I have heard great things about weighing your ingredients rather than measuring. I just started my research on kitchen scales, and thought I would get some opinions.
What kind of scale do you use? What is the best, in your opinion?
I have a Salter Model 6055 which I love. It usually retails for about $60, but you can get it at Cutlery and More for about $50 (FYI, I have no affiliation with their site).
Hi - I got my scale before I saw all of Rose’s blog posts about My Weigh Scales.
I have an electronic Salter 6055 which I love. It’s very compact, has a removable stainless steel platform cover, weighs in Lbs/Oz or KG/G, has a tare feature, weighs up to 11 lbs, and automatically shuts off if you forget to turn it off. It’s only 6.5” x 8.5” x 1.5”, so it’s easy to store. I think I got it from Chefs Catalog a couple of years ago for around $60. I’ll post a photo later.
The first scale I used was a Metrokane ‘Gourmet Weigh’ scale. It only weighs up to two pounds, which is the reason I bought a My Weigh. I have to say, though, that the Gourmet weigh does just fine for smaller recipes. It can weigh a single ounce just fine, but I do wonder how well it weighs things smaller than that, so I usually don’t bother trying.
Our My Weigh 7001DX is fine, but I do think I’d get more use out of the i5000 since it’s more sensitive to smaller weights.
I got the 7001DX because it was cheaper, sigh, so I honestly admit that I’ve been getting more use out of my old Gourmet Weigh scale, since I think I trust it to measure an ounce more reliably.
I’m thinking of retiring my My Weigh to the office, and getting the i5000 for kitchen use. (The 7001DX has all sorts of mail related, letter holding, tube cradle extra bits. Maybe more useful in the office.)
I will say in general that my baking has vastly improved since I started weighing ingredients.
I had the Salter one pictured, and I hated it. It would shut itself off mid-weighing, which is wonderful isn’t it? I bought the MyWeigh 7001DX and I love it. I also got the AC adaptor, so it NEVER shuts off until I shut it off, no more mid-weighing shut offs! That in itself is worth the less than $10 cost of the adaptor. The MyWeigh also weighs in .05 increments, not in .25 like the Salter. This is great when scaling down to smaller recipes.
I used a triple beam mechanical scale in the kitchen for a couple of years; there were good and bad things about doing that.
After seeing people using the new electronic ones, I thought that that would be an improvement, decided to buy a MyWeigh KD-7000, looked patiently at Old Will Knott’s site until it was on sale, and got one.
I like it a lot. I do wish that it would weigh down to a 0.1 or 0.01 gram, but that’s a minor thing, and would really drive the cost up. A slightly more serious flaw is that there’s no way to mechanically disconnect the platform from the sensors (I tip it up on its back when I’m not using it so I don’t accidentally put something heavy on it when it’s not put away.) When I first started using it, I had problems with tipping the hard shield up too far, interfering with the platform. I was over that (and all of the other operating quibbles) within a week.
I also have the My Weigh KD 7000 and really like it. I had the same problem with the shield guard messing up my readings, and it took me a while to figure it out. But that has been the only problem. I love weighing ingredients b/c it virtually ensures a perfect cake every time with Rose’s incredible recipes. It takes out all the guess work, just as Rose says in TCB. I love that!
I had the Salter one pictured, and I hated it. It would shut itself off mid-weighing, which is wonderful isn’t it? I bought the MyWeigh 7001DX and I love it. I also got the AC adaptor, so it NEVER shuts off until I shut it off, no more mid-weighing shut offs! That in itself is worth the less than $10 cost of the adaptor. The MyWeigh also weighs in .05 increments, not in .25 like the Salter. This is great when scaling down to smaller recipes.
MrsM
So sorry to hear that - I had that same problem with the auto shut-off feature the first time I used the Salter scale, but I now compensate by turning the scale off and then back on after several minutes of use so it doesn’t time-out on me. As far as the .25 increments that you mentioned, I thought that was annoying too until I started using the gram weight feature - no incriments necessary. When my Salter eventually kicks the bucket, I’ll most likely replace it with a My Weigh.
I have a KD7000 My Weigh and i’m pretty happy with it. I’m just annoyed that it has to run a self-check every time I turn it on, but otherwise I like it a lot. I got a i5000 My Weigh for work and that was terrible! after two weeks it just stopped working one day. I have yet to send it for fixing as I threw out the box.
The students at the school where I teach have the Salter in the picture and some of them work well and some of them don’t at all. I have also heard good things about Ohaus and Escali, which are less expensive than either the Salter or the My wiegh.
Soehle Futura 4 lb, old and trusted, as recommended in Cake Bible and Bread Bible. About 5 y.o. Mine’s is made in Switzerland, not sure if the newer ones are still. It is so easy to use and wash, you can wash it under running water, upright, no problem. The top glass weighing surface is also removable. The scale takes little footprint, the body is also very easy to grab with one hand. Only one button.
The cons is that is auto shuts off, but honestly it ISN’T and issue after you get used to it, you actually learn to love this feature. Also, it is hard to switch from oz to gr, but who does oz seriously?
Precision is by 1 gr or 2 gr on the higher range. I believe the newer brands have more precision. I do ok by the gram.
My next scale will be an Alessi, they only make one kitchen scale. I’ve played with it, it is beautiful to be with, and it does have the same “cons” as the Soehle Futura. My Weight makes the same model under their brand, half price, and with a few more features.
I recently bought a Salter scale when my old scale took a nose dive into a pot of soapy water and was never to work again. The Salter scale that I bought (not sure which model it is) has a raised glass platform upon which to put the item to be weighed. I like this design better than the flatter ones since I like to weigh muffin tins as I fill them (I’m a little obsessive about cupcakes being all the same size). The raised platform allows me to see the digital read out better while weighing the muffin tin.
