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Jul 09, 2023

The 6 Oxo Products You Absolutely Need, According to Our Staffers

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From citrus reamers to drying racks, our staff loves this cult-favorite kitchen brand.

For some of us, the kitchen is the most important space in our homes. From the spices in your spice rack to the appliances and tools you rely on, the kitchen serves a beautiful purpose—a place to make art you can taste. For others, the kitchen is the place where you overcook scrambled eggs and still eat them because you’re running late to work. No matter how great your love for cooking is, there's likely an Oxo kitchen utensil that's made some task easier for you. At least, that's the case for us.

During a lengthy pitch meeting about kitchen products and favorites, we discovered that not only do several of us own at least a few Oxo kitchen utensils, but we all absolutely love them. With reliable kitchen tools ranging across the spectrum of culinary mastery, Oxo products—and especially Oxo's Good Grips line, which has thick, comfortable, non-slip silicone grips—happen to be favorites among a slew of Popular Mechanics staff members because of their affordability, durability, and ergonomic designs.

Sam Farber founded the company in the ’90s to help make cooking more accessible to his wife, who had arthritis, and since, it's amassed a somewhat cult-like following, as evidenced by hordes of recommendations on Reddit threads and articles about the company's wholesome history.

Both professional chefs looking to upgrade their culinary arsenal and lazy cooks who just want to scoop their ice cream a little easier can use some of these Oxo kitchen utensils. For our editors, the common thread that's drawn us to Oxo products isn't some brand indoctrination or moment of collective consciousness—it's that these products have small features that make them just that much nicer to use than similar options.

That said, not all of Oxo's products are the best option out there, so we’ve rounded up the most reliable, easy-to-use Oxo utensils that just might turn you into a chef.

Want to know what else our editors love? Check back for next month's Staff Recs—or browse last month's picks.

I never thought I’d live to see the day where I’m gushing about something as small in my life as a citrus reamer, but the Good Grips wooden citrus reamer from OXO proved me wrong.

It's a compact device with a thick, sturdy handle and a pointed top to pierce fruit, along with the sharp grooves on the side. The magic of it gets lost until you try it—slicing and orange in half and giving it an effortless twist with this reamer produces that perfect, pulpy juice at such an alarming speed, it genuinely makes me giddy.

Maybe it's just me getting older, but at this point in my life, that is practically the thrill of my entire week. I use it to make juice, add juice to cocktails, cook it into meals—it truly doesn't matter. Use the OXO citrus reamer, and come up with a reason for having used it after the fact.

A device so nice that two different staffers spoke about it independently, the Oxo Good Grips swivel vegetable peeler is the product that started it all—Farber's first innovation.

Built with a wide, non-slip grip and a Japanese steel blade, this vegetable peeler stands as one of the best options for thick-skinned items in need of peeling such as potatoes, citrus, and squash.

Our deputy editor of expert reviews, Colin Aylesworth, loves this peeler because "it's easy to hold and manipulate thanks to the Oxo handle."

Erica Murphy, our senior director of SEO, also loves this peeler for its in-hand feel. "The blade is sharp and glides easily across veggies, and it's super durable," she says.

The Oxo vegetable peeler is dishwasher safe, has a reversible blade for back-and-forth peeling, and comes with a built-in potato eyer in the handle.

This Good Grips plastic carving and cutting board comes with tons of features. Along with the rubber-gripped edges, there are small corner feet to keep the board in place as you slice away.

The board also has drip-catching sides, so you can easily pour juices or or grease into the sink or trash can, respectively, without spilling it over the sides.

To put it far more succinctly, digital designer Tom Messina says the cutting board is (and we are quoting):

Messina went on to say, "I’ve used this daily since August 2021, and haven't needed to flip it around to the other side yet—but some gouges are deep. Maybe I should."

While I’ve personally never been precise enough to only use one side of my cutting boards at a time, it does speak to the incredible durability of the Oxo board that Messina has been able to for such a long time.

For all of us who just want an easier way to enjoy a dessert at the end of the day, our SEO manager and ice cream scooping veteran Sean Abrams trusts Oxo.

"It can reach all the way to the bottom of a pint of ice cream, ’cause let's be honest, that's where I’m going," Abrams says. "As a former ice cream scooper, I’m always on the look out for a good spoon."

Abrams uses the older model, which has a pointed edge that he uses to break into hard ice cream—"who is waiting for it to thaw out?" he says—but the new model with the rounded top is ideal for perfect round scoops.

Senior commerce editor Mike Epstein, like much of our staff, loves a lot of different Oxo products. "Oxo kitchen gear always has little flourishes that make all the little everyday things that you do go a little smoother," he says.

However, the item he holds the most love for is his Oxo Good Grips ice cube tray. He says the trays "make ice a kind of half-oval shape that allows you to simply crack the tray, then push down on one side to slide the ice cubes out one by one."

So many ice trays tend crack and push out multiple cubes at once, so being able to pick out one at a time prevents mess and keeps your cubes safe until you’re ready to use them.

"It also has a cover that, as I understand it, prevents the ice from picking up the weird freezer smell. Do you need to spend $10 on an ice cube tray?" he says. "No, of course not. But if you do, that's one small part of your life that you can count on going smoothly."

My always-reliable and ever-discerning boss (she did not make me say that), deputy editor of commerce Zoë Hannah, loves the Oxo 12-inch tongs. "The tongs have a silicone covering on the grips and on the locking mechanism, which is a really nice touch since both of these are usually sharp on metal tongs," she says.

"It doesn't mess up my seasoning if I’m scooping up an especially pretty piece of salmon or chicken," Hannah says. "I find that metal tongs often dig into the food and break it up a bit, which isn't always ideal. The silicone is also nice because it's easier to clean—chunks of food don't get stuck on the scalloped edges like they do with my all-metal tongs."

She says the lock is sturdy, which is something she's noticed breaks easily on other tongs, but the silicone will eventually start to crack towards the edge of the tongs after several years of heavy use.

Tom Price is an Associate Editor of Commerce for Popular Mechanics, and also contributes to Runner's World, and Bicycling. He has previously covered product reviews, startup news, and even professional wrestling. In his free time, he enjoys watching pretentious TV, low-brow movies, and exercising for beauty, not health. If you are interested in exploring more of his work, check out his website.

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