We Asked 3 Chefs the Best Shoes to Wear in the Kitchen—They All Said the Same Ones

When Emshika Alberini was a contestant on the 49th season of Chopped, the producers provided her with a denim-blue chef coat and sleek black pants but allowed her to wear her own shoes as she prepared an appetizer made from hasty pudding, garlic chives, mustard and mussels and served it to guest judge Martha Stewart. 

For Alberini, a Bangkok native who owns Chang Thai Café in Littleton, New Hampshire, having the power to select the footwear for her television debut was a relief. When she wears the wrong shoes in the kitchen, she explained, it makes her knees hurt and gives her a headache. “My standing period is 12 hours a day, six days a week,” she noted. “[Footwear] impacts you from toe to head, from head to toe. It helps to support the whole body and it’s very important.”

Alberini, who favors Crocs-brand classic clogs in a color called “pink crush,” isn’t alone in her desire for excellent footwear in the kitchen. Prolonged standing on the job is associated with several types of health issues, including atherosclerosis and a variety of musculoskeletal disorders. Thus, choosing well-crafted shoes is important for professional cooks and others who spend a lot of time on their feet.  

Crocs Unisex Adult Classic Clog

Why Clogs? 

Modern kitchen clogs are designed to be comfortable during long hours of standing and have nonslip soles that are helpful when walking briskly on surfaces that may be slick with oil or water. A rounded toe box and sturdy materials such as leather or polymer protect feet from injuries. 

Clogs are originally Dutch and were developed in the 13th century. Before the advent of modern materials, such shoes were made entirely of wood. Traditionally worn by laborers, including fishermen and farmers, wooden clogs—also called klompen—protected the feet from injury and were naturally water-resistant.  

Shoes Must Suit the Wearer

While the chefs we spoke with agree that clogs are king, they also pointed out that all feet are different, and that kitchen shoes should be tailored to each cook’s individual needs.

These days, Courtney White, chef-owner of Blanca Food & Wine in Norfolk, Virginia, is wearing shoes for two. “I’m in [the kitchen] and I’m pregnant,” she explained. Her clog of choice comes from Dansko, and has higher arches than Crocs she’s tried, she explained. They also help with posture, which can alleviate lumbar issues, something she has been focusing on as she’s gotten older. 

Unlike some chefs who don fashionable footwear in the kitchen, White noted that she opts for simple, functional attire, and therefore, her chosen shoes are always basic black. Whether she’s plating Blanca’s fennel and celery salad with dates, walnuts and Pecorino or the speckled trout with Bomba rice and chorizo broth, White prefers to let the food do the talking.  

Dansko XP 2.0 Clogs

Tall Chef, Shorter Sole

Unlike Alberini and White, who’s 5 feet, 4 inches tall, Matthew McClure, executive chef of the Woodstock Inn & Resort in Vermont, has no trouble reaching the uppermost shelves in a kitchen—he’s 6-foot-1. “I don’t need the extra height that a Dansko clog gives me,” he noted. 

His chosen shoe nowadays is the Birkenstock Tokio in professional-looking black leather. The shoe is still technically a clog but has an open back and a thinner sole than Alberini’s or White’s choices. 

During his tenure as executive chef at the Hive restaurant in Bentonville, Arkansas, McClure was nominated for the James Beard Best Chef South award seven times. When he moved to Vermont to take the position at the Woodstock Inn, he shifted from working in a single kitchen to being in charge of multiple dining establishments. Special dinners and wedding catering also fall under his purview.

On a typical workday, McClure might visit the property’s flagship, The Red Rooster, where diners can try an artisan cheese tasting followed by rib-eye with shiso chimichurri, smoked oyster aioli and Okinawa yams, and then stroll over to Richardson’s Tavern, which offers casually elegant dishes such as house-made gemelli pasta with forest mushrooms, cauliflower and Grana Padano cheese. Sometimes, he pops out to the resort’s Kelly Way Gardens to check out the produce that will be available for upcoming menus. 

Having to walk between kitchens and out to the garden, rather than standing steadfast in front of a single restaurant’s stove, McClure explained, has changed what he needs from his shoes. These altered habits convinced him to move from a more classic clog to the lower-profile leather Birkenstock. 

“I’m a form follows function kind of guy,” McClure noted. “I’m not brand loyal, but once a decision’s made, I move on. I’ve got very few complaints [about my shoes].”  

Birkenstock Tokio Super Grip Leather Sandals

How Often Should You Buy New Kitchen Shoes? 

“I’m a big spender,” Alberini explained, but whereas she used to drop $200 per pair of shoes, her favorite Crocs cost closer to $50. That allows her to buy a replacement pair every four months. “I’ve done a lot of shoe research,” she said, “And I always come back to Crocs … they’re kind of like a BFF.” 

White replaces her Dansko kitchen shoes a couple of times a year and regrets it when she fails to bring them to work. “Sometimes I’ll go to the gym, work out and then go straight to work,” she mentioned. “If I forget my clogs and have to wear sneakers at work, I’m miserable. 

McClure’s Birkenstocks may be leather, but he doesn’t do anything special to care for them. “I don’t condition the leather. I don’t treat them,” he noted. Perhaps that’s because he invests in a new pair every six months, ensuring that the no-slip soles are as grippy as they need to be. “I can only imagine that the traction has saved me more times than I can count,” he guessed. 

The Bottom Line

If you want to enjoy the comfort of great kitchen shoes, look for clogs that are intended for those who work on their feet. Among those, choose the ones that make the most sense for your body—taking arch height and the width of your feet into account. If you’re shorter, and could use some extra height when prepping on countertops, select shoes with thicker soles. If you’re tall and tend to bump your head on hanging pans, look for a pair with thinner soles.