Coral Gables Kitchenware Store, Free Pickup: Crate & Barrel

Crate & Barrel, at 358 San Lorenzo Ave., is the Coral Gables kitchenware store to visit when the plates matter as much as the pans. It opened in 2014, according to the company's own store page, and keeps hours of 10 am to 8 pm Monday through Thursday, 10 am to 9 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 11 am to 6 pm on Sunday. In-store pickup and curbside pickup for online orders are both free at this location.

The store page is unusually specific about what sits on the kitchen side of the floor. Appliances come from KitchenAid, Cuisinart and Breville. Cookware and bakeware come from Le Creuset, Staub and All-Clad. For knives, the page names Zwilling, Shun and Schmidt Brothers. Having all three knife makers in one case is the real draw, because you can compare the weight of a German Zwilling chef's knife against a thinner Japanese Shun before committing, which is hard to do from product photos.

Crate & Barrel's own dinnerware, glassware and serving pieces fill the rest of the tabletop section, and that is where this store pulls ahead of a pure cookware shop. Full place settings are laid out on dining tables, so you can see how a stoneware plate looks next to a linen napkin and a set of tumblers instead of judging each piece on a shelf. If you are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time, building one complete table here takes less guesswork than buying pieces from three websites.

The Design Desk at this location offers free interior design services, with designers who can work with you in person or on a video call. Most people use it for sofas and rooms, but it is also useful for planning an open kitchen where the dining table, bar stools and lighting need to read as one space. Registry consultations can be booked in the store or virtually, and the store page lists two private registry events with light bites on Sunday mornings, November 1 and November 8, both by RSVP.

The store page says this location has held cooking and baking demonstrations, flower arrangement classes and charity events in the past, and that upcoming events are posted in the Store Events section and on in-store signage. It also houses a Crate & Barrel Kids collection, with nursery furniture, toys and kids' tableware, so parents shopping for a nursery and couples comparing knife blocks end up in the same store. The store page adds that a Crate & Barrel Kids Design Desk works the same way as the main one, free and available online or in person.

Gordon and Carole Segal opened the first Crate & Barrel on December 7, 1962, in a 1,700-square-foot corner of an old elevator factory in Chicago's Old Town. They had found affordable European housewares on their Caribbean honeymoon and wanted to sell them to young couples setting up first homes. With little money for fixtures, they turned over the crates and barrels the goods arrived in, let the packing excelsior spill out and stacked china and glass on top. That display gave the company its name. More than sixty years later, the Coral Gables branch is one of five Florida retail stores the chain lists on its store page, together with Boca Raton, Hallandale Beach, Tampa and Sarasota, which makes it the only one inside Miami-Dade.

The store sits in the Shops at Merrick Park, an open-air center whose directory places Crate & Barrel on Level 3. The company describes this branch as a one-story store, so the whole assortment, from kitchenware to living room furniture and lighting, sits on a single floor. That layout makes it easy to carry a serving bowl over to a dining table display and see how it looks before you buy it.

Registry perks are spelled out on the store page too. A baby registry here comes with free design services, a 10% completion discount and app management, and the same in-store associates help set up wedding registries. If you are building a kitchen list for a wedding, a registry consultation is the fastest way to get the knives, cookware and dinnerware onto one list without forgetting the everyday basics like measuring cups and a good cutting board.

Buy dinnerware, glassware, serving boards and knives here. Those are the categories where seeing and holding the pieces changes the decision. For enameled cast iron, it is worth walking one floor down to Williams Sonoma before you pay, because both stores carry Le Creuset and Staub and colors rotate. Skip buying small kitchen gadgets here if you are price sensitive, since the same KitchenAid and Cuisinart tools turn up at department stores during sales.

For curbside pickup, the store page lays out the process clearly. Choose Free Pickup in your online cart, wait for the Ready for Pickup email or text, then park in a space with a blue curbside pickup sign and call the store number. An associate brings the order out and loads it into your car. Larger furniture orders are handled through the nearest warehouse, where staff help load your vehicle at a scheduled time.

Merrick Park has garage parking beside the shops, and the Douglas Road Metrorail station is the nearest rail stop. The quietest time for knife and tableware advice is right after opening on a weekday, before the lunch crowd fills the center. On Friday and Saturday the extra hour until 9 pm makes an after-dinner browse realistic.

If the pattern you want is out of stock, order it online with free store pickup and collect it on your next visit, or compare the Le Creuset and Staub colors at Williams Sonoma on Level 2 of the same mall. To round out the trip, drive a few minutes to the Biltmore Hotel and walk through its lobby and grounds, or head to Miracle Mile for a coffee and a look at the Coral Gables shopfronts that give the city its Mediterranean Revival look.

Before you set the table, ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a dinner spot in Coral Gables where you can test that new set of glasses with a proper bottle of wine.