You may have a killer chef’s knife and a stockpile of pots and pans, but a few inexpensive, multipurpose tools will bring your culinary capabilities to the next level. Three basics to buy:

Microplane This long, narrow file is lined with little razor blades that make quick work of a block of Parmesan or the rind on citrus fruit. A few flicks of the wrist release a flavor flurry over pasta dishes and risottos. $16. us.microplane.com

Granite mortar and pestle Pivotal in the world’s most flavorful cuisines—Mexican, Thai, Italian—this bowl-and-bat combo can be used to crush spices, muddle herbs for drinks, and make the definitive bowl of guacamole. $30. crateandbarrel.com

Oxo Silicone flexible tongs The most important all-purpose, space-saving tool you can own. These are heat-resistant up to 600°F and safe for nonstick pans, allowing you to stir, mix, toss, scrape, and flip your way through a bevy of kitchen tasks without pausing to swap utensils. $10. oxo.com

Upgrade Your Kitchen

137 Ways your home can make you a better man

From the editors of Men’s Health Living

Change your bulbs
Researchers at the University of California at Irvine found that dieters are more likely to binge when there’s less light. “Dimmer light makes you less self-aware, which loosens your inhibitions,” says study author Joseph Kasof, Ph.D.

Sit, snack, shed
Before scarfing a quick bite, grab a chair. People who snack while seated at a table consume fewer calories at their next meal than people who nosh on the go, according to a Canadian study.

Boost your metabolism with breakfast
“Not eating breakfast may reduce your metabolic rate by 10 percent,” says Leslie Bonci, R.D., M.P.H., director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh medical center. This in turn increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. In fact, in a study of 3,900 people, Harvard researchers found that men who ate breakfast every day were 44 percent less likely to be overweight and 41 percent less likely to develop insulin resistance.

Eat away heart disease
In a review of 53 studies, Australian researchers found that regularly eating cereal made from refined grains raises insulin and C-reactive protein, and lowers HDL (good) cholesterol—effects that all boost your odds of developing heart disease. A good choice for your morning bowl: Post Shredded Wheat cereal, which is made from 100 percent whole grains and contains no sugar.

Drink it away, too
Brooklyn College researchers discovered that drinking 4 cups of coffee a day lowers your risk of dying of heart disease by 53 percent. If you like Starbucks, choose a Café Americano: A Venti counts as 2.5 cups and contains just 25 calories.

Downsize your portions
Those newer, plus-size plates cause your eyes to override your appetite. Give them to Goodwill and pick up either the 16-piece Santiago set by Dansk (10 1/2-inch dinner plates, 8-inch salad plates, and 7-inch soup bowls, $80) or the 20-piece Platinum Band set by Majestry (10 5/8-inch dinner plates, 7 3/4-inch salad plates, and 7 3/4-inch soup bowls, $60). Both are sold at bedbathandbeyond.com.

Burn fat with fire
Australian scientists found that overweight people burn more fat after consuming a meal that contains chili peppers. That’s because their levels of insulin—a hormone that signals the body to store fat—were 32 percent lower following the spicy meal. Capsaicin, the chemical that makes chili peppers hot, may improve the liver’s ability to clear insulin from the bloodstream. You can get some of the benefit with Tabasco sauce.

Prepare the world’s healthiest salad
Start with red leaf lettuce, then add yellow peppers, yellow onions, pecans, and red kidney beans. Each of these foods has the highest amount of disease-fighting antioxidants for its type. Then throw in some watercress, too. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating 3 ounces of watercress daily increases levels of the cancer-fighting antioxidants lutein and beta-carotene by 100 and 33 percent, respectively.