Buzz
Your kitchen should be fully equipped with the right tools. Welcome to A Guide to Gearing Up Your Kitchen, a series where I guide you in stocking your kitchen with the necessary appliances (and getting rid of the ones that don’t serve you).
You've likely heard cooking and baking described as a science. While I see a lot of it as an art, I can't deny that as a chef, I do plenty of trial runs, measurements, temperature checks, and note-taking. Out of all the tools I rely on, my digital scale is one of the most crucial.
A kitchen scale is essential for ensuring consistency. It helps you precisely measure ingredients, control portion sizes, evenly divide cake batter between pans, and even pinpoint what went wrong in a recipe. It offers features that allow you to measure accurately, even when mixing seven ingredients in the same bowl. While it might seem like something only a professional baker would need, after using it a few times, you’ll quickly realize how it enhances your cooking process.
The great thing is that, while professional kitchens require large, heavy-duty, high-capacity scales, home kitchens can usually make do with something more compact. Fortunately, there are numerous kitchen scales available that are stylish, easy to store, accurate, and can handle moderately heavy loads.
What are the essential functions?
Tare function
Every digital kitchen scale, even the budget-friendly ones, will feature at least two buttons: the on-off-tare button and the unit button. While you're no stranger to turning an appliance on and off, the term “tare” may be unfamiliar to you.
When measuring ingredients like flour or eggs, you don’t just dump flour onto the scale and hope it stays in place; you place it in a bowl. The bowl itself has weight. Instead of calculating it in your head, “The bowl weighs 7.43 ounces plus 5 ounces of flour...”, you can simply use the “tare” function to reset the scale. This zeroes out the weight of the bowl, so you can measure only the flour. This feature is especially useful when dealing with multiple ingredients in one bowl. Measure the water, then tare the scale. Now, you can measure the flour without even changing bowls.
Unit function button
The unit function is pretty straightforward, yet incredibly useful. Pressing the unit button allows you to toggle between different measurement units like ounces, grams, pounds and ounces (for larger amounts), and possibly other units as well. The scale will automatically handle the unit conversions for you. You can measure whole wheat flour in ounces, then quickly switch to grams to weigh the salt. Accidentally added salt but forgot to change to grams? No problem—the scale will adjust for what you've already added.
How to choose the perfect digital kitchen scale
Most home digital kitchen scales have a similar design—large central weighing platform, compact digital display, and buttons on either side—but there are several convenient features that distinguish certain models from the rest. Here are a few things I pay attention to when shopping for one.
Some kitchen scales to consider:
OXO Stainless Steel Food Scale
Taylor Digital Kitchen Scale
Escali Nutro Digital Food Scale
Clear and accessible display
Home kitchen scales tend to be very compact. The weighing platform is usually about six inches wide, and the scale itself sits quite close to the countertop. This design is great for saving space, but it can be difficult to read the display when large bowls or trays cover it. This can make switching between units, resetting the tare, or even seeing the weight more challenging.
Look for a scale that offers a removable display, one that tilts downwards (so you can see under the bowl when needed), or has the display positioned further forward in the design. Removable displays usually feature a retractable cord that allows you to pull the screen a few inches away from the scale. This small adjustment makes it easier to view the screen. I also appreciate scales that feature a backlit display—it's surprising how dark it can get under a bowl or tray.
Easy-to-clean surface
My kitchen is a magnet for flour spills and greasy fingerprints. (No, it’s not the kids. It’s all me.) My scale often gets caught up in this mess, too, so I make sure to choose one that’s easy to clean. Most of the scale’s exterior is a breeze to wipe down, but it’s not meant for submersion. The platform takes the most abuse, so look for a scale with a removable cover. Typically, these are light, thin stainless steel covers that slide off and on the scale’s surface.
Be sure to check the scale’s weight capacity.
Once you get used to measuring ingredients in the same bowl, you’ll never want to dirty another dish. That’s why the “Err” message on your scale can be so annoying—it means you’ve hit the maximum weight, and now you’ll need a second bowl. When buying a scale, always check the maximum weight capacity. A 3- or 4-pound max might seem sufficient, but doubling the batch of cookie dough or a big stew could easily push you over the limit. I’m not suggesting you need a 400-pound scale, but something closer to 10 pounds could be a better fit.
Most kitchen scales come pre-calibrated, so there’s no need for adjustments at home. Once you pop in the batteries, you’re all set. Now you can finally tackle those metric recipes you’ve been itching to try.
