I think a gift is a lovely idea and I've never met a cook yet who couldn't find a way to spend a gift certificate at Sur la Table. I think either of your ideas would be great. My KD loves wine and I may get her a really nice bottle of wine. Haven't decided yet.

If your KD works for a firm, there may be some guidelines about accepting alcohol.

Story time.

A few years ago when I was employed at a showroom, I had a really sweet client bring me a beautiful gift bag with the telltale green bottle sticking out. I quickly squirreled it away in a drawer to take home later as alcohol was frowned on. My customer looked a bit taken aback, and said, "Aren't you going to look at it?" I told her that I would enjoy it later, and then she said, "Go ahead and plug it in now." I was thoroughly confused, and pulled the bottle out of the bag to find that it was "night light" type of craft with glass floral beads and plastic leaves glued to it to resemble grapes and stuffed with white holiday lights. I really appreciated the sentiment, but it was so far from anything I would ever use in my home and I was so off center from my initial thought that it was wine that I had to hunt for a minute for a way to say thank you that didn't hurt her feelings.

I would have appreciated so much more a gift certificate from Williams Sonoma, or the local grocery store, or even a nice restaurant---plus a letter of appreciation that could be used in a portfolio along with permission to refer clients to her as a reference. People have gotten a bit funny about that these days and finding people who are willing to talk to strangers about how their project went can be difficult even if they were happy with the result. Giving a KD the gift of being a willing reference is HUGE!

GreenDesigns, good tips. Although we live in Wine Country, I have no idea if she drinks or not. I think I'll get her a gift certificate from Sur la Table, from my kitchen to hers. And definitely offer myself as a reference.

GreenDesigns, that was really helpful. One thing I plan to do is mention her and the engineer by name when I leave my review on Angie's List. I'll remember to give her permission to use me as a reference when I write her thank you note. She has been great.

Yesterday we were out shopping for tile when another customer came over and asked if she could look at my granite sample. Turned out she and her husband are planning to do their kitchen working as their own GC but she was really overwhelmed and lost. Ended up talking to her about how much research I'd done with the company I'm using and how happy I was with them. She ended up talking to my KD and made an appt to see her this Friday. That was nice. :)