Equipment expert Adam Ried discusses the options for digital kitchen scales.
Note: OXO, the manufacturer of our favorite scale, has discontinued the model we tested and introduced a retooled version. We ran the new model through the same set of tests we developed in 2016. We still highly recommend it.
Buy our updated winning digital kitchen scale:
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
Related posts
27 Comments
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
My great Oxo is stuck on 1 when I try to use start it up… Anyone knows if there's a secret reset button anywhere? Cheers!
The 11lb isn't available so we've ordered the 5lb. Thanks ATK for always looking into things! Happy to buy OXO and support the good work at ATK!!!
summary: 1) Oxo Good Grip $49.99, 2) Ozeri Pronto (Best buy) – $11.79
Dropping a Scale Blasphemy!
I am new to baking. I even went out and bought a digital scale. However what is driving me crazy in converting from cups to ounces to grams is that if I clicked on 100 different conversion charts, I get 100 different figures for example. One chart may say 1 cup of bread flower converts to 120 grams and the next will say 130 grams and one even says 137 grams. How do I learn what the correct conversion is????????
Now $55.99. 😞
Wait a minute, the man said all he requires to be happy is to stay off those food scales. So, he is probably the easiest man to please in human history! One condition that can easily be met in almost all circumstances is honestly a cheap, adequate alternative to the unconditional happiness of the enlightened Buddha.
It doesn’t say OXO anywhere on that scale, and it’s absolutely no where to be found to buy, including on OXOs own website. ☹️
Unfortunately I have a question that wasn't answered.
When weighing things out on a scale to bake bread for example and then you want to add say 5 g of yeast are any of these scales sensitive enough to pick up that 5 g?
The Ozeri broke after a short time of use. Now looking for another scale..😒
You didn't mention precision at all, how many of them have a 0.1g precision and how many only have a 1g precision?
my latest digital scale is a flop, for when you want to make sourdough starter. it can indeed weigh things correctly to the gram, but not when you're slowly adding or removing small amounts of flour. often the display doesnt budge, many grams later, and reading still off, until you lift and set down container with the flour. bad, bad, bad scale..accura brand btw.
Looking into it more…I found out it's a software bug, common in the chip used by many scales. I could provide a fix to the software but, they most likely dont desire their proprietary buggy software fixed.
What is a good scale to weight 1 gram of yeast?
Review sucks, not in-depth, recommending budget scale which won't fit a small bowl on it because the platform is too small. Didn't talk about micro-adding powder and seeing if the scale is able to register that and stay linear in weight measurement.
That's the one I'm buying, Thanks
escali primo is amazing !!!
Thank you! Just ordered the Ozeri. Needed a scale for my "attempt" at baking some sourdough bread 😄💕👍
Really good review and comparison! Last week I bought a similar kitchen scale (from Ommo) and I'm quite happy with it. 🙂
This made no mention of precision. I want a scale that will quickly show fractions of a gram. For example if I'm measuring something like coffee grounds for espresso 12 grams on the scale may either overfill or underfill the filter cup. If any beans are broken before grinding they may pack more tightly into the measuring scoop so that's not very reliable either.
There are usually only a couple models available at a store, and I can't choose all the best properties at the same time. Even though my scale by Soehnle comes with AA batteries with higher capacity, which can commonly be recharged, it still automatically shuts off to "save
energy". They all have electronic buttons, which continuously drain the battery. Pointless virtue signalling. It has tactile microswitch buttons, which are superior to flat buttons that need to be pressed hard. Removable glass. Reads the same with bowl off center. Libra switch is on the bottom.
He's married to that other lady that usually be with this lady in real life. The lady on the right at the end.
I wish OXO had a mini scale
Thank you! I just picked the OXO Good Grips 11lb with pull out scale at Bed Bath and Beyond using the 20% off coupon so $39.99 saved $10! And I used Rakuten so saved another 2%.
Was anyone else watching the redhead in the back the whole time… or is it just me?
The only problem is…….when you go to Amazon to BUY the winning OXO scale, it is "CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE."
So kinda defeats the purpose of the recommendation. Maybe an update is in order.
A few tips:
– skip the $10 scales. You will pest over buttons
– I am shocked they didn't mention the importance of the SEALING around the display and buttons. Man, when you are going to pour flour or splash oil and see it leak past the display and into the digits.. you will hate that balance. And if the platform is removable, you can be SURE food will get trapped underneath it. Experts
– many scales have big digits on the display, but tiiiiny 'gr' or 'oz' indicators. Awful
– as mentioned by others, get ones that use AA batteries, as opposed to ones using cell batteries
– last weight 'memory' is quite a good thing to have, these scales have an automatic shutdown after a few minutes, you know as well as I do that we may put something on the scale, weight it, need to add something else but start looking for something else around, then we come back and bam! the scale is off and we cannot remember the weight of the item! Oops. That's why I like the old style mechanical scales, no rush. By the way, for most items you don't need to weight with the precision of a gram
To sum it up, you want one that has clear display from all angles (back light displays are not really needed), EASY working buttons and most important very easy to clean and food doesn't get stuck around the screen, buttons or platform
Why do they never age they all look the same as the did 10 years ago