I was an early devotee of Pottery Barn as it began in my neck of the woods long before Williams-Sonoma, Inc acquired it. Crate & Barrel still doesn’t have a store in Connecticut so I didn’t get exposed until later, and knew it as a housewares and kitchen store. Some people get the two stores confused, which, now that they’ve evolved into style arbiter wannabes, I can understand. But I still have an easy time telling them apart: Crate & Barrel carries practical items; Pottery Barn does not. I’m not saying PB doesn’t sell anything useful, but if they did happen to carry a potato peeler, it would probably look like a twig or a mollusk. And they do have placemats. But they’d be caught dead with a salad spinner on the shelf. There is certainly overlap between the two stores, especially now that they both have stylish furniture. But if you want to stylishly outfit your household, go to Crate & Barrel (or, more affordably, Target). If you need finishing touches after that, give Pottery Barn a try. (By the way, the C&B; spokesperson says they have chip & dips in “glass, straw, wood, ceramic, porcelain”, but she left out plastic.)