Kitchen scales will help you follow recipes exactly, find out a lot of your favorite dishes and calculate their composition and calorie content. What details need to be taken into account in order to choose the best scales for the kitchen, we will look into this article.
Let's look at the main criteria by which kitchen scales are chosen: design, maximum weight for weighing, accuracy and units, additional functions. And at the end, we will summarize which model is better to choose.
Separately, we note that in this article we consider only electrical models: they measure the mass of products much more accurately than outdated mechanical analogues.
By design, electronic kitchen scales can be divided into two types: platform and bowl.
The first ones are flat. You can place cups and plates of any shape on them or immediately weigh packaged products. Typically, manufacturers decorate them with different prints and designs on a food theme: berries, fruits, jam...
The clock scales are equipped with a separate container. This is convenient because you don’t need to use additional dishes; you can put the necessary ingredients directly into the bowl.
The vast majority of electronic kitchen scales have a measurement accuracy of 1 gram. However, in practice the error can reach 5 or 10 g.
By the way, if you haven’t changed the battery for a long time or have installed the scales incorrectly, they will also display the wrong weight. In these cases, manufacturers advise changing the battery and using the device only on a flat surface.
For domestic purposes, for weighing foods for recipes and counting calories, a measurement accuracy of 1-2 g is sufficient.
If you make soap, make candles or cosmetics, for which you need to weigh half a gram or less, then it is better to buy jewelry scales.
Let's also highlight several additional functions: all of them are optional and make the device more expensive, but they may be useful specifically for you.
Tarot compensation. A necessary option that many models have. It allows you to reset data on the weight of the dishes in which you will weigh food.
Control from a smartphone. As a rule, such scales are equipped with Bluetooth and work with their own mobile application.
Charging via USB. Typically, kitchen scales operate on batteries, but there are models with a USB connector, which can be charged using an adapter from a smartphone or other gadgets.
When choosing, give preference to models with a maximum load of 5-8 kg, measurement accuracy of at least 1-2 g and a tare compensation function. It is best if these are scales with a removable bowl or in the form of a platform. If you're cooking with foreign recipes, get a model that supports pounds and ounces.