Home & Kitchen with Caraway

How To Pick Your Oven Mitts

Baking is always fun, but is your oven ready? Find out how to find practical oven mitts that are also gorgeous to look at and hang in your kitchen.

Oh, Oven Mitts, our trusty sidekick through every cooking adventure. With such an important role to serve in the kitchen, they deserve to be picked out carefully and meticulously. Read on to learn how to pick Oven Mitts as beautiful as your countertops and backsplash.

What Are Oven Mitts?

We all think we know what oven mitts are, but their uses and specifics are still interesting and important. Oven Mitts are insulated gloves or mittens that are usually worn in the kitchen to protect your hands from hot surfaces such as ovens, stovetops, or cookware that has just been heated.

Just like with playing sports (or with anything that could potentially cause physical harm or risk), suitable protection is recommended and required for your own safety. That extends even to the kitchen, and it’s exactly what Oven Mitts are designed for.

With home ovens capable of going up to 550°F and stoves capable of reaching even higher, you’re going to want to prepare yourself well. The CDC says that in 2019, unintentional fires or burns were ranked number seven of the ten leading causes of nonfatal emergency department visits in the United States.

As you can tell, it’s worth putting some thought into the pair of Oven Mitts you buy. After all, there’s nothing worse than cooking a delicious meal on the stove only to drop it while transferring it to the table because you weren’t well protected from the heat intensity.

Picking Out Your Oven Mitts

As we’ve said, picking out your Oven Mitts involves a process much longer and more thought out than just running to your local big-box store and grabbing the first pair you see. There are so many factors that come into play in this decision. Oven Mitts can last a long time and will be used almost every day that you’re cooking, so trust us, you’re going to want to choose wisely.

First, let’s talk about the factors you should be considering.

Material

The primary purpose of Oven Mitts is to protect you from heat, which is accomplished through durable, heat-resistant material. But of course, there are so many to choose from. So which one do you pick?

Since the main purpose of Oven Mitts is to protect your hands from heat, you’re going to want to pick a thick material. With that in mind, there are four different types of material that Oven Mitts are often made out of:

Cotton
Neoprene (which is a type of synthetic rubber)
Silicone
Aramid fabric.

All of them work in exceptional but slightly different ways. The most common one that has become a kitchen staple at this point is the cotton Oven Mitts.

Our lovely Oven Mitts are made with 100% soft, fluffy cotton. The great thing about Oven Mitts is that they come in various colors and designs, so you can add a bit of uniqueness to your kitchen! For example, our product comes in a set of two with bold and distinct Cream and Navy color patterns—a pop of color is guaranteed to make your kitchen come alive.

You may want to consider matching your Oven Mitts to your other Linens and Cookware Set. Instead of feeling restricted to Cream and Navy for Linens and Cookware, you can style with ease and confidence as all of our colors (Peracotta, Cream, Navy, Sage, and Gray) flow together seamlessly. This way, your kitchen can have multiple pops of color without feeling too overwhelming.

Ultimately, when it comes to the material, the choice is up to you and should also be based on the other factors you’ll need to consider.

Coverage

You’re going to have to have good coverage regardless of the material you get for your Oven Mitts. After all, if it’s good material that protects well from heat but doesn’t cover your hands, a crucial factor is missing.

Oven Mitts come in all shapes and sizes, so there are a lot of options for you to choose from. It all comes down to your cooking needs. Traditional Oven Mitts average at around 14 inches in length and cover down to your wrist, at the least. But don’t be fooled by the slightly shorter Oven Mitts. Our Oven Mitts are 11 inches long and easily get the job done without the extra bulk.

Now, you may have heard of (or even own) Pot Holders, which are basically Oven Mitts that don’t offer quite as much protection. They’re great for transferring hot cookware from one end of the stove to the other, especially since they can fold over the handles of a pot really easily. They can also work as a stylish and convenient hotplate in a pinch. However, Pot Holders won’t provide protection to your forearm, which is especially important when pulling a pan out of the oven, so that’s when you’ll want your Oven Mitts to come in.

Heat Resistance

While we love a fashionable Oven Mitt moment, it’s critical that your Oven Mitts protect you from the heat. The material and coverage are all important and stem from the main factor at hand: heat resistance.

Oven Mitts are the only thing between you and a piping hot pan, and potentially, a mean second-degree burn that will leave you blistered and in pain for weeks. Undoubtedly, you’re going to want a product that resists heat well.

When looking for Oven Mitts, you should select one that can resist up to 400°F. Although the process of taking the pan out of the oven and transferring it to a countertop probably won’t take very long, you should also select one that can withstand high temperatures for more than ten seconds.

The best Oven Mitts have an extra layer of material, as that will provide more insulation for your hands and thus better prevent burning. After all, there’s nothing more stylish than safety. Designed with you in mind, and with the goal of keeping your hands safe, our Oven Mitts have a double-layer stain-resistant weave stitching that will save the day when you’re handling your Dutch Oven fresh out of the oven.

Grip and Fit

Now that you’ve thought about the material, coverage, and heat resistance, let’s talk about grip and fit. Needless to say, you should be able to hold your cookware with the Oven Mitts on. Otherwise, you’ll be dealing with some unfortunate burns.

When it comes to touching hot surfaces in the kitchen, there are three tools that are often used: Oven Mitts, Pot Holders, and the one we haven’t mentioned yet, cooking gloves.

Oven Mitts vs. Oven Gloves

You’ve probably heard of Oven Mitts and cooking gloves at one point or another. They’re often used interchangeably, but they are, in fact, two different things that serve different functions due to their qualities, including grip and fit.

It’s important to know the qualities of each before buying one, so you're aware of what tasks each one is more suitable for.

Oven Mitts have wonderful qualities that make them very useful in the kitchen, including:

Softness
Material that provides an efficient and protective barrier between you and the hot surface and is easy to slide on and off.

Cooking gloves also provide protection; however, they also have qualities that differ from Oven Mitts, such as:

Allow for more control.
Don’t need to be taken off when stirring food.

There are pros and cons, but both hold a purpose in the kitchen. If you’re moving a smaller Sauce Pan full of liquids around or off of the stovetop, you may prefer cooking gloves. If you’re about to stick your hands into a scorching hot oven and pull out your Sauté Pan, you may feel more secure with Oven Mitts.

Ease of Cleaning

Last but not least: cleaning. As with any kitchen gadget, whether it be cookware or the tools you use to handle them, easy cleaning is always a bonus.

When it comes to Oven Mitts, the material determines the level of difficulty when cleaning them. Silicone oven mitts, for example, are the hardest to clean, as they require being hand-cleaned with soap and water (although some may be dishwasher safe).If you’re inclined to using Oven Mitts and love a simple cleanup, try to find a product that you can easily throw in the washing machine.

Because they’re made of cotton, the Caraway Home Oven Mitts are machine washable. Say goodbye to the fast fashion of subpar kitchen tools: Whether you tumble dry on low or hand dry, these Oven Mitts will be left feeling softer and fluffier than over!