A kitchen utensil is a small hand-held tool used for food preparation. Common tasks in the kitchen include cutting food to size, heating food over an open flame or stove, baking, grinding, mixing, and measuring; making different utensils for each task. General-purpose utensils such as cookware can be used for a variety of foods; for example: other kitchen utensils are highly specialized and can only be used in conjunction with the preparation of specific types of food, such as egg separators or apple corers. Some specialized utensils are used when operations are to be repeated multiple times, or when the chef's flexibility or mobility is limited. The number of household kitchen utensils varies with time and cooking style.
A cooking vessel is used for cooking utensils. Utensils can be classified by using the term derived from the word "ware": kitchen utensils, articles for kitchens; ovens, bakeware, kitchen utensils used and baked in ovens; cookware, goods used for cooking, etc.
A partially overlapping category of tools are eating utensils, which are tools used for eating. Some utensils are both kitchen utensils and eating utensils. Utensils (i.e. knives and other cutting tools) can be used both for food preparation in the kitchen and as utensils during meals. Other utensils, such as forks and spoons, are both kitchen utensils and eating utensils.
Stainless steel has many applications in the manufacture of kitchen appliances. Stainless steel hardly rusts in contact with water or food, thus reducing the amount of work required to keep utensils in a clean and useful state. Cutting tools made of stainless steel maintain a usable edge without the risk of rusting found in iron or other types of steel.