Is the Next Great Cookware Color Already In Your Fridge?

Last week, Le Creuset unveiled “Shallot” as its newest cookware colorway to a room full of cameras, cooking enthusiasts, and some of my colleagues. A delicate shade of purple inspired by the allium’s interior, Shallot has garnered widespread praise and been viewed nearly 3 million times on Twitter. If Shallot’s success feels familiar, that’s because it is. Many recently released, beloved cookware colorways have also been inspired by food—a baking dish in sage green, an oyster-hued casserole dish, and a pie dish in a neutral tone called "Flour" are just a couple examples of the food-forward nomenclature. The link between household ingredients and successful cookware colors is undeniable, so it’s worth asking: Is the next great cookware color already in my fridge?

For reference, we currently sell cookware in 11 different food-inspired colors. From Le Creuset, we carry a variety of Dutch ovens, skillets, and cocottes in colors named Artichaut (green), Sea salt (white), and (of course) the pale purple Shallot. From Staub, we offer similar products in Grenadine (dark reddish-brown), White truffle (white), Cherry (bright red), and Basil (green). Other items include baking dish in Cream from Casafina, this Dansk casserole dish in Plum (deep purple), and—my personal favorite—a stock pot with a picture of a lobster on it.

While all of these colors are stunning, for the most part, their edible counterparts are relatively mundane. Cream, shallot, and basil are basic, widely available, and highly consumed kitchen staples. This confirms two things: Beauty is everywhere, and everywhere includes my kitchen. With that in mind—and in hopes of discovering the next cookware colorway deserving of a glamorous, downtown Manhattan launch party—let’s examine the prospects within my color studio refrigerator.

Ghee

A soft, neutral, yellowish-gold, ghee-colored cookware would look best in a kitchen with big windows, natural light, and a touch of greenery. Of course, anything would probably look good in that beautiful kitchen, so perhaps this butter-based neutral isn’t the chromatic world beater we’re looking for.

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Capers

The name and history of a food item undoubtedly influences its potential as a color. For example, in marketing Shallot, Le Creuset mentions the allium’s prevalence in French cuisine. While capers have both a cool name and a storied culinary past, their actual color is too lifeless to transcend the future generations of Dutch ovens.

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Clementine

Cool color, good name, but too similar to Le Creuset’s iconic and already gorgeous Flame colorway. Pass.

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Miso

A strong name with an amazingly rich culinary history, miso has the foundation of a great cookware colorway. The flaw? While I love miso’s deep, deep brown hue, I just don’t think I’ll ever want it to entirely color a saucepan, cocotte, or baking dish.

Whole Grain Mustard

Is multi-colored, whole-grain mustard the most likely iteration of cookware colorways? Of course not. Do I think we’re due for a shift towards more fun, expressive, and less obviously curated cookware aesthetics? Absolutely. Cooking should be fun, and your equipment’s appearance is allowed to reflect that. This is why I love the lobster stock pot so much—it’s got personality. Out of everything in my fridge, the small jar of whole-grain mustard is (somehow) the most eye-catching character on my shelves.

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What’s a color that you’d like to see in cookware? Let us know in the comments below!