At some point late in the 1990s or early 2000s I was feeling economically flush. I decided that I would upgrade my kitchen pots and pans from the basic inexpensive lightweight stainless steel and copper-bottomed Revereware that I bought from the BX early on, and had carted from hither and yon ever since. I was working as an executive secretary for a small consulting firm which had some very good months which rewarded the handful of employees with some nice bonuses. The office I worked in was across the road from a very nice mall with a Williams – Sonoma outlet in it. This place enticed me, what with the nose-bleedingly upscale offerings in it, most of which I could never in a million years afford and was just too grounded to seriously consider anyway. But the opportunities to research quality kitchen items were available to me, through that store, and again on-line. After carefully reviewing that which was available at the Williams – Sonoma store and looking online – I decided on Chantal enamel-on-steel and in the cobalt blue colorway. Enamel because it was non-reactive to acidic things like tomato sauce, or sauces with wine or vinegar in it, and blue – because. Chantal then offered a full range of pots, pans, casseroles and bakeware in six or seven shades.  Blue, green, red, white, maybe orange? Besides plain steel and maybe copper … alas, they stopped offering the colors before too many more years passed. I guess there wasn’t all that much demand.

I think they had a warehouse in Houston, which was handy for my purposes. I bought a small frying pan, and a soup kettle, first, and was very pleased to see that the same lid fitted both. So the larger part of one of those bonus checks went to buying one of their larger sets, and I was so extatically happy with them that I picked up a few more individual pieces on sale: a saucier, a wok, and a stock-pot. The cooking pots and pans all turned out to be as advertised; readily-cleaned, heated evenly, the lids were borosilicate glass, and had a loop that fitted over the pot handle so that they could be hung together from my handing rack. I have only ever been able to break one lid, in all the time since, through dropping onto a concrete floor and landing straight on the loop.

I believe that for some period around that time, the Chantal enamel pots were also the set dressing of choice for the movies and TV, possibly for the distinctive colors and style: If you look closely at the scenes set in the Home Improvement kitchen, there are a couple of blue Chantal pots, and a tea kettle. In the kitchen set for the Home Alone movies, there are some red Chantal pots and pans on the kitchen island, or the stove.

Alas, it seems that just as I decided on a make of something for the household – pots, dishware, whatever, assuming that I will always be able to replace or augment my selection … they stop making it. It happened with the sturdy blue and white restaurant-style china plates, mugs, bowls and individual casserole dishes that I got from an outlet shop in San Marcos. Yep, as soon as I needed to restock due to breakage, that store vanished between one visit and the next. So it was with my Chantal blue – gone with the manufacturing wind. My daughter has managed to pick up a couple more useful pieces for me through randomly finding them at thrift stores, and I scan through eBay now and again, like for a replacement lid. The pieces are a bit more expensive on eBay – but I guess the brand was popular enough that at least they are available, and for a good bit less less than they were when new. They do last very well, although one of my favorite pieces got badly chipped along one side by the rotating arm of the dishwasher. That particular pot hasn’t shown up yet; I can only imagine that it was everyone elses’ favorite as well.