The Best Kitchen Timer

Whether you’re making a complex recipe with highly involved steps or boiling an egg for the first time, a good kitchen timer can make your life much easier. In cooking and baking, timing can be critical. If you wait an extra 30 seconds, your soft-boiled egg may develop a texture you don’t want. If you take your brownies out of the oven too early, the batter may not have finished cooking.

The thing is, your kitchen likely already has a number of timers. Most ovens and microwaves come with built-in cooking timers, which can be handy for simple recipes. Plus, your smartphone has a clock and timer in it as well, so you can take it with you around the house while waiting for your food to cook.

However, a good kitchen timer is often far more exact than an oven, microwave or smartphone clock because it is made specifically for timing food. Precision is a key quality of kitchen timers; you want to make sure when you set it for one minute, it will beep at that time and not dock a few vital extra seconds.

One of the key features many kitchen timers have (that most microwave and oven clocks don’t) is that they can either count up to higher numbers or down to zero. Depending on your personal preference, you may want to use a particular setting for a specific recipe — and a kitchen timer provides that freedom.

Some kitchen timers also come with multiple timers, so you can set one for each of the dishes you’re making without having to use separate devices. If you’re a prolific cook, this is a must-have feature.

If you’re busy around the kitchen, you may prefer a kitchen timer that is magnetic and can stick to metal surfaces. Or perhaps you’d like a kitchen timer on a special stand that allows you to see the display screen from wherever you are.

And if you aren’t very tech-savvy, a simple kitchen timer can provide the needed features without you having to learn the complexities of the oven or microwave clock first. Bonus!

• One of the most important aspects to consider when selecting a kitchen timer is to make sure it can do what you need it to do. Some cooks want to be able to count both up and down, while others want to ensure that the timer can time multiple dishes at once. The Wrenwane Digital Kitchen Timer and Etekcity Digital Kitchen Timer count up or down. The OXO Good Grips Triple Timer comes with three separate timers, which can be used to time one long-cooking food item or keep track of three separate recipes at once.
• For many cooks, having a large, clear display screen is important. This enables you to see how much time is left on a recipe when you’re working on another dish on the other side of the kitchen. The Wrenwane Digital Kitchen Timer and Etekcity Digital Kitchen Timer have large screens that exhibit clear digits and can be read from far away. While the screen on the OXO Good Grips Triple Timer is large, the digits are smaller because it displays all three times at once.
• If you’re concerned about missing the alarm ringing, you’ll want to make sure that your kitchen timer comes with a high volume setting. That way, you’ll be able to hear it from another room or over the noise of the blender. The Wrenwane Digital Kitchen Timer and Etekcity Digital Kitchen Timer both come with a loud alarm, while the OXO Good Grips Triple Timer offers different sounds for each of its three timers.
• Affordability is a key deciding factor for many cooks. The Wrenwane Digital Kitchen Timer and Etekcity Digital Kitchen Timer are low-cost options, while the OXO Good Grips Triple Timer is essentially three timers in one and therefore commands a higher price.