The Best Salad Bowls for Entertaining, Even if You’re Just Serving A Caesar Salad Kit
Few kitchen objects reveal your aesthetic priorities faster than a salad bowl. Unlike plates, which mostly disappear under food, a salad bowl stays visible to guests all night long, parked in the center of the table like a mini Myers-Briggs. It's just a salad bowl, but the stakes aren't exactly null: The right one makes even a bagged salad feel aspirational; the wrong one has the power to flatten an entire tablescape.
The good news is that we're currently in a golden age of deeply attractive salad bowls. There are warm wood classics, minimalist neutrals, earthy ceramics, bold patterns, and sculptural splurges—something for every scene you're trying to set. Here, the best of the bunch for tables of any temperament.
Heirloom Wood
There’s a reason wooden salad bowls show up on wedding registries and get passed down with the good silver: A well-made one only improves with age. Over time, the wood picks up a little character, making the bowl feel less like serveware and more like a keepsake. Wooden bowls require a little more maintenance than dishwasher-safe options, but they’re worth it since they last forever and never really look outdated. The bowls in this section are the ones worth committing to: wide, generous shapes in walnut, acacia, and olive wood that handle weeknight and special-occasion salads with equal grace.
Pepper + Vetiver
Palmer Wood+White Bowl
Pepper + Vetiver
Oliviko
Olive Wood Bowls
Oliviko
Open Kitchen by Williams Sonoma
Salad Bowl
Williams Sonoma
East Fork
Solid Wood Bowls
East Fork
Andrew Pearce
Large Echo (square) Wooden Bowl
Andrew Pearce
The Permanent Collection
Alice’s Salad Bowl
Permanent Collection
Alts:
Crate & Barrel
Madeira
Crate & Barrel
Open Kitchen by Williams Sonoma
Salad Bowl
Williams Sonoma
Nambe
Harmony
Bloomingdales
Crate & Barrel
Tondo
Crate & Barrel
Understated
For those who lean toward restraint—and who think a well-composed salad is beautiful enough on its own and believe that understated, low-drama design is the way to go. These bowls are neutral without being bland and simple without feeling cheap, the kind of pieces you buy once and use for 15 years without ever wishing you'd picked something trendier. Like a good white shirt, they go with everything and somehow make the entire ensemble—or in this case, table—look pulled together. There’s more range in this category than you might think. On one end of the spectrum, there's the Le Creuset stoneware bowl that’s affordable and homey; on the other, the Tina Frey, a quiet-luxury find that feels destined to serve Goop salads on Gwyneth’s table.
Le Creuset
Stoneware Multi-Quart Bowl
Nordstrom
Apartment F
Moroccan Blown Glass Salad Bowl
Nordstrom
Made In
Serving Bowl
Made In
R+D.Lab
Bilancia Almond Flat Bowl
R+D.Lab
Hawkins New York
Essential Serving Bowl
Hawkins New York
Tina Frey
Sculpt Large Tapered Bowl
Tina Frey
Alts:
La Rochere
Bee Ceramic Salad Bowl
Sur La Table
Crate & Barrel
Marin Large Black Tabletop Serving Bowl
Crate & Barrel
Anthropologie
The Jasper Portuguese Deep Serving Bowl
Anthropologie
Earth Tones
These bowls are for those whose ideal salad contains something roasted. They come in shades of mossy green, clay red, walnut brown, and smoky blue-gray—colors that feel like they belong to the same patch of earth as the vegetables themselves. If you like the vibe of a wooden bowl but are looking for something with a bit more oomph, htis is the category for you. Try the East Fork Weeknight if you’re looking for an inviting bowl you can use every day forever, and the Ferm Living Sol if you want to knock the socks off your guests—or just impress your mother-in-law.
Ferm Living
Living Sol Salad Bowl
Ferm Living
Gharyan Kuduo
EWA Stoneware Serving Bowl
Gharyan
Haand
Fruit Bowl
Haand
Ten Thousand Villages
Cahn Drip Glaze Bowl
Shop at
Nordstrom
Hawkins New York
Dotty Serving Bowl
Hawkins New York
East Fork
Weeknight Serving Bowl
East Fork
Pattern Play
A salad bowl can be a quiet workhorse, or it can be the thing your guests photograph before they eat. These are the latter: hand-painted florals, paint splatters , scribbled brushwork, and bold colors and patterns that pull focus from across the room. They have the charm of something picked up at a ceramic studio or tucked into a suitcase after a very good vacation. Some, like the Marimekko, offer iconic prints at affordable prices while others, like the Hermès, are the kind of art object you can only hope to be gifted.
Coralla Maiuri
Winter Salad Bowl
Artemest
Year & Day
Splatter Serving Bowl
Year & Day
Marimekko
Oiva Siirtolapuutarha Serving Bowl
Amazon
Nishikawa
Floral Bowl
Liberty
Hermès
À Walk in the Garden Salad Bowl
Gearys
Pomelo Casa
Traditional Bowl
The Expert
Verde Lanza Dinnerware
Stoneware Salad
Serax
Seletti
On Acid Pajaro Porcelain Salad Bowl
Selfridges
Hedley & Bennett
The Very Big Bowl
Hedley & Bennett
Alessi
Itsumo Porcelain Salad Bowl 20 cm
Selfridges
Vaisselle
A Table Salad Serving Bowl
Shop at
Revolve
Nishikawa
Floral Rim Bowl
Liberty
Statement Bowls
These are the bowls that seem only loosely concerned with salad. Think sculptural silhouettes, surreal details, unusual materials, and shapes that border on impractical in the best possible way. Are all of them the most practical choice for tossing romaine? Not necessarily. But practicality is not really the point. These are conversation starters best suited for those with open shelving, in-demand dinner parties, and a penchant for high-drama decor. They also just so happen to hold salad on occasion.
Alessi
Human Collection Salad Bowl
Alessi
Ferm Living
Alas Bowl
Ferm Living
Anastasio Home
Blossom Bowl
Anastasio Home
Mario Luca Giusti
Supernova
Nordstrom
Jonathan Adler
Gilded Gala Serving Bowl
Neiman Marcus
L'Objet
Ruan Hoffmann Bowl
Bloomingdales
More Hosting Essentials
- Before salad, there's charcuterie (and charcuterie boards)
- Get the right wine glasses for the way you like to drink
- A beverage fridge that doubles as design statement
Source: This story originated with Bon Appétit.
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