I've always been curious: do other people find that when they put out a big bowl of oranges like this they eat them, or do they go bad like mine do? I guess if you think of them like a vase of flowers it doesn't hurt so much to toss them out when they rot.

I guess it depends on how big the family is. I caneasily eat three or four one day and then forget about them only to discover they've gone bad three days later. Same with metal baskets with veggies - sometimes it works but quite often things go bad. Looks good though!

I think Dwell has covered the "fruit bowl" in the past with a so-callled "manifesto". I'm not sure why fruit bowls are attacked. I see plenty of photos of kitchens with counters laden with tchockes or useless storage containers, staged for effect.

We keep a bowl of fruit on the counter, mostly because we find that apples take up a lot of valuable space in the fridge, and bananas can't be chilled. Lucky for us, we tend to buy Granny Smiths, whose colour is nicely matched to our kitchen decor.