When it came time to build our own registries, we knew from our catering past which pieces we couldn’t live without. If you love to entertain as much as we do, the key is being prepared and that means having enough platters and bowls in basic colors and shapes to mix them with ease, add visual interest to your spread, and never get caught short. After all, no one wants to be carving a turkey and realize they don’t have a large enough platters to plate up the bird.
For you, the pieces we love and use regularly…
1, 2 & 3. Three big white platters in round, rectangular or oval or a combination of favorite shapes
Here are a few of our current favorites, but the idea is to go for basic white so they play nicely with all your other dishware and can be used interchangeably.
Great White Coupe Serving Bowls (see these in action with our composed salads)
Great White Rectangular Serving Platters
Juliska “Berry and Thread” large oval platter
4. Two medium-sized serving bowls
Perfect for sides, salads, sauces and mashed potatoes for two. Looks beautiful on a big buffet but you’ll use these bowls constantly.
Heath Ceramics deep serving bowl
and vegetable bowl
5. One large wooden salad bowl
Owning a dedicated salad bowl makes me feel grown up.
Williams-Sonoma Cherrywood salad bowl
6. One cake plate
We love a good cake plate and this beautiful glass one works for cakes, stacks of cookies and cupcakes. Plus you can flip it over to make a beautiful punch bowl. I had never heard of such a thing, but Lydia’s mom had one when Lydia was growing up and, after seeing this one, I’m sold.
Williams-Sonoma Domed Cakeplate/Punch Bowl
7. One footed serving bowl/compote
You’ll use this more than you would expect. It livens up your kitchen fruit bowl, looks gorgeous piled high with tomatoes and shows off any vegetable, like haricot verts, to their best. Also, there is no other way to serve a chocolate pudding piled high with whipped cream or classic Christmas trifle.
Vera Wang Wedgewood “Classic” footed bowl
8. One breadboard
A stylish way to serve a baguette next to your cheese plate or sourdough with your soup. Doubles as a centerpiece when filled with lemons or satsumas.
Napa Style Vintage German bakery board
9. One wooden board
Use for everything from a cheese plate to flatbread slices. We also love it for displaying deviled eggs.
Crate and Barrel Acacia Flatbread-Pizza Board
10. One tiered serving tray
Adds height to your party buffets and can display both sweet and savory items.
Crate and Barrel Artesia 2-tier server
11. Ten Ramekins
These are the mini workhorses of our kitchen. You’ll pull them for prep while cooking, use for baking souffles or coddled eggs, serving mustards with charcuterie or olives with cheese. Oh, these are a must for butter and jam with scones.
Crate and Barrel ramekins
We’re still sweet on Anthropologie’s mini latté bowls as another option for prep and small serving bowls. You just can’t bake a soufflé in them.
12. One silver or wood serving tray
Every girl needs a tray! We use ours to line up champagne flutes for a self-serve prosecco bar. And we keep hoping someone will use it to serve us breakfast in bed. Or you can just pile it high with coffee table books.
Pottery Barn Hotel Collection plated silver tray
You can also see a slideshow of this post at The Daily Meal.
Do you have a serving piece you love?
xoxosl
