Help me pick my Le Creuset!

Peeps, I have a First World Problem and I need your assistance.

Right now I'm in the market for a Le Creuset dutch oven. Through the Christmas magic of my husband's awesome, amazing Aunt Becky and Uncle Paul I have enough credit at Macys.com to pick basically ANY color or size Le Creuset dutch oven I want! And that's in addition to the 2.75 quart oval one I ALSO got as a Christmas present!! This is the one I already have:

It. Is. Awesome. Perfect for a small batch of soup or heating up meatballs and spaghetti sauce. Also? It's in my signature kitchen appliance color ... all things must now match my beloved Kitchen Aid Pro. She looks like this:

 

 

I love her. She's so pretty and helpful.

ANYWAY. CHOICES. The choices are killing me and this is where you come in. I cannot decide on what size or shape to get in a larger Le Creuset dutch oven.

First, there is the oval 5-qt. (available in cobalt! but I'm not sure about the shape. Also it seems too small, so maybe it's not even a contender). Then there is the round 5.5 qt (NOT available in cobalt) but I'm drawn more to the round shape and more manageable size. Then we bump up to the 7.25 quart round, which is available in cobalt but seems HUGE (although I have a 6-quart oval Crock Pot that just barely holds a double recipe of cajun-style red beans with sausage).

So here are the parameters:

I have to buy this at Macy's.

I prefer the cobalt blue color.

It will be Le Creuset brand. Oh yes. It will.

I am torn between choosing a round 5.5-quart in a color I'm not crazy about but a more versatile size (and also DOES! NOT! MATCH! OCD OVERLOAD!) and buying the 7.25-quart in the color I prefer but finding that it's just too big. AND THEN just to throw a wrench in the whole thing is the 6.75 quart oval - a perfect straddle of the two sizes AND available in cobalt blue - but in the oval shape that I'm less sure about. I'm not even sure WHY I'm less sure about the oval shape. Perhaps I see myself using this item on my cooktop more and that's why. Maybe it's because I've seen Julia Child and Ree Drummond using round ones. Perhaps I am a HUGE FOLLOWER AND NEED HELP.

Let it be said that I cook a lot of beans, soups and chilis. Let it be said that I have been known to feed large crowds of people and that we hope to have at least one more kid (and so one day I will probably have at least three teenagers to feed). Let it be said that I hope this Le Creuset is one day in use by my grandkids. Let it be said that this is a big, gigantic purchase for me. NO PRESSURE.

So, please tell me what to do! Do you have a dutch oven? Do you like it? Are you sure of the size and shape or do you wish that you'd gone a different route?

Once again, the contenders:

Round 5.5 quart, not available in cobalt blue.

Oval 6.75 quart, cobalt blue.

Round 7.25 quart, cobalt blue.

What say you?

Comments

[Caci]

What the other color?

[Lily]

Not the 5.5 quart size, Manda. Not just because it's not available in the cobalt blue. Too small a size. GO BIGGER.

[Lizzie]

I refrain from comment due to extreme jealousy.

[Michelle]

You definitely need larger than 5.5qt. I would say just go for the 7.25qt version. It's not that much bigger than the 6.75qt and it's in your color and shape.

[Jenny]

Go for the big one!

[Home Sweet Sarah]

Mid-sized oval!

I have a smaller round dutch oven (not Le Creuset, SADLY) and find that sometimes, like when I'm searing meat for pot roast, I could really use something more oblong-shaped.

[Robin Maynard]

GO OVAL, BABY!

[Sheila]

I would totally go with the oval!

[Julie]

Definitely the oval! You will for sure love the bigger size (over the 5.5) and like someone above said, if you cook meat in it, the extra length will be very handy when you need to get utensils underneath it, and maneuver it. Also: JELUS.

[Diane]

The biggest round one. You won't be sorry you have a huge one! I have the smaller round one (passed down from my husband's grandmother!) and it's just not quite as big as I'd like it to be. I don't think the 7.25 will be too big at all.

[Courtney]

Go big or go home!

[J.]

I am officially LeJealous...and I'm funny about ovals, so I'd probably just get the biggest one (I was actually going to type what Courtney wrote).

[Brandy]

Oh what an awesome choice! I actually love the oval, although I don't have a great reason why. For some reason I think it looks nice when serving but again, I don't have a strong reason or anything - just personal preference. Have fun! :-)

[ANNIE]

I say go for the 7.25 quart. It may seem huge now, but if you're already cooking large meals a lot with your young family, then JUST WAIT until those kids are older. You'll be cooking big all the time and I think you'd look back, laugh, and think "I can't believe I EVER thought this was too big!" I like the oval - mostly because it just looks different - but I wonder how it manages on a burner? I'm sure Le Creuset knows what they're doing, but I just wonder... So I vote 7.25 round and I think you'll be really happy with that.

[ladykay]

Courtney took the words out of my mouth - Go big or go home!

[Abbykins]

I have the 6.75qt oval one and LOVE it!! The oval shape works well for whole chickens or large pot roasts!! This is the CLASSIC Dutch Oven style that will stay with your family forever!! It is HUGE - so any bigger might be too big.... GOOD LUCK!!

[sally]

My choice is definitely oval. Oval handles nicely and adds another dimension to your table. Anyway, you have time to get the larger one. There is always next Christmas. Put it on your list. Love, Mom:)

[anne nahm]

Ok, first I have to squee because I have the same blue dutch oven, and I love it and adore it and it is my favorite thing to cook in, and for siblings to my favorite pot, I would want only blue, because hell to the no when things don't match. Unless the things are actual siblings, in which case, fine. Otherwise, matchymatchy.

Except! By random chance, I was also looking at purchasing more blue Le Creuset, and I saw that demonstration orange that they put up there for all their examples, and I can't tell if the color really goes from light on top to dark orange on bottom.

If it is a trick of the camera and the pot is all standard orange, I say "meh".

But! If it is actually graduated color, then, despite my love for all things blue, I kind of crush on getting the orange one, because it looks like a hot wheel with flames licking up the side, and you'd kind of know when you pulled that sucker out like it was actually a molten pot of food gold and scream "WATCH YOURSELF, I AM COOKING WITH BIG RED!"

And since I like to feel like a badass in the kitchen, I might have to have one flaming orange pot. But only if the color really undulates like fire.

[anne nahm]

Also, I had not thought about the chicken thing until I read the previous comment, but oval seems perfect for a chicken. Thank you other commenter! Previously I had been banging my head against the wall wondering why something would ever be oval.

[Carrie]

I vote for the big ol' round one! Even though I totally agree with the folks above that the bigger oval is nice for roasts and chicken, etc. it doesn't sound like that is what you make most often. There's no point in spending that much money on something you'll only use a couple times a year for a roast or chicken. Think of all the big batches of comforting soup you can make and freese for a cold winter day. Think of when your kids are teenagers and bring home friends to eat some of Mom's chili with some crusty bread! Also, if it makes you more like Ree and Julia, you gotta go for it. ;-)