Best Gifts For Home Cooks
Home cooks are easy to shop for and easy to get wrong. The trap is buying a gadget that does one thing, because it lives in a drawer after the second use.
What actually gets used is dull: a sharp knife, a pan that holds heat, and a handful of small tools that come out every single time somebody cooks.
Everything below is grouped by how well equipped the cook already is. All of it is in stock with a real buy box, and the star rating is listed on each so you can see what you are choosing between.
For Someone Setting Up Their First Kitchen
At this stage almost everything is missing, so the useful gifts are the ones that replace three cheap things with one good one.
PAUDIN 8 Inch Chef Knife
Most home kitchens have six dull knives and need one sharp one. An eight inch chef knife does perhaps ninety percent of the work in a normal week.
High carbon stainless takes a keen edge and holds it, and the handle is shaped rather than an afterthought. If you buy one thing off this list, buy this.
Rating: 4.7 stars across 7,856 reviews.
Lodge 12 Inch Cast Iron Skillet
Cast iron gets a lot of mystique and deserves almost none of it. It gets hotter than a nonstick pan, holds that heat when cold food hits it, and goes in the oven.
Twelve inches is the size that fits four chicken thighs or a whole cornbread. It arrives seasoned and ready to use.
Rating: 4.6 stars from more than 144,000 reviews.
Nordic Ware Half Sheet Pan Set
Thin sheet pans buckle in a hot oven with a bang that makes everyone jump. Heavy aluminum ones do not.
These are the commercial style pans that restaurants use for everything from roasting vegetables to cooling cookies. Deeply unglamorous and used constantly.
Rating: 4.3 stars across 592 reviews.
HOTEC Silicone Spatula Set
One piece silicone means no gap between head and handle for old batter to hide in.
Rated to 600F, so they can live in a hot pan without curling. A budget-friendly filler gift that gets used every single day.
Rating: 4.8 stars from more than 39,000 reviews.
The Small Tools That Do The Most Work
None of these look like much. All of them get picked up every time somebody cooks.
TempPro TP19H Instant Read Thermometer
This is the gift that most improves somebody cooking for the least money. Chicken stops being dry. Steak stops being a gamble.
It reads in about a second and the probe folds away. Anyone who cooks meat and does not own one is cooking blind.
Rating: 4.7 stars from more than 55,000 reviews.
OXO Good Grips Bench Scraper
A bench scraper is how you move a pile of chopped onion without dragging a knife edge across the board.
It also portions dough, scrapes a work surface clean, and measures on the marked edge. People who own one are evangelical about it.
Rating: 4.8 stars across 18,959 reviews.
OXO Good Grips Slotted Fish Spatula
Do not let the name put you off. The thin, flexible, slotted blade is the best all round turner in most kitchens.
It slides under a fried egg, a fillet, or a cookie without breaking any of them.
Rating: 4.8 stars across 11,660 reviews.
Microplane Classic Zester
Lemon zest, garlic, ginger, nutmeg and parmesan all come off a Microplane in seconds and in a texture nothing else produces.
The knock off versions go blunt. This one does not, which is the whole reason to buy the real thing.
Rating: 4.8 stars across 11,498 reviews.
For The Cook Who Bakes Or Wants To
Baking rewards precision in a way that everyday cooking does not.
Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale
Baking by volume is why two people follow the same recipe and get different bread. A scale removes that entirely.
The tare button means everything goes in one bowl, which is also fewer things to wash. It stores flat in a drawer.
Rating: 4.6 stars from more than 176,000 reviews.
ChefSofi Granite Mortar And Pestle
A blender chops. A mortar crushes, and crushing is what releases the oils in spices and herbs.
Toasted cumin, a proper pesto, or a garlic paste for a marinade all come out different from this than from any machine. Heavy granite, so it stays put on the counter.
Rating: 4.8 stars across 19,453 reviews.
For The One Who Already Owns Everything
Harder to buy for, but there are still gaps. These are the things people want and keep not buying.
Lodge Enamel Cast Iron Dutch Oven
This is the splurge on the list and the one most likely to be used weekly for the next twenty years. Six quarts covers a braise for six, a batch of chilli, or a loaf of no knead bread.
The enamel means no seasoning to maintain, and it goes from the hob straight into the oven.
Rating: 4.7 stars across 39,104 reviews.
ONCE FOR ALL Safe Mandoline Slicer
Even slices are the difference between gratin that cooks properly and gratin that is raw in the middle.
Standard mandolines are genuinely dangerous. This one is built around a guard and an adjustable dial, which is the version worth giving as a present.
Rating: 4.4 stars across 5,365 reviews.
OXO Good Grips Pepper Grinder
Pre-ground pepper is dust. Whole peppercorns keep their oils until the moment they are crushed, and the difference is obvious in anything simple.
The grind adjusts from fine to coarse and it works one handed over a pan.
Rating: 4.5 stars across 13,190 reviews.
Acacia Wood Salt Box
Cooks who season well season by hand, and that needs salt sitting open next to the hob rather than in a shaker.
The swivel lid keeps it dry between uses. Small, cheap, and it changes how somebody seasons within a week.
Rating: 4.6 stars across 4,069 reviews.
What To Skip
Single use gadgets. Avocado slicers, strawberry hullers, egg separators. A knife and a spoon already do all of it, and the drawer is finite.
Knife blocks with fourteen pieces. Most of the knives are filler, the steel is spread thin across the set, and the good ones get used while the rest take up counter space.
Anything that needs its own pods or refills, unless you know the person already uses that system.
Related Questions
What is the best gift for someone who loves to cook?
An instant read thermometer or a sharp chef knife. Both improve the food immediately, both get used constantly, and neither depends on what the cook already owns.
What kitchen gift do people actually keep using?
Small tools rather than appliances. A bench scraper, a fish spatula and a Microplane zester get picked up every time somebody cooks, while gadgets tend to be used twice.
What should I buy a cook who already has everything?
Something they would not buy for themselves. An enameled dutch oven, a granite mortar and pestle, or a salt box for the counter all fill gaps people put off closing.
Is cast iron a good gift?
Yes, as long as it is a plain pre-seasoned skillet rather than a novelty shape. A twelve inch pan handles most weeknight cooking and lasts decades with basic care.
Still stuck? If they are a tea drinker as well as a cook, our guide to the best cast iron teapots is worth a look, and the best non toxic cutting boards guide covers the one surface every kitchen needs.
Up Next: Best Gifts For Bakers
