Empire Red Four-Piece Mitt and Trivet Set

Empire red is the deeper, cooler of the two reds the range carries, closer to dark cherry than to terracotta. Across a four-piece set it gives you a matched pair of 13.7-inch mitts and a matched pair of trivets in a colour that looks deliberate against white cabinetry and holds up against dark wood.

A dark red is a genuinely sensible colour for trivets, which is not obvious until you think about what lands on them. Tomato sauce reducing over the side of a pan, wine from a braise, the dark ring a roasting tin leaves: all of it is in the red family, and none of it shows. The trivets stay presentable long past the point where a pale mat would have been binned.

The mitts are the standard long-cuff construction: a moulded BPA-free silicone shell with raised texture across the palm and fingers, over a quilted cotton liner. The texture holds glazed dishes; the liner does the insulating and makes the mitts comfortable through a long bake rather than a single lift.

Both mitts and trivets are sealed silicone, so nothing wicks. Steam off a lifted lid stays outside the mitt, and a spill on the trivet stays on the surface. Cleaning is warm water and dish soap for all four pieces, with the machine in reserve for the mitts when the cotton lining needs it.

The short version

• Four matched pieces in deep cool red: two mitts, two trivets
• Red hides tomato, wine and roasting-tin marks on the trivets
• Ridged silicone palms grip glazed casseroles and enamelled pots
• Quilted cotton liner in the mitts for insulation and comfort
• Nothing wicks: spills sit on the surface of all four pieces

Who it suits

Specification