Equipment Expert's Favorite Kitchen Timers
Equipment Expert's Favorite Kitchen Timers
A kitchen timer helps guarantee success in the kitchen—but only if it’s reliable and easy to use.
Buy the Thermoworks Extra Big & Loud: https://alnk.to/74teblV
Buy the OXO Good Grips Kitchen Timer: https://bit.ly/3kB3Lik
Buy the MARATHON Tabletop Timer: https://bit.ly/3XHwelm
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
http://cookscountry.com
http://facebook.com/cookscountry
http://twitter.com/testkitchen
http://instagram.com/cookscountry
http://pinterest.com/testkitchen
Sorry-I’m an analog user. Never had a good experience with the digital timer that came with the stove, microwave, etc.
This is Well Done and I will purchase every one of the timmers you have recommended !!
THANK YOU !!
just gonna chip in. i was gifted an oxo triple timer years ago. changed my cooking enjoyment immensely! Major upgrade from an iphone or apple watch. I went years successfully cooking without it. But it’s become probably my single favorite kitchen gadget! It just makes all the mental math so much easier
1 — having three timers is amazing. i bake bread, and it’s just great to have multiple steps timed out at once. And it’s great if i’m boiling pasta AND doing something else, for instance
2 — i more often use it as a stopwatch instead of a timer. so if a recipe says to brown a veggie for 5 minutes, and i throw it in at minute 14, i know the step is complete at minute 19. so easy!
3 — when the timer expires, it automatically becomes a stopwatch. so it’s super easy to go from one mode to the next
4 — the wedge shape is key. it’s set on the counter and i can see it from most anywhere in the kitchen.
5 — endlessly easy to use. so intuitive. works exactly as you’d expect. the buttons are great. and it’s not hard to keep it clean! (well i generally start by keeping my hands clean, towels nearby always)
Thanks!
I would love to see an equipment review for deli slicers!
I have the extra big and loud timer by ThermoWorks that was the single-timer winner. I’ve been using it for about a year, and it is AWESOME. That one, unlike the other one by ThermoWorks, has a magnet and can be put on the fridge, which I really like so it’s always there but not on the counter. I wanted all the buttons to set the time and I wanted it loud. Perfect. It counts up after it goes off and will beep ongoing for one minute and then do reminder beeps every 30 seconds. Also, you can pick out of many colors, which is a nice bonus.
Digital timers easier than dial timers? R U High
Alexa used to answer the question, "Alexa, for how long has the timer been ringing?" She would say, "Your timer has been sounding for 2 minutes 32 seconds." Now she just pretends to not understand you. Counting upward after ringing is very important. Still, you don’t have to touch anything with Alexa.
Or get a digital one from the dollar store. Two if you need multiple timers going at once. Or use your phone. You’re a fool to spend $25+ on a timer when your phone or tablet does all the same things for free. #ATKLovesToFindWaysToWasteYourMoney
They’re so ugly.
Hi
I have a Gralab 300 which is far superior to any of those you showed.
I use an Amazon Echo as a kitchen timer. It’s voice activated so even if my hands are full I can still say "start a 15 minute timer" and it takes care of the rest. But it’s not great for short times, and I haven’t figured out how to tell it to make multiple timers. I think I’m going to get that Oxo timer. A lot of things I do use the same amount of time so memories will be handy.
Y’all really need to stop making recommendations. The ThermoWorks is now $50! 😢
I still love my grandmother’s old dial timer from the early 1950s that now lives at our family cabin
Alexa best you can do multiple times at once
I have one on my microwave, another on my stove and yet another on my phone. Oh, and I still have a sand hourglass 3 minute timer!
I like the reviews, but it seems that an inordinate number of items always seem to be the most expensive. Not everyone can pay top dollar for every single thing in their homes.
Alexa is my friend….
We have the Thermoworks timer, all the kids got one for gifts after we saw how good it was. The volume is loud enough that we can hear it in the kitchen when outside at the grill with the door closed. It starts counting up after it reaches zero. It’s great.
Sorry but one can not get more easy to use then dial timers. Cheap, reliable, observable from across the room & at any angle. Try setting a digital w/messy hands, more input = more mess. Plus the bell on my Lux is a much more pleasing sound than a spine numbing electronic peal like found on all my other appliances. No batteries thnx
My stove has a timer staring me right in the face. The microwave cooks on a timer. No reason for me to buy another one.
Still garmin or gshock is better
I use the built in timer on my range, microwave, and cell phone. I really don’t see the need for me to buy another duplicate gadget for my kitchen when I have three available. I do have two ThermoWorks thermometers and they are fantastic. One is a instant read and the other is for baking and frying to ensure proper temperature is maintained. ThermoWorks is worth the money and they last. I would recommend buying directly from ThermoWorks for warranty.
I have the older oxo timer and like it for all these reasons. It’s good to have those multiple timers.
I love love love my OBH Nordica (Scandinavian). Loud, insistent beep, two separate timers, hour/min/sec, strong magnet for the fridge – simple to set, quick to get started. I don’t think they make them anymore, at least not my model, which is such a shame. Anyone else have one?
I love my Thermoworks digital timer, the same way I like Adam. Big and loud. 😛
Alexa set pork timer for 15 minutes. Multiple named timers, can add, subtract pause time be name or ask how much time is left. I used to have various timers but the home assistant ones are so much better. Added plus easy to add items to your grocery list when you use the last of thyme, carrots etc
As far as I know OXO discontinued this timer.
Alexa, set a 25 minute chicken timer
I would recommend a cheap digital kitchen timer from Daiso. they’re small (but the display is easily read), magnetic (so you can just stick it to your fridge and keep it out of the way), easy to key in the timings (responsive butons) and loud. Don’t be tempted to buy their cute animal design analog timers even if you are used to using one – they break down easily
the old nokia 5310 expressmusic phone had a timer where you "dialled" 1300 pressed menu twice and it immediately started counting down 13 minutes. so hours and seconds built in, quick access. i miss this feature from new stuff
I use an amazon echo that I keep in the kitchen. Works by voice, and does a great job.
As a skilled home cook I am strictly against kitchen gadgets and clutter. I keep my kitchen tools to a bare minimum. 1 wok, 2 knives, and a soup pot that is All.
Are there timers that use electric power instead of batteries that you have to change from time to time?
i use my Apple Watch, which allows for multiple timers
It was good adam pointed out what common features and issues reviewers liked and didn’t like, but your selection of timers are far too similar, as there are so many other design types (single event, not full 0-9 keypad) of kitchen and homework timers that you completely overlooked. I have an older model single event oxo timer and find it’s 0-9 buttons are tiny have limp travel (not sure if you hit them or not) and readout is too small and low contrast to ever trust oxo again. I suggest people here search Liorque brand for single event timers they may find cheaper yet with useful features, low effort time control and great legibility.
My phone is best; it stays in my pocket so when I go to other rooms I won’t miss it.
Also, I’ve already paid for it
The Echo shows etc work perfectly for these.
handy!
👍👍👍👍👍👍🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
The smart speaker can also find your phone. 🙂
Essential, in my kitchen, is a magnetic back.
I think you’re all great, especially Lan Lam.
I use smart speakers, in my case Amazon’s Alexa. Can set multiple timers and alarms, able to name them so they can be used again by name, I can ask how much time is left on any timer, and also get any measuring conversions I need or substitution suggestions, all with my hands covered with who knows what.
As an added bonus I can control many of the settings on my oven by voice.
I bought my favourite timer from the dollar store. Has three buttons (More time, Less time, and Start/stop).
I actually had two of them (if ever I wanted two of them going at once). After many years, I broke one (It fell into a pot of water). But hey, I’m only out a dollar. So, if I had $25 to spend on a kitchen timer, I’d get one from the dollar store, and spend the remaining $24 on… a dozen eggs.
Great presentation! Love these gadget reviews. I seem to have the uncanny ability to know when time is up without a timer. An alarm goes off in my head just in time…most ever time. It’s crazy.. but I am not. 30 years of being a nurse helps. Those darn IVs. Lol.
Does this timer have "Elapsed Time" so if you miss the alert, the timer keeps📟 counting, so you know how much time has elapsed since the alarm went off or does it ring and stop counting and display all zeros?
I assume you all realise that when you tell Alexa/Google/Siri to "set a three minute timer for eggs", it reports that back to the FDA/USDA, giving them realtime data on egg usage across the country… keeping the price of eggs sky high….
I use the Thermoworks Chef Alarm. Same features as your winner but also takes temperature. I prefer it with the submersible probe to tell mw when a pot is almost boiling.