24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Major Impact in 2022

These refrigerator liners were a big discovery for our team in 2022. Writer Amy Gordon read the Amazon reviews for them so you don’t have to, and it’s unanimous: They’re easy to use, easy to clean, and just plain genius. “I love these liners … they make such a difference in the appearance of my fridge and are so easy to take out and clean,” a satisfied Amazon shopper shared.

Life is too short to have boring sheet pans. Thank goodness for the Holy Sheet! It’s been all over Instagram for a reason: It’s really that good. “I got one and have been using it nearly every day ever since, roasting all kinds of roots and crucifers, making sheet pan dinners, and baking cookies, scones, and biscuits,” says Kitchn writer Danielle Centoni. “The fact that the Holy Sheet can go head-to-head with these high-quality commercial sheets — and bring the bright, bold, super-fun color to boot — means it’s become my absolute favorite.”

Knife skills are great. But have you ever owned a vegetable chopper? This handy multifunctional tool can chop, spiralize, slice, dice, julienne, and more. It comes with four easily interchangeable stainless-steel blades. Each is razor-sharp and easy to swap in and out. Not only does this veggie chopper cut down on prep time, but it also eliminates cleanup. “The best part is that no matter what blade you’re using, the 1.2-liter container neatly catches everything, so you won’t even have to dirty a bowl,” says writer Erin Cavoto.

We have a love/hate relationship with Tupperware. We love it when it keeps our leftovers fresh, but when it’s not in use, why is it so hard to organize? Enter this genius idea: collapsible food containers. Assistant Shopping Editor (and Tupperware fanatic) Britt Franklin uses these to hold everyday snacks, small bites, and to-go lunches. “My best friend once made me a batch of highly-requested buttery pecan cookies right before I left to spend the holidays with family last year, and I was able to put a handful of cookies into a Stojo Box and got them across the country without a single one breaking along the way,” she says.

If you’re on the fence about reusable zip-locking bags, this is the one that will make you a believer. Commerce writer Erin is “impressed with its sturdiness, leak-proof seal, and how shockingly easy it is to clean.” She adds: “Because it’s a stand-up bag, I can fill it with fruit, vegetables, leftovers, and more without struggling to keep it open. The bag sits perfectly upright.”

Not all cutting boards are created equal. If you’re an Always Pan loyalist, you’ll love the Our Place Daily Board. It’s large without being heavy, it’s constructed from 100-percent recycled plastic, and it stays in place thanks to non-slip plastic strips. “Long story short, I’m totally obsessed,” contributor Stella Totino wrote for Kitchn. “The simple kitchen essential is really so important to any and every meal, from snack to multi-course dinner. Since I’ve had the Daily Board at the ready, I’ve found all my culinary tasks so much easier.”

What’s your least favorite part of the kitchen to organize? We’ll go first: the aluminum foil drawer. We’ve tried tons of tricks, hacks, and products through the years, and we finally found a solution that works: this unfussy magnetic wrap holder. “I like that the unit isn’t too large, so it can comfortably fit on the microwave and ultimately turns an unused spot into amazing storage space,” says Erin. “I hated storing these boxes in my cabinets and wasting all that precious space above them.”

Raise your hand if you automatically double the garlic in recipes when cooking. Now, keep your hand raised if you end up pulling back on how much garlic you use because you’re tired of peeling and mincing all those sticky little cloves. You’re not alone! This year, we found an affordable kitchen tool that will fix all your garlic woes and isn’t a menace to clean. Thao Thai, our former colleague over at our sister site Cubby, discovered this garlic press rocker on TikTok — and hasn’t looked back since. “Now, I can use garlic with abandon,” she says. “My fingers tend to smell better. My food always tastes better. My love for this tool is real.”

When was the last time you cleaned the fingerprints off your stainless-steel fridge? Here’s your next weekend project: Take down all your fridge magnets and save the date for a nice, deep clean. With this stainless-steel polish, made with coconut oil and lavender oil, a chore that once took forever will be done in seconds. Erin is a big fan: “After just one swipe, it left behind zero residue or streaks. And although I had tons of smudges and stains on my fridge door, it required little effort to wipe them away. Just a few wipes and they were gone, a shining surface left behind in their wake.”

You have a serrated knife, and you have a paring knife. But, do you have a serrated paring knife? It’ll quickly become the knife you reach for every time you’re in the kitchen. Kitchn writer Laura Fenton swears by this one, which costs less than $10. “These knives are handy for cutting so many things, but especially tomatoes, which they slice through like only the very sharpest of flat-bladed knives can,” she says. “They’re also ingenious for recipes that call for root vegetables sliced super thin (think: potatoes au gratin).”

If you’re still keeping your butter in the refrigerator, consider this your sign to buy a butter keeper. This hammered copper one from Williams Sonoma ensures perfectly soft, spreadable butter every time. “It’s by far the most beautiful thing I’ve ever put on my kitchen table, and it’s been worth every penny,” says writer Rochelle Bilow. “It’s a truly beautiful piece of decor while also being a highly functional essential around my house.”

We’re about to say two words that will change your life: kitchen vacuum. If you don’t have a dedicated little dustbuster for cleaning up kitchen messes, we highly recommend you try this small but powerful hand vacuum, which weighs just 1.2 pounds and comes with a multi-use crevice tool to reach every kitchen nook and cranny. Our SEO Commerce Editor Sarah Vazquez calls it “the stuff of dreams.” She adds: “I promise you it sucks — in the best way.” Because even the most experienced home cooks accumulate countertop crumbs and spill the occasional bag of red lentils everywhere.

Kitchn writer Ever Meister did some serious coffee research this year and found an unexpected hit: this OXO pour-over coffee maker. “If you think pour-over brewing sounds like a painstakingly slow process that requires a lot of advanced knowledge, this brewer is the one to prove you wrong,” she says. It’s perfect for anyone who wants the flavor and convenience of pour-over coffee without always having to spend a lot of active time to achieve it.

Senior Commerce Editor Ian Burke bought this Hamilton Beach stand mixer as a placeholder until he could save up enough money to buy a fancy name-brand one. He quickly ditched the idea of upgrading when he realized this one more than suited all of his baking needs, and then some. “It feels like a total no-brainer, but this is the first two-in-one mixer I’ve seen,” he says. “It’s essentially a lightweight hand mixer that easily detaches from its sturdy base so you can either get hands-on for quick egg beating and batter whipping or kick back and let the machine do the work for you.” Consider this the best affordable stand mixer out there.

Kitchen tools don’t have to be aesthetically pleasing. But what a bonus when they are, right? This year, Stella became a convert to this gorgeous spatula. Yes, we called a spatula gorgeous, and we think you’ll agree. “Whatever it is that you’re cooking – whether it be gooey, heavy, sticky, or flimsy – this flipper can get it done and GIR (aka get it right),” she wrote on Kitchn.

Our team firmly believes that you can never have too many frying pans. Even if they all technically accomplish the same thing, we have our favorites for different dishes — and we’re not sorry! This year, Erin added this stylish nonstick frying pan to her collection. “I love that it has a wide surface, so it’s quickly become my go-to breakfast pan for evenly cooking scrambled eggs or comfortably fitting two fried eggs,” she says. For under $20, we can easily all do the same.

This year, our colleagues over at Kitchn deemed this berry keeper the Best Overall Berry Container this year, and with good reason: Rochelle found that it has “just the right amount of customization options” for airflow and venting. It also has a helpful guide right on the lid that explains the best way to store a variety of produce beyond just berries, so you can use it for pretty much anything.

If there is one universal complaint amongst AT editors, it's storage. Of the many products we reviewed this year, this magnetic spice rack organizer checked so many boxes of what we're looking for in space-saving products: it holds a lot (up to 16.5 pounds of stuff); it's easy to install (even "easy" is an overstatement ... it's just a magnet!); and it goes just about anywhere that's convenient in your kitchen, whether it's the side of a microwave, the refrigerator, or any other magnetic surface.

If you hadn’t noticed by now, we love kitchen tools that free up space. Which is why we can’t live without these pan lid organizers. They offer are a seriously simple solution to a seriously annoying problem: not being able to find the right-sized lid when you need it. Rochelle says they’re “worth every penny,” and we agree. “They’re the only product I’ve seen that actually fixes the lid problem: They keep things organized without actually taking up more space,” she says.

Step away from the paper towels. The next time you need to wipe down the countertop or clean up a mess in the microwave, opt for these reusable Swedish dishcloths instead. (Fun fact: Just one of them can replace 17 rolls of paper towels.) “Sure, cleaning isn’t exactly fun, but with these Swedish dishcloths, you can definitely make it sustainable and economical,” says former Commerce Editor Sholeen Damarwala.

You’ve arranged your tools, gathered your spices, and pulled up your dinner recipe. But now, you have to do that dreaded dance of rooting through the cabinets to find the pot lid you need. Well, not anymore, thanks to this incredibly handy cookware organizer! “Being able to store my pans vertically freed up half of the cabinet and made it possible to arrange other kitchen tools that needed a home — specifically my ceramic bakeware,” Britt said in her review earlier this year. “The cookware rack also reduced the struggle of digging deep into the cabinet to reach pans that inevitably got pushed to the back. No more straining and bending at odd angles in search of the right-sized pan!”

Try as we might, it seemed like glass pots and pans lids never got fully clean — until we discovered this microfiber cleaning cloth. If you add just a little bit of water to the cloth (no need to soak!) you can instantly clean glass without any chemicals and with zero streaks. Bonus: It also works well on stainless steel. “Beyond its ability to live up to the hype, this effective cloth will save you money on supplies (namely, paper towels and glass cleaner) and can muscle through over 1,000 uses in a single lifespan,” says writer Alyssa Longobucco.

Oh, you thought we were finished recommending kitchen towels? Not so fast: We also can’t live without these striped ones. “These are the ones that you’re gonna put to WORK,” notes Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm, Kitchn's former Tools Editor. Whether you need to pull something from the oven or dry off freshly rinsed carrots, these hardworking towels will help you everywhere in the kitchen. Since they’re made from 100 percent cotton, they soak up almost as much liquid as the strongest paper towels.

There are kitchen tools you know you need, and there are kitchen tools you’ve heard of and think are a good idea, but never get around to buying. We’ll admit that for some of us, a solid pair of kitchen shears used to fall into the latter category. But in 2022, our entire team fell in love with this pair from Our Place because of how much Stella raved about them. “Long story short: Every kitchen needs — no, every kitchen deserves — these shears,” she says. “Comfy, multi-purposed, durable, and stunning, I’m gonna go so far as to say I think you should probably stock up one more than one pair.” These kitchen shears have sharp micro-serrated stainless steel blades (which means they have mini divots that increase the total blade surface area for effective snipping) plus two little slots for herb stripping.