My wok. My son said the other day "I love this wok, ever since you got it you make the best dinners" It was a stir fry of cabbage, celery leftover chicken and noodles- LOL. It is just a plain carbon steel wok, it hangs from the ceiling of my pantry closet, but I love it for a quick stirfry when I work late.

I also love my bread machine and my rice cooker. And I have a cuisinart dual grill and panini press which I am very happy with but I use it less than the other items I mentioned.

Everyone I know with an instant pot loves it. I don’t have one but I’m considering buying one.

Does he have a thermapen for checking temperatures? Those also get raves. Another item I don’t have but think about buying.

My favorite kitchen item is a fish spatula. Surprisingly, mine doesn’t have a brand name on it, just a logo that I don’t recognize, so I can’t tell you who makes it.

A good rasp is useful. Mine is made by Microplane. I had another brand microplane in my vacation place and it doesn’t compare to the Microplane brand.

I bought a Lavatools Javelin PRO instant read thermometer last year and I love it. It comes in many colors.

I was without my trusty knife for a few weeks and it really made a difference in my prep work! My other knifes are just fine but when you get used to one, it becomes your go to. If your husband does a lot of cooking, having a great knife will make the job a lot easier!

I use my pressure cooker often but the knife is used daily.

I also splurged and got myself a (very) large John Boos cutting board. I was fortunate enough to receive a work award that covered the cost of it.

My DD just bought herself an Anova sous vide. If your DH likes to cook, he might like to have one. She posted the best looking eggs Benedict the other day that she made with the thing.

I was given an Instant Pot at Thanksgiving and have decided it's not for me, but it would probably be great for you.

I found this very helpful when I was trying to decide whether or not I would use it:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/guides/46-how-to-use-an-instant-pot?mc=aud_dev&mcid=fb-nytimes-keywee&mccr=CookingGuides&mcdt=2017-11&subid=CookingGuides&ad-keywords=AudDevGate&kwp_0=605915&kwp_4=2143306&kwp_1=894459

Unfortunately, my cooking is about 80% in the "what not to cook" category. Also, I'm most often just cooking for one and I don't have reliable long-term freezer storage. But for two or more people I think it would be wonderful.

There are some long Instant Pot threads in the Cooking forum.

I was just browsing Food52's Gift Guide and saw lots of items I would love to receive. You might want to check it out for inspiration.

Writersblock, I'm in your situation with the Instant Pot.

Thanks for the article link. I’ve been thinking about the instant pot, mostly for beans, but I thought I might find other uses. We have fish at least twice a week, I grill 3-4 times a week, and I do quick sautéed stuff frequently - all the things it wouldn’t handle. It probably wouldn’t be something I’d use enough to justify the cost and space.

I don’t use a slow cooker, either. I’m not good about planning a meal 8 hours in advance and I don’t want to be browning meat at 7 am so that it can cook for hours. I think this old dog can’t learn any new tricks.

We use our pressure cooker mostly for beans. And for soups and stews. You can make soups that usually take all day to simmer in a fraction of the time. It seems weird, but I use it for all my hard boiled eggs now. We buy the really fresh eggs from the farmers' market and they can be a bear to peel-- whatever happens to them in the pressure cooker, the shells slide right off.

Our meals are mostly grilled and sauteed proteins, so the pressure cooker isn't a substitute for that. I don't use a slow cooker at all. I find most slow cooker creations to be liquidy and bland.

As for the Anova sous vide, we have one and it's a fun toy to use once in a while. But we don't get the urge to use it very often. Some things take way too long to cook sous vide, and other things are just as easy to cook in other ways.

Both my daughters have them and love them. Really great for making a good, yet quick meal, if meat is not thawed, or just to have a quick one pot meal. With a new baby, I am assuming time saving is high priority. AND it makes good food. It is really an updated, safer pressure cooker.