The 43 Best Splurge-Worthy Gifts for People Who Love to Cook

If you’re going to give a kitchen gift to a serious cook (especially if that cook is yourself), make it worth everyone’s while by investing in quality. Nothing is more disappointing than trying out a shiny new tool or appliance only to have it fall short or apart after its first few uses. 

And let’s face it: A splurge can be fun. Wow someone with something they’d never think to buy for themselves! Dream up new possibilities in the kitchen and fun and innovative ways to entertain! We’ve pulled together this gift guide of seriously great food-related gifts that are worth every penny. Some are the highest of high-end, some are surprisingly affordable for their excellent quality, and all aced our extensive product testing protocols.

Kitchen Essentials for Serious Cooks

The Dutch Oven That Will Last a Lifetime

Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron 5.5-Quart Round Dutch Oven

$420 at Amazon $260 at Williams Sonoma $420 at Food52

There’s a reason Le Creuset’s Dutch ovens have come out on top in our testing time after time. They are simply the crème de la crème when it comes to enameled cast iron, offering wide-looped handles, tough-as-nails construction, and a broad searing surface. Many Serious Eats editors have used these Dutch ovens for years with no damage or wear, and they come in an incredible array of fun colors to match any kitchen’s style.

A Gorgeous End-Grain Cutting Board

The Boardsmith Maple End-Grain Cutting Board

$360 at Amazon View on Theboardsmith.com

In our testing of wooden cutting boards, this one rose to the top. This extra-large, substantial board is not only stunning, but it will also keep knives sharp and it’s basically impossible to ding, gash, or warp. With clean edges and a buttery smooth finish, the craftsmanship and care put into the Boardsmith’s construction are evident.

An Ultra-Sharp Carbon Steel Chef’s Knife

Zwilling Kanren 8-inch Chef's Knife

$180 at Williams Sonoma

Serious cooks love carbon steel knives. Blades made with high-carbon steel are harder than stainless steel options, which makes them better at getting—and keeping—an extraordinarily keen edge when sharpened. This winning model blends some of the best aspects of German and Japanese styles into one superb knife. Plus, it’s stunning!

The Best Blender Money Can Buy

Vitamix 5200 Professional-Grade Blender

$427 $350 at Amazon View on Vitamix.com $643 at Newegg.com

Vitamix makes the best blenders on the market, hands down. When we compared (almost) all of them, the 5200 Professional-Grade Blender came out on top, as it has in our product testing for over a decade. Its slim, tall jar creates a vortex that pulls ingredients down and keeps them close to the blades, creating silky-smooth smoothies, soups, purées, and nut butter. Your giftee can blend almost anything with this model—smooth move!

A Food Processor with Tons of Extras

Breville BFP838BSS1BNA1 16-Cup Paradice Food Processor

$550 at Williams Sonoma $700 $550 at Sur La Table View on Breville.com

This food processor performed flawlessly in our tests. It kneaded dough easily, blitzed together a mirepoix speedily, and made perfectly emulsified mayonnaise. It comes with tons of handy attachments—three dicing blades, three slicing disks (including a French fry disk!), three blades, and a mini bowl for small tasks—that all pack up into two lidded plastic boxes. Don’t think your gift recipient wants quite so many attachments to keep track of? The similar, simplified Breville Sous Chef also excelled at any task we threw its way.

The Absolute Best Kitchen Scale

OXO 11-lb. Stainless Steel Food Scale With Pull-Out Display

$56 $50 at Amazon $56 at Williams Sonoma $13 at Walmart

For a myriad of kitchen tasks—measuring dry ingredients for baking, feeding a sourdough starter, portioning meatballs, you name it—this tried-and-true kitchen scale has been our favorite for years. It’s accurate for everyday cooking and has a pull-out display that makes it easy to read, even with extra-large mixing bowls or sheet pans placed on top. Give the gift of precision and fewer dishes to do—something every cook can appreciate!

The Most Accurate Instant-Read Thermometer

ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE

$115 $92 at Amazon View on Thermoworks View on Kingarthurbaking.com

Yes, every serious cook should have an instant-read thermometer, and the Thermapen ONE is the best. Whether your gift recipient is roasting, deep-frying, poaching, grilling, or baking, this highly accurate thermometer will help them avoid over- and under-cooking. It works quickly and has a large digital screen that automatically lights up and rotates so it can be read at any angle.

For Outdoor Enthusiasts

A Versatile Pizza Oven for Perfect Pies

Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven

$799 $520 at Amazon $650 at Williams Sonoma View on Ooni.com

Ooni makes many styles of pizza ovens, but this is our favorite. It’s one of the brand’s most advanced models and can run on charcoal, wood, or gas, making it ideal for a variety of cooking scenarios and setups. It’s ultrafast, ultra-hot, and one of the only pizza ovens of its kind to be “Recommended for Domestic Use” by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN)—the authorities on Neapolitan pizza. 

An Outdoor Griddle for Aspiring Short Order Cooks

Traeger Flatrock Flat Top Grill

$900 $800 at Amazon $800 at Williams Sonoma $900 $800 at Home Depot

Let your gift recipient live their ultimate diner dreams by smashing burgers, toasting up grilled cheeses, or making bacon and eggs for a crowd on an outdoor flat-top grill. This pricey model by Traeger got the nod for “best splurge” in our testing of outdoor griddles for its helpful extras like multiple cooking zones and indicator lights. The Weber 36 Inch Gas Griddle is also an excellent choice.

The Coolest of Coolers

Yeti Roadie 48 Rolling Wheeled Cooler

$400 at Amazon View on Yeti.com View on Westmarine.com

If your giftee loves to cook in the great outdoors, the Yeti Roadie 48 will keep their perishables icy cold for hours and hours. It stole the show during our extensive cooler testing, boasting an excellent balance of insulation and storage space. Its compact cube shape makes it easy to carry and stow, and its wheels and telescoping handle are wonderfully maneuverable. Want something lightweight? Yeti came out on top in our testing of soft coolers as well with its Hopper Flip 18 Insulated Personal Cooler—perfect for picnics.

A Cozy and Versatile Outdoor Fire Pit

Solo Stove Ranger 2.0 Fire Pit

$180 at Amazon $199 $17 at Walmart $180 at Home Depot

For cooking over a live fire, you can’t beat a Solo Stove. Pair it with the Cast Iron Grill Top + Hub and a cast iron griddle and start grilling up meat and veggies over an open flame! Or keep things simple and enjoy it as a fire pit while toasting some marshmallows. 

A Smoker to Keep Things Smoking Hot

Dyna-Glo Signature Series Heavy-Duty Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker & Grill

$498 at Amazon $40 at Walmart $473 at Lowe's

This charcoal smoker is sure to set a barbecue lover’s heart ablaze. Its vertical orientation makes it a good space saver for home use, but with five separate racks—and a sixth in the fuel box—there is still plenty of space to play with. It burned fuel efficiently and maintained our desired temperature throughout testing, so you can smoke up a rack of ribs with ease.

A Dinnerware Set to Elevate Outdoor Dining

Fable New York Colorful Bamboo Dinnerware

$32 at Food52

Make an outdoor dinner gathering as elegant as an indoor one with this winning outdoor dinnerware set from Fable. Made from a mix of bamboo and melamine for strength, these colorful plates and bowls are durable, lightweight, and easy to stack, carry, and store. So much better than paper plates. Looking for something more fancypants? Check out this chic set by Tarhong as well.

For Star Bakers

A Professional-Grade Stand Mixer

Wolf Gourmet WGSM100S High-Performance Stand Mixer

$793 at Amazon $800 at Williams Sonoma $800 at Best Buy

For a truly professional-grade piece of machinery, splurge on this model by Wolf. Its 500-watt motor effortlessly creamed butter, whipped heavy cream, and kneaded dough during testing, and the generous seven-quart bowl was large enough to handle double batches of any recipe we threw its way. If your gift recipient bakes often or in large quantities, this mixer will be up to the task.

A Tabletop Dough Sheeter for The Best Homemade Croissants

Brod & Taylor Compact Dough Sheeter 12"

$545 $495 at Amazon View on Brodandtaylor.com

While it is entirely possible to make laminated pastry doughs by hand, it’s also something of a bear to do, especially for beginners. Be like the pros and use a dough sheeter to create perfectly layered croissants, puff pastry, and Danish with ease! This tool eliminates the need for tedious rolling by hand, so your giftee can transform their home into a boulangerie any time. And if they want to make tons of laminated pastries, you can upgrade to the even larger (but still compact and fold-away!) 15.5-inch model.

A Home Sweet Home for Sourdough Starters

Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home

$119 at Amazon $120 at Williams Sonoma $120 at Sur La Table

If your gift recipient is a sourdough enthusiast, this precise, temperature-controlled cabinet can improve the potency of their starter. Our resident bread expert loves his, as it cools (or warms) the starter to within 2˚F of the set temperature and holds it there indefinitely, providing optimal baking results.

A Seriously Hot Baking Steel

Baking Steel The Original Baking Steel

$129 at Amazon $119 at Bakingsteel.com

There are few breads that don’t benefit from cooking on a heat-conducting baking surface. For pizzas and flatbreads in particular, getting that surface as hot as possible will help the bottom of the dough bake extra fast before any toppings can burn. For fans of maximum oven spring and the crispiest crusts in indoor pizzas and artisan breads, a baking steel delivers optimal results.

Smart Kitchen Tech

An Excellent Immersion Circulator

Breville Joule Turbo Sous Vide

$250 at Amazon $17 at Walmart $250 at Target

The Breville Joule Turbo is the best immersion circulator for most cooks interested in cooking sous vide. It's accurate, it heats water quickly and quietly, and it has a sleek design with innovative features, like a magnetic base that clings to the bottom of many pots and an app packed with recipes and helpful videos (like how to clean your sous vide).

A Steam-Injected Smart Oven

Anova Precision Oven

View on Anovaculinary.com

For crusty loaves of bread, juicy roast chickens, and the crispiest potatoes ever, harness the power of steam with this innovative countertop oven. Its attached water tank can add a precise amount of steam to the oven’s chamber as you roast, sous vide, toast, or bake. It also connects to your smartphone, and the recipes on the app are diverse and delicious. And if you have an Alexa, you can connect it to the oven for voice control and a hands-off cooking experience.

The Ultimate Beverage Fridge

Rocco The Super Smart Fridge

View on Roccofridge.com $1,495 at Goop.com

For the wine, beer, or seltzer snob in your life, this attractive, multifaceted smart fridge lets them store an impressive quantity of beverages at their ideal temperatures. They can control the dual-temperature zones with their phone to dial in the precise temperature they’re seeking, and the fridge blocks harmful UV rays from damaging bottles while also controlling the surrounding humidity. The recessed top can also be used to create an attractive bar or display area for photos or curios.

Fun Gadgets

For Homemade Bread at the Push of a Button

Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Bread Maker

$388 at Amazon $400 at Williams Sonoma $400 at Target

For home cooks without the time or inclination to shepherd a batch of bread through its stages of baking, a bread machine offers a hands-off cooking option for fresh loaves. This winner from our testing was spot-on with its mixing, kneading, stretching, and proofing, baking up pillowy soft white bread and hearty rye loaves. We appreciate its dual paddles and rectangular pan shape, which deliver easily sliceable (and sandwich-friendly) bread.

For On-Demand Ice Cream

Cuisinart ICE-100 Compressor Ice Cream and Gelato Maker

$298 at Amazon $19 at Walmart $300 at Sur La Table

If your recipient doesn’t have the freezer space (or forethought) to chill a canister in advance, this compressor-style ice cream maker is a game changer. Its compressor runs during churning to chill the ice cream bowl insert while the paddle aerates the base to keep it from freezing solid. It churns out batch after batch of silky, luscious ice cream and gelato, so your giftee can make delicious homemade ice cream any time the inspiration strikes!

A Soda Maker That Makes Anything Bubbly

Breville InFizz Fusion Sparkling Beverage Carbonator

$250 at Williams Sonoma View on Breville.com

Lots of folks make their own sparkling water at home, but this gadget takes that idea one step further: Thanks to its FusionCap, it can withstand the additional pressure necessary to carbonate non-water beverages like juice, lemonade, cocktails, and more. We put it through its paces and think the InFizz is great for anyone who can’t get enough of sparkling, bubbly beverages.

A Pizza Oven for the Great Indoors

Ooni Volt 12 Electric Pizza Oven

$899 $720 at Amazon $720 at Williams Sonoma $899 $720 at Sur La Table

If your gift recipient loves blisteringly hot homemade pizza but doesn’t have access to outdoor space to cook it (or it’s just too cold out there!), this pizza oven brings the magic indoors. The Ooni Volt was the most powerful indoor pizza oven we tried, reaching temperatures up to 850°F, cooking pizzas in just 90 seconds, and yielding pies with beautiful leopard spotting and pillowy crusts–all while staying cool to the touch on the outside. For a more compact option, the Breville Pizzaiolo is also great. 

A Consistently Great Air Fryer

Instant Pot Vortex Plus 6-Quart 6-in-1 Air Fryer

$140 $80 at Amazon $150 at Williams Sonoma $15 at Walmart

Give the gift of the crispiest-ever fries, chicken wings, or veggies thanks to an air fryer. These trendy countertop appliances heat and cook efficiently, work faster than an oven (or toaster oven), and actually minimize cleanup. Year after year, this powerful air fryer by Instant Pot has come out on top in our testing, cooking items the fastest and most evenly of any we’ve tried.

A Highly Accurate Probe Thermometer

ThermoWorks Chef Alarm Cooking Alarm Thermometer and Timer

View on Thermoworks

When you're roasting, baking, grilling, or smoking, it's great to have a way to track temperature over time and to even set an alarm so that the rib roast you paid big bucks for doesn't end up a dry hunk of meat. A probe thermometer displays the food’s internal temperature (via wired probe) on a remote unit outside the grill or oven, so you don’t need to keep opening it up to check with a handheld thermometer. This model by ThermoWorks is accurate, fast, and incredibly easy to use.

An Impressive Countertop Composter

Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50

$400 $150 at Amazon $400 at Williams Sonoma $400 at Sur La Table

For the gift recipient who loves to garden or just wants to reduce food waste, this countertop composter effectively grinds food scraps and dries them into fertilizer in mere hours. One of our editors used it for six months with great results.

For Elegant Entertaining

A Gorgeous Dinnerware Set

Made In The Tabletop Set Complete

$399 at Amazon View on Made In Cookware

Made of luxurious but durable English porcelain, this dinnerware set boasts beautiful, glossy finishes and striking visual appeal. It includes dinner plates, appetizer plates, bread and butter plates, side bowls, and very spacious entrée bowls, plus silverware and a beautiful platter. Your gift recipient will be ready to entertain for years to come.

A Stunning Pair of Universal Wine Glasses

Josephinenhütte Josephine No. 2 Universal Wine Glass

$220 $165 at Amazon View on Josephinen.com

With a universal wine glass in hand, you can enjoy red, white, or sparkling wines equally well. Featuring a sharp-angled bowl and unique indent, this splurge option is a standout modern glass. It’s comfortable to hold and has a design that quickly opens up wine, concentrating its aroma for a richer tasting experience.

Luxuriously Thick Cloth Napkins

Coyuchi Sonoma Textured Organic Napkins

View on Coyuchi.com

No table setting is complete without beautiful linens. These organic cotton napkins were standout performers during our testing of cloth napkins, boasting luxe thickness. The colors are gorgeous and made from nontoxic dyes, and the stitching is impeccable. For a more whimsical look, we also loved this scallop trim napkin set by Schoolhouse.

A Modern Bar Cart

Pottery Barn Hugo Metal Bar Cart

$499 at Pottery Barn

The primary function of a bar cart is to help home bartenders keep their supplies and tools stowed and organized. But they also serve an aesthetic purpose as a piece of mobile home decor and an easy spot for a host to whip up drinks for guests. This sleek cart from Pottery Barn is incredibly functional, with three shelves for a budding mixologist to show off their collection of bottles, glassware, and accessories.

An Elegant, Traditional Fondue Pot

All-Clad Cast Aluminum Fondue Pot

$190 $180 at Amazon $200 at Williams Sonoma $200 at Sur La Table

Your gift recipient can conjure the ultimate cozy après ski vibes for their guests with this traditional-style fondue pot. The clever double-boiler design kept cheese and chocolate fondues evenly creamy during our testing, with no hot spots under the flame. The set is heavy and luxurious-feeling and should last for years to come.

For Coffee & Tea Lovers

The Best Coffee Grinder for Serious Coffee Geeks

Baratza Virtuoso+ Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

$250 at Amazon $250 at Williams Sonoma $250 at Sur La Table

Ask a coffee pro what the biggest upgrade someone can make is and they’ll say a good burr grinder. This model by Baratza is consistently recommended by experts as the top option for home use, and for good reason. It has over 40 (!) grind sizes, so the coffee lover in your life can brew in whatever style they wish.

A Luxury Coffee Maker

Ratio Six Coffee Maker

$359 at Amazon View on Ratiocoffee.com

In our testing of automatic drip coffee makers, the Ratio Six made the best-tasting coffee we’ve had from a home machine. It’s a solid piece of equipment that’s built to last and is the daily coffee maker for multiple Serious Eats staffers. 

An Excellent Espresso Machine

Breville Bambino Plus Espresso Machine

$500 at Amazon $500 at Williams Sonoma $500 at Sur La Table

Beginners and pros alike can pull an excellent shot with this espresso machine. It’s quick to heat, a breeze to use, and can hold its own against models twice its size. 

An Innovative Coffee Canister

Fellow Atmos Vacuum Coffee Canister

$40 at Amazon $40 at Williams Sonoma $41 at Target

Keep your precious coffee beans at peak freshness by storing them in this vacuum-sealed coffee canister. Both coffee experts and regular coffee drinkers alike could taste the difference it made during our testing, offering still-vibrant flavor to brews long after beans stored in other canisters had gone stale.

An Electric Kettle with Ultimate Temperature Control

Fellow Corvo EKG Electric Kettle

$165 at Amazon $165 at Williams Sonoma $166 at Target

Tea enthusiasts know that different teas are optimally brewed at different temperatures—not just boiling! This variable electric kettle lets the tea-lover in your life set precise temperatures exactly to their liking. The kettle also automatically holds water at the set temperature for 60 minutes, which was the longest of the lineup in our testing. Make tea time tip-top with this ultra-precise kettle!

A Fancy Frother for Coffee or Tea Lattes

Breville Milk Cafe Frother

$160 at Amazon $160 at Williams Sonoma $160 at QVC

For a truly cozy gift, recreate a luxurious tea or coffee house experience at home with a milk frother. This handy device can help you or your giftee execute a perfect foam for everything from matcha lattes to cappuccinos to decadent hot cocoas. This model by Breville has a custom temperature dial so you can pick exactly how hot or cold you’d like your milk to be for the perfect morning beverage.

Gourmet Gift Subscriptions

A Wide-Ranging Coffee Subscription

Bean Box Gourmet Coffee Sampler

$29 at Amazon $24 at Beanbox.com

Bean Box’s Coffee Sampler gives your recipient four 1.8-ounce sampler bags (enough for two to three pour-overs or one larger batch of drip coffee) from four roasters every month. It’s a great gift option for any coffee fanatic—they'll get to try numerous beans without having to open a full-sized bag.

A Cheese Subscription Curated by Experts

Murray’s Cheese Cheese Explorer's Club

View on Murrayscheese.com

For cheese enthusiasts, this decadent cheese subscription features three to four cheeses selected by expert cheesemongers and is available via three-, six-, or 12-month subscriptions. When we gave this subscription a whirl, the cheese arrived in pristine condition and was some of the best our editors had ever tried.

Incredible Oysters, Delivered to Your Door

Real Oyster Cult Monthly Membership

View on Realoystercult.com

A family-owned business located in Duxbury, Massachusetts, Real Oyster Cult sources some of the freshest bivalves around. Treat your giftee to oysters that arrive ice cold and in separate mesh bags, with wonderful accompaniments like Mignon-Nips or excellent caviar. Plus, if your recipient lives in New England, shipping is free.

A Vibrant Spice Subscription

Burlap & Barrel Spice Club Gift Subscription

View on Burlapandbarrel.com

When it comes to buying spices online, this spice subscription has long been a favorite of Serious Eats staffers. The quarterly subscription includes four jars of spices (including ones that haven’t been released yet) and a collaboration food product, like a box of Sfoglini x Burlap and Barrel pasta. Your giftee will love cooking with these vibrant, versatile single-origin spices.

A Wine Subscription for Newbies

Wine Access Membership

View on Wineaccess.com

If your gift recipient is just getting into wine, the Discovery Club is a truly excellent place to start. It comes with a quarterly delivery of six bottles, YouTube videos detailing tasting notes and stories on the winemakers and vineyards, and sheets for each bottle for them to write down tasting and olfactory notes. 

FAQs

What's the best gift for a chef?

We think a chef would appreciate any of the above gifts and the best one would totally depend on their interests. Are they into sous vide? Have they taken up baking? Do they enjoy live-fire cooking? We have ideas for all of these! You can also always count on other popular kitchen tools, which the chef in your life is sure to love. However, when in doubt, you can't go wrong with a gift card to their favorite local restaurant.

What's a good personalized gift for a chef?

The manufacturers of our favorite wooden cutting board, The Boardsmith, offer personalized boards, which could be a fun idea if you're looking to go that route. Hedley & Bennett, which makes some excellent aprons, also offers embroidery and patch customization.

Why We're the Experts

• Afton Cyrus is a food blogger, recipe developer, culinary instructor, and freelance food writer and editor. She spent eight years as a test cook and editor at America’s Test Kitchen before becoming a contributor to Serious Eats in 2023.
• Her recipes and food writing appear online for Serious Eats, King Arthur Baking Company, and The Kitchn, and in print in award-winning and New York Times-bestselling cookbooks for America’s Test Kitchen and Ten Speed Press.
• Afton has learned from the best how to execute rigorous and objective equipment testing protocols. You can see her meticulous approach to product testing in action in her reviews of hand mixers, liquid measuring cups, fondue pots, and pressure canners.