If you’re thinking about shelling out for some oven mitts or gloves for your oven and barbecue, before you buy some, you’ll probably want to find out more about them.

The days when you could only buy oven mitts made of cloth material are long gone. Today, there are so many different types and designs of gloves to consider that it can become a daunting task to find a pair that you want or like.

There are so many alternatives because it combines different features in various ways. I have listed below some of the features that you can mix and match.

• Material: silicone, neoprene, cotton, aramid fiber.

• Interior lined or unlined.

• Shorts or long cuffs.

• 5-fingered gloves, mitts or potholders.

• Unique, unusual and animal designs.

With the abundance of styles available to you, I would like to go into detail about one particular type of mitt that is becoming very popular, and that is silicone oven mitts. They have many benefits that other gloves do not have and that makes them very convenient for the user. I have listed below some of the top benefits of silicone.

The main reason we buy oven mitts is to protect our skin from the scorching heat of the oven and barbecue. The silicone used in oven mitts is food grade. It has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, FDA, to work safely within the temperature range between -40 celcius or -40 fahrenheit and +230 celcius +450 fahrenheit.

One of the disadvantages of a cloth glove is that they can easily get stained and also pick up odor if they are exposed to some foods. The silicone will not discolor or take on the odors of the food it comes in contact with.

Being an inert material with low chemical reactivity, they are extremely resistant to any form of mold or bacteria and do not deteriorate when exposed to heat, weather, weather and household chemicals.

Silicone is used to make gloves and mitts. The 5-finger design offers the user a greater degree of movement and flexibility with the fingers. It is easier to take the dishes out of the oven and get a very good grip. Outside of the barbecue, a 5-finger design is far superior to gloves when handling utensils, skewers, and food.

The gloves have small bumps or ridges all over them, often in the shape of hearts and stars. The shape of the nubs is irrelevant, but they provide a very strong grip for both food and utensils. It is similar to the way a car tire grips the contours of the road surface.

As I mentioned earlier, they are convenient in that they are very easy to clean, saving you time. If they are covered in grease and barbecue grease, they can simply be washed in the dishwasher with the other dishes. If you don’t have a dishwasher, you can wash them in soapy water and hang them to dry. Many times they only require rinsing under the tap.

They are waterproof. This means that if you are boiling something like crab, corn, and eggs, you can use the mitt to lift the food out of the boiling water. The other thing about being waterproof is that any splashes or spills that happen won’t burn you like they would if you were wearing a pair of cloth gloves.

When it comes to barbecuing, if you have big things to grill, like a whole rack of ribs or a chicken, you can use gloves to handle the food directly. When the food is cooked, you can separate it with your gloved hands without the need for any shredding utensils.

Going the other direction, you can use them inside the freezer when you get frozen and need to get rid of the ice. You may have a piece of meat in the bottom of your freezer that you need to search for. When it’s icy outside and your car is frozen, you can use them there.

Other uses include changing light bulbs, since they are not electrically conductive. Opening unopened or jammed bottle caps. You can wash the car with them. The list is huge.