

This reasonably-priced solid beechwood spoon is 14 inches long, so it’s great for deep pots or stir-frying at high temperatures. We did need a firm grip to stop the spoon from just fanning in hand, which may make it less ideal for someone with arthritis or very large hands. Despite the handle’s thinness, it felt quite sturdy when sautéeing diced potatoes or mixing a batch of cookie dough. The craft business behind this spoon makes a large range of handle and bowl styles with and without the built-in spoon rest, and the one we tested and recommend here has a fairly short, thin handle and a small bowl.

It’s a clever design that’s available in both right-handed and left-handed versions.

We had no problems hooking it over a small stockpot with perfectly straight sides or a saucepan with a flared rim. That way, the spoon can drip back into the pot when you need to set it down for a moment to get ingredients or tend to another dish, instead of leaving a mess all over your kitchen counter. Handmade in Pennsylvania from solid pieces of smooth cherry wood, this 11-inch “lazy” spoon features a built-in notch designed to slip over the edge of a pot. The handle is long enough that the scraper doesn’t get in the way when mixing. It’s not the most efficient tool for scraping clean a mixing bowl, but we loved how we could empty measuring cups of sticky ingredients that larger mixing spatulas left behind. The spoon's other end features a mini-spatula in heat-resistant silicone, ideal for getting every last bit of jam, honey, or peanut butter out of narrow jars or prep bowls, as well as for icing cupcakes or spreading sauces. They were less useful for measuring baking soda for quick bread, since the fine powder makes the markings hard to read and the wide bowl makes exact measurements challenging. The measurements proved useful when we doled out lime juice and rice vinegar for pad thai. It’s made from solid beechwood and features 1-tablespoon, 1-teaspoon, and ½-teaspoon markings on the bowl of the spoon, so there’s less need to stop and search for measuring spoons while you cook. This cleverly designed, 13-inch-long spoon is a real multitasker and a perfect tool for bakers. Handle taper unbalanced when using scraper It was strong enough to stir zucchini bread batter or peanut butter cookie dough, where the slots didn’t matter-although they did give an excuse to lick the spoon after forming the last cookie. It could be a bit messy when serving a dish like pad thai, with its small pieces of egg, garlic, and peanuts. The trio of tapered slots makes it ideal for testing pasta’s doneness or grabbing a couple of extra shrimp from a pot of chowder. We like that this olivewood spoon’s finish makes it smooth and pleasant to hold right out of the box. It features a long leather loop at the end, so it can hang from a kitchen hook or rail for easy access and space-saving storage. This spoon’s handle is rounded and tapered, so it’s comfortable to hold. Olivewood is particularly dense and sturdy and less prone to splitting or cracking than softer woods.

This 13.5-inch slotted spoon from Sabatier is built from solid olivewood, which gives it an attractive, swirling grain. The wood texture was slightly rough straight from the box, so proper hand washing and regular oiling would probably help its longevity. Overall, it’s simple and basic but quite lightweight and comfortable to use. The handle length was sufficient to keep our hand away from the burner of a gas stovetop when stir-frying in a wok or sautéing in a flat-bottomed pan, and the spoon head stirred quick bread batter with ease and scraped the mixing bowl clean. We found the tip of the spoon a bit thick, so it’s not as good for fine maneuvering as our top overall pick-but that’s a small tradeoff at less than a tenth of the price. The 2.25-inch bowl of the spoon is wide enough for stirring and deep enough for sampling tastes, while the end of the handle has a small hole for hanging the spoon from a hook. At 12.4 inches long, this spoon is a decent length for keeping your hand a safe distance from a blazing burner, and the tapered handle is rounded and thick enough for a solid grip and good leverage. This well-crafted spoon in solid beechwood offers great quality for a low price.
