A Kitchen Scale is a Go-To Tool for Great Baking. It Will Also Make You A Better Cook.
Marguerite Preston is an editor covering kitchen gear. She has spent countless hours in the test kitchen and edited hundreds of guides since 2017.
The inexpensive and unassuming Escali Primo Digital Scale can transform the way you bake and make you a more efficient cook.
If you don’t already own a kitchen scale, the Escali Primo Digital Scale is one of the best small investments you can make in the kitchen. Although I grew up with a scale in the kitchen, it didn’t really land on my list of “Tools I Don’t Want to Live Without” until I worked as a baker in New York City. Only then, when I was trying to crank out dozens of biscuits an hour to keep up with the brunch rush, did I come to appreciate how much more efficient and reliable it is to use a kitchen scale for any measuring task.
Our pick
This scale is best for home cooks who want fast, consistent results when baking or cooking.
At home, I use my digital kitchen scale daily, for everything from measuring coffee beans (for the ideal cup of coffee every time) to portioning out food for my dog. I’m more of a “pinch of this, handful of that” type of cook, but I still find my scale useful whenever a recipe calls for, say, a pound of potatoes. And, most of all, I love my scale for baking.
A little scale goes a long way
A scale is the one tool that can almost instantly make you a better baker because it allows you to measure ingredients precisely, which is key for making lofty cakes and tender scones. Measuring cups can’t do this, since ingredients like flour can expand or compress down, depending on all kinds of factors. Plus, a scale saves so much time—and mess—because you don’t have to fuss with scooping and leveling, or with washing a whole set of cups when you’re done.
The same is true for cooking with ingredients like grated cheese, which measures differently depending on the thickness of the shred. The scale takes out the guesswork and makes for consistent results every time you revisit a recipe.
I first got to know the Escali Primo in my baking jobs, and I have spotted it in many restaurant kitchens since. An Escali representative told me in 2021
that it’s been the company’s top-selling kitchen scale for over a decade (it was released in 2005). And the rep said that among professionals it is “by far the most popular” of Escali’s scales, even though the company makes a number of other models geared more specifically toward the food industry.
Here’s a fun fact: Popeyes and Burger King both “rely on the Primo for their day-to-day operations.”
The pros love the Primo for all the same reasons we do: It’s inexpensive, durable, accurate, and dead simple to use—with just two buttons. It’s also compact enough to toss in a drawer, and it can run a long time on a couple of AA batteries. If all of that doesn’t sell you on it, the Primo also comes in a bunch of fun colors, such as Tarragon Green and Pumpkin Orange.
And, really, you don’t have to be a pro to appreciate the Primo. Even if you’re not spending your days churning out tray after tray of biscuits, this little scale can be a true game changer for anyone in the kitchen.
Weighing the options
Having tested dozens of digital kitchen scales since 2013, we’ve found the Escali Primo Digital Scale to be one of the most accurate and least frustrating to use.
- It has been a Wirecutter pick since 2017.
- In our tests, it was accurate to the gram for all but one measurement, making it more accurate than most of the scales we’ve tried.
- It registers weights in less than a second, so you won’t overshoot as you’re weighing ingredients into a bowl.
- Its auto shut-off feature (found on most digital scales) doesn’t kick in until the scale has been inactive for over four minutes, saving you the frustration of losing a measurement halfway through.
The Escali Primo doesn’t require much upkeep, beyond wiping it clean with a damp cloth or sponge and replacing the batteries every once in a while. (Luckily, the Escali Primo takes two AA batteries, rather than the button batteries that some scales use. So you can get yourself a few rechargeable batteries and always have spares ready to go.)
To keep the Primo (or any digital scale) in tip-top condition, it’s very important to avoid overloading it. The Primo’s weight limit is 11 pounds—exceeding that could throw it out of calibration and void the two-year warranty (and you can’t recalibrate this scale yourself). That rule applies even when the scale is off, so don’t store it in a spot where you’ll end up piling things on top of it.
The original version of this post was part of our 2021 52 Things We Love series, an ode to Wirecutter picks that have withstood the test of time. Read the entire series. The current version was edited by Rachelle Bergstein and Catherine Kast.
Meet your guide
Marguerite Preston is a senior editor covering kitchen gear and appliances at Wirecutter, and has written guides to baking equipment, meal kit delivery services, and more. She previously worked as an editor for Eater New York and as a freelance food writer. Before that, she learned her way around professional kitchens as a pastry cook in New York.