Will she bake bread? Cakes? Cupcakes? You can go crazy with specialized baking equipment, and bread has different needs from cakes. I would start with the following:

at least two good mixing bowls, perhaps one in stainless and another in ceramic or pyrex.
one cookie sheet
one muffin pan
two 8 inch round cake pans
either a bundt or a tube pan
spring form cake pan
a pie dish or tart pan.
wooden spoons
measuring spoons
measuring cups for dry ingredients
measuring cup for liquids
manual or electric egg beater
pastry blender
one loaf pan

Also really nice to have is a marble or granite cutting board for pastry and dough kneading, but not really necessary. For the pans, I strongly prefer aluminum without a nonstick coating, which are harder to find. You just rub them with butter or shortening to make them non stick. The nonstick coating on baking pans seems to be incredibly short lived. The new pyrex baking stuff is not particularly good quality, they changed the formula.

This is a good starter list which will allow her to bake most things. She can add specialized pans or additional quantities as she gets a feel for her baking habits.

Breville Smart Oven

josh is right on though I might add a 9x13 pan to that. OH... pastry brush and rolling pin. You ought to go to a place like TJ Maxx or Home Goods. I bet you could outfit that entire thing with a generous budget like that.

Great list, josh, and I agree with remodelfla on the need for a 9x13.

Also, I would add one of those silicone spatula/scraper things. I have about five and use all of them regularly. I couldn't happily bake without one!

~MM

I think I'd give her the mixer, because the pans, bowls, etc she can pick up for $5 and $10 here and there as she needs them, and depending on what she bakes, she may never use them.

For example, I just bake bread (or used to, until I stepped on the scale - now my bread hobby is on hold) and all I really use is a bowl and a sheet pan.

But a nice stand mixer is a bigger purchase, would be harder to make, and is (I think) likely to be used in most baking.

I second what johnliu said, plus it comes in one nice box to wrap, instead of lots of things that don't come in boxes.
But his reason is much better.
:oD

kitchenaid mixer + a "recipe" (list) of things she should buy ;)

I would also get the kitchen aid mixer if you are spending that much money. As an alternative, I love the Pampered Chef stone pans and batter bowls. The stone pans are great for baking and are a non stick alternative to teflon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pampered Chef Stoneware

If you could find a good enough bargain, you might be able to throw in an "extra" or two, but I'd go with the stand mixer as well. If someone had given me a KA when I got married, I'd have fainted and we'd be even fatter than we are now.

That's a purchase hard to make for most newlyweds.

Maybe you could coordinate with someone else on the "extras"? You get the mixer, then get them to get a few goodies to go with it?

forgot to add.. to add to the already great lists above.. a great whisk and a rolling pin.

A kitchenaid mixer is a classic wedding gift - that would be my choice.

Definitely the KitchenAid first.

As for the list...some tweaks: A jelly-roll type pan with short sides (.75 inches to 1" ) instead of a standard cookie sheet with no sides. The jelly-roll pan doubles as a cookie sheet, but also allows you to make jelly rolls or thin bar cookies. If it fit the budget, I'd double up on that pan, the muffin tin and the loaf pan. I can't imagine baking just ONE pan of each at any one time.

And I'd add: A pastry bag with a plain tip and a star tip.
At least one silicone baking sheet (and or a box of parchment paper). A flat metal spatula to use for icing cakes, etc.

I cannot believe that I forgot the whisk, rolling pin, and pastry brush!

On the kitchenaid mixer, we have one, cook and bake a LOT, and almost never use it. I think the electric egg beater is handier, although I currently do not own one of them either! I think the kitchenaid is very handy for egg-leavened cakes and beating egg whites, which gets a bit tiring by hand.

I strongly prefer the french type rolling pin to the regular kind.

I love the idea of a full set of excellent quality bake ware and tools as a wedding gift!

Agreed. A couple of pans for a shower gift, maybe, but the mixer for the wedding present.

I got a KA mixer as a wedding gift (18 years ago.) It's still going strong and I remember with gratitude the person who gave it to us; many of the other smaller items have kind of come and gone since then.

Having said that... if you get a mixer and are still under $300, then it would be great to package it with some of the smaller items. I found a cute cookbook once called something like "recipes for newlyweds" or "cooking for two" or something like that. There's also a blog called "the well fed newlyweds" that might have some fun recipes you could copy for them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Well Fed Newlyweds blog with recipes

Here's another vote for getting them a KA Mixer. Get the 6qt if you can find a good deal.

Gosh I don't know to get to $300 but for someone who doesn't have anything but wants to start :

(1) - I'd suggest an egg beater at a first step.

(1*) I don't have a mixer and I still do fine so I don't necessarily advocate for one.

(2*) Pans are tricky - depends on what she'll want to make - muffins? biscuits (cookies)? Cake, and if so the shallow, loaf or what? Bread and here again the tin depends on what kind she'll want to bake including not needing a dedicated baking tin at all (see the no-kneads).

(2) Something that I only recently bought (about 2 years ago) and started using is a measuring scale and this is the one thing that I think has truly rocked my culinary world. It is one of about 2 things in my kitchen where I wonder why I haven't had one all these years. So although it sounds serious I'd give her this one - esp. if she's interested in wanting to bake.

(3) Volume measures, while we're at it. Includes both spoon and cup measures. (But I've got to where my weight measure trumps most of my volume measures most of the time but still these are generally good to have if she doesn't have 'em yet.)

(4) A good french baking recipe book, baby! :-)

I don't think that'll get you to $300 but the above are the best to haves in my opinion.

-ls

I baked successfully for years with nothing more than a wooden spoon, a mixing bowl, a fork (later a whisk and pastry blender), measuring spoons and cups. Those are all things I picked up on my own and they are the kind of things that often given as shower gifts. The price point you are looking at suggests family or someone close you want to do more for.

You can get a KitchenAid mixer at Amazon for about $200, which would leave you some room to add an attachment, a baking book, a gift box from Penzeys (baker's box has cinnamon, baking spice, cocoa and vanilla and the mini box has 2 different cinnamons, nutmeg and ginger) and/or some measuring cups, spoons, a cookie sheet, 13x9 pan, pot holders, etc, if you want to add to it. You can also get a larger or heavier duty mixer and go up to $250-$300 for just the mixer. Whether and what you add would seem to depend on the person and the situation.

I agree with the mixer-not-so-much crowd. I've never had one and baked just about everything conceivable. I always *thought* it would be indispensable as I loved my mothers', but when it came time to leave that kitchen somehow I just never acquired the mixer and it's never held me back. I agree it can be a kind of nice luxury-end gift, something to give once someone's kitchen is full-up. But when there's nothing there to begin with.... it wouldn't fill the first or even second tier for me of must-haves.

I would suggest what my Dad did for me. Buy as many really, really nice pans as you can squeeze out of $300. I've seen Le Creuset "starter kits" for about that I think, and probably the department stores will have Mem day sales on that sort of thing maybe even started already. Really, no (cooking) day goes by when I do not think of him gratefully for those over-the-top pans. If I had to buy pans for myself, no way would I have spent so much on them. And I appreciate their greatness each and every day.

That's where I'd recommend gifting!

p.s. I hear All-clad are mighty wonderful too. As it would fall to me to buy them now, sadly, there's little chance I'll ever know!

p.p.s. Le Creuset used to have a great pan that is a 2qt saucepan or so and its lid is also a frying pan -- not sure if they still produce that. I'd get a frying pan, saucepan and dutch oven. Or better, again, one of those 'starter kits'. Or ... whatever's on sale!

My mother-in-law got me a Kitchen Aid mixer as a wedding gift. I had no idea at the time that I wanted it... or that I would need or use or love it so much as I have over the last 26 years. It's possible to bake with a spoon, but more attractive to start a baking project with a great tool to do the heavy work. :-) Love the idea of the mixer, plus some quality, basic extras.

I can and have baked everything imaginable without a mixer, pastry blender, etc., just a fork, but I too remember fondly the people who gave me mine every time I use it. It's a terrific wedding present. We've heard from non-cooking guys how much they love the mixer they've been given for a wedding present. Even when the wife does most of the cooking/baking, these guys find uses for it.

Wedding presents should be durable to last awhile. Dime store stuff, when you have $300 to spend, are nice extras, but not splendid or memorable.

Recently, we dressed one up as a bread baking kit, complete with special pans, pastry cloth, pastry brush and a couple other necessities, and the family favorite recipe printed out prettily and tied with a ribbon. Big hit. :)

P.S. Aliris, they still make the 2-in-1 pans in a couple of sizes. Sur La Table has them, and I've seen them at the Le Creuset outlet.

"Even when the wife does most of the cooking/baking, these guys find uses for it. "
Not to be sexist, but this comment strikes an ominous chord with me. You wouldn't believe some of the uses DH has come up with for the "cool tools" I've purchased for myself. The creme brulee torch comes to mind. . . (Never to be seen again.)
Thank you for the marvelous suggestions. Keep them coming, if you would!

I used to give knife sets as wedding presents. You must include a coin, for karmic reasons. We are now at the stage where our friends are all married and none of the kids are quite old enough yet. There are still life events going on, but giving knives as divorce presents doesn't seem wise.

Creme brulee torch - what is all that about? They are weeny little things. A bona fide propane torch head with a big steel gas bottle is way more useful. Not just for swishy French desserts, but also for rusty nuts, frozen bushings, sweating pipes, browning meat. Of course, a real (wo)man uses Mapp gas.

There have been some good threads on mixers, here and in the Cooking Forum. The Cuisinart is well-regarded too. For heavy dough and lots of it, the Electrolux Assistent/Magic Mill is liked.

I go with Aliris! That is what I think I was getting at in the first one. A nice baking "kit," all of high quality and sturdy, will last a lifetime and it would be wonderful to have the right pan without resorting to that non-stick junk they sell at walmart/grocery store. Good heavy aluminum baking pans, good wooden spoons, a sturdy pastry blender, some good mixing bowls, a good rolling pin... I dunno about the to-be-wed couple in question, but I would LOVE all this stuff.

I got my KA stand mixer approx 9 years ago and was so psyched. In reality, I barely use it and yet I looooove my KA large food processor (that I got a few years later when my smaller cheap fp broke). I use it for baking and for all sorts of cooking. If it broke, I'd need to replace it within the week.
As for the KA stand mixer, I don't even think I'll have it out in my kitchen after all. I'd get them the processor (get the wide mouth, largest one you can) because it is more multi purpose. I also love because I don't have to worry about flour getting out into the air as much. The attachments store easier and you don't have to buy them separately. They can mix, slice or shred out of the box for no extra cost. The mixer only mixes until you spend a fortune for other parts that then take up space in your cabs.

If you decide to go with the KA mixer, you can get a great deal on them at Kohl's. I got mine for just a little over half price because they were on sale and I had a coupon for another 30 percent off. I think the mixer would make a great wedding present! OTOH, I've gotten along just fine all these years with just a KA portable mixer.

What a nice friend! For wedding presents I think it is nice to give something that will be around for a long time, so I tend to think of high-quality pots and pans and utensils. KA mixers are beautiful to look at, though, and come to think of it ours is 15 years old and still suits us perfectly. But when I open the (new) kitchen drawer and see the (old) collection of red Le Creuset that was given to us by a friend when we married 24 years ago, still indispensable, I vote in favor of pans, utensils, and maybe Julia on Baking, or Dory Greenspan's baking bibles. One of these days the KA motor will burn out.
lynn

If you want to spend $300, go with a really memorable, big ticket item, not a lot of little stuff. Personally, I would go with the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. You can buy the Artisan series at Bed Bath and Beyond for $240 with one of their 20% off coupons. You can use the difference to buy a few smaller items to go with if you so desire. The KA mixer my MIL gave me for Christmas one year is one of my favorite non-jewelry gifts I ever received.

LOL!!!! KD, I think the guys I'm thinking of were using their mixers for thinks like waffle batter (I just use a whisk for that), cupcakes (good Daddy), and stiff peaked eggwhites for baked omelettes. That would be an interesting thread, though. ... What's the weirdest thing you ever made in your mixer? :)

Kaysd said it well--the memorable big ticket item is it exactly. Especially nowadays when they give couples the scanner gun and they pick things like spatulas, they may get a lot of matched things and stuff they need, but a couple of young recent brides I know have felt kind of let down by a lot of their gifts. Not unappreciative, but just kind of flat. They were all things off the registry, in the store's standard wrapping. No surprises, not many Wow gifts. Generous ones were more of the box full of stuff variety than the single memorable big ticket one. No clever gifties at the shower. Not many really special things for the wedding. It's all very efficient, but there aren't the warm memories.

When I was in college and couldn't afford an expensive shower gift, I got some utensils and a box grater at the dime store and wired them together to make a robot. For a wedding, I'd give what I called the "crystal gift certificate". That's a small crystal (or silver, or whatever) serving piece that fit my budget, which could be easily exchanged. They never were exchanged, however. Sometimes, that was the only "fine" piece the couple got and they loved to have it.

I can afford to give lovely presents now, but I try to put as much thought and effort into them as I did when I had to be clever. That's what people love and remember. It's not really about the stuff. It's about helping the new couple create a home and giving them lasting things that will bring lovely memories to them over the years as they use them.

Get a cookbook too

"A bona fide propane torch head with a big steel gas bottle is way more useful."

That's what it was.

Now want to discuss nail files and Dremels?

Funny, it went the other way here, and Tom wonders why his torch is in the kitchen.

My vote's for a stand mixer and a big cast iron dutch oven. I preferred the Mario Batali to Le Creuset in the store, but I actually own a LC soup pot and an Ikea dutch oven. The interior/edge finish was nicer on the MB than the LC. The Ikea was purchased just because it was huge and cheap (I think it's a 7 qt oval that I paid less than $50 for when they were discontinuing the size). I use it to bake no knead or french bread more than anything else.

I would love a KA mixer. I never put on on our registry since I don't really bake, and we don't really have storage for it. However, DH is interested in the pasta and meat grinder attachments.

I would also agree on a nice knife set, steak knives, etc.,

Can't go wrong with LeCrueset either!

What they all said. :) We just got married last year and were surprised that a lot of people did big price tag gifts, which we put on the registry thinking some people might want to go in on things---the favorites were the Kitchen Aid mixer and the two Le Creuset pots, which were both things we would never have bought ourselves but love using.

You could also check out the Breville stand mixer, which had just come out when we were doing our registry but gets great reviews and is a bit cheaper. Our KitchenAid was actually an upgrade from our teeny old one that never seemed to have quite enough power for things like bread dough (now we have the 6 qt professional, which has a much more powerful motor), and while I love the new one, I do have to say that it doesn't seem quite as sturdy/well made as the old one (which was like a rock---went through a dozen moves, got dropped once, and got used regularly for 10+ years without batting an eye). I stuck it in the basement as a backup just in case. The Breville doesn't come in pretty colors, but did seem a little less fragile/sturdier when I played with it at the store.

Cookbooks are also great for a new cook...my favorite "basics" are Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, the 75th anniversary Joy of Cooking (not the edition right before that, though, which is weirdly bad), and The Best Recipe. Between those three, you can find a basic recipe for virtually everything.

artemis78 - I agree on the cookbook recommendations! I would add King Arthur Cookie Companion, Baking Illustrated from Cook's Illustrated and On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee.

(Btw, artemis, if you haven't yet, make the German Chocolate Cake from the 75th Joy of Cooking. It might be the best. Cake. Ever. And I've made a lot of cakes. From scratch. For money.)

OP - Agree with the KA recommendation, she could also add all their fabulous attachments to her list. Their pasta rollers and cutters are amazing. Agree that she can pick up all those little things as she needs them - or they make great, easy gifts for her MIL to get her for holidays as years go by. But, if she's making a registry, in addition to the things mentioned above, you want both a jelly roll/high side pan *and* a dull, no side cookie sheet. Some cookies work better on one than the other. For the most part I get the best results from no side sheets, but you never know when you want to whip up a buche de noel, lol.

You could also go with gift cards to the King Arthur Flour online store - they have pretty much everything baking you can imagine!

"want to discuss nail files and Dremels?''

SWMBO regularly steals my files for God Knows What (and He's not telling) projects. The Dremel remains inviolate. We did end up with two torches - garage and kitchen. Maybe we need locking kitchen drawers, and locking toolchests.

I'd skip the cookbooks because any recipe can be had and saved online nowadays. I have a great collection of cookbooks but rarely look at them anymore. The online recipes with user comments/suggestions are a great resource. Also, a young couple often does not have a lot of space and may move several times. Cookbooks are heavy!

On the other end of that spectrum, I have to say that I adore having cookbooks, and love receiving them. Yes, they're heavy and had to get lugged around through many moves---but they are the thing that most makes me feel like a new home is mine when I unpack them. I do look recipes up online all the time, but it's a pain to cook from them---computer can't be in the kitchen or it will turn into a disaster, so it's running back and forth to the counter all the time. In contrast, I have no qualms about getting egg and flour all over my cookbooks, and I annotate them so I know whether to make a recipe again, which is always a pain online---I think it might be the one I made that time, but I'm not sure, etc.

So I like to give and get cookbooks. :) I may not be representative of my generation, though...who knows.