The 3 Kitchen Tools Every Home Chef Needs

You do not need a drawer full of gadgets. Three well-made tools cover most of what happens on a cutting board: something to peel and cut vegetables into strips and slices, something to cut through the jobs a knife makes awkward, and something to divide fruit and soft foods neatly. Here is what each one does, a few real-life examples, and how together they make cooking calmer and quicker.

1. A peeler set you trust

Peeling is the first step of a huge number of recipes, and it is also the step people dread most. A comfortable grip and a blade that follows the produce make the job cleaner. Our peeler set gives you three tools in one small package: a professional Y-peeler that peels in both directions, a julienne peeler for thin strips, and a red mini slicer for even slices.

What you can do with it

• Weeknight slaw in minutes. Run the julienne peeler down a couple of carrots and a cucumber and you have the base of a salad without a knife or a cutting board. Try it in our Apple & Carrot Slaw or Classic BBQ Coleslaw.
• Vegetable "noodles" without a special machine. Zucchini strips for our Zucchini Noodles with Fresh Tomato Sauce take a few strokes of the julienne peeler.
• Even slices for sandwiches, burgers and salads. The mini slicer gives you uniform cucumber, radish and onion slices, so they cook evenly and look right on the plate.
• Peeling for the whole family. Potatoes for dinner, apples for a lunchbox, carrots for the soup. The Y-peeler works in both directions, so you spend less time repositioning the blade.
• Garnish and prep for guests. Thin ribbons and strips make a plate look finished in seconds.

See the peeler set in the Limited Bundle.

[[img:gz-j-tools-peelers.jpg|Götze Y-peeler peeling a carrot over a bowl of red cabbage and carrot slaw]]

2. Kitchen shears that do more than snip

Good shears open packaging, trim herbs, cut through poultry and handle jobs a knife makes awkward. Our 3-in-1 Kitchen Shears combine shears, an integrated knife and a bottle opener in one tool, with a protective blade guard.

What you can do with it

• Spatchcock a chicken without a cleaver. Cut along both sides of the backbone and the bird lies flat for roasting. This is exactly how we do it in our Spatchcock Chicken with Herb Butter.
• Snip herbs straight into the pan. No board to wash, no chopping. Scissors over a pot or a bowl, and you are done.
• Open tough packaging. Clamshell packs, vacuum seals and bags of frozen vegetables.
• Trim and portion. Cut bacon, pizza, scallions, kitchen string and parchment paper with the same tool.
• Open a bottle at the table. The bottle opener is built in, so it is always within reach.
• Crinkle-cut vegetables. Our crinkle-cut knife, included in the shears set, gives potatoes, carrots and cucumbers a wavy edge, which kids tend to find more fun to eat.

[[img:gz-j-tools-shears.jpg|Götze 3-in-1 Kitchen Shears slicing a cucumber on a wooden board beside lemon halves and fresh herbs]]

3. A food divider for clean, even portions

Dividing and portioning food by hand is slow and uneven, and it usually involves a knife, a board and a core to deal with. The 2-in-1 Food Divider combines a wedger and a wire slicer in one compact tool.

What you can do with it

• Apples and pears in eight even sections. One press divides the fruit and removes the core in one motion. Ideal for lunchboxes, snack plates and school mornings.
• Fast fruit plates. Slice kiwi and strawberries cleanly with the wire slicer for breakfast bowls, yogurt and parties.
• Egg slices for salads and sandwiches. Even slices every time, with no crumbled yolk.
• Mushrooms for the pan. Uniform slices cook evenly.
• Meal prep. Divide a week's worth of fruit in a few minutes and store it ready to grab.

[[img:gz-j-tools-divider.jpg|A hand pressing a green apple wedger onto a red apple, with apple wedges and strawberries beside it]]

How these three tools improve everyday cooking

Beyond the individual jobs, there is a pattern. Here is what changes when your core tools are designed around the way people actually cook:

• Fewer tools to find and wash. Each tool replaces several, and all of them are dishwasher safe, so cleanup is simpler.
• Fewer steps per task. Core and divide in one motion, peel and cut strips with one tool, snip instead of chop. Fewer steps means less time between starting and eating.
• More consistent results. Even slices and even portions cook evenly and look better on the plate, which makes ordinary meals feel considered.
• Less strain. Grips made for longer prep sessions, and blades that do the work, mean less effort for your hands.
• A calmer kitchen. When the right tool is already in your hand, you stay focused on the food and not on the problem of cutting it.
• Cooking becomes easier to start. If a task you dread gets simpler, you are more likely to make the salad, cut the fruit, cook the chicken.

Ask yourself

Think about your last week in the kitchen:

1. Which prep step did you put off or skip?
2. Which tool did you reach for that was not really up to the job?
3. How many different tools did you wash after one simple meal?
4. When did you last serve fruit that took too long to prepare?

If you have an answer for any of them, one of these three tools is probably the fix.

Start with a set

If you want peelers and shears together, the Limited Bundle brings our two signature sets together at one price: five tools for peeling, slicing, cutting and opening. Add the 2-in-1 Food Divider to complete the trio.