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Chef Eric Adjepong says every kitchen needs these 5 tools, all under $30

In mid-February, Eric Adjepong's childhood dream came true: He opened his first restaurant, Elmina, an ode to the Ghanaian food he grew up with, in Washington, D.C. It's a wonder he had time: The Top Chef finalist also hosts his own Food Network show, Wildcard Kitchen, and he recently joined a new culinary advisory board for PepsiCo, where he's using his knowledge of West African cuisine to develop snack foods. "It's a really cool opportunity to impart my own opinion and my own flavor profiles on things," Eric says. (He's also about to release a cookbook and has a line of tableware at Crate & Barrel. Phew!)

When he has a few moments to himself, Eric has been browsing online for — surprise, surprise — kitchen gear. "I'm lucky — at home, I have everything I need. But because of the restaurant, I'm shopping a lot! My cart is always open, and sometimes I'll just close my eyes and hit 'checkout,'" he jokes.

His recent buys for Elmina include a commercial slicer and a vacuum sealer. But at home, he is all about the basics, like a sturdy spatula and good kitchen shears. "They'll get you to 80% of what you need to cook," he says — and none of them will cost you more than $30.

Eric Adjepong's go-to kitchen tools

"I use a zester often because besides zesting, it gives you an opportunity to release flavors in a new way," Eric says. "For example, you can use it on garlic to get a slow release of the flavors versus cutting."

Microplane is the gold standard of zesters and a favorite of chefs like Bobby Flay and Andrew Zimmern. Home cooks love it too: This model gets five stars from more than 40,000 Amazon reviews.

$18 at Amazon

Eric uses peelers and zesters so often, he keeps a bain marie pot of them on his counter at all times. "A Y-peeler is so easy to use and inexpensive — you can get a great one for under $10," he says. "And on the side it has an indentation you can use to poke the eyes out of a potato."

Many chefs, including Ina Garten, love this tool (and the Kuhn Rikon version in particular) because the Y shape is generally more comfortable to hold than a traditional swivel peeler. And at $14 for three, you can't beat the price.

$14 at Amazon

Bakers often use offset spatulas for icing cakes — the angled design makes it easy to smooth things out without their hands getting in the way. But Eric says the tool is even more versatile.

"My offset spatula is like an extension of my hands," he explains. "It helps me flip things, give them a quick whisk as I am cooking, get around the edges of my omelettes and more."

$18 at Amazon

Kitchen shears can do so much, Eric says. You can use them to snip herbs, open packaging, even break down poultry.

These KitchenAid shears are a No. 1 Amazon bestseller and include an ergonomic, rubberized grip and protective sheath for storage. You can toss them in the dishwasher when you're done snipping and slicing.

$9 at Amazon

When Eric wants to quickly brighten up the flavor of a dish, he turns to his juicer. "I love fresh grapefruit or lime juice," he says. "Using a juicer gives me that immediate punch of acid."

This electric juicer is a happy medium between a manual citrus press and one of those fancy juicers than can cost hundreds of dollars. The container has a spout and a handle so it doubles as a pitcher, and it gets more than 21,000 five-star reviews.

$27 at Wayfair

The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.

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