The Best Oven Mitts Were Designed for Barbecue Pitmasters

The right tool for the job?Artisan Griller pit gloves, which my mother discovered in time for Thanksgiving 2015. At first, I made fun of her for her enthusiasm about ordering ahostess gift“guaranteed to make you feel like a real pitmaster,” but the highly reviewed gloves (4.8 stars and 807 reviews) are the ultimate kitchen utility player.

The cotton-lined gloves are coated with neoprene rubber and designed for true-blue barbecuers who have to handle hot meat on the smoker — that means they’re also waterproof, stainproof, and (most importantly) greaseproof.

Obviously, they’re not just for Thanksgiving, either. You can shred pulled pork with abandon, lift a cast-ironskilletfilled with dense cornbread from the oven, or just use them to lift a sheet pan of broiled potatoes. Their astronautlike feel takes getting used to (they’re like a raincoat for your hands), but they’re a snap to clean, and you’ll soon wonder how you cooked any kind of meat (on thegrillor in your apartment) without them.

You’ll need heatproof and waterproof gloves for dishwashing, too. Trythese Korean versions, as recommended by writer Rachel Khong: “Never shall a dish slide from Mommy Hands. And the gloves arethick, meaning you can get the water incredibly hot. Case in point: Once I turned the water on so hot that I warped a takeout container. My hands, sheathed in my Mommy Hands, remained protected, intact and unburned.”

Writer Foster Kamer is a huge fan ofthese Japanese pot scrubbers: “On first glance, its angry little brown fibers look like they’ll do more damage to your hands than your pots. But fear not: Those fibers, made of hemp palm, soften under water, enough for you to get a cozy, ticklish hold on. And then they will proceed to absolutely obliterate any grime you’ll come across, on any surface. They clean easily.”

Thewell-regarded and best-sellingShark Tankinventionsare just about the best sponges you’ll find for clearing grime from your dishes.