My $24.99 Ikea Salad Bowl Became a Cult Classic (And It’s Still Perfect 15 Years Later)

One day, about 15 years ago (possibly even further back), the Blanda Matt found its way into my Ikea cart. I needed a salad bowl for my new apartment, and this nondescript 11-inch bamboo number fit the bill. It costs $24.99 now, but I think it may have been about half that price when I bought it.

Little did I know that all these years later, after two apartments, one house, one husband, and two kids, I’d still be serving up salads in the same vessel. It’s exactly the right shape for tossing a good-sized salad without leafy greens flying out of the bowl. It makes the salad tongs feel like extensions of my arms, sliding down its perfectly sloped sides, never missing a leaf. 

I’m sure there are prettier salad bowls out there. My Blanda Matt has lost some of its shine, and the bamboo has begun to take on a dark, mottled patina. (If anyone has ever refinished one, let me know! I’d love to restore it to its former glory.) In fact, I know there are prettier salad bowls because I have another lovely, fancy one from Nambé.

My mother-in-law gifted it to us for Christmas a while back, and it comes out once or twice a year, when I think to serve salad in something that nice. Made of dark, glossy acacia wood and accessorized with burly matching tongs, it’s a behemoth of a bowl. The flat, wide bottom makes for exceptionally awkward salad tossing, and it’s too big for everyday use. Ti weighs more than 12 pounds and takes up the whole sink when it’s time to clean up. My Blanda Matt would never.

Clocking in at under two pounds, it’s quite lightweight for its size. Even with its large capacity, this bowl has a reasonably small footprint on the table. I may have seen it as a temporary visitor to my apartment all those years back, but now I can’t imagine dinner without it.

Until recently, I thought I was the only person relying on the Blanda Matt. Then, while researching for this story, I discovered a cache of fond reviews on the Ikea website. More than 1,700 reviews from as far back as 2017 show that other Blanda Matt owners think this bowl is perfect, too. Over on Reddit's r/ikeahacks, DIYers praise the qualities of this bowl as a light fixture. I may never hang my salad bowl over the kitchen table, but I'll happily use it for another 15 years' worth of salads.

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