Chafing Dish

One of the most elegant and refined forms of chafing dish is the copper chafing dish.  More expensively priced than most of its counterparts with good reason, the copper chafing dish is a fashion statement in and of itself, but has many benefits above and beyond its good looks.

There are a number of reasons that you may want to consider going with a copper chafing dish, assuming it falls within your budget.

First of all, copper has antibacterial properties, as it’s known to be self cleansing and resistant to many germs.  A copper chafing dish will give you the best protection from bacteria and other germs that could effect the quality of the food being served.  It will also give those you’re serving some peace of mind if they’re privy to this knowledge.

On a cosmetic level, copper also has a number of attractive properties.  Due to the chemical composition of copper in general, it’s one of those substances whose look tends to improve over time.  Unlike other metal that may rust and fade, the metallic shine of copper only improves, making it very resistant to weathering and anything else that could negatively affect the look and feel of your dish.  This gives the copper chafing dish a longevity factor that a stainless steel chafing dish or an all clad chafing dish may lack.

There are two possible ways you can go as far as the look and feel of a copper chafing dish is concerned.  There are antique style copper chafing dishes, and more modern ones as well.  Which one you get will depend on your personal tastes.  The antique copper chafing dish will generally resemble the ones used in the days of lore, as the origins of the chafing dish date back hundreds of years.  Newer ones will have a more robust shine that almost resembles gold plated material.

The copper chafing dish will come in a variety of sizes.  Depending on how much food you’re looking to serve, you may want to go with a 4 quart device, a 6 quart copper chafing dish, or one that holds up to 12 quarts or more.  This really depends on the size of your intended audience, and such a decision regarding chafing dish dimensions should be based around this.  Prices will rise, depending upon how many quarts of food they’re able to hold at once.

Make sure that you get ample chafing dish fuel with your copper chafing dish as well.  The larger the device, the more fuel you’ll need in order to keep your food hot.  This should be easy to find, but you’ll want to plan ahead of any events to make sure that you’ll have an adequate supply.  The last thing that you’ll want is cold food being served inside such a beautiful dish.

Prices for a copper chafing dish will vary by size, but you should expect to pay somewhere between $150 and $300 for a medium sized copper chafing dish.  Look online to some leading retailers and you’ll typically see markdowns.  Therein lies the opportunity to get your hands on a beautiful piece of dishware that lasts you a very long time.