It would be exponentially helpful if the "ObservableArray" implemented some basic "Where/Select/Single" methods. This would assist in searching through them and give Kendo UI a much needed facelift in the array department. Behavior would be, theoretically, as follows... var viewModel = kendo.observable({ Users: [ { id: 1, name: "Stacey" }, { id: 2, name: "Dylan" }, { id: 3, name: "John" } ] }); var idSearch = 1; var result = kendo.Search(viewModelArray).Where(function(x) { return x.id == idSearch }); or ... var result = kendo.Search(viewModelArray) .Single(function(x) { return x.id == idSearch }); or possibly even chained like in "linqjs" var result = kendo.Search(viewModelArray) .Where(function(x) { return x.id == idSearch }) .Single();