What color pot to buy?
January 5, 2011 10:49 AM   Subscribe

What color Le Crueset should I order if I hope to be able to purchase more matching pots in the (most likely distant) future?

My parents gifted me a 5.5 quart Le Crueset dutch oven for Christmas, and because of the distance back to my home, we'll be placing the order online. I love the gift and am thrilled to have such an amazing cooking item in my kitchen, but I'm struggling with the colors.

I'm a fan of the classic red or cobalt blue but my favorite is the cassis available online-only from Williams-Sonoma, and not listed on the Le Crueset website at all. My only concern - if I get the pot on Cassis now, will other items be available in that color in the future? Assuming it's important to me that future dishes match (which it is... I know, I'm anal) and assuming that I'll have the budget to buy any Le Crueset items in the future, is it a safer bet to go with the "signiture" colors?
posted by moshimosh to Shopping (21 answers total)
 
If matching in the future is a real isssue I'd probably stick with red. if a store only carries one color of Le Crueset, that's the one it's gonna be.
posted by Jawn at 10:55 AM on January 5, 2011


Plenty of Le Creuset Cassis-colored items are available on Amazon.
posted by litnerd at 10:57 AM on January 5, 2011


I'm not sure you have to match. The color scheme they use is so distinctive and bold that I think it's totally fine to mix colors. I have a friend with a few different color pieces and I think they look great together. I'd just go with what you like now and not sweat the future.
posted by heresiarch at 10:58 AM on January 5, 2011 [5 favorites]


Here is the purple on the Le Creuset site. It's definitely not a full selection though, like only having 2 of the 12 dutch ovens. They suggest mixing it with Flame (orange).
posted by smackfu at 11:02 AM on January 5, 2011


any colors "exclusive" to anyone is not something you can rely on being there in the future.

(also I noticed the W-S line has weird knobs)
posted by JPD at 11:07 AM on January 5, 2011


The signature Le Creuset color is definitely Flame, the orange and red gradient. They've been making it since 1934. There have been different red enamels over time (there's one called Cherry and one called Brick, I think).
posted by bcwinters at 11:15 AM on January 5, 2011 [4 favorites]


The outlet stores often have the other colors, but the red and blue are the easiest to find at thrift stores or Shopgoodwill.com. As the pieces come with a lifetime guarantee, buying used ones isn't much of a worry. I think food looks best in the red or orange colored ones, but that's a personal preference. Stew in purple wouldn't excite me much.
posted by Ideefixe at 11:27 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


I like different colors, but I wonder if the purple won't be gone sooner than later. The blue, red, red/orange have been around for awhile. The idea is that Le Creuset is nice enough to put on the table (when cooked in). I don't think it will be often you have multiples on the table, but again, maybe that's me.
posted by 6:1 at 11:38 AM on January 5, 2011


I would rather have Le Creuset cookware that compliments each other rather than stress myself to make it all match. And it would look very very cool.
posted by Kitteh at 11:45 AM on January 5, 2011


Flame is the classic color, and the best in my opinion.
posted by sulaine at 11:46 AM on January 5, 2011


For a datapoint, I have the lemongrass dutch oven, which I bought two years ago because I absolutely fell in love with the color. I had a similar concern to you (and, what is worse, it really doesn't coordinate with their other colors as well as cassis looks like it will) but I've lucked out this far - and in fact just bought myself a matching "personal size" piece in the same color yesterday!
posted by CharlieSue at 12:04 PM on January 5, 2011


Best answer: Granite Grey & Cream in 2000, Chocolate & Pistachio in 2003, Satin Blue & Kiwi in 2004, Lavender & Burgundy in 2005… Cassis is bound to be discontinued in a few years from now.

Orange/Flame and Red seem to be the most long running colours. Also bear in mind that some items in the Le Crueset range will be hard to find in the less popular colours.

On the other hand the unusual colours are always the ones that get sold off at a discount when they end of line that colour.
posted by Lanark at 12:32 PM on January 5, 2011


I have several pieces of enameled, cast-iron Le Creuset cookware in different colors, though predominately flame. I think it looks nice having the different colors, kind of like old school Fiestaware.
posted by brand-gnu at 1:29 PM on January 5, 2011


Another vote for Flame. It's really lovely, with an almost translucent quality to the red gradient over a wonderfully warm orange. If you haven't seen it in person, it can look pretty different between your monitor and your eyeballs. Lots of different stores carry the brand, so if you're really undecided, maybe you can find a place near to you that will let you look at a piece without purchasing it?
posted by Mizu at 1:38 PM on January 5, 2011


Oooh, that purple is so pretty!

Nthing don't worry about the colors. I have flame and blue and love them together.

But I guess to answer your question, because you do want them to match, go with flame or red. (But note the gorgeous colors you're missing out on!)
posted by torticat at 1:57 PM on January 5, 2011


What color is your kitchen? What would look good with your decorating style?
posted by Caravantea at 1:59 PM on January 5, 2011


I guess I'm timid about color. I got white. It goes with everything. Or--if sufficiently anal--with nothing.
posted by fivesavagepalms at 2:16 PM on January 5, 2011


We have both red and blue pieces that arrived via different routes at different times. It never occured to me that because they don't match, they don't go together. The red and blue are sort of generic Le Crueset colors; if you're concerend about coordinating, I'd go with one of those.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:38 PM on January 5, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks all. I have decided to go with the Cassis, because I really like it and I need to be more open to variety. and as a graduate student the day when I can afford to buy more pieces myself is pretty far off, so no sense worrying about it now.

And Lanark did get me excited at the idea of future sales of Cassis Le Creuset!
posted by moshimosh at 3:22 PM on January 5, 2011


My mom passed down her flame collection to me from the 70s, I liked the color and built on that collection with more of the same. I am kind of anal too. I kind of wish I had a different color of le crueset, as I have been looking at the flame since I was born. Mixing it up gives some freedom and flexibility and that is very nice. Just a thought from one anal person to another.

I think the Cassis is just gorgeous and would work well with white, cream, black or grey. If you really like it and don't mind a bit of well done mixing I think that would be really nice. I vote for going with what you love for sure. Cassis is really really nice. But, no, it's not the safe choice at all.
posted by 58 at 3:40 PM on January 5, 2011


I've got aredflame stockpot, a green doufeu, and a blue oval Dutch oven. They hang amidst the black iron pans and steely All-Clad on a pegboard in the goldenrod pantry. It's perfectly warm and cheery, and I don't have to be That One Lady In The Outlet Store, Whom We Still Mock for getting into it with the clerk about whether the silicone spatulas were the right blue to match hers. Enjoy your new tool! You will love it for many, many years!
posted by mimi at 6:59 PM on January 5, 2011


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