What are you looking for? I have 5 or 6 huge platters i have gotten various places....mostly at household auctions. I have a glass punch bowl that is great for a huge fruit salad that came from a household sale and a giant wooden salad bowl that also came from a sale/auction.
I don't have any soup tureens (sob!!) but I have used 2 white porcelain inserts from an old soda fountain to hold soup.
However, even when hosting a very large group I would rather use smaller sized serving pieces and replenish than huge bowls and platters of stuff. When they get half empty they look pretty pitiful! I find I use several medium platters more often than I use the 24 to 30 inch ones.
Don't know about on line stores...but eBay should be a help as well as TJ Maxx and Marshalls as well as Tuesday Morning.
Linda C

Every large platter I have ever had has gotten chipped. This year I will look for one of those plastic ones that sorta looks like china/pottery. It isn't me, it's always Jim who chips them.

I have a huge glass bowl for salads, fruit, punch etc. from Ikea. I have a couple large platters I found on sale at Macy's and Ross and Marshalls. But they are hard to store. A glass one broke and the pottery ones do chip. The disposable shiny catering trays can be lined with lettuce, fig or grape leaves and look lovely.

Stacked, tiered footed cake plates are great for holding cookies or individual apps. THEY DO NOT HAVE TO MATCH! They look cool , save space and add height to the serving table.

I am seriously lusting after the set Kathleen showed us. That is just perfect. I'll have to see if I can find a vendor here in Canada or one that will ship to Canada.

Like Linda I prefer serving pieces that are not too big. However, rather than replenish, I have another one or two identical dishes filled and ready to go. Used ones go down stairs out of sight until clean up time....or whenever I happen to find them! LOL

I also use only pure white serving dishes of various shapes and sizes, Corning French White "type" dishes , whatever I find on sale. It just makes the table look more cohesive.

Crock pots and chafing dishes are also useful. I have two of each. The crockpot's are for casual get togethers, the chafing dishes for more formal occasions.

Chase, HSN doesn't ship to Canada???
The company that makes it is called Performance Gold, hope that helps..
I was thinking blue iris meant more along the lines of keeping foods warm..but maybe I am wrong..
BTW, the burner buffet has 3 3qt pots, and the burners can be used for frying pans for omelettes etc.

Sharon, I can ship to Canada for you, let me know what you want and I'll help you get it.

Brenda

I was thinking more in terms of keeping food warm, but actually you have, as always, given me some good ideas and advice - I do have a large platter that I bring up only once or twice a year because it's a pain to store and a pain to pass around the table - good points, keep them coming!

There are some good ideas here. I tend to have a lot of clear glass punch bowls too, and several lazy susans which work out well. Long ago, I started collecting inexpensive clear glass items for my tables, so the food would be the star. Another thing I figured out a long time ago, is I can serve out of the same vessel the dish is cooked in, especially if it's fabulous. I invested in copper cookware, which I love cooking with, and because they make equally great servers. I've never needed a soup tureen, because my hammered copper soup pot is so beautiful. (It's also a double duty thing, which helps keep storage to a minimum.) I've been known to serve salad out of a bag with a brightly colored scarf tied around it, or use a fabric runner on a table for food, so I think you can use anything you want really.

In my current stack of stuff, I also have a couple of colorful enameled and SS dishpans, and some restaurant supply bowls, which I use mostly for prepping.

I'll fill several platters with the same food as well, which can be replaced easily during the event. Also helpful are bowls/cake plates on pedestals, which help save refrigerator room by using vertical spaces.

Restaurant Supply houses carry chaffing dishes and serving pieces. During the holidays Costco carries some items as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: catering equiptment

I have a large chafing dish that I got 30 years ago at a restaurant supply. It can hold a whole, half or third pans. You can find cheaper versions of it at Costco.
I also have several round ones, and I just looked on the Linensnthings and you can get an inexpensive one there for 20.00. If you are using them a few times a year, they will be fine.
I have 6 round good quality stainless trays which are great for serving as well as on the buffet table. However, round chrome trays from the dollar store with a doily would be fine for non messy appetizers.
I also have service for 100 of clear glass plates, bowls, salads, etc...I did catering part time years ago. They have been used and used, everyone knows I have them and they are welcome to borrow...100 white napkins, and stainless flatware for 100 too.
What I don't have is the energy to have big parties anymore, but the younger members of the family make good use of all my things! Pitchers, coffee pots, you name it, I've got it...
Besides the buffet server, I have several warming trays that can be adjusted.
And as Claire said, cake plates and pedestals are great to serve things from, raises it up..looks much better.

Crate and Barrel has nice large white platters. But the large ceramic platters get kind of heavy.

We have some big metal bowls from the local restaurant supply that are nice for serving things like salads for a big group and they are light for their weight. Even if you will serve by moving the food to smaller dishes, it is nice to have the big bowl for doing the prep.

I like the glass punch bowls too and not only for punch. Because they have steep sides they can take less room on the serving table than a flatter bowl and food looks nice in them.

You can find heavy glass serving platters at many discount store, like Target or Walmart.

I pick up stuff almost every week in Homegoods clearance aisle for $3-7. Sometimes it's things that I'm not sure how I will use it, but it always ends up being used some way or other. And for the marked down price if I use 2-3 times it is worth it to me.

Here are a few things I picked up at TJMaxx/Homegoods and Tuesday Morning:

Very large, 18"by22" and very heavy platter $5

{{!gwi}}

Pink Cake Stand $3

{{!gwi}}

Fish Platter, 20"by 9" $5

{{!gwi}}

Large Pitcher $5

{{!gwi}}

Depression Glass Serving Plate $7

{{!gwi}}

Michelle

Michelle, I love the dishes you posted - but tell me, where do you store all of them?
Several people mentioned punch bowls - what else do you use them for besides punch? I'd like to hear some of your ideas.

We just did an entire gut of our home and I designed the kitchen and pantry. I have 3 special shelves just for platters. The shelves are wide and very deep. Most of my large platters are not a problem at all.

But the cakes plates, especially if they have a dome, are a big problem for me and I've at least 6 footed cake plates and 3 have domes. The small ones I can stack but the large ones are put in clear plastic bags and they're in the basement on a high shelf. My cloches are also stored in the basement wrapped in plastic.

I have 1 domed cake plate in my kitchen at all times for my baked goods. Most of the plates and domes are interchangable so I mix and match frequently.

Michelle