The Best Bench Scrapers

We love this model’s handle, which was thick enough to provide a sturdy place for our fingers to grip but not so thick that it felt awkward. Made of textured polypropylene, it was easy to grab onto even when it was slick with butter or sticky from bread dough. This bench scraper’s rectangular blade covered a lot of ground with each swipe as we scraped the counter and cutting board and also scooped an impressive amount of chopped onions. Though its edge isn’t beveled, it is thin enough to be among the sharpest in the lineup and had no trouble cutting through bread dough or cubing butter. While the manufacturer recommends hand washing for the best results, the scraper survived several trips through the dishwasher during this round of testing, and the copies we stock in the test kitchen have always emerged from our industrial dishwashers unscathed.

This beveled model had the sharpest blade in the lineup; it sliced through butter and bread dough with ease. The moderately sized blade allowed us to scoop up and transport large piles of ingredients without it feeling cumbersome. The measurement markings and conversion chart printed on the blade were a nice plus. The curved wooden handle fit comfortably in our hands, but sticky bread dough often got stuck to the wood. The wood wasn't dishwasher-safe; we didn't like that the model had to be hand-washed.

This model’s sharp blade made it easy to cube butter and portion bread dough, and we liked the blade’s medium size, which made scraping efficient but didn’t feel too cumbersome. Its measurement markings, which were clearly etched on the blade, were helpful when measuring pastry dough. Our only issue was its thick handle, which protruded too far from the blade and made it difficult to effectively angle the blade beneath dough or ingredients. The soft, sticky handle material was also a magnet for flour and crumbs.

This scraper’s sharpened edge sliced through butter and bread dough cleanly and was great for shaping sourdough boules. We liked the size of the blade, which could hold a large amount of chopped herbs and garlic, and we loved that this model was dishwasher-safe. Its Elastron (a type of plastic) handle became stickier and gummier over time, accumulating dough and flour, and it was too wide, which caused our knuckles to scrape against the work surface as we scooped.

This model’s sumptuous olive wood handle felt velvety in our hands, and we liked its sharp blade, which was perfect for sliding under sticky pastry dough or easily portioning bread dough. We also liked the clearly etched measurements on the blade’s edge. But this scraper was the heaviest and largest in the lineup, which made it awkward to use. Also, because of this model’s gorgeous wooden handle, we had to hand-wash this scraper, so it wasn't quite as convenient to use as our favorites.

We liked the size of this model’s blade, which covered a lot of surface area with each swipe and could transport a good amount of food. But its asymmetrical, offset rolled handle forced us to grip it one way, limiting its usefulness. Its thick metal blade was among the dullest in the lineup, which occasionally gave us trouble when cubing cold butter. Food also got caught in the cylindrical handle. The manufacturer recommends hand-washing this model, but we found it held up to several cycles in the dishwasher.

This scraper’s beveled edge cut through dough and butter effectively and slid under sticky pastry with finesse. Its spacious blade scraped up food efficiently and held a sizable portion of chopped ingredients. But it was the widest blade in the lineup, so it often felt unwieldy. Its curved edges made it hard to direct food into a bowl or skillet, and ingredients frequently fell off the narrowest portion of the curved blade. Its handle was also too small for such a large scraper; it didn’t fit in our hands comfortably.

The edge of this plastic model was too dull to properly portion and shape sticky bread dough, and its trapezoidal shape caused chopped onions and garlic to fall off during transport. Its extremely thin handle didn’t provide a natural place for our fingers to rest, and its comparatively small size and lightweight plastic construction felt too insubstantial to most testers.

This scraper’s small size and tapered shape prevented it from scraping and transporting food as efficiently as other models in the lineup. It took us more swipes to scrape crumbs and flour from our counters and more trips from the cutting board to the bowl as we transferred chopped onions and herbs. Its plastic blade was too dull to cut dough cleanly, and we also didn’t like its handle shape, which jutted awkwardly into our hands and didn’t provide enough space to comfortably grip.