I'm an ex-chef — 9 kitchen essentials I can't live without from just $3 in Prime Day sales

Tom's Guide

09-07-2025

I've had a varied career, yes. Once a chef; now covering Prime Day deals as a tech journalist. Still not quite sure what happened, but variety is the spice of life after all.
No, I jest. I am quite sure what happened. See, I originally wanted to become a food journalist. My late grandmother passed away, leaving me some money, so I decided to go to culinary school and learn to cook — at the very least I'd learn a life skill. It was also like my version of a gap year.
Between culinary school and writing for a living, I spent time in a commercial kitchen, too. And to this day, I still operate in my home kitchen as if it's the restaurant. That means ordering other people about; shouting a lot; and chucking used cookware at the pot wash (the sink). But it naturally affects the actual kitchen implements I use, too.
There are certain kitchen items that I refuse to live without and, happily, they (or similar items) are on sale for Prime Day! My favorite? My darling Wüsthof knives, of course, now just $99 for a four-piece set at Amazon. But I've included plenty of other accessories from as little as $3, and all except one are under $100.
Just a note: I live in the U.K., so the brands I use aren't always available in the U.S. — I've tried my best to find similar products, or ones that either we've tested here at Tom's Guide, or that have strong user reviews.
I've used Victorinox, Global and Blok knives, but have sworn by Wüsthof as my daily drivers for 10 years. I want to be buried with my Wüsthof Nakiri, like some ancient warlord. Wüsthofs are designed to last a lifetime with proper maintenance and mine are as sharp as the day I got them. Mine are from the pricier Wüsthof classic range (also on sale), but the steel on the Gourmet range is just as good. This four set (including a steel for honing) is a huge $86 off. For the quality of these knives, that's super cheap.
Call it cheating if you like, but the most reliable way to cook rice is by using a rice cooker. I use a Panasonic professional model, which is about $250, but you don't have to spend that much to get a great rice cooker, as they are fundamentally incredibly simple in their operation. This Hamilton Beach digital rice cooker is $10 off for Prime Day, with a 4.5* rating from 18,000 Amazon reviews.
Again, these aren't the specific spoons I use, as I own a set of Vogue (a commercial brand here in the U.K.) spoons. But measuring spoons are measuring spoons, and are fundamental to quickly and accurately measuring small quantities. What I like about the KitchenAid product is that the ring is easily removable, meaning you can choose to only include the spoons you want to, and you can also clip the ring easily to an apron belt.
My instant read meat thermometer is a pivotal part of my ktichen, and should be in everyone's. Not only do thermometers ensure that meat has reached safe internal temperatures, they also prevent you from overcooking food as you can see precisely when your food is cooked. In lots of cases, cooking to temperature is much more accurate than cooking to time. The model of thermometer I use isn't available in the U.S., but it's basically the same as this one: a random Amazon brand, but waterproof and instant read. Mine hasn't let me down yet.
Spend $9 now, and you won't have to buy any more cooking mats, tin foil or parchment paper for years to come. I've been using a similar roll of silicone cooking mat for 5 years and still have around 90% of the roll left. These mats are great: not only do they cut out waste, they're non-stick and you can cut them to whatever size you need. They're easy to clean as even baked-on food just slides off, but these are dishwasher safe for an even simpler time.
I did classical French culinary training, so I'm no stranger to a béchamel. A sauce whisk will speed up your sauce-making massively, getting you a smooth, lump-free béchamel in a couple of minutes. Why not use a normal whisk? You can, but they're too big and won't hit the corners of the pain reliably, leaving lumps and risking burning. Why not use a tiny normal whisk? You can do that too, but the sauce whisk's multitude of tiny metal rings are much better for knocking out even the finest of lumps, and quickly. This double pack comes with a metal whisk for stainless pans and a silicone whisk for non-stick pans.
After Tom's Guide staff writer Erin Bashford completed her InstantPot Duo Plus review, she donated me the cooker, and I love it! I make a lot of curries at home, and the pressure cooker setting is perfect for quickly cooking tougher cuts of meat like mutton, which is much cheaper than lamb where I live. It has 9 settings, including a rice cooker setting, so you could use this instead of the rice cooker above — 2-in-1. And now it's 50% off for Prime Day!
I cook almost exclusively on stainless, as it's much better for getting a good sear than a non-stick pan. For many foods, even those as delicate as scallops, once you sear enough, the food will come away from the pain surface anyway. Stainless is hard-wearing, holds heat well and (in my opinion) looks great. Once again, I use stainless pans from a U.K. commercial brand, Vogue, as well as an IKEA skillet (not on sale), so I've chosen a pan with plenty of strong user reviews. I would also recommend a good stainless saucier pan for making sauces.
Alright, I admit this doesn't live in my kitchen specifically, but ever since I tested it in my Weber Searwood 600 review, I've fallen absolutely in love with this pellet smoker and grill. Ideal for smoking beginners, the Searwood uses pellets that are easy to control and give a gentle smoke flavor (although there is a setting for more intense flavor). It's a super premium product and, best of all, it has a fantastic smartphone app so you can control your cook from anywhere with an internet connection (i.e. the pub). Do yourself a favor and bag yourself a Searwood while it's on offer.