While kitchen towels often serve as easy-to-grab protection against hot pans, actual oven mitts and pot holders, especially silicone-coated ones, can make your cooking experience safer and easier.
We’ve tested nearly three dozen oven mitts, pot holders, oven gloves, and handle covers since 2014, and the Homwe Extra Long Professional Silicone Oven Mitt and the OXO Good Grips Silicone Pot Holder offer the best combination of heat protection, comfort, and maneuverability. We also have picks for gloves and a pan handle cover, if those better suit your needs.
Our pick
In addition to being heatproof, the silicone exterior of these oven mitts is grippy, easy to maneuver, and water-resistant, while the polyester-cotton lining adds extra protection and comfort.
At 15 inches in length, the Homwe Extra Long Professional Silicone Oven Mitt protects your forearms as well as your hands from a hot oven or sheet pan. It’s easier to maneuver than others we tested, and we were able to comfortably lift a hot, heavy cast-iron skillet and remove an unwieldy roasting pan from the oven without getting burned.
This mitt is easy to clean (you can wipe it off or throw it in the washing machine), and we appreciated the comfortable fabric lining. Unfortunately, the extra-long version that we prefer for its generous forearm coverage only comes in four basic colors, whereas the shorter version comes in six brighter shades.
Our pick
This pot holder has a silicone exterior that provides better heat protection than plain terry-cloth pot holders.
For extra heat protection from a pot holder, we like the OXO Good Grips Silicone Pot Holder. It is more expensive than some basic terry-cloth models, but it was able to protect our hands longer than most other pot holders we tested—roughly on a par with the Homwe mitt.
Its oval shape also helps it stay clear of stovetop flames better than holders with corners that stick out. It has a pocket for your hand to keep it secure, and its silicone side is grippy and waterproof. Unfortunately, color options are limited to black, red, and white at the time of publication.
Also great
This pot holder is larger and more rectangular than our top pick, and it comes in a wide range of colors. A seam in the hand pocket makes gripping pans easier.
If you’re looking for a pot holder with a bit more surface area or nicer color options, we recommend the KitchenAid Ribbed Soft Silicone Pot Holder. It sports a helpful seam at the top of its hand pocket that runs a few inches into the middle of the mitt, dividing the pocket into two sections. This helps keep your hand in place, with two fingers tucked securely on each side of the seam (kind of in the shape of the Vulcan salute).
This pot holder comes in 21 attractive colors—by far the most of our picks. However, its thicker material and large, square corners make it a little more clunky than our top-pick pot holder.
Also great
These gloves offer more dexterity than a mitt or a pot holder, but they’re less heatproof. We like that they come in three sizes.
We like that the Grill Armor Gloves give you more dexterity and control than our other picks when moving hot pans or grilling. But they aren’t as heat-resistant as our other picks, though they’re still reasonably protective. They come in three sizes and one long-cuffed option, but all of them run a bit large. Those with smaller hands may find even the smallest size clunky.
Also great
For those who want protection that keeps your whole hand free, this cover slips directly onto a pan handle, allowing you to maneuver a pot or skillet safely.
If you’re looking for a tool that fits directly on a pan’s stick handle, we recommend the Monkey Business Penne Pan Grip. It was the most heat-protective of everything we tested in every category, and it’s long and wide enough to work with a variety of handle types. We like that it slides easily on and off handles, so you can easily pop it onto a pan while you’re cooking, but it felt a little loose to some of our testers. Plus, its pasta-like shape puts a cute spin on an otherwise utilitarian tool.
