Glassware & Stemware Collections

Serve delicious drinks while creating a stunning tabletop display. Whether you are curating a new tabletop decor scheme or you want to expand on your existing pieces, our glassware collections feature a variety of fabulous stemware, barware and casual designs. Replace those wine glasses that your cat knocked over or upgrade the mismatched tumblers that you collected in college. Add monogrammed stemware to your wedding registry or purchase a glassware set as a wedding gift. Williams-Sonoma features an excellent selection of designs, from classy to casual.

There are a few different categories of glassware that you can add to your tabletop collection. Stemware are glasses that includes narrow stems and bases. These items include wine, cocktail, margarita, brandy and stemmed liqueur glasses, champagne flutes and goblets. Barware glasses are ideally shaped for serving bar drinks. These include highball glasses and old fashioned glasses. You can also use these to serve small non-alcoholic cocktails and drinks. Casual glassware is a good choice for serving drinks such as juice, soft drinks, smoothies and beer. You can find a variety of sizes that are ideal for holding your favourite beverages.

Many glassware collections also include pieces for serving drinks. For example, casual collections may include pitchers, while stemware and barware collections may feature decanters for wine, liqueurs or liquor. These are practical pieces that can double as an attractive centrepiece on your table or bar cart.

As its name suggests, glassware is usually made of glass. Designs range from simple and elegant bowls and stems to ornately decorated pieces. Manufacturers tend to use either pressed, cut or etched methods to produce ornate stemware and barware. Cut glass is cut, ground and polished to form designs around the glassware. Pressed glassware involves pressing designs into heated glass. Etching is similar to engraving, but it uses acids instead of blades. Etching is a fantastic way to create custom designs such as monograms. Williams-Sonoma offers several monogram options for glassware collections.

Although glass is the most popular material for creating glassware, you can also find a few other options. Many outdoor glassware manufacturers use synthetic materials in place of glass. These are durable and do not shatter when they are bumped and dropped, which makes them suitable for outdoor and travel use.

Glassware comes in a variety of different shapes and sizes, which can affect the flavour of your drinks. Wide bowls are appropriate for serving drinks such as red wine and brandy, as these beverages benefit from the oxidization process. A wide bowl allows the drink to breathe and mix with oxygen, which improves the flavour. Narrow bowls work best for light drinks and sparkling wines, as too much oxygen can have a negative effect on the flavour. Tapering usually refers to the shape of the rim of the glass. Glasses with tapered or flared rims narrow towards the top, which helps keep flavours inside the glass. This comes in handy when serving full-bodied wines and liquors. Drinks such as cocktails and margaritas do not benefit from trapping in flavours, so these glasses usually feature open rims.

Although an attractive glassware set is an asset to your tabletop, accessories can also help your drinkware decor shine. Show off your glasses and bottles on a bar cart, sideboard or butcher block. Use coasters and trivets to prevent moisture rings or red wine stains. Small napkins look chic next to cocktail and old fashioned glasses, while larger cloth napkins tied around a bottle neck give your service a professional flair. Use wine buckets to keep your drinks cold on the table and seal in flavours between rounds with bottle stoppers. Glass charms and glass markers are handy for keeping track of glasses at parties, and they let you show off your creative side.