5 of the Best Products in Our Essential Kitchen Gear Sale

We’re launching our limited-time Kitchen Essentials sale, which features some of the most frequently used, highly rated pieces of equipment that my team at ATK Reviews has tested. The sale includes everything from blenders and skillets to slow cookers and skimmers, but here are some of my favorite items to help you ease back into the season of routine.

Ask any test cook in our kitchen what their favorite tool is, and there’s a good chance they’ll say a food processor. We use them to make pie dough, finely chop vegetables, whip up dips, and more.

Our winner, the Cuisinart Custom 14 Cup Food Processor, has a roomy capacity, but its footprint isn’t too large and the processor isn’t too heavy. It’s also simple to use and its design maximizes visibility, making it easy to monitor the contents.

Before I got my first food processor, I restricted myself from making labor-intensive treats such as flaky pie dough. Now, this tool allows me to prep an impressive galette dough in just a few minutes.

We know a piece of equipment is good when we carve out space for it even in the smallest of apartment kitchens. But if you’re really tight on space, our winning small food processor, the Cuisinart Elite Collection 4-Cup Chopper/Grinder, is also on sale.

A small cutting board is one of those tools that I use so frequently that I rarely actually put it away. The OXO Utility Cutting Board (sold as a set with our winning large plastic cutting board) is our favorite lightweight plastic option—it’s great for quick cutting tasks or for use in kitchens with less counter space. The rubber strips on the border add stability and I love how it’s dishwasher-safe for busy nights when I want to cut down on washing by hand. 

We’re constantly trying to cut down on our use of single-use plastics in the kitchen, and one of the keys to doing so is making these reductions more convenient. Plastic wrap is undeniably handy for covering bowls, wrapping sandwiches, and enclosing that odd half lemon in the fridge, but beeswax reusable food wraps promise to replace it.

We were impressed by Abeego Food Wrap's clinginess and ability to keep a variety of foods fresh. While it required a bit of scrubbing (more than just throwing plastic wrap in the trash, that is), it was easier to clean than other options and it came in three sizes to accommodate many different uses. I even pack mine when we go camping, as they’re much more compact than a roll of plastic wrap, making it easy to wrap up sandwiches for hikes or keep leftovers fresh in our cooler.

What would we do without a good baking sheet? If it’s easy weeknight cooking you’re after, the Nordic Ware Baking Set is your best friend. It’s sturdy, warp-resistant, and evenly bakes everything from cakes to vegetables to meats. It comes with a lid, which means you can avoid plastic wrap when storing leftovers or transporting food to a gathering while keeping it fresh. It also helps to maximize space in the fridge since you can store other things on top of it.

The small but mighty Microplane rasp-style grater is what we reach for when we want to zest citrus, sprinkle cheese on a bowl of pasta, freshly grate nutmeg on sweet treats, finely mince garlic and ginger, and so much more. It’s also comfortable to hold thanks to its grippy handle, which comes in a wide range of colors.