Collection: Gifts for Cooks & Chefs

A cook who is in the kitchen most nights already owns the pans, the knives and three whisks. What lands is a better version of something that wears out, or a project that takes over a weekend.

Boards, cups and the small swaps

The Droplet Bamboo Cutting Board is hand-shaped, 15" by 8.5", oiled with a food-safe finish and tied with a waxed cotton loop so it hangs. The Bamboo Undercut Cutting & Serving Boards have carved handholds at both ends and run up to 14" by 9"; both boards want a hand wash, not the dishwasher. JOCO's reusable glass coffee cups are borosilicate glass with a medical-grade silicone lid and sleeve, microwave and dishwasher safe, in 12oz and 16oz barista sizes. The Barebones Herb Harvest and Strip Tool is 304 food-grade stainless — a scissor side for trimming, a stripping side that pulls rosemary or kale off the stalk in one pass. FreshPaper's Bread Saver is eight spice-infused sheets made in the USA; a pack keeps the bread bag covered for about two months.

A weekend, not an object

FarmSteady's kits hand a cook something to do. The Fermented Pickle Kit and the Fermented Hot Sauce Making Kit share the same hardware: a half-gallon glass jar, a glass weight, a lid with an airlock and kosher salt. Pickles are ready after three days at room temperature; peppers want two to three weeks. The Sourdough Bread Making Tool Kit is all the specialty equipment and none of the flour: a natural-fiber banneton with a cover, a bread lame with four spare blades, and two scrapers. The Hard Apple Cider Making Tool Kit covers three batches, so it suits someone near an orchard or a farm stand.

Canners, filters and grow lights

The All-American Pressure Canner/Cooker seals metal-to-metal instead of with a rubber gasket, with a regulator weight set at 5, 10 or 15 psi and a canning rack included; sizes run from 10.5 to 41.5 quarts, made in the USA since 1930. The Travel Berkey System filters for one to three people with no power or plumbing, on two Black Berkey elements rated to 6,000 gallons. It does not ship to California or Iowa. For a cook with no garden, Modern Sprout's Smart Growhouse is a 16.5"-wide countertop planter with app-scheduled LEDs, and Just Vertical's Eve grows twelve plants in a pre-assembled birch and pine cabinet. More sits in Kitchen & Dining; Gifts for the Gardener suits someone who grows what they cook.