Cool Touch Oven Rack Guard

We all try to be as careful as possible when working in the kitchen. Hot pans, ovens, utensils and often boiling water are everywhere and can easily cause the occasional (or more than occasional) burn. Even if you have hands of stone, a burn is never fun and should be avoided at all costs. Potholders and dishtowels can help to protect your hands from most hot surfaces, but often the accidental burns are the ones that are most difficult to avoid. I’ve burned myself on the inside of my oven door before and a potholder wouldn’t have helped, nor would it have helped on the occasions my wrist has come in contact with a hot oven rack when I’m trying to fiddle with an oven thermometer. These Oven Rack Guards, on the other hand, definitely would have.

The guards are fabric and fit over the exposed edges of just about any oven rack, putting a barrier between the rack and your skin at a place where they are otherwise likely to meet. The fabric is DuPont Nomex, a flame-resistant fabric originally developed for (and is still used by) firefighters back in the 1960s. They’re washable and can be left in the oven for all normal use, although they should be removed when the broiler is being used or when you are running he “clean” cycle on the oven.