Equipment

Friday’s Featured Price Drop: Save 31% on Our Winning Chef's Knife

The only thing better than a piece of kitchen equipment that works is a reduced-price piece of kitchen equipment that works.

By Published Mar. 6, 2020

In the test kitchen, we pride ourselves on being smart consumers and identifying kitchen equipment that works. That’s why we’re always on the lookout when those two things combine in the form of a price drop on one of our favorite products.

Here’s a list of highly recommended equipment that we’ve noticed has dropped in price on Amazon, in case you’re in the market for a new slow cooker or garlic press. We’ll update this article every Friday if a product fits that criteria. (And since we can’t control how long these price drops will last, don’t wait if you see a product that catches your eye!)

Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox Pro 8 Inch Chef's Knife

Friday, 3/6/20: 31% Price Drop on the Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox Pro 8" Chef's Knife ($30.90)

Still the best—and a bargain—after 20 years, this knife has been our top pick the last five (!) times we've tested traditional chef's knives. It has exceptional cutting ability and it retains its edge after weeks of heavy, daily use. Plus, its textured grip feels secure and comfortable for a wide range of hand sizes. For years, we've stocked at least 50 of these knives in our test kitchen and our cooks use them every day for slicing, dicing, mincing, and carving. It's truly withstood the test of time and remains our top knife choice for most home cooks. (We also highly recommend the 6-inch and 10-inch versions.)

Friday, 2/21/20: 37% Price Drop on the J.A. Henckels International Take-Apart Kitchen Shears ($15.75)

Kitchen shears are an essential part of any cook’s knife kit, and this pair proves you don't have to spend a lot to get a great tool. With relatively long, narrow, sharp blades, these ambidextrous, take-apart shears are nimble and make nice smooth cuts on all foods, from herbs and heads of broccoli to pie dough and raw meat. Their plastic finger bows also make them comfortable for hands of all sizes.

Friday, 2/7/20: 44% Price Drop on the Chef'sChoice Pronto Manual Diamond Hone Asian Knife Sharpener ($30.93)

This small, light tool is the test kitchen’s go-to knife sharpener for routine upkeep. It quickly and easily restores a razor-sharp edge to the blade of any dull knife, whether it's an ultrathin Japanese blade, our favorite chef's knife from Victorinox, or a wider European blade. It has a grippy, comfortable handle, and the high guides ensure that the blade meets the abrasive at a precise and secure angle so you can put even pressure along the entire edge.

OXO Good Grips Non-Stick Pro 12 Inch Open Frypan

Friday, 1/31/20: 20% Price Drop on the OXO Good Grips Non-Stick Pro 12" Open Frypan ($39.99)

We spent dozens of hours cooking with this skillet, and our clear conclusion was that it surpassed every other product on the market. It arrived impressively nonstick and remained that way after extensive use. It's easy and comfortable to lift and maneuver, but it's also sturdy and resists denting. (We also highly recommend the 8-inch and 10-inch versions of this skillet, both of which are also temporarily reduced in price on Amazon.)

Friday, 1/24/20: 18% Price Drop on the DeMarle Silpat U.S. Half-Size Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat ($20.53)

This mat—the gold standard in restaurant kitchens—is a reusable alternative to parchment paper, so it's a great item to have if you're trying to cook more sustainably or just prefer not to fuss with parchment. It produces beautifully browned food and makes it truly easy to remove baked goods and roasted foods. It also fits perfectly in a standard baking sheet (including our favorite), stays put thanks to its heavier weight, and is dishwasher-safe.

Friday, 1/17/20: 20% Price Drop on the OXO Good Grips Smart Seal 16 Piece Container Set ($47.99)

Buying a storage container set—even at full price—is cheaper than buying individual containers, and this set is the best option for leftovers and meal prepping. It includes an array of sizes that accommodates any meal prep needs, whether that’s enough grilled chicken or roasted tofu for lunches all week long or the small amount of vinaigrette you need for tomorrow’s salad. Every container is airtight and leakproof, and the empty containers can be nested, making for easy storage.

Friday, 1/10/20: 35% Price Drop on the KitchenAid 5-Speed Ultra Power Hand Mixer ($39.00)

A good handheld mixer means that you don't have to lug out your stand mixer every time you need to whip some cream or a batch of potatoes. In our testing, this winning mixer scored perfect marks across the board thanks to its five powerful, well-calibrated speeds that nicely covered the range called for in recipes. Its lightness, maneuverability, and power make it a favorite gadget in the test kitchen.

Friday, 1/3/20: 37% Price Drop on the Ozeri Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale ($9.47)

This simple scale is impressive for the money. It's accurate and easy to use, with a digital screen that's bright and visible even when weighing large items. Though its relatively lightweight frame feels slightly flimsier than that of our overall winner (the unbeatable OXO Good Grips 11 lb Food Scale with Pull Out Display) and it lacks a removable platform, its performance was otherwise stellar.

Friday, 12/20/19: 47% Price Drop on the Lodge Rectangular Cast Iron Grill Press ($14.55)

In diners, short-order cooks use grill presses to press steaks, burgers, fish fillets, sandwiches, and strips of bacon against the cooking surface, preventing the food from curling or buckling and ensuring that it browns evenly and completely. And after testing them, we think our winning grill press deserves a spot in home kitchens as well. This product's smooth, 30-square-inch surface helps sear and brown foods to perfection. Its coated steel handle stays surprisingly cool during short stints on the stove, and the press arrives preseasoned, so it requires no maintenance besides washing and drying by hand to prevent rust.

Friday, 12/13/19: 41% Price Drop on the Checkered Chef Cooling Rack ($11.86)

No kitchen should be without a wire rack (or two). Not only is it the best tool for cooling cakes and cookies, but the combination of a wire rack and a rimmed baking sheet is our top choice for roasting or broiling meats, holding breaded foods before and after frying, and neatly glazing all manner of confections. This dishwasher- and broiler-safe model fits inside a standard-size rimmed baking sheet and is reinforced with an extra support bar, so it can easily hold everything from delicate cookies to heavy roasts. (We also highly recommend the smaller version of this rack, which is currently 40% off.)

Friday, 11/15/19: 35% Price Drop on the Matfer Steel Nonstick Fluted Tart Mold with Removable Bottom ($19.99)

If you've ever tried chiseling a delicate tart out of a solid pan, you understand why a pan with a removable bottom is so important. This tart pan flawlessly released sweet and savory crusts alike, producing perfectly even golden-brown tarts with crisp, professional-looking edges. Plus, its nonstick coating made the transfer from pan to plate a cinch.

Friday, 11/8/19: 33% Price Drop on the Cuisinart MultiClad Pro Stainless 16-Inch Rectangular Roaster with Rack ($65.99)

Any home cook would use this heavy-duty, dishwasher-safe pan far more often than just on holidays. It performed almost as impressively as our much more expensive overall winner, searing pork loin nicely without buckling or burning and putting an even, golden-brown crust on potatoes. It also held a 19-pound turkey easily and its flat bottom aided deglazing.

Friday, 11/1/19: 35% Price Drop on the Rubbermaid Brilliance Food Storage Container Set, 10-Piece ($13.00)

This set offers impressive size variety, making it great for those who pack lunches for two people or those looking to food prep for the week—or holiday—ahead. Each container holds a generous amount of food, keeps liquids in, is airtight, and has a flat top that makes for secure, compact stacking in the refrigerator and freezer. The largest container is perfect for storing leftovers or large batches of meat or grains, so one (or two) of these sets would be a great addition to your arsenal this time of year.

Friday, 9/27/19: 29% Price Drop on the Zojirushi Stainless Steel Vacuum Carafe ($45.96)

Do you like to entertain? This insulated pitcher keeps coffee piping hot for 4 hours—perfect for brunch or a dessert table at a party. It also insulates cold liquids; milk was 40 degrees after 2 hours and just 41 degrees after 4 hours. This carafe can be completely disassembled for cleaning, and its snap-on lid seals with an audible (and reassuring) click. It also boasts a comfortable handle and a responsive button and pours with a steady, even stream that cuts off without dribbling.

Friday, 9/13/19: 63% Price Drop on the Tramontina Gourmet Tri-Ply Clad 4 Qt. Covered Sauce Pan ($48.35)

Cookware doesn’t get more important than a saucepan, since this is the vessel you’ll use to prepare everything from soups and sauces to pasta and grains to custards and puddings. This pan has the same tri-ply fully-clad construction as our top-rated All-Clad Pan and it performs almost as well. With its impressive performance and truly bargain price, this pan would make a valuable addition to any home cook's arsenal.

Friday, 8/30/19: 33% Price Drop on the Braun MQ505 Multiquick Hand Blender ($40.44)

This blender is comfortable, easy to use, and has two well-calibrated speeds right on its grip. It effortlessly bounces from task to task, pureeing soups in their pots and making mayonnaise, salad dressing, and pesto. It also comes with a whisk for perfect whipped cream and a blending cup that contains splatter.

Friday, 8/16/19: 30% Price Drop on the Chef’n FreshForce Citrus Juicer ($17.47)

This efficient juicer has large, rounded handles that are easy to squeeze for testers of all sizes. It extracted far and away the most juice of any model we tested, and its slat-like holes also drained the most juice without splattering or overflowing. Plus, it’s durable: Its tough plastic exterior showed no signs of wear, even after squeezing more than 200 lemons, limes, and oranges.

Friday, 8/2/19: 25% Price Drop on the OXO Good Grips Hard Anodized Pro Nonstick 8-Inch Fry Pan ($29.95)

An 8-inch skillet is a small but mighty addition to any kitchen. It's perfect for making a couple of fried eggs or an omelet, for cooking scaled-down recipes, and for toasting nuts, spices, bread crumbs, and more. And this OXO model is the best one available, for three simple reasons: superior nonstick ability, a comfortable handle, and a nicely shaped body that's perfectly balanced.

Friday, 7/26/19: 37% Price Drop on the Krups Fast-Touch Coffee Mill ($18.94)

This inexpensive blade-style electric coffee grinder is the standard for grinding spices in the test kitchen. It grinds spices of every size and density exceptionally fine in seconds, all with just the push of a button. It's also small and easy to store, and brushes clean easily.

Friday, 7/12/19: 16% Price Drop on the RSVP International 5 Qt. Colander ($21.87)

With all-over tiny perforations that don’t allow small foods to escape and a wide, tall base—1⅛ inches high—that keeps food elevated, our longtime favorite colander has a draining performance that remains unmatched. It also features slim but substantial handles and cleans up nicely in the dishwasher.

Friday, 6/21/19: 39% Price Drop on the Old Stone Oven Pizza Baking Stone ($30.52)

This tough, durable, grill-safe stone has been a test kitchen favorite for nearly a decade. Pizza and bread come out deeply golden brown and crisp, light and dark turkey meat cooks evenly, and the raised feet built into the underside of this stone make it easy to grab and maneuver.

Friday, 6/21/19: 20% Price Drop on the Swissmar Börner Original V-Slicer Plus Mandoline ($39.99)

This simple, sleek mandoline makes cuts effortlessly with stunningly precise results. Its hat-shaped guard protects well, and cleanup and storage is a breeze, thanks to its compact vertical caddy. Even with just four cuts, all this adds up to a slicer that you'll use every day.

Friday, 6/14/19: 19% Price Drop on the Cuisinart Custom 14 Cup Food Processor ($161.94)

With a powerful, quiet motor; responsive pulsing action; sharp blades; and a simple, pared-down-to-basics design, our longtime favorite food processor has aced every test we've ever put it through, surprising us time and again by outshining pricier, more feature-filled competitors.

Friday, 6/7/19: 25% Price Drop on the Prepworks Collapsible Party Carrier ($20.99)

A smaller version of our favorite cake carrier, this collapsible plastic tote expands to accommodate even the tallest cream-topped pie. Its large, nonskid base holds 8-, 9-, and 10-inch pies perfectly in place, even on bumpy car rides. A bonus: It comes with two molded inserts for deviled eggs, one of which can be flipped upside down and used as a second tier for transporting two shorter pies at once.

Friday, 5/31/19: 33% Price Drop on the Elite Cuisine 1.5 Quart Mini Slow Cooker ($12.71)

This highly recommended slow cooker does everything from keep dips warm at parties to slow-cook scaled-down meals, not to mention hide out in tiny dorm rooms or campers. Its trio of temperature settings allows you to select the perfect temperature for the task and it has an important safety feature that other models don't: a bright indicator light that lets you know when it's too hot to touch.

Friday, 5/24/19: 49% Price Drop on the Pyrex Smart Essentials Mixing Bowl Set ($16.99)

Thanks to their shallow, gently curved walls and easy-to-grip rims, these bowls are comfortable to use and sturdy but never cumbersome. They're also resilient (they didn't break when we dropped them), they stack beautifully, and their tight-fitting lids keep food well protected. (Note: The set comes with four bowls and four lids.)

Friday, 5/17/19: 32% Price Drop on the Mercer Culinary Millennia 10" Wide Bread Knife ($14.99)

This exceptional knife has a stellar blade with sharp points that bite into everything from the crustiest bread to the squishiest tomato. A mainstay of culinary schools, it comes sharp and stays sharp (unlike other serrated knives we've tested), cutting clean, wafer-thin slices after hundreds of uses.

Friday, 5/10/19: 18% Price Drop on the Paderno World Cuisine Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer ($22.95)

Simple, intuitive, and stable, this winner of our last two spiralizer tests easily turned apples, beets, potatoes, butternut squash, and zucchini into even, consistent noodles and ribbons with relatively little waste.

Friday, 5/3/19: 59% Price Drop on the Cuisinart Cordless Wine Opener with Vacuum Sealer ($30.99)

This opener has a slow but steady corkscrew that drills straight into the cork and removes it without wobbling the bottle or making us struggle to keep it or the bottle in place.

Friday, 4/19/19: 35% Price Drop on Breville Citrus Press ($155.95)

This high-quality, attractive juicer uses a power-assisted lever instead of your hand to easily push fruit against the reamer, which extracts every last drop of juice smoothly and efficiently.

Friday, 4/12/19: 46% Price Drop on KitchenAid 6-Quart Slow Cooker With Solid Glass Lid ($69.99)

This model has won our last two slow cooker testings, handling every recipe with perfect results. Its thick stoneware crock, insulated housing, built-in thermal sensor, and crystal-clear controls put a well-thought-out design at your service, currently being sold for an unbeatable price.

Friday, 3/29/19: 17% Price Drop on Ninja Nutri Ninja Pro ($49.99)

This blender never flagged during our 100-smoothie and 100-milkshake abuse tests. With its well-designed travel lid, small footprint, and results as smooth as those from a highly recommended full-size blender, it encompasses all the best traits we want in a personal blender.

Friday, 3/22/19: 20% Price Drop on Weber Spirit E-210 ($349)

A slightly smaller version of our winning three-burner grill, the less expensive Weber Spirit II E-210 was able to accomplish all the same cooking tasks as on the larger grill with equally good results. Today's added discount makes this impressive grill a steal—right in time for spring.

Friday, 3/15/19: 28% Price Drop on Kuhn Rikon Garlic Press ($32.50)

We’ve used this stainless-steel garlic press in the test kitchen for years, so we can say with confidence that it's a good investment. It works seamlessly from start to finish, producing a uniform mince, handling unpeeled cloves well, and quickly rinsing clean.

Friday, 3/8/19: 18% Price Drop on Lodge 12” Cast Iron Skillet ($26.99)

Our testers loved this skillet's satiny interior, large helper handle, and overall beautiful construction. This workhorse skillet is as good at browning food as it is indestructible.

Friday, 2/26/19: 33% Price Drop on Vitamix 5200 ($299.99)

For those who want an intuitive, quiet blender that can pulverize anything with the turn of a dial and will likely outlast its 7-year warranty, this has been our top recommended model for years.

Friday, 2/22/19: 30% Price Drop on Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop ($12.99)

This scoop's gently curved oval bowl forms perfect round orbs that release easily. Even better, its comfortable handle contains heat-conductive fluid that slightly melts the ice cream so that it’s particularly easy to scoop.

Friday, 2/15/19: 42% Price Drop on Presto Waffle Maker ($28.79)

Our Best Buy electric waffle maker makes impressive, well-browned waffles that are almost an inch and a half high.

Friday, 2/8/19: 20% Price Drop on Bob Kramer Carbon-Steel Knife ($239.96)

Our winning carbon-steel chef’s knife has a “precise” tip and “samurai-sharp,” ultrathin blade that maintained its “samurai-sharp” edge throughout testing.

Friday, 2/1/19: 20% Price Drop on ChefSteps Joule ($159.00)

Our winning sous vide machine is slim and lightweight. In our testing, it heated water almost as fast as the biggest circulators and was the most accurate in our lineup.

Friday, 1/18/19: 15% Price Drop on Chef’sChoice Trizor XV Knife Sharpener ($126.98)

This sharpener “purrs” with perfection, consistently producing edges that were sharper than on brand-new knives from edge to tip.