To help you find the best spoons for all your kitchen needs, we researched and tested the top-rated options. Each one was used to stir different foods, including soup and dough, and assessed on how well they performed. Then, we rated the spoons based on design, comfort, durability, and overall value.
Wooden spoons are one of the oldest and most basic cooking utensils and a must-have in every kitchen. However, just because wooden spoons are simple, doesn&#;t mean they&#;re all created equal. In general, the best wooden spoons are made of dense hardwood, like beech, maple, olive, walnut, or cherry, and from a single solid piece that won&#;t fall apart. Solid wood spoons need to be hand-washed since dishwashers can dry them out and cause them to crack or split, but they should last for many years with the proper care .
Best Overall
Le Creuset Revolution Solid Wood Spoon
PHOTO: Courtesy of Le Creuset
$36 at Wayfair
View on Birchlane.com
$36 at Saks Fifth Avenue
Our Ratings
What We Like
Easy to hold and control with a light grip
Nicely shaped handle
Well balanced
What We Don't Like
Expensive
This elegantly-curved spoon, carved from solid beechwood, features a tapered handle we found comfortable to hold and grooves that provide a solid grip for the thumb. The head of the spoon has a tip that&#;s thin enough to gather food at the bottom of a Dutch oven and minimally curved sides that make it easy to scrape along the walls of a straight-sided stockpot. We love how the bowl of the spoon is deep enough to scoop liquids for tasting or mixing.
At 12.5 inches, the spoon is long enough to keep your hand safely away from heat while stirring. The handle has a large hole at the end so that you can hang the spoon near your stove for easy access. Although we thought the spoon&#;s finish felt a little rough out of the box, the first washing raised the wood grain and initially made it feel a little fuzzier (as with most wood spoons). The texture smoothed out again with continued use and hand washing.
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
Material: Beechwood | Length: 12.5 inches | Spoon Head Width: 2.5 inches
Best Budget
IKEA Rört Beech Spoon
PHOTO: IKEA
$3 at Ikea
Our Ratings
What We Like
Well made
Sturdy rounded handle
Simple yet comfortable design
What We Don't Like
Finish slightly rough out of the box
This well-crafted spoon in solid beechwood offers great quality for a low price. 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. 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.
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 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. Overall, it&#;s simple and basic but quite lightweight and comfortable to use. The wood texture was slightly rough straight from the box, so proper hand washing and regular oiling would probably help its longevity.
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
Material: Beechwood | Length: 12.4 inches | Spoon Head Width: 2.25 inches
Best Slotted
Sabatier 14-inch Olivewood Slotted Spoon
PHOTO: Amazon
$30 at Amazon
$30 at Wayfair
Our Ratings
What We Like
Comfortable at all angles
Deep bowl
Attractive with a smooth finish
What We Don't Like
Spoon could bang when hung
This 13.5-inch slotted spoon from Sabatier is built from solid olivewood, which gives it an attractive, swirling grain. Olivewood is particularly dense and sturdy and less prone to splitting or cracking than softer woods. This spoon&#;s handle is rounded and tapered, so it&#;s comfortable to hold. 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.
We like that this olivewood spoon&#;s finish makes it smooth and pleasant to hold right out of the box. 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. It could be a bit messy when serving a dish like pad thai, with its small pieces of egg, garlic, and peanuts. 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.
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
Material: Olivewood | Length: 13.5 inches | Spoon Head Width: 2.7 inches
We Tested Top-Rated Spatulas and These 8 Serve Up Excellent Results
Most Versatile
Mason Cash Innovative Solid Spoon and Jar Scraper
PHOTO: Amazon
$19 at Amazon
$19 at Walmart
Our Ratings
What We Like
Easy to measure liquid ingredients
Shape suitable for creaming, sautéing, and stirring
Scraper accesses measuring cup corners
What We Don't Like
Handle taper unbalanced when using scraper
This cleverly designed, 13-inch-long spoon is a real multitasker and a perfect tool for bakers. 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. The measurements proved useful when we doled out lime juice and rice vinegar for pad thai. 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 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. 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 handle is long enough that the scraper doesn&#;t get in the way when mixing.
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats
The Spruce Eats
Material: Beechwood | Length: 13.5 inches | Spoon Head Width: 2.68 inches
Best with Notch
Jonathan's Family Spoons 11-Inch Lazy Spoon with Spoon Rest Notch
PHOTO: Amazon
View on Amazon
View on Woodspoon.com
Our Ratings
What We Like
Hooks easily on various pots
Lightweight yet durable
Comes in left- and right-handed versions
What We Don't Like
Works best with a firm grip
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. 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. We had no problems hooking it over a small stockpot with perfectly straight sides or a saucepan with a flared rim. It&#;s a clever design that&#;s available in both right-handed and left-handed versions.
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. Despite the handle&#;s thinness, it felt quite sturdy when sautéeing diced potatoes or mixing a batch of cookie dough. 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.
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats
Material: Cherry wood | Length: 11 inches | Spoon Head Width: 3.4 inches
Best Ergonomic
Chef Craft Silicone Wooden Spoon
PHOTO: Amazon
$7 at Amazon
$10 at Walmart
Our Ratings
What We Like
Comfortable to hold at any angle
Long enough for deep pots
Keeps stirring hand well away from heat
What We Don't Like
Silicone grip could be longer
This reasonably-priced solid beechwood spoon is 14 inches long, so it&#;s great for deep pots or stir-frying at high temperatures. The rounded handle has a hole for hanging and a silicone inset for a comfortable, no-slip grip. We thought both the silicone grip and the pre-oiled beechwood felt quite smooth, which was good because it felt more natural to hold the spoon partway down the grip area, settling partly on the wood and partly on the silicone.
We found this spoon to be great for mixing stiff doughs or batters or making things that require constant stirring, like risotto or fudge. Its thick spoon head makes it less ideal when sautéing diced onions and potatoes. The long, wide bowl can hold plenty of soup to sample from the pot, but the long handle means most of the liquid tips back in before it can clear the lip of a tall stockpot. When mixing up batter for zucchini bread, it was easy to scrape the spoon&#;s bowl and backside clean of creamed sugar, melted butter, and applesauce. The spoon mixed the wet ingredients and folded in the zucchini well.
The Spruce Eats
The Spruce Eats
The Spruce Eats
Material: Beechwood | Length: 14 inches | Spoon Head Width: 3.5 inches
Best Corner Spoon
OXO Good Grips Wooden Corner Spoon
PHOTO: Amazon
$7 at Amazon
$7 at Webstaurantstore.com
$7 at Oxo
Our Ratings
What We Like
Quickly clears pan bottom and edges
Efficiently scrapes down mixing bowls
Good value
What We Don't Like
Bulky
The broad, deep head of this solid beechwood spoon has a flat edge that tapers into an angled corner, specially designed for scraping pot bottoms and reaching into corners. It&#;s best for deglazing pots for making gravy, and it excels at stir-frying or sautéing because the wide, paddle-shaped head can move a lot of food around quickly. We also found it easy to take advantage of the head angle while holding the spoon in either hand to sauté vegetables, but it&#;s possible that naturally left-handed cooks could find the shape of the head awkward.
The handle is sturdy, with rounded corners and a flattened top and sides, so it&#;s comfortable to hold in a solid grip. It&#;s thicker and heavier than our other picks, making it less ideal for tasks that would require a finer tool for more precision. If you tend to worry about breaking or cracking wooden spoons while you use them, however, you might prefer this spoon&#;s very thick handle and overall stoutness. It has a large hole for hanging, but the handle size means you&#;ll need a good-sized hook to do so.
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
Material: Beechwood | Length: 12.5 inches | Spoon Head Width: 2.3 inches
Best Dishwasher-Safe
Epicurean Chef Series Large Spoon
PHOTO: Amazon
$19 at Amazon
$19 at Sur La Table
View on Epicureanusa.com
Our Ratings
What We Like
Easy to clean
Unlikely to break
Lightweight
What We Don't Like
Handle uncomfortable at some angles
All kitchen utensils made from solid wood require hand washing because dishwashers can dry them out and quickly lead to cracking or splitting, but this unique spoon, made from Richlite, a resin-coated, BPA-free wood fiber composite, offers the look and feel of wood with the convenience of a dishwasher-safe material. It&#;s heat resistant up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and resistant to fading, cracking, and splitting. Because it&#;s non-porous, it&#;s less prone than wood to harboring bacteria or retaining stains or odors.
The flat handle can be more awkward to hold than a rounded one, and we found its beveled, trapezoidal shape really only felt comfortable in hand at a couple of angles. The spoon&#;s shallow bowl was almost paddle-like, making it ideal for dry sautés and stir-fries, but it might not be your first choice for stirring and sampling a gravy or pan sauce. In exchange, the spoon is lightweight, comes in natural or slate, and carries a limited lifetime warranty.
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
Material: Wood fiber composite | Length: 13.4 inches | Spoon Head Width: 2.5 inches
The Best Soup Ladles: Tested and Approved
Best Long-Handled
ECOSALL Heavy-Duty 18-Inch Wooden Spoon
PHOTO: Amazon
$13 at Amazon
Our Ratings
What We Like
Large, deep bowl
Sturdy, rustic look
Moves a lot of food
What We Don't Like
Awkward handle shape
If you regularly cook up extra-large batches of soup or chili, a standard-length wooden spoon just won&#;t cut it. This durable, heavy-duty spoon has a deep, nearly 3-inch-wide bowl and an extra-long handle that keeps your fingers safely away from blazing heat as you reach the bottom of even the deepest stockpot. Although the manufacturer markets it as an 18-inch kitchen tool, we measured it at 17 inches&#;still plenty of length for many big jobs.
The beveled handle is stout but could be awkward to hold for some because it&#;s so flat. It&#;s made in Poland from solid beechwood and features a rustic, handmade look with a handy hanging loop at one end. Still, we felt it was too large to keep in easy reach and instead would stash it with oversized kitchen gear, like our favorite woks, a 12-quart stockpot, or full-sized canning kettle.
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
The Spruce Eats / Julie Laing
Material: Beechwood | Length: 17 inches | Spoon Head Width: 3 inches
Picking flatware is a surprisingly weighty decision, especially since the average American buys only three sets in a lifetime. We learned this from Matthew A. Roberts, president of Sherrill Manufacturing &#;the last flatware factory based in the United States&#;just one of the many experts we consulted for this guide to helping you pick the right settings for your table.
With thousands of patterns to choose from, purchasing a set of flatware is a daunting task if you don&#;t know what to look for. That&#;s why we spent over a hundred hours researching what makes great flatware, including taking a tour of Sherrill Manufacturing, interviewing a professor of material science and engineering, and handling hundreds of different utensil designs, to help you make a more informed decision in your quest for the perfect cutlery. It includes a basic overview of construction techniques, design, and materials, so you&#;ll have a better understanding of what&#;s worth paying for.
We suggest starting your search by looking at flatware in person, if you can. Many stores have sample sets available to handle, which will tell you a lot about the weight of individual utensils and how comfortable they are to hold. If you need some recommendations to get the ball rolling, see our guide to the best flatware.
After over 200 hours of research and testing over 300 utensils, we recommend 11 sets in a wide range of designs and prices.
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