The platter for the holiday bird, and everything after.

Winco supplies restaurant kitchens, and this is the oval platter a banquet hall uses: 20 by 13 3/4 inches of polished stainless steel. It is the largest platter in this guide by a margin and the lightest to carry, which matters with a 15 pound bird on it.

Steel will not chip, crack or craze, so it can live in a drawer under the oven and come out for every roast, every tray of grilled vegetables and every party that needs a lot of food in one place. It goes in the dishwasher without thought.

Skip it if the table is formal and the rest of the service is porcelain. Polished steel looks like catering, and carving directly on it scratches the finish and dulls the knife. Put a board under the bird, or carve in the kitchen.

Italian Countryside is a Mikasa open-stock pattern: white stoneware with fluted bands around the rim that borrow from classical columns. The oval platter is 15 by 11 1/4 inches, microwave and dishwasher safe, and part of a full range of matching pieces.

At 15 inches this is a platter for roast chicken, a pork loin or a smaller turkey, carved in the kitchen and arranged. It is also the size that gets used most of the year, for pasta, fish or the vegetables that go alongside a larger platter on the holiday.

Skip it as your only platter if you roast a large bird. It will not hold a whole 18 pound turkey with any grace.

Villeroy & Boch calls this a fish plate, which is why it costs less than the platters with a holiday name. It is 17 by 11 3/4 inches of white German porcelain with a slightly raised rim for drips, rustic in outline and plain in color, so it sits with almost any white service.

That length suits a whole salmon, a carved turkey laid out in slices or a long rack of lamb. The edges are made to resist knocks, the pieces stack, and it goes in the dishwasher and the microwave. Artesano is a full collection, so a matching bread dish or bowl can be added later.

Skip it if you want to present a whole bird uncarved. The rim is low and the well is shallow, so it suits sliced meat better than a roast sitting in its juices.

Le Creuset's stoneware platter is 16.25 inches long, glazed inside and out, and rated for temperatures from -9°F to 500°F. That range is the point. It can warm in a low oven while the bird rests, so the carved meat does not go cold on a cold plate, and it can go under the broiler for a final crisp.

The glaze is nonporous and scratch resistant, resists stains and smells, and is safe with metal utensils, which is rarer than it should be. It goes in the dishwasher. Le Creuset sells it in white and in its enamel colors, so it can match the Dutch oven on the stove.

Skip it if weight is a concern. Stoneware this thick is heavy before anything is on it, and a loaded platter is a two-hand carry.

Some families carve at the table, and no ceramic platter is a good surface for a knife. Teakhaus boards are FSC-certified plantation teak, an oily hardwood that resists moisture and is kind to a knife edge. The large carving board is reversible: a juice groove on one side for the roast, a flat side for prep or for serving.

This set pairs the board with Teakhaus's own conditioning oil, a blend of beeswax, coconut oil and orange oil. Use it. A teak board that is oiled every few weeks stays smooth and looks better with age; one that is left dry will eventually check and split.

Skip it if the dishwasher is how things get clean in your house. Teak is hand wash only, and a board this size does not fit a sink easily.

Cellini is Villeroy & Boch's classic relief pattern, white porcelain with an engraved border in the manner of old European service. The oval platter is 15.75 inches with a wide rim for drip-free serving, made in Germany, and dishwasher and microwave safe despite the formal look.

This is the platter for a house that sets a full formal table and wants the serving pieces to match. The relief catches the light and reads as heirloom without gold or color, so it sits with white dinnerware from almost any maker.

It is not the largest platter here. A big bird goes out carved and arranged, not whole. If you want size for the money, the Artesano fish plate is longer and a third of the price.