amazon affiliate links on this post.)

1) Garlic Press

This is the only way to deal with garlic. Find a good one and you’ll find yourself using it often. In fact, every time you need some garlic minced. It makes the job easy and the good ones come with a tool to help you clean it out when you’re done.

2) Can Opener

Not electric. Splurge on a nice manual can opener. They work as well as electric ones and are easier to keep clean. They also take up less space and can hide in a drawer when not being used.

3) Salad Spinner

If you’re like I was, you may be thinking I’m off base with this one. I never thought they would be worth the money. Until my sister bought a salad spinner. {affiliate link} Once I saw it in action I had to have one. Put your freshly washed greens in the colander portion, then put it inside the spinner and spin for a bit. When you’re done, you’ll find water in the bottom of the spinner. Dump it out, put the top back on and shake it. Then spin some more. You’ll have greens with very little water remaining.
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4) Food Processor

I don’t use my food processor every day, but I use it whenever I have a big job with lots of cutting and dicing. Like when I make Red Beans and Rice or Cranberry Jalapeño Salsa or anything that has a lot of sliced or diced veggies in it. And you don’t have to go for the highest priced name brand food processor. Years ago I bought a Braun Food Processor {affiliate link} and it lasted over 20 years. When it finally died, I replaced it with another Braun. Still cheaper than that other brand and they had made many improvements in the intervening years.

5) Good quality knives

A chef at the CIA (not that CIA, the Culinary Institute of America) told me that dull and poor quality knives are the biggest cause of knife accidents in the kitchen. Once you’ve used good knives, you’ll begin to appreciate their value. If you can only splurge on one kitchen gadget, good quality knives get my vote.

In the picture, you see a top-of-the-line Wüsthof knife set. It is very pricey. My dad bought all his daughters knife sets one year. He even showed me what he had ordered. As it turned out, the company sent the wrong set to me. So I wound up with even pricier knives than he had intended. You do not have to spend that much for good knives. You can even buy them one at a time.

What is your favorite, can’t-live-without-it kitchen tool? Which new kitchen gadget will you splurge on?

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Barbara

Creator In Chief at BarbaraMcNeely.com

I love to cook. I’m also a health coach, a path I chose after going through a health crisis which taught me the importance of eating healthy meals. Now, I want to combine the two — health coaching and cooking — to help people learn to cook healthy meals. To plan healthy meals. And to eat healthy meals.