u/Intelligent_Art7852

Coastal blue, Provence, and Peche are 30% off (so $217 + tax) white was 20%.

This was spotted at the Signature store in Conroe, TX. They do ship.

I don’t know if petal braisers do regularly go on sale but when I was looking to buy one they were excluded from sales/coupons for me.

The price online is still full.

Walked into the store planning to get a few rice bowls from the FTT sale and browse. what a dangerous move. Snagged the braiser for a gift and had to pass on the rice bowls (but I still want the marine rice bowls 😅)

I traded for this petal braiser and love it so much but when I was cooking with it even with the heat on med-low to low I noticed the handles were really hot. There were a few times when I wanted to quickly grab the handle just to brace while stirring or scraping up browned bits after dglazing the braiser.

Does anyone use the silicone handle grips and recommend them? I looked on amazon but they all seem pretty large for the small handles for the 2.25qt petal braiser. It was fiddly to grab a full size pot holder/oven mittfor such a quick task. Kitchen towel was fine but just wondering if there’s a better option?

I’ve cooked in a 5.5 qt DO for a long time and while the handles are hot I def could hold on to them for quick stir but maybe because it’s taller or bigger pot and further from the flame? I also didn’t need to brace as much since it was heavier and didn’t slide across my cooktop I think

I originally had a 5pm ticket for Day 2 with my mom but a friend who had to be out of town gave me her 5pm ticket for Day 1. So I went to two sessions and these were my observations.

Restocking between sessions? The internet largely advises to not worry too much about which session you’re going to if you aren’t trying to score limited, special items or clearance “dot” sticker items. That they hold back items and restock inbetween sessions. I am a little skeptical about that advice.

When I went day 1, I picked up two items for my friend and mostly took pictures and browsed what was available. People are not kidding about it being overwhelming and I usually handle chaos well but I hate impulse purchases so I thought since they restock the smart move would be to take pics and notes of what I liked and then research/think about it overnight and pick up my own items the next day.

This was a mistake. I had misunderstood it to mean that the “standard” things like round dutch ovens and skillets openly available on the floor would be restocked. That was not my experience for myself, friends that also went, or what I observed online. It is true that the dot clearance items and special items that the employees have to retrieve for you (like petals or bread ovens) they held some for each session. even through Saturday my friend got a bread oven. For the “normal” stuff that was on the floor and general clearance items there’s no guarantee that it’ll be restocked at all. I saw as things were being placed in carts if there was more stock stored under the table an employee would move it up top for people to grab. but if not, they’d box up the last display one for anyone who wanted it. So my advice is if you want the best color options go to the earliest session you can. There were many things I saw day 1 that looked fully stocked above the table with some under the table but were actually all gone by day 2 last session.

How early to go before a session? If you want to be one of the first 20ppl in line to get first dibs on the limited items 1.5hr at least and prbly even earlier if going for the first session of the day. If you don’t want to wait at all show up about 30min after the session starts and you can walk right in. If you show up only 10-15min before the session starts and end up at the end of the line it takes about 30min for the line to enter because they’re handing everyone carts. I got in line early for my day 2 session while my mom met me shortly before it started when the line was crazy long in full Texas heat so she just waited in the car 30 min until the line died down and then walked right in.

How are the deals? There are definitely great deals to be had but it’s majority stuff that’s no longer available in that size/shape/color combo so you won’t be able to exactly price compare. BUT you should do a quick google of the expensive ticket items in your cart. Some things like the oval casserole was “discounted” from $340 to $220 but at the same time Williams Sonoma and and Le Creuset were running a sale on that item for that exact price for every color. If an item is available in signature and classic/traditional the prices are the same even tho signature should theoretically be more expensive. I didn’t shop the stoneware or accessories much because I didn’t need any of it and I’m somewhat skeptical on the deal there compared to getting it at Homegoods where you don’t have to make an impulsive final sale purchase. But of course there are items that can’t be bought elsewhere so if you know you like certain colors that are retired it makes sense to grab it there while you see it.

How are the colors? You will mostly see blue, red, and orange pieces widely available. A lot of the grey and white too. The “fun” colors were mostly retired or retiring colors. If you want to be very intentional about what colors and items are in your home this is going to be difficult. There were only a few colors for each type of item and not available for every item. If you’re more loose and don’t need things to be a matched set then the sale will definitely work for you.

Do I need to bring a cart? At least in Dallas not really the shopping carts are easier to maneuver and fit more, and the line to load your car was non existent. Mainly because the line to pay was a huge bottleneck. There were only about 10 or 12 check out registers so at anytime there’s only a handful of ppl leaving and waiting to load up their car. The Day 1 session I grabbed what my friend wanted but then wandered browsing until almost the end. Mistake. Paying towards the end of the session took over an hr. The next day I checked out before an hour into the session and waited maybe 10-15min.

Mystery gifts? We got lucky and loved ours it seemed like it was majority cast iron. The 3.75qt oval casserole, 8qt oval and 6.5qt deep, 7.5qt chefs oven, 9qt round oven seemed to be common good gifts. Rarer amazing gifts were round and oval bread ovens, petal braisers. Disappointing gifts were griddle pans, non stick or stainless steel items. It seems there were a lot more happy than disappointed people but I really feel for the ppl who got those gifts. You know no one goes in hoping for a nonstick frying pan.

How was your haul?

Even tho I tried to be very intentional I still got swept up in the excitement. I have had the black 5.5qt for over 12 years and used it at least weekly since then. Even if not ideal I’ve used it to stir fry, braise, sear steaks, and bake sourdough on top of regular soups and roasts. I truly love that pot.

I went in wanting a skillet, 3.5qt braiser or petal braiser, and maybe a bread oven. I ended up impulse buying the 3.5qt signature round instead of a braiser because there wasn’t a color braiser I liked but I knew I wanted a smaller cooking vessel than my 5.5qt. The 2qt mauve pink my mom talked me into because the color was so pretty. In hindsight since I hold onto things for a long time I wonder if I should’ve been smarter and waited to get only what I really need and want. The bread oven I was so excited to get but I know it’s a true luxury item since my 5.5qt has been fine for sourdough baking but the excitement definitely lead me to pull the trigger on it. I debated taking it out of my cart all the way up until we got in line to checkout it will definitely be routinely used tho. The impulse buy I am very excited about is the rice pot I didn’t even know they’d have it at the sale and I love the shape. I think it’s going to be very useful for small batch deep frying which is quite common in the things I cook.

Our mystery gifts were a sea salt 8qt oval DO and 3.75qt oval casserole (traded for the grey color). Of course the mystery gifts being so awesome definitely colored our experience. I had a great time but I don’t think I’ll ever go again since I bought a lifetime’s worth of cast iron!