Equipment Expert’s Favorite Kitchen Timers



A kitchen timer helps guarantee success in the kitchen—but only if it’s reliable and easy to use.

Buy the Thermoworks Extra Big & Loud:
Buy the OXO Good Grips Kitchen Timer:
Buy the MARATHON Tabletop Timer:

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32 Comments

  1. just gonna chip in. i was gifted an oxo triple timer years ago. changed my cooking enjoyment immensely! Major upgrade from an iphone or apple watch. I went years successfully cooking without it. But it's become probably my single favorite kitchen gadget! It just makes all the mental math so much easier

    1 — having three timers is amazing. i bake bread, and it's just great to have multiple steps timed out at once. And it's great if i'm boiling pasta AND doing something else, for instance
    2 — i more often use it as a stopwatch instead of a timer. so if a recipe says to brown a veggie for 5 minutes, and i throw it in at minute 14, i know the step is complete at minute 19. so easy!
    3 — when the timer expires, it automatically becomes a stopwatch. so it's super easy to go from one mode to the next
    4 — the wedge shape is key. it's set on the counter and i can see it from most anywhere in the kitchen. 
    5 — endlessly easy to use. so intuitive. works exactly as you'd expect. the buttons are great. and it's not hard to keep it clean! (well i generally start by keeping my hands clean, towels nearby always)

  2. It was good adam pointed out what common features and issues reviewers liked and didn't like, but your selection of timers are far too similar, as there are so many other design types (single event, not full 0-9 keypad) of kitchen and homework timers that you completely overlooked. I have an older model single event oxo timer and find it's 0-9 buttons are tiny have limp travel (not sure if you hit them or not) and readout is too small and low contrast to ever trust oxo again. I suggest people here search Liorque brand for single event timers they may find cheaper yet with useful features, low effort time control and great legibility.

  3. I would recommend a cheap digital kitchen timer from Daiso. they're small (but the display is easily read), magnetic (so you can just stick it to your fridge and keep it out of the way), easy to key in the timings (responsive butons) and loud. Don't be tempted to buy their cute animal design analog timers even if you are used to using one – they break down easily

  4. We have the Thermoworks timer, all the kids got one for gifts after we saw how good it was. The volume is loud enough that we can hear it in the kitchen when outside at the grill with the door closed. It starts counting up after it reaches zero. It's great.

  5. I assume you all realise that when you tell Alexa/Google/Siri to "set a three minute timer for eggs", it reports that back to the FDA/USDA, giving them realtime data on egg usage across the country… keeping the price of eggs sky high….

  6. I bought my favourite timer from the dollar store. Has three buttons (More time, Less time, and Start/stop).
    I actually had two of them (if ever I wanted two of them going at once). After many years, I broke one (It fell into a pot of water). But hey, I'm only out a dollar. So, if I had $25 to spend on a kitchen timer, I'd get one from the dollar store, and spend the remaining $24 on… a dozen eggs.

  7. I love love love my OBH Nordica (Scandinavian). Loud, insistent beep, two separate timers, hour/min/sec, strong magnet for the fridge – simple to set, quick to get started. I don’t think they make them anymore, at least not my model, which is such a shame. Anyone else have one?

  8. Alexa used to answer the question, "Alexa, for how long has the timer been ringing?" She would say, "Your timer has been sounding for 2 minutes 32 seconds." Now she just pretends to not understand you. Counting upward after ringing is very important. Still, you don't have to touch anything with Alexa.

  9. I use smart speakers, in my case Amazon's Alexa. Can set multiple timers and alarms, able to name them so they can be used again by name, I can ask how much time is left on any timer, and also get any measuring conversions I need or substitution suggestions, all with my hands covered with who knows what.

    As an added bonus I can control many of the settings on my oven by voice.

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