Why Oversized Bowls Are the Only Dishware Anyone Is Using Right Now

If you were looking for a sign to shove your plates to the back of your kitchen cabinet and stock the front row with bowls instead, here it is. Restaurants and home chefs alike are ditching classic plates for a trending (and more functional) dishware model: the bowl.

While a stroll through any home goods store will reflect this shift toward bowls of various sizes and shapes, we might be able to trace this sudden spike in popularity back to social media. Namely, the internet’s infatuation with the bowl-plate hybrid, also known as the blate, dinner bowl, low bowl, and sometimes, simply, pasta bowl.

In a now-viral post shared to TikTok, user @rebjansmi shared her personal passion for the dish, saying, “In the end, we’re all just women who want to find bowls that sort of look like plates that are sort of like bowls.” Clearly, it resonated with the masses: The video garnered a whopping 1.7 million likes and more than 11k comments.

@rebjansmi’s video is also not the only one out there like it. Fellow blate fans have taken to TikTok to echo this sentiment: Dinner bowls are superior to plates.

So what exactly is a blate or dinner bowl? The kitchen staple that’s been circulating social media and dishware retailers alike can be described simply as a shallow bowl. However, there isn’t an exact measurement for what qualifies a bowl as a blate—some are deeper, while others look more like plates with lips. Here’s what remains consistent, though: They’re chicer than a traditional bowl (think a cereal bowl) and more practical than a plate. 

 “Bowls are the unsung hero of kitchen decor, in large part because of how functional they are,” says Yasmine El Sanyoura, a home designer for digital real estate platform Opendoor. “They provide key things regular plates don’t: barriers and volume. You can use a bowl and rest assured that it will keep your items secure and safe within its confines, and can provide support where flat plates or those with low edges simply cannot.” 

While functionality is always top of mind (hello, bowls fit more without the threat of spillage), with open shelving concepts trending now more than ever, your dishes are a key design element, too.

“As homeowners look to fill open shelves with items that not only serve a primary purpose but also add visual interest, opting for a dinner bowl can help make the space feel intentional,” El Sanyoura says. “From a designers’ perspective, a blate can easily be stacked for easy access and a curated display moment.” 

Don’t believe us, or the millions of folks on TikTok? We can look to popular retailers and their offerings as evidence that the dinner bowl is the dishware du jour. Think: West Elm, Pottery Barn, Food52, Our Place, the Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart collection, and other fan-favorite home decor destinations, all of which boast their own spin on the trending kitchen product. According to El Sanyoura, the range of interpretations available is the beauty of the bowl. 

“Bowls come in a multitude of shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns, and can serve as an accent piece for those looking to show their personality through what they display in their home—or what they serve their chips in,” she says. “And since [dinner bowls] are more shallow than traditional bowls, but have taller edges than plates, there is something appealing about a unique take on more traditional kitchen staples.”