Is an expensive stand mixer or casserole dish actually worth it?

The case for premium kitchen kit is rarely that it cooks better — it's permanence. A KitchenAid mixer or a Le Creuset casserole is built to last decades and is frequently passed down, so the per-year cost is low even though the upfront price is high. For occasional cooks, a cheaper version is genuinely fine.

Which Le Creuset casserole size should you buy if you only get one?

Most reviewers recommend the 24cm round casserole as the single most versatile size. It's large enough for a family stew or a whole chicken but not so heavy it's awkward to lift, which is why it's the most commonly recommended starting point.

Is a home pizza oven worth it?

A garden pizza oven like the Ooni Karu reaches around 500°C — far hotter than a domestic oven — and cooks a Neapolitan-style pizza in about 60 seconds, which a kitchen oven can't replicate. It's a worthwhile splurge for anyone who'd use it regularly through the warmer months.

← All finds·28 Apr 2026·7 min read

Luxury Kitchen Gifts: 5 Splurge-Worthy Buys That Actually Last

The splurge list. Each of these costs more than a sensible weekend away — and the buyers who own them rarely seem to regret it.

Gifts Kitchen

There is a category of kitchen object that costs more than it has any right to and is, against all reason, repeatedly described as worth every penny by the people who own one. Not because the cheap version doesn't exist — it does, and it's usually fine. But because these specific objects show up again and again in the 'best purchase I've made in a decade' threads on Reddit, the gift-guide round-ups in serious food magazines, and the most-saved boards on Pinterest. We pulled the five that come up most often, all in the £180–£500 range, all with the kind of long-tail review history that suggests they will still be on someone's worktop ten years from now.

No. 01

Smeg 2-slice retro toaster

It is a £180 toaster, and the case for buying one is mostly aesthetic. The cheap toaster makes toast that is, mathematically, exactly as toasted as this one's toast. But this is the most-pinned toaster on the internet, and the reviewers who own one mention the same thing over and over: a chrome-and-pastel machine on the worktop has the same effect as a vintage Vespa parked outside, and they look at it and smile. Comes in pink, mint, baby blue, and a custard yellow that we think about often.

around £180Find on Amazon

No. 02

Ooni Karu 12 multi-fuel pizza oven

A garden pizza oven that hits 500°C and, according to its 30,000-plus reviewers, cooks a Neapolitan-style pizza in 60 seconds. The recurring note in the long-form reviews is that owners fire it up six times a summer and feel briefly godlike each time, and that the pizza is — embarrassingly — better than at almost any restaurant under £15 a head. Wood, charcoal, or gas. The neighbours will know.

around £349Find on Amazon

No. 03

KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer

A genuine heirloom appliance disguised as a kitchen gadget. The cheap hand-mixer technically does the same job. The KitchenAid does it for forty years, in a colour that matches your tiles, while looking like a small, dignified cathedral on the worktop. The pasta-roller and meat-grinder attachments are the most-mentioned reason owners say the price 'paid for itself' — and it consistently lands in serious food magazines' year-end gift guides.

around £429Find on Amazon

No. 04

Kamado-style ceramic charcoal grill

An enormous ceramic egg that smokes a brisket low-and-slow for fourteen hours, sears steaks at 400°C, and somehow does pizza too. Holds heat overnight on a single load of charcoal. Costs as much as a sofa. The barbecue forums are remarkably consistent on this one — owners say it outlasts everything else in the garden, and a full half mention they bought a second smaller one for travel. Big Green Egg is the original; Kamado Joe and a handful of others are excellent at the same job for less.

from £450Find on Amazon

No. 05

Le Creuset 24cm round casserole

Cast iron, enamelled, weighs about as much as a small toddler. Browns a stew at the start, finishes it in the oven, sits in the middle of the table looking smug. Available in twenty colours, none of them subtle. The thing that comes up in Le Creuset reviews more than 'cooks well' is 'I inherited mine from my mother' — these don't break, they just darken slightly with use. The 24cm size is the one most reviewers recommend if you only own one.

around £270Find on Amazon

A final note

The argument for luxury kitchen kit is rarely 'it cooks better' — most of these tools just do, with more drama, what cheaper ones already do. What the long reviews and the gift-guide round-ups are really pointing at is permanence: an object you won't replace in three years, that quietly raises the standard of every breakfast or stew or Sunday lunch for the next decade. If you're buying a splurge gift, splurge on the things that stay.

Frequently asked questions

Is an expensive stand mixer or casserole dish actually worth it?: The case for premium kitchen kit is rarely that it cooks better — it's permanence. A KitchenAid mixer or a Le Creuset casserole is built to last decades and is frequently passed down, so the per-year cost is low even though the upfront price is high. For occasional cooks, a cheaper version is genuinely fine.
Which Le Creuset casserole size should you buy if you only get one?: Most reviewers recommend the 24cm round casserole as the single most versatile size. It's large enough for a family stew or a whole chicken but not so heavy it's awkward to lift, which is why it's the most commonly recommended starting point.
Is a home pizza oven worth it?: A garden pizza oven like the Ooni Karu reaches around 500°C — far hotter than a domestic oven — and cooks a Neapolitan-style pizza in about 60 seconds, which a kitchen oven can't replicate. It's a worthwhile splurge for anyone who'd use it regularly through the warmer months.