(Pocket-lint) – Cooking can be really therapeutic and relaxing. Plus, it has the added benefit of the reward of great food at the end of it.

Yet, despite that, we all know the feeling that you can’t entirely be bothered with the rigamarole of trying to eyeball how much of each ingredient to use, and trying to estimate weight without using scales.

That’s why, unless you’re happy to perpetually be unsure of whether you’re cooking your dishes right, a good set of digital scales is a must for any budding or experienced chef.  

• 10 best kitchen tech gifts

The smarter, the better, too – it’s increasingly possible to pick up scales that have connected features to make your culinary life even easier than it already is.

Our pick of the best digital scales for cooking or baking

Joseph Joseph

Joseph Joseph Tri Scale

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Joseph Joseph came up with an absolutely genius bit of design when it first released the Tri Scale, and it’s still a classic to this day. Folding away into a really easily stored rod, the scales can be extended out when in use to form a base for you to rest your bowl or plate on. 

If you don’t have a big kitchen or are short on storage space, this is the sort of solution that’ll have you thanking the gods of design. 

Salter

Salter Cook Bluetooth Kitchen Scales

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It might be news to you, but we’re all about the connected side of kitchen tech, and while not many scales take advantage of it, Salter’s Bluetooth scales are a great example of how you can. They connect via Bluetooth to the Salter Cook app to let you work alongside your favourite recipes and control the scale from your smartphone. 

It’s a great feature, and if you really invest the time in making it a treasure trove of your favourite recipes, could mean the end of having clunky, dirty recipe books to lug around. 

Nutri Fit

Nutri Fit Digital Kitchen Scale

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Equally, while a flat set of scales has its advantages, this option from Nutri Fit shows that there are benefits to be had from novel shapes and sizes, too. By making its scales bowl-shaped, it’s made it really easy for you to measure quantities without using a bowl (although one is very much included in case you prefer to). 

Morphy Richards

Morphy Richards 3-in-1 Digital Kitchen Jug Scales

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Maybe that bowl idea is even more key to your cooking style than you first realised, though. Morphy Richards is here with the solution, integrating its scale into a stirring bowl (or jug) really cleverly. With a clip to easily remove the receptacle, it can become part of your cookware even if you’re not measuring anything.

That makes it another really clever space-saver. 

Etekcity

Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale

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If sensitivity and accuracy are all you really care about, though, you don’t have to break the bank to get them at all. This scale from Etekcity is super-accurate, and its stainless steel bowl is a useful piece in and of itself. It being removable also means that you can use the weighing platform directly if you like. 

There’s also a temperature sensor on the scale, which can come in handy every so often, and the auto-zero function is a great time-saver when you’ve got dirty hands. 

Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Dan Grabham.