Avoid the ER With These Kitchen Safety Tools

Accidents happen in the kitchen all the time — knife injuries alone account for an estimated 350,000 emergency room visits per year, according to Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush — but they’re more common during the holidays. With more people turning on their ovens and using their knives come Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, this uptick in injuries isn’t surprising. What is surprising is how few people take the proper precautions, even when they’re warned of the risks. 

Since no one wants an expensive hospital bill for Christmas, it’s a good idea to procure kitchen tools like cut-resistant gloves, heat-proof oven mitts, $14 splatter shields, and more at Amazon. Barring one celebrity chef-loved knife sharpener, these genius gadgets will mitigate danger without breaking the bank. They say to be forewarned is to be forearmed, but none of these gadgets can help much if you don’t click “add to cart.”       

Essential Kitchen Safety Tools at Amazon 

• NoCry Premium Cut-Resistant Gloves, $13, originally $15 
• Chef’sChoice Electric Knife Sharpener, $188, originally $207 
• Gorilla Grip Silicone Oven Mitts, $15, originally $16 
• Linda’s Essentials Oven Rack Shields, Set of 2, $10 
• Kitchen Mama Auto Electric Can Opener, $30, originally $40 
• BergKoch 15-Inch Splatter Screen, $14, originally $18  
• SupMaKin Mandoline Slicer, $27 

NoCry Premium Cut-Resistant Gloves 

While it’s always important to pay attention to your fingers in relation to your knife while chopping, NoCry’s cut-resistant gloves are a useful tool should your chef’s knife slip. The gloves are made of a food-safe and machinable-washable material that will keep your hands safe from razor-sharp blades without sacrificing dexterity. 

Chef’sChoice Electric Knife Sharpener 

Ina Garten’s kitchen recommendations have never steered us wrong. We could drink her favorite olive oil straight from the bottle, we use her preferred wooden cutting board brand in our own kitchens, and we dubbed her favorite knife sharpener our top pick, too. In our tests, we found that “one set of passes through this ultra-effective machine was all we needed for near-perfect sharpening.” Since a dull knife is a dangerous knife because you have to exert more force when cutting, it’s important to have a trusty sharpener, like this one, on hand when you need it.         

Gorilla Grip Silicone Oven Mitts 

Gorilla Grip’s silicone oven mitts have more than 19,500 perfect ratings at Amazon. One shopper even called them the “Fort Knox of hand protection” because of their long forearm coverage, thick cotton lining, and textured silicone surface. If you’re likewise interested in taking your “baking confidence to a whole new level,” these mitts will come in handy.

Linda’s Essentials Oven Rack Shields, Set of 2 

As an accident-prone cook, editor Katie Brown never turns on her oven without these shields. She slides them over the edges of her oven racks to ensure her arms and hands don’t graze the hot metal by mistake. By letting the silicone act as a barrier between her body and any careless motions, she keeps herself out of the ER and her skin burn-free.     

Kitchen Mama Auto Electric Can Opener 

When a jagged can lid sliced open senior editor Phoebe Sklansky’s knuckle, she knew it was time to upgrade to an electric can opener. She picked the Kitchen Mama for its small size, light weight, and ease of use. All she has to do is secure the can opener to the can, press a button, and it will move its way around the lid until it hits the other side. 

BergKoch 15-Inch Splatter Screen

Ingredients with a lot of moisture, like fresh meat, tofu, and washed greens, splatter quite a bit when introduced to hot oil. It’s an unfortunate reality of cooking, and one that can burn your skin and leave a large mess in its wake. But if you place BergKoch’s splatter screen over your skillet, you don’t have to deal with this problem. Those leaping droplets of hot oil are stopped by this stainless steel cover, thus protecting your clothes, your counters, and, most importantly, your hands and arms from burns.

SupMaKin Mandoline Slicer 

While it’s true that a mandoline slicer can be dangerous if you’re not careful, the tool is undeniably useful when breaking down large amounts of produce in short periods of time. SupMaKin’s clever model minimizes the risk by adding a chute, which keeps your hands far away from the blades without compromising the utility of the product.