We Watched 21 Kitchen Timers Tick Down To Find the Best Ones

Our Takeaway

When cooking a large spread or multitasking in the kitchen, we recommend letting the OXO Good Grips Triple Timer do the counting for you. For a great value option, you can’t beat the 2-pack of Antonki Digital Kitchen Timers, with their simple, easy-to-use settings.

The Leftovers: Other Kitchen Timers We Tested

We liked the cute, colorful look of the Zone Denmark Timer, as well as its small size that comes in handy on a busy counter. Much like an old-fashioned egg timer, twisting the base sets the countdown. Unfortunately, also like an egg timer, it has a single function and audibly clicks away each second. Ultimately, its price seems overly high compared with the other timers we tested.

Designed for commercial kitchens, the FMP Digital 4 Channel Timer runs four separate timers, each color-coded to indicate which appears on the single display screen. We found this device intuitive and easy to use, but its size made it hard to fit on a crowded counter and store. For home use, we preferred our top pick from OXO, and we found its three timers sufficient even during Thanksgiving prep.

The Kikkerland Vintage Streamline Kitchen Timer fits right into a retro kitchen, with its sleek exterior, bright color options, and analog dial font. The stainless steel housing makes it sturdy, but it also felt bulky and heavy in tests, and the plastic faceplate appeared susceptible to scratches. This timer seems most appealing if the retro vibe outweighs its cost.

How to Pick the Right Kitchen Timer

Volume

Timers are only effective if you respond to their alarm, which makes volume crucial (if you can’t hear it, there’s no point in setting a timer). For those who tend to leave the kitchen after starting a countdown, we recommend choosing a model with an alarm that’s easy to hear across the house or one that slips into a pocket. On the flip side, startlingly loud alarms can result in spilled food or broken dishware, so you may want adjustable volume or a silent mode with a visual alert if you keep the timer close.

Accuracy

Digital timers usually count down accurately unless a battery is dying, but analog ones might run slow by a few seconds. This may not affect most meals but could alter sensitive recipes and baking. Beyond minute-to-minute accuracy, maximum time range matters. If a kitchen timer only runs for 60 minutes but a pound cake needs 90 minutes to fully bake, you’ll have to reset the alarm. Once it goes off, continuous or repeated beeping can make it impossible to ignore the timer’s spot-on countdown—sometimes annoyingly so if you’re busy and the extra minutes won’t ruin a dish.

Ease of Use

Let’s face it: If a timer isn’t easy to use, we’re not going to bother. We usually set kitchen timers while other prep or clean-up is going on in the kitchen, and it should only take seconds to start the clock so that we can keep the workflow going. Large, responsive buttons and intuitive controls make a kitchen timer easy to program. Once it’s running, the timer should be readable from a distance, and shutting off the alarm should be a one-touch motion.

Ease of Cleaning

Portable kitchen timers can end up right in the action, sitting beside a floury rolling mat, bubbling saucepan, or oil spritzer. Timers with smooth faces and no nooks or crannies that ingredients can stick to will be easiest to clean. Crevices can turn up in surprising places on kitchen timers, not just around buttons but also rimming digital displays, tucked into switches and the battery compartment release, and appearing as gaps in the housing. Kitchen timers usually must be wiped clean and have minimal water resistance, making smooth surfaces ideal.

Extra Features

Most kitchen timers are small and lightweight, yet some pack in a surprising amount of functionality. Analog timers often have the fewest extra features; they typically only count down but might come with a case or volume control. Digital timers often count both down and up, and some display clock times and even dates. They may have more volume adjustments and beep periodically as they approach zero. Backlighting, memory, and separate timers with one or multiple screens can still find their way into a single palm-sized device.

Common Questions

Do professional kitchens use kitchen timers?

Many professional chefs, caterers, and kitchen staff rely on kitchen timers. Even if a pro mainly judges doneness by appearance or temperature, setting timers and reacting to their alarms ensure consistency and prevent burned entrees and scorched garnishes. Delicate items and baked goods, as well as those hidden by a stainless lid or oven door, can be particularly important to track with a countdown.

Even if you have timers on various appliances in your home kitchen, separate ones can be more visible and reliable. Many stoves override timer displays to show oven temperature, and some oven and microwave settings make accidentally canceling the timer when trying to change a heat setting, or vice versa, all too common.

What are the differences between analog and digital kitchen timers?

A glance usually reveals whether a timer is analog or digital, although a few digital models eschew blocky numerals and imitate an analog clock’s round face. More differences hide behind the face or screen. Batteries power most digital and many modern analog timers, but some analog models wind up a spring and then tick down the seconds as it unwinds.

Many analog timers run for short windows, maybe an hour or so, because the full clock face stays visible. Digital timers can display up to six figures, tracking 99 hours, 99 minutes, and 99 seconds, but don’t show where they started. Digital devices can come packed with other features, counting both up and down, running several separate timers, and even displaying clock time and date. Analog timers tend to be simpler; when designed right, they may do just one job but do it well.

Are kitchen timers better than using a smartphone?

We found all of our favorite kitchen timers easier to set and manage than a smartphone’s built-in timer or stopwatch. Angle-faced timers were easier to read than a smartphone set flat on the counter, and grip pads, an integrated stand, or magnets stopped kitchen timers from skidding off if bumped by a bowl or elbow.

With so many alerts coming from a cell phone, it’s easy to miss or accidentally snooze a timer alarm. Kitchen messes can muck up or damage phones, and phone locks can make it a multistep process to adjust or sometimes simply view a timer. We would rather press kitchen timer buttons than knock a knuckle against a smartphone screen or shout at a voice-activated timer to try to shut it off.

Why Take Our Word for It?

Julie Laing has been a writer and editor for 25-plus years, focusing on original recipes, kitchen tools, and the stories around them. She is the author of “The Complete Guide to Pickling,” the Flathead Beacon food columnist, and a reviewer and recipe developer for numerous other publications. An avid multitasker in and out of the kitchen, Julie often mixes sourdough, simmers soup stock, and cleans prep dishes (or wanders to tackle her housewide to-do list) while dinner is on the stove. She’s learned the hard way to set timers often and keep them within sight and earshot.