I have four pair of tongs in my kitchen.
Two of the "scissors" type, one of those is ", the other is 10".
One 20 - 24" pair of tongs, just a bit piece of wire bent to shape, with the flattened ends spot-welded on, and rubber grips. I usually use these for stirring and moving coals around in my charcoal grill.
One 9" pair, brand-name "Edlund", stainless steel, SS spring, "locking" with the push-pull device. This is my hand's-down favorite pair for general use. Of course, my kids have pried the tongs open while it was "locked" shut, so the little slide is now all bent to heck and it won't lock, but it still opens and closes.
The reason my "Edlund" tongs are my favorite, is that they are the same thing that we have floating around at my job. I bought them at Williams-Sonoma about 10 - 12 years ago.
I am a big fan of tongs. I use them for everything, i.e., grabbing saute pans out of the oven/salamander, grabbing things out of the fryer, grabbing things that are just out of reach, etc. I prefer a 9" length. I can use 6" tongs equally well, but the big 12 - 14" tongs we have at work are just too freaking big. When I start my shift, one of the first things I do is remove all the 12 - 14" tongs that the day saute cook uses, and replace them with a mixed load of 6" and 9" tongs. Since I use tongs for many different things, I tend to keep A LOT on hand so that I reduce cross-contamination. Of course, I have to send them through the dishpit as needed.
