How much should you spend on a housewarming gift?

Most people land between 25 and 75 dollars. A framed print plus a tea towel sits comfortably in that range and reads more considered than a single larger object.

Is wall art a good housewarming gift?

Yes, when it is specific rather than decorative. Art tied to the recipient's cuisine or heritage avoids the risk of guessing their taste in abstract prints.

Gift Guides

Housewarming Gift Ideas for People Who Love to Cook

The best housewarming gifts solve the first week, not the fifth year. Here is what that looks like when the recipient cooks.

Italy illustrated food collection by Maison Maps

Buy for the kitchen, not the living room

You almost never know what the furniture looks like. You do know that the kitchen will be unpacked first, used immediately, and short of the small things that make cooking pleasant. That makes kitchen gifts the safest category in a house you have not seen: a tea towel, an apron and something for the wall need no measurements and clash with nothing.

It also avoids the classic housewarming failure — a decorative object that has to live somewhere. Kitchen pieces have obvious homes: a hook, a rail, a wall above the counter.

The three-part gift that always works

An illustrated food poster of a cuisine they love, a tea towel from the same collection, and a bottle of something to open on the first night. Under one budget, it covers the wall, the daily routine and the evening itself — and the two lasting pieces match each other, which is why the combination photographs so well on a new kitchen counter.

Choosing the cuisine

Pick the food they cook for other people. Not the trendiest cuisine, not the one you like — the one they make when friends come over, or the one from their family's kitchen. That single decision is what turns a nice object into a personal gift.

If the household has two food cultures, buy one piece from each. A pair of prints in matching frames is the quietest possible way of saying: this home is both of you.

What to avoid

Anything that needs to match a colour scheme they have not chosen yet. Anything scented. Anything large. And with respect to plants — new movers already have enough to keep alive.

Questions

Frequently asked

How much should you spend on a housewarming gift?: Most people land between 25 and 75 dollars. A framed print plus a tea towel sits comfortably in that range and reads more considered than a single larger object.
Is wall art a good housewarming gift?: Yes, when it is specific rather than decorative. Art tied to the recipient's cuisine or heritage avoids the risk of guessing their taste in abstract prints.

Mentioned above

Collections in this guide

Collection

Italy

Collection

Greece

Collection

India

Collection

France

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Spain

Collection

Morocco

Editorials

Read the stories behind these kitchens

Italy — Vol. 01 — A Sunlit Table
Step inside the Italy editorial — sunlit plaster walls, hand-rolled pasta, and the small rituals that hold an Italian day together. A slow, magazine-style read on the country's most fluent language: its table.
Greece — Vol. 39 — Feta, Olives and the Long Mediterranean Table
Read the Greece editorial — olive oil poured without measure, feta and watermelon in the shade, souvlaki over charcoal, and the generous, unhurried rhythm of the Greek table.
India — Vol. 45 — Spice, Tiffin and the Endless Indian Table
Read the India editorial — biryani, masala dosa, thali and the tadka that starts everything. The story behind the illustrated composition of the world's most layered kitchen.

Shop the pieces

Browse the collections behind this guide

Food Posters
Illustrated food posters that turn a wall into a story — every print a warm, curated portrait of a country's most-loved dishes.
Aprons
Heirloom kitchen aprons illustrated with regional dishes — designed to be worn, gifted and remembered.
Tea Towels
Soft cotton tea towels illustrated like a travel journal — a quiet daily reminder of the meals that shaped a place.
Tote Bags
Illustrated tote bags built for markets, mornings and long walks — a quiet way to carry the world with you.

Keep reading

Kitchen Decor
The kitchen is the one room decorated by memory. These are the pieces that let a kitchen say where its recipes come from.
Food Gifts
The problem with edible gifts is that they disappear. These last, and they name the exact food the person loves.
Food Posters
One print, one country, every dish worth arguing about. The Maison Maps poster archive is a world atlas drawn entirely in food.

Ready when you are

Everything in this guide ships via our Etsy studio.

Illustrated food posters, kitchen textiles, apparel and keepsakes from more than a hundred countries.

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