Serving Dishes

The bowl-plate hybrid you need for hearty meals.

You don't have to sacrifice style for savings anymore.

Including the single best find from East Fork and our picks from Etsy.

Setting up a mise en place before you ever turn on a burner or preheat your stove can save you a lot of time and headaches. But unless you’ve got a crazy well-stocked china cabinet, you might not have enough little bowls for all your prepped ingredients. Here are 10 smart options for mise en place bowls. You can choose everything from clear glass sets to brightly patterned bowls. And if you want to prep way in advance, go for the set that comes with lids.

You're gonna need some shower caps, paper towels, and hooks.

Although it always makes a big show around Mother’s Day—which is still a few months away—breakfast in bed should be a celebration in and of itself. For mothers! For fathers! For everyone! Enjoying breakfast in bed on a lazy weekend morning while reading a book or catching up on a few favorite blogs is one of life’s small luxuries.

Q: I have one of those pretty slate cheese boards, but I cannot for the life of me get the oily cheese residue off them once the cheese is removed. Help! Sent by Claire Editor: Hmm…I’m assuming that you’ve tried wiping it with a soapy sponge! Maybe try rubbing a little dish soap directly onto the grease spots, letting it sit for a minute, and then rinsing it off. Readers, what suggestions do you have?

I’ll be honest: I love cooking for dinner parties, but I’m a complete dunce when it comes to actually serving the food in any sort of elegant or dignified manner. Lucky for me, these pasta bowls from CB2 do most of the work for me.I am a huge proponent of white serving dishes. As much as I may swoon over the patterned dishware at Anthropologie or the splashy colors of fiestawareBut white doesn’t have to mean boring. I love the swooped contours of these CB2 bowls.

When I received this Crate and Barrel platter as a wedding gift last year, my first thought was, It’s so small! Indeed, at 9-by-7 inches, the Madison Small Oval Platter is not the one to serve heaping platters of meats to a big crowd of friends. But how often does a two-person family eat heaping platters of meat or feed more than six people at a time? The truth is, this little platter is used more than any other in my household.

Do you have a berry bowl? Berry bowls have holes in the bottom so you can rinse and serve berries in the same dish. Usually made of ceramic and often handmade, we think they’re a pretty way to serve and snack on berries this summer! (And there’s no reason you can’t use them for small vegetables as well!) Here are five berry bowls we’re particularly fond of: • Baba’s Berry Bowl, $65 from Robert Siegel • Bunny Berry Bowl, $30 from A.

All of Gray Works’ products are one-of-a-kind and handmade in their small studio in Woodstock, New York using only locally and sustainably harvested or salvaged American hardwoods, and natural, food-safe finishes. The woods they choose are beautiful in that old, gnarly kind of way, and they shape the boards to bring out the unique aspect of the wood, whether it’s a beautiful grain or a unique knot.

I absolutely love the smooth chicness of anything matte black, particularly in the kitchen. With so much that’s already bright and shiny in that room — stainless steel appliances! Shimmering tile! Glossy ceramic plates! — I find matte textures a welcome diversion. They’re understated yet still glamorous. Here are a few matte black kitchen and dining things I’ve had my eye on lately, from a simple faceted vase to a mind-blowing Bertazzoni range.

A beautiful wooden tray or platter is an entertaining staple. You can use one to serve appetizers, display glasses alongside a pitcher of cool iced tea, or serve breakfast in bed! I love the look of walnut, too — even more so when it’s rimmed in a bright, neon color, like these WUD trays and platters by David Rasmussen. David Rasmussen makes wood furniture and goods out of his studio in Colorado.

The nutty brown color and intricate wood grain make olive wood one of the prettiest woods you can have in the kitchen. I have a serving board similar to the one shown above, and it always makes for a great presentation. If you love the look of olive wood as well, there are plenty of kitchen accessories that make the most of this rich wood, including salt cellars, spoons, and even a citrus press! 1 Olive Wood Sauce Spoon, $14 from Scout House 2 Olive Wood Mortar and Pestle, $36.

I’ve always had a fondness for butter dishes. I owned a yellow Fiestaware version for many years before it suddenly broke into pieces. (Dropping it on the floor may have had something to do with it.) While the bright color was fun, I’m planning to go a little more classic, a little more understated this time around.

I have stacks and stacks of plain white serving pieces. I pick them up all over the place — Target, yard sales, World Market, second hand shops, other people’s houses when they aren’t looking — whenever I see them and the price is right. They’re easy, because they go with everything and give my party spread a nice, clean look, letting the food shine.

As Anjali once wrote Cherry Wood 13.75″ Salad Bowl, $119 from Williams-Sonoma Walnut Wood Salad Bowl, $140 CAD from Tiff Wood Dansk Wood Classics 16-Inch Salad Bowl, $78.65 from AllModern Cellar Acacia Wood 3-Piece Salad Set, $93 from Macy’s Wooden Walnut Bowl, $84 from Wood Expressions Do you love serving salad out of a wooden bowl?

It’s that time of year again where we all use football as an excuse to make calorically laden dips, spreads and more. There’s all sorts of tailgating partyware options, but let’s be honest, most of them are a bit unitasker in nature. We’ve picked out a few lovely, multitasking pieces that are brilliant at serving salsa and chips but don’t have to be limited to that purpose. These can grace your snack table any day of the year.

Now that the weather is cooler, we’re working hot tea back into our afternoon routines. Because for all the beautiful bright days in October there are also plenty of cloudy, gray, and rainy ones that require something to warm you up. These seven teapots are great basics, and they all make about four cups of tea. Perfect for sharing or for fueling a long afternoon reading session.

When I’m putting together a cheese plate, I’m typically more interested in the cheese than the plate. (After all, I can eat the cheese. I cannot eat the plate.) However, these cheese plates from Canadian design store Baba Souk completely upstage the cheese they’re meant to showcase… and I’m okay with that.

From our favorite soup and sandwich set to jumbo mugs you just have to hold in your hand, these beautiful soup bowls are what’s making us happy this week. White Double-Handled Soup Crock: This set of two-handled soup bowls are perfect for making French onion soup. Dauville Handmade Bowl in Gold: Your soup has never felt fancier than when served in this stunning gilded bowl. Inside Out Bowls: Brighten up your dining table with these colorful, patterned bowls.

Setting up a wedding registry should be fun, but it’s often overwhelming. If you register for everything you might possibly use in any situation in any season, as many registry checklists suggest, you will end up with a lot of stuff and not a lot of space — and you’ll still be wondering what you really need! This is especially true when it comes to choosing items for present and future dinner parties. There’s a lot you could get, but what should you get?

If you have owned your white dishes for any length of time, by now you’ve probably started noticing a gradual accumulation of stubborn gray scuff marks marring that pristine, glossy white surface. These scuff marks don’t seem to respond to either repeat cycles through the dishwasher or determined hand scrubbing.