Store

Once upon a time, in 1972, Shirley Collins opened a fun, funky kitchen store in the Pike Place Market neighborhood that beckoned to cooks seeking quality kitchenware. In 1995, her store was so beloved — what with the colorful ceramics piled high to the 14-foot ceilings, the cheerful linens, the high-end pots and pans — that the Behnke family bought the store and decided to share the love throughout the land. There are now more than 40 Sur La Table stores in the United States, with more opening every year. A healthy Internet and catalog business puts Sur La Table virtually partout dans le monde.

Serious cooks who don't want to mess around with cheapo utensils and tools make a beeline for the store, where they know they can find fine French copper pots, sturdy Demeyere tea kettles and pans from Belgium and well-balanced knives from Japan. Store buyers make sure to put the "fun" in function, too, with items like whimsical napkin rings, cartoon mugs and cow-shaped creamers.

TIP: Now that you're geared up, get cooking: The Kirkland store offers classes almost every day. See the Web site for the schedule.

By Vanessa McGrady
Special to NWsource