When you’re preparing a meal for friends and family, you typically think of the essential tools first: a great knife, well-made pots and pans and some baking trays. Trivets don’t make the list for most, but they’re an essential tool not only for putting hot plates of food on, but also for brightening up a dinner table. Like all good design objects, a trivet should perform well both in terms of form and function. Some of our favorites include iterations made of solid brass, or more simple, straightforward marble pieces. Here, a closer look at 10 of our favorites.
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Williams Sonoma Home Wood Trivets Set
Image Credit: Williams Sonoma Home Not all trivets have to be a big, clunky, metal apparatus. This trio from Williams Sonoma home is relatively straightforward and rustic. Each is made of solid wood, and can therefore double as a cutting or serving board. If you really like them, you can snag up to eight in one bundle. Use several for extra-large hot pans or one for smaller dishes.
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Snowe Home Marble Trivet
Image Credit: Snowe Home This no-frills trivet is made of solid, natural marble—its hexagonal shape will appeal to minimalists (or geometry nerds). It’s not too rough around the edges, either. Thoughtful thumb rests on either side allow you to easily pick it up and store it away after a meal.
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Mackenzie-Childs Royal Check Trivet
Image Credit: Neiman Marcus Mackenzie-Childs’ trivet adds a bright pop of color to the table, so you’ll hardly even want to sit a hot plate of food on it. It has an acacia wood base and a hand-painted, white-and-blue surface that looks like a bit like a chessboard.
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Muuto Groove Marble Trivets
Image Credit: Danish Design Store Marble is usually valued for being a smooth, flawless material. Designer Hallgeir Homstvedt subverts that expectation with his trivet for Scandinavian design brand Muuto, carving linear ridges into the stone’s surface to give it a more dynamic and textured look.
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MoMA Design Store Walnut Trivet
Image Credit: MoMA Design Store A trivet, while great, is yet another thing that takes up space in a kitchen cabinet. Not so for this one from MoMA Design Store, which can be folded up accordion-style and stored away with no hassle. Bonus: It’s made of sustainably sourced walnut wood.
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March SF Brass Dew Trivet
Image Credit: March SF This solid brass trivet comes courtesy of Skultuna, a Swedish company that’s produced metal objects for more than 400 years—its client list includes the Royal Court of Sweden. Inspired by the Art Deco movement, the trivet features designs both curved and linear.
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Fferone Milan Trivet
Image Credit: Fferone Milan is a beautiful city where you can find inspiration just about anywhere—even on the ground. Fferone’s trivet cites the city’s sidewalk grates as its muse, casting the slatted shape in sold, sand-blasted brass.
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Tom Dixon Bone Trivet
Image Credit: Tom Dixon Ever the innovator, Tom Dixon designs something completely different from anything else in his oeuvre with the Bone trivet. Its inspirations are spelled out in the name; its brass materiality mixes organic shapes with inorganic matter. If you like it enough, the same look is available in fruit bowl form as well.
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Artemest Marricreo Trivet
Image Credit: Artemest This trivet is ideal for outdoor dining. Instead of metal or wood, it’s made of thick rope, giving it a lighter, more al fresco feel. Thankfully, it won’t move around too much, despite its fabric makeup—the piece was put together using a unique gluing technique that’s anti-slip.
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Alessi Extensible Trivet
Image Credit: Amara The best thing about Alessi’s trivet is its versatility. It can be unfolded in myriad ways, so you can use it for pure decor or as a more functional object. Plus, when it’s compressed, it looks like a fish, which is fun. When stretched out, you can see individual fish shapes.
