Chefs reveal the one kitchen tool they can’t live without

INSIDER

The INSIDER Summary:

• We asked eight chefs to share their one must-have kitchen tool.
• Their answers ranged from simple items like tongs to more complicated gadgets.

Some kitchen gadgets are designed for very specific purposes, and some can do pretty much anything. There are some that we think every kitchen needs, and some useless ones that you shouldn't waste your money on. There are even a select few that have cult-like followings of devoted users.

We wanted to know how industry professionals make sense of these seemingly endless options, so we asked acclaimed chefs to name their one must-have kitchen tool — with some surprising results.

Silver tablespoons

Ashley Davis is serious about his spoons.

"I have four silver tablespoons that are to me like an artist his paint brushes," said Davis, an award-winning chef and owner of Copper Pot Seddon in Melbourne. "I use them for plating the dishes and tasting. The spoons are marked with white tape and the whole kitchen knows that they are like boomerangs — they always come back!"

Celebrity chef and "Chopped" judge Scott Conant can survive with only one spoon: his large, silver tablespoon. "I can't cook with anything else," he said.

Vacuum sealer and immersion heat circulator

Kathleen Schaffer's must-have consists of two gadgets that work together. As a former executive chef and now owner of Schaffer, an event hospitality company in LA that caters to the stars, she relies on a vacuum sealer and immersion heat circulator in a technique called sous-vide, in which food is vacuum sealed and cooked in precisely-controlled temperatures. This ensures consistency even in enormous amounts.

"We're taking the guesswork out of it by using those two tools," said Schaffer.

Chef's knife

A sharp knife and solid cutting board are essentials for Nina Clemente, owner of The Smile's Di Alba in Los Angeles and summer chef at The Standard Plaza in New York City.

"Aside from your hands, which are also incredibly important, a sharp chef's knife will just make every job that you have much easier," she said.

Robert Irvine, host of  "Restaurant: Impossible," and judge on "Worst Cooks in America," agrees. "Every kitchen should have three kinds of knives: a chef’s knife for chopping and slicing, a smaller all-purpose knife for vegetables, and a paring knife for holding food with one hand and cutting with the other."

Zester

Zesters aren't just for adding citrus to your cooking. Just ask "Chopped" judge and chef Marc Murphy, who uses his even more than a traditional grater for just about everything:

"My favorite is a microplane; its terrific for grating everything from hard cheeses to nutmeg, chocolate, garlic, the list really goes on!" Murphy said. 

Skimmer

Skimmers are the multi-purpose tools that can be used to fish practically anything out of pots of boiling water, and Lidia Bastianich, co-founder of Eataly and chef behind restaurants like Del Posto, Becco and Felidia, can't live without her bamboo cut skimmer.

"The skimmer makes everything reachable, like an extension of my hand in the kitchen," she said.

Tongs

Chef Josh Capon isn't picky about what kind of tongs he uses to cook up juicy cuts of meat, but he couldn't grill without them.

"A good pair of tongs is all you really need," said the executive chef behind Lure Fishbar, B&B Winepub and El Toro Blanco in New York City. "Just keep it simple. That's what grilling is."

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