Best oven gloves: Fun and practical oven mitts to keep your hands protected while cooking
Choose style and substance in the kitchen with our pick of the best oven gloves and mitts
Whether you’re a star baker or frozen pizza lover, finding the best oven gloves to join you in your culinary adventures is essential. However, while these kitchen must-haves come in all manner of shapes, colours and styles, not all oven gloves offer the greatest protection.
Oven gloves should shield your hands from heat and steam while cooking, so it’s important not to compromise on functionality or suitability. Older, tatty oven gloves should be replaced as soon as possible, as worn-away fabric and small holes in the material could leave you with a nasty burn.
To narrow down the search and help you find the perfect mitt for you, we’ve tried and tested some of the best oven gloves around right now. Whether you’re trying to pick the best oven gloves for a new home or just thinking about upgrading those old, worn-out ones, our guide below will help you to get cooking comfortably in no time.
READ NEXT: The best oven cleaners to buy
Best oven gloves: At a glance
How to choose the best oven gloves for you
What different types of oven gloves are available?
The traditional, double-ended oven glove is ideal for baking and roasting, as you’ll always be able to quickly use both hands to move heavy roasting tins and casserole dishes. They also look great hanging over the front of the oven and, better still, you’ll only have one to keep track of one. The downside? Many of these gloves don’t have separate thumb pieces and don’t allow as much flexibility when holding unusually shaped dishes or equipment.
Mitten-style oven gloves are sold either individually or in pairs, and give you more freedom than a double-ended glove. Shaped like mittens, they offer a firmer grip and allow you to move your thumb more freely. If you also want protection from spitting fat, look out for mitten-style gloves that extend further up the arm.
Slightly less common but hugely practical are five-fingered oven gloves. These nifty mitts look exactly like regular gloves but are made of silicone, giving you a full range of movement. This makes them perfect for anything requiring a bit of manual dexterity, such as holding utensils when BBQing or juggling awkwardly shaped dishes.
What are oven gloves made from?
In order to protect your hands from hot surfaces, oven gloves are only made from fabrics that can withstand very high temperatures and are also usually flame retardant. Traditional oven gloves are made from cotton with a flame retardant coating and are well padded, keeping your hands protected from the heat.
Slightly less traditional, but even more protective, is silicone. Synthetic and rubbery, it has a high heat resistance and can also be used to make baking trays and cake tins.
How we test oven gloves
To test oven gloves, we put them to use in our kitchens at home. On first wear, we note how easy they are to slip on, how comfortable they feel and how well they allow us to grip various items and objects. Taking dishes and trays out of the oven, we assess how well they shield your hands from hot surfaces, making sure they offer thorough protection throughout the entire glove. Other factors we consider are whether they’re machine washable, if they’re good value for money and whether they have stylish, aesthetically pleasing designs.
READ NEXT: The best built-in ovens to buy
The best oven gloves you can buy in 2023
1. Lakeland Silicone Double Oven Glove: The best silicone oven glove
Price: £15 | Buy now from Lakeland
If there was ever an oven glove to get excited about, it would be this one. This unique mitt from Lakeland combines all the best features from different styles of glove. It’s joined in the middle like a standard double-ended glove but has two full mittens made of silicone at each end.
The raised, swirled pattern and movable thumbs give it a huge amount of grip, and we were impressed by the level of control we had when balancing cake tins and lifting heavy soup pots. The cotton lining also keeps your hands comfortable and free of any clamminess, making it suitable to wear for extended periods.
Not only is it hugely practical, but it also looks great. The classy red and navy blue colour scheme adds a bit of fun to the kitchen, without being too garish. As with other silicone gloves, it’s easy to wipe clean but is also machine washable.
Key features – Material: Silicone and cotton; Machine washable: Yes; Style: Double-ended gloves
2. Most Likely to Microwave Oven Mitt: The best-looking oven glove
Price: £13 | Buy now from Red Candy
If your oven mitts are going to see regular use, they might as well make you smile, too. Sold individually, these glorious gloves look even better in person than they do on screen, and come in a wide range of different patterns. We love the “Most Likely to Microwave” design (pictured), but there are almost two dozen alternatives, each as charming as the next.
They’re not just nice to look at, though. These colourful mitts offer great protection against high temperatures and have the kind of high-quality craftsmanship that makes their price seem unbelievably low. The longer arm is also a nice touch, ensuring your wrists and lower arms are kept safe when wrestling with the grill.
As with all kitchen items, they’ll see a fair bit of grease and grime after a couple of weeks of use. But chuck them in the washing machine on a cold wash and they should look as good as new.
Key features – Material: Cotton; Machine washable: Yes; Style: Single mitt
3. Butchers Stripe Navy Gauntlet: The best single oven glove
Price: £23 | Buy now from Amazon
This gauntlet-style oven glove is ideal if you want something a bit more substantial but still aesthetically pleasing. With its traditional “butcher stripe” pattern and cream towelling front, it would look as at home hanging off an Aga as it would in a sleek, modern kitchen. The Terry cotton lining is thick and durable, and will keep your hands and arms safe from the high temperatures, hot grease and steam.
It’s only sold individually, making it a tad pricey, but it’s incredibly sturdy and made to last. We think the navy blue version looks great, but if you prefer something more colourful, it also comes in a fetching red. Both colours are machine washable, too, so should stand the test of time, even in a busy kitchen.
Key features – Material: Cotton; Machine washable: Yes; Style: Single mitt
4. Cream Hearts Double Oven Glove: The best affordable oven glove
Price: £6 | Buy now from Wilko
These double-ended oven gloves from the ever-trusty Wilko are a rustic dream. With their dusty pink and cream colour scheme, they’d look right at home in a farmhouse kitchen or a cute cottage home.
And it’s not just their looks that will have you doing a double-take. The inner padding is wonderfully thick, making them very comfortable to use, while also offering great protection against high temperatures. We used them to handle everything from cast-iron frying pans to roasting tins, and never felt any heat coming through.
They’re also very easy to keep clean. Just pop them in the washing machine at 40ºC and they should see you through plenty of years of roasting, baking and grilling.
Key features – Material: 100% cotton (outer), 100% polyester (inner); Machine washable: Yes; Style: Double-ended gloves
5. KitchenCraft MasterClass Waterproof Silicone Oven Glove with Fingers: The best five-fingered oven glove
Price: £18 | Buy now from Amazon
If you’ve not come across five-fingered oven gloves before, you might think they look a bit wacky at first. Trust us, though, it won’t be long before you’re a convert. These clever gloves give you much more control and grip than a traditional style mitten and are ideal for holding fiddly utensils when BBQing.
They can be worn on both the left and right hand, comfortably fit all hand sizes and extend almost halfway up the arm. In testing, we were struck by just how much grip the raised herringbone pattern in the silicone offered, and how comfortable they were to wear. Unlike rubber gloves, which can get a bit clammy after a while, these are fully lined with a soft fleece material, keeping your hands dry even after prolonged use.
What’s more, the silicone body of the glove is easy to wipe clean and you can pop them in the washing machine, too. They’re only sold as singles, though, so if you’re planning to do a lot of BBQing or carrying larger pans, we recommend picking up a second glove.
Key features – Material: Silicone, polyester and cotton blend; Machine washable: Yes; Style: Single mitt
6. Lobster Claws Pot Pinchers: The best novelty oven glove
Price: £15 | Buy now from Amazon
We couldn’t complete this guide without including these snappy mini mitts. Shaped like lobster claws, this pair of silicone pot holders will keep your fingers and hands well protected from the heat of the kitchen. Their smaller size means they’re not ideal for prolonged, heavy-duty lifting, but they are perfect for grabbing the odd baking tray from the oven.
Made entirely from silicone, they can be easily cleaned by wiping away any grease with a damp cloth and are highly resistant to staining. When not in use, these mitts can be stored with one tucked inside the other, taking up almost no space at all.
Key specs – Material: Silicone; Machine washable: No (hand wash); Style: Two single mitts
Silicone Oven Mitts Set of 2, Lobster Claws Potholders Heat Resistant Silicone Oven Glove for Instant Pot Kitchen Potholder or Baking Holder Kitchen Design Red
