Choose your Cookware & Serveware wisely
Why is it important to choose them carefully? Choose stuff that looks good, does double {or triple} duty, lasts long and is worth the money? Because firstly, a lot of us live in rental apartments, with open kitchens and barely any storage options so cookware & serveware that multitasks along with looking good not only saves our precious space but also makes our open kitchen a happy place to look and work in. Secondly, the function can merge with form and functional stuff doesn’t necessarily have to look bland and boring. Thirdly, if your kitchen is the heart of your home- your cookware and serveware are its veins and vein health is very important. Clogs in there are a complete no-no.
But hey, that’s not what you should be questioning here. Rather, what you should be is, in a market that’s filled to the brim with products, how do you decide what to buy and choose where to put your money on?
Shant! Help is at hand
Whether you are starting out with your first home or trying to give your existing kitchen a bit of lift, here’s a list of Cookware & Serveware that are bang for your bucks and does the job like a well-trained horse. I personally use these items at home and have used over the years so I can vouch for them with or without any sponsorship from the brands concerned. By the way, somewhere deep down, I also believe that a good kettle brews a happy tea chiefly because of how happy you feel to put the kettle on. But that might just be me!
Let’s get this cookware and serveware party started shall we?
[This place is for our Fujihoro Winner which will be announced next Tuesday. By the way, have you entered our giveaway?
Cookware & Serveware
My ol’ trusty! It’s not even funny how much I love Fujihoro and it’s a delight to cook and serve in them. At the outset, it might look a bit expensive but it’ll last you dog’s years without fading or chipping and you can get food out to serve at the table straight from the gas or oven with 100% ease and style. Best part is, you can use the casseroles to cook a range of Indian and continental dishes and use the saucepans to make jam, sauce, tea and well..everything! It’s just way too handy
If you want to know about Fujihoro, Fuji has been manufacturing its Porcelain Enameled Steel Products since 1947 and is currently one of the most reliable manufacturers’ in enameled cookware. I mean it’s Japanese bro. You want great craftsmanship, trust the Japanese. I can assure you of its lasting quality and performance. And they have it all- from colorful Casseroles, Pots & Pans, Tempura Pans, Mixing Bowls, Coffee Pots, Tea & Whistling Kettles. I have most of them!
In My Kitchen: White 3 lt. casserole, White Milk Pan, Olive Green coffee pot, Olive green Saucepan with lid, Red Tea kettle. Yup! The whole lot.
Plates & Bowls
I have recently gone on a No Plastic spree and have taken a pledge to use only natural materials in my kitchen and I love the wooden salad, serve and mixing bowls by Mason Home and stoneware bowls by Freedom Tree. Look closely and they are all meant to multitask. For example? The soup bowls can very well be serial bowls paired with different set of spoons. Add a cling film and store stuff in them or serve your fries and curries. A soup bowl doesn’t have to look like a soup bowl to be a soup bowl right? The wooden bowls on the other hand are just perfect for mixing salad, making dough, and serving salads and breads. Ofcourse you can store in them too. Only thing is, you can’t serve very hot dishes in these as there are chances of cracking
As for plates, it’s often simple white plates from amazon (mostly) that pairs with almost everything and a few in varied tones and textures of blue that when paired pulls the look in without looking like a disconnect. I love to mix and match and buy quarter plates in set of two or four to bring in some whimsy when I am serving guests.
#TIP: Keep your Cookware & Serveware in a limited colour scheme. For example, most stuff in my kitchen toggles between White, Grey, Blue and Green with touches of Red or Brown. That way, even if you are storing it in plain sight, it looks synchronized and pulled in! Think of your entire kitchen as one unit other than thinking each unit separately.
Tea & Coffee
Quite a few favourites in here so I’ll start from Decorkart. This teaset is perfect for brewing green tea and having small doses of it all day! Plus it is microwaveable. Decorkart actually has some very cool tea & coffee choices and both my tea-sets are from in there. While the summer is spent with this lovely blue one, for winters, it’s snowy reindeer for me all the way! Also from Decorkart.
As for the coffee mugs and single serve mugs, they are collected through my travels- from Srilanka, Sweden, Copenhagen, and all over India!
This one is from a roadside sale shop in Kandy-Colombo road, which also doubles as my flower vase. I bet you have seen my mug from IKEA way too many times to add in here but but…note: Both are in shades of blue, white and grey, keeping with the rest of the kitchen crockery and utensil.
#TIP: Use kettles and cups to showcase flowers. Who needs vases anyway. Redundant.
Tumblers and Pitchers
In my kitchen, we have three sets of glasses and a few pitchers too. In our glasses, we have a stout set for water/ whiskey. Ceramic ones for juice and flowers {see what I did there}. And Wine glasses for wine and water sometimes. The above ones are from Chumbak and make for such an interesting collection. Looks great when grouped too.
For water and serving beverages, we have three pitchers- two by Chumbak and one from Ikea that literally serves everything- from jaljeera to lemonade and cocktails. In pink, teal, and white- this serveware set also look great as vases!
Chopping boards & Serving spoons
Cookware and Serveware don’t stop at mugs and plates. It’s also chopping boards!
Buy chopping boards that can double as serving trays and stack them up when you’re not using. Cheese, bread, antipasti, pizza, garlic bread and a whole lot of baked goods can be served directly on chopping boards and they disguise pretty swell as rustic platters. However, be careful that it has food grade coating on it if it’s polished. Mine for example is and its also very kindly customized by Nurture India who makes these handmade tray and chopping board. To add, marble chopping boards and ceramic ones also make for fantastic serveware and I am recently in love with this handmade ceramic board/platter from Reignforest that is so, so organic in its appeal. We use it to serve all the time and this also makes for a fabulous gift!
My god! How do I land up with 1000 words and above all the time? I made a mental note of this to not go beyond 500 words but my hands seem to spookily run all over the keyboard on its own. Pretty strange if you ask me but in all this word-vomit I hope I helped you a little with where to put your money on when Cookware & Serveware shopping is on your cards. Because, man do we work hard, and weigh our buys everytime. It only makes sense to get the best of our precious bucks. Right?
Right then!
Gone.
1300 words
Jesus.
UPDATE: The winner of our fujihoro casserole giveaway is Anjana from Happyandharried!!! Yay! Congratulations!!!!