How to use the digital kitchen timer
- Tap a quick-add chip, such as Pasta 10:00, or press Add timer.
- Type a time on the card if you need a different one:
1230is 12:30,45is 0:45 and10000is 1:00:00. On a phone the number pad opens. - Press Start on the card. Add more timers the same way, up to six.
- Press Kitchen view or F to fill the screen with big digits.
- When a card rings, press Stop alarm, the spacebar or Esc.
Cooking several dishes at once
Say dinner is pasta, a sauce and garlic bread. Start a Sauce timer at 20:00 when the onions go in, a Pasta timer at 10:00 when the water boils, and Garlic bread at 6:00 when it goes into the oven. Each card counts on its own, and the one that ends first wears a Next badge. The browser tab shows the soonest one too, such as “4:12 Pasta · +2 more”, so you can glance at it from another tab.
When a timer ends you hear one ding, and that card turns red with its name: “Pasta is done”. If two finish together, you still hear a single sound. Doorbell? Pause all stops every running timer at the same moment and Resume all carries on. Cooking breakfast eggs as well? The egg timer has soft, jammy, medium and hard presets.
Quick-add presets (always check your recipe)
The six chips are round starting points, not recipes: Tea 4:00, Pasta 10:00, Pizza 12:00, Rice 18:00, Resting meat 5:00 and Dough proof 1:00:00. Packets, ovens and recipes differ, so check yours and change the time before you start: tap the digits and type, or use +1 min while it runs. A chip on the untouched first card replaces it, and a second chip of the same kind gets a number, such as “Pasta 2”.
Keep the screen on while you cook
While a timer runs, the page asks your device to keep the screen on. That works in Chrome and Edge 84+, Firefox 126+ and Safari 16.4+, and on iPhone and iPad from iOS 16.4, or 18.4 for pages added to the Home Screen (Can I use: Screen Wake Lock). Settings shows whether it’s working on your device. Plug the tablet or phone in for long cooking sessions. One honest limit: a locked phone or a closed tab can’t ring.
The kitchen view
Press Kitchen view or F and the board fills the screen as a grid of equal cells with the same big digits in each, readable from across the room. The time of day sits in the top-right corner. Tap a cell and its buttons appear for three seconds at full finger size, so floury hands can add a minute or stop an alarm.
Online or a physical kitchen timer?
| Physical kitchen timer | This online kitchen timer | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Bought once, needs batteries or winding | Free |
| Timers | Usually one, some have two or three | Up to six, each with a name |
| Screen | Small display or a dial | Your tablet, laptop or phone, up to full screen |
| Memory | Usually none | Keeps the board after a reload |
| Limits | Works anywhere, sticks to a fridge | Needs the page open and the device awake |
If you’d rather have a gadget, kitchenware shops and supermarkets sell them. We don’t recommend any brand and we don’t earn anything from sales.
Options explained
- Sound: Ding. Pick another sound or Off, and press Test sound to hear it. The sound applies to every card.
- Ring for: Until I stop it, which stops by itself after 5 minutes. Once, 10 s, 30 s and 1 min are the others.
- Count overtime: on. A finished card counts up, such as
+0:42. - Flash at zero: on. A finished card flashes red once a second for ten seconds.
- Show the time of day: on, in the kitchen view.
- Notify me when time is up: off. When on, a background tab shows a notification such as “Pasta is done”.
How it works
When you press Start, the page stores the moment that timer should end and shows the end time minus your device clock. That’s why it doesn’t drift, even when the browser slows down a background tab. Once you’ve tapped the page, the first ding of every running timer is booked in advance on the audio clock, so it plays on time. Your board stays in this browser; nothing is sent to a server. More detail: how our timers stay accurate.
Tips and limits
- Press Test sound before you cook and set the volume high enough for the extractor fan.
- A tablet or laptop as the kitchen screen keeps your phone free for recipes and calls.
- Sound needs one tap on the page first, as browsers require.
- On iPhone the timers fill the browser window rather than the whole screen; add the page to your Home Screen for more room.
- It’s a timer, not a thermometer: it can’t tell you when food is cooked through.
For one long countdown, the online timer fills the whole screen; to time how long something takes, use the stopwatch.
FAQ
How do I set and use this digital kitchen timer?
Tap a quick-add chip such as Pasta 10:00, or press Add timer and type a time on the new card: 1230 is 12:30. Then press Start on that card. Add up to six timers, each with its own name and time. It's free, runs in your browser and needs no sign-up or app.
How do I reset or turn off a timer?
When a card rings, press its Stop alarm button, press the spacebar, or press Esc to stop every alarm at once. Reset puts that card back to its set time, ready to start again. To take a timer off the board, press the × in its corner; a running one asks first.
Can I run several cooking timers at once?
Yes, up to six. Each card has its own name, time and buttons, and each one rings on its own. When two end together you hear one ding, not two at once, and every finished card names its dish in red, such as "Rice is done". The card that ends soonest wears a Next badge.
How do I name a timer or add a minute to just one?
Tap the name at the top of a card, type a new one and press Enter; names can be up to 24 characters. To add time to one dish only, press the +1 min button on that card. It adds a minute to the time left without touching the other timers.
Will the timers ring if my phone locks or I switch tabs?
Switching tabs is fine: once you've tapped the page, every timer's first ding is booked on the audio clock, so it rings on time in a background tab. A locked phone or a closed tab is different, because the page may be paused or gone. Keep the page open and the screen on.
Do my timers survive a page reload?
Yes, in this browser. The board is saved after every change, so a reload or a closed tab brings back every card. Running timers carry on from their end times, paused ones stay paused, and a card that finished while you were away tells you how long ago it ended.
How does a kitchen timer work?
A wind-up kitchen timer has a spring that unwinds at a steady rate and strikes a bell when it runs down. A digital one counts pulses from a tiny electronic clock. This page does neither: it stores the moment each timer should end and compares it with your device's clock.
What do you call a kitchen timer, and do I need to buy one?
People call it a kitchen timer, cooking timer or minute minder, and small wind-up ones are often called egg timers. You don't need to buy one if a tablet, laptop or phone is in the kitchen anyway. A physical timer still makes sense on a fridge door or in a screen-free kitchen.
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