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A beautiful serving bowl is a hardworking piece in our dinnerware armoury. Depending on the material it's made from, a serving bowl can be used to present anything from hot roast potatoes, rice and pasta dishes to salads, snacks and desserts.
Whether you like to serve guests formally at the table or leave a big bowl for them to help themselves, serving bowls make eating with a crowd easy.
Some of the best dinnerware sets will include a serving bowl, but if yours doesn't we've found plenty to choose from. These serving bowls from the best home decor stores are beautiful enough to double up as fruit bowls, when you're not dining or entertaining too.
Best elegant serving bowls
Price: $175
Splattered with real gold this elegant porcelain serving bowl gets its named from the temperature at which gold melts. Filled with food or empty, it will bring a splash of glamour to your dining table.
Price: $19.95
Offering great value and timeless style, this serving bowl is part of a dinnerware collection originally designed by Gianfranco Frattini in 1981. Serve, salads, snacks and hot dishes, or use it as a fruit bowl.
Price: $34.95
Unsurprisingly, Swirl (10" x 3.5") is a best seller. Designed by Jennifer Fisher, it makes a fabulous centrepiece and can be easily mixed with white dinnerware or the rest of the exclusive Swirl collection.
Best footed serving bowls
Price: $24.99
This bright yellow serving bowl is great for serving salads and sides at the table during family meals and gatherings. It also looks lovely filled with your favorite fruit on the kitchen counter or credenza.
Price: $292.50
This elegant glass bowl sits on a stylish walnut base and is ideal if you love to serve show-stopping cold desserts. Trifles, tiramisu and other layered puddings will be seen in their full glory.
Price: $133.50
Designed by Nicholai Wiig-Hansen and handmade in Portugal, the Strøm bowl is available in eight gorgeous colors, including blue, green, red, orange and pale pink. It's also accompanied by a beautiful jug in a similar style.
Best rustic serving bowls
Price: $29.90
For rustic farmhouse style, this stoneware salad bowl ticks all the boxes with its organic shape and part-glazed finish. At 9.8" x 3.9", it's great for family dinners and feasts, as well as a fruit bowl.
Price: $24.99
Part of a wider series of mango wood bowls, this serving bowl looks as good on its own, as it does teamed with larger or smaller versions in the set, which can be used for serving salads and sides or chips and dips.
Price: $29.95
This handmade large (9.5" x 6") terra cotta serving bowl has a beautiful tapered shape with a matte white glaze for a rustic feel at meal times. It's also available with a black glaze and is accompanied by other beautiful pieces in an exclusive collection at CB2.
Best simple serving bowls
Price: $112.50
Designed in collaboration with chef Yotam Ottolenghi for Serax, this salad bowl is an homage to the sunny Mediterranean. It's dishwasher safe and ideal for casual dining, where its simple tones will offset fresh food fabulously.
Price: $184
Italian for enchantment, Incanto is inspired by Italy's art, landscape, and Venetian history. Made with hand-painted glazed terra marrone clay, the stripes pay homage to the stately columns of the Palladian villas along the Brenta River.
Price: $39.99
This charcoal gray glazed stoneware serving bowl offers simple effortless style at an affordable price. Whether used for serving hot food, salads or snacks at family events, or sat on the side filled with fruit, it's a worthwhile purchase.
What materials are best for serving bowls?
A selection of serving bowls on your dining table will make entertaining much easier and more relaxed, as guests can help themselves to as much, or as little, food as they like. As well as the color and style of your serving bowls, the materials matter too.
'China, porcelain and stoneware are ideal materials for serving bowls, as they are fired at high temperature and are durable,' says Louise Rosie, Head of Design at Wedgwood. 'Out of the ceramic materials, bone china is considered to be the strongest because of the crushed bone that is added.'
'The most common and the best materials for serving bowls are the ceramics, as well as wood,' adds Daniella Bingham, tabletop buyer at Anthropologie.
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