I’ve been an avid home baker for well over a decade (my first stint in “food media” was a baking blog I started in middle school!), and I can confirm that there is no single tool quite as important to the outcome of your baked goods as a simple kitchen scale. Bon Appétit’s Test Kitchen team agrees, which is why you’ll see gram measurements in the baking recipes on our site.

Our top picks

Best kitchen scale overall: Escali Primo Digital Food Scale

Best budget kitchen scale: Amazon Basics Kitchen Scale

For bakers who are also coffee nerds: Fellow Tally Scale

For the skeptics: Try making one batch of cookies with flour scooped directly from the bag and another with flour spooned and leveled into a measuring cup. The two batches will turn out completely different. Scooped flour packs more densely into the cup, so you end up with more flour than the recipe calls for, which can have a major impact on your finished product. A scale eliminates that variable.

Another bonus of a kitchen scale?…