I feel a cold coming on. I woke up three times last night – idiot dogs – and I had that thing, when you’ve sweated but now it cooled off. My throat hurts. I’ve just gotten over the chronic throat soreness, and here we go again. And my brain is fuzzy. I pulled out the big guns and took Advil Cold and Sinus. It should give me a few hours of jittery productivity before I crash.
Today is the dumpster day. Today the dumpster arrives and it marks two week deadline for packing and throwing things away.
I’m getting rid of my dishes. They are perfectly good dishes. I bought them when we moved in, seven years ago at Walmart. We needed dishes, we didn’t know where to shop, we saw a Walmart while driving around, I walked in, gave them $25, and walked out with the dishes. Boom, done.
They are a bit scratched up, nothing a bit of Barkeeper’s Friend won’t fix. The scratches are actually scuffs from silverware, and BF has oxalic acid in it, which dissolves mineral deposits. Yay, chemistry.
My father saw me cleaning them and became terribly excited that I remembered basic chemical reactions, and then told me the story of Niels Bohr for the one thousandth time. In 1940 the Nazis rolled into Copenhagen, and two scientists, Max von Laue and James Franck, knew their Nobel prizes, which were made of 23 Karat gold, would be confiscated. They sent them to Bohr, who was a known opponent of Nazism. Bohr realized that his institute would be searched and so he had a dilemma. How to hide the medals? Gold is a noble metal. It’s called so, because it’s mostly nonreactive. That’s why it can be found in the ground in a pure form. It doesn’t rust, it doesn’t react to anything, and if you throw most solvents on it, it just sits there and waves hi.
However, there is one special solution called aqua regia, the royal water, which is one part nitric acid to 3 parts hydrochloric acid, that dissolves noble metals. Gold takes forever to dissolve, but when the Nazis arrived and searched the institute, the medals were gone. The part my father loves the most is that after the WWII ended, Georgy de Hevesy, a chemist who worked with Bohr, managed to precipitate the gold and they sent it back to the Nobel Commission, which recast the medals and gave it back to their owners. That’s the end of the story, and Nazis are evil.
But back to the dishes. After my dad finished telling me the story, which I can recite from memory, as you can see, he asked me, “Ilona, why are the plates so big?”
Here is a pretty typical plate you can buy in Russia. It happens to be a French import, but this one has all the sizes, so we are going with that.
It’s 25 cm or 9.84 inches across. I measured the Wal-mart plate. It’s 11 inches across. There is an 11 inch plate in that particular set, but it’s what Russians call podstavnaya tarelka. Plate that goes under a deeper plate of soup during dinner, so you don’t make a mess. It never occurred to me, but we’ve been eating from under plates and you can fit a lot more food on the under-plate than on a regular size plate.
So I am using this move as an excuse to get rid of my $25 plate set and get a new one. Any recommendations for online retailers of the pretty and not giant plate set?
I really like Crate and Barrel. Thier stuff is nice and basic and you can fancy it up with other things when you need to.
I hope you get over your crud soon!
Yeah, what Colleen said. I bought my dishes at Crate and Barrel. Dress them up, dress them down. Very sturdy. Now is a great time to get a deal from them too!
Just bought a set from Crate & Barrel myself and at a great sale price too. Classic white, simple design (none) and you choose the size plate and number of plates you want – no commitment to more than you want or need – great quality too. Loads of design choices. Enjoy
I’m in the uk so no use for plate recommendations but I had the exact same issue when I realised my dinner plates were huge, and trying to make them look full was increasing my waist line.
I usually lurk but cannot believe it’s seven years since you moved – I remember reading about that move at the time and time has passed so quickly.
Hi, there is an essential oil blend using DoTerra oils that will get rid of the sinus problems faster and without leaving you jittery. You can email me at the address below if you want more information.
anns.oils@outlook.com
Love, love, love hour books
Get well soon.
Ann Rovetto
I don’t have a suggestion other than to agree with you that American plate are enormous and that’s doubtless part of the reason we struggle so with portion control. My grandmother’s serving bowls are the same size as the soup bowls in my set. Portions in restaurants have grown too. We ended up buying a set at Target of generic white ceramic dishes and we just use the small plates all the time and only pull out the big ones occasionally. We chose them because we have littles and the plates are easy to replace (and not too distinctive to match) when the littles help with dishes.
When I moved I got rid of my blue Walmart plates. I bought in their place white porcelain French plates from William Sonoma (the name is Aplico). I didn’t get any decorations on the rim of the plate. They are not cheap. When I got mine, I got them 20% off so it helped with the sticker shock.
The plates I have are heavy to withstand every day use. They’re dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator, and freezer safe. You can put them in a low oven to warm them up. I’ve banged them around and no chips or cracks. I love them. ?
Feel better soon!
I love my Pfaltzgraaf stoneware. It holds up to oven, microwave and dishwasher – I still have almost all the pieces we were given upon our marriage in 1980. The company has a variety of designs and plates in a variety of sizes.
I have Pfaltzgraft dishes now and they have held up well. I love the tea rose pattern but they do suck the heat out of food, I microwave them when I want my meal to stay warm longer. I had Corelle for years and they held up well to daily use. My cupboard with all the dishes and glasses fell off the wall one day and I only lost two bowls but most of the glasses. I kind of miss the Corelle now that I’m older because it was much lighter. Both brands have larger dinner plates and smaller luncheon plates which were what I used most of the time. I do miss the lunch plates, much easier portion control and better size for children.
I love our Corelle dishes because they are cheap, easy to stack, and don’t get the silverware marks that stone/ceramic seems to pick up. I just measured and our plates are 10″ but I think they come in various sizes.
I gave up my lovely stoneware dishes years ago because, while pretty, they chip super easy and are SO heavy. I too switched to Corelle. There are many styles and sizes and you can find them on Amazon.
3rd vote for Corelle! We have this set: https://www.corelle.com/livingware-winter-frost-white-74-pc-dinnerware-set/1126888.html and I love love it. They’re pretty and clean looking, don’t stain, are light, and have survived (mostly) through two kids under five. 🙂 The bowl lids are so handy, we don’t bother with tupperware anymore.
Look up “Catastrophe Ware”. Fun and durable. I have dropped my one cup twice. Result: one broken marble coaster and one dent in the hardwood floor. Not a scratch on the cup.
I have used Corelle since 1970, when my husband got me 4 place settings in a box at the BX.
Currently, I am using the square plates, etc. I bought one large plate to serve on and an assortment of the smaller plates in various styles that I liked. At the moment, I have 12 small plates in 12 different patterns. The plate that comes out of the dishwasher goes on the bottom of the stack and I get the next plate off the top. There are square bowls, etc. but you can use round ones if you prefer.
I found an outlet store at Katy Mills, but I bet there’s one closer to you. I think Target carries Corelle open stock and many places have the sets.
It is very hard to break and if a piece has a flaw, it usually simply falls into 3 or 4 large pieces. If you drop a piece with a problem, it may shatter. (It has happened to me once in almost 50 years, but it was recent and memorable, so you get the warning.)
I’ve seen Corelle at Walmart. In box sets and open stock. Used Corelle too. Still have square bowls from two sets.
Target carries Corelle also. I have the square set and purchased just the small set of plates.
Yup, Corellware. Many pretty designs, or plain white. Many sizes, cheap, almost untreatable, and light weight. Love it! Love the books too, thank you!
Correlle is amazing. My Mom had a set for 40 years before she passed and out of 16 plates only one ever broke. I bought a square set used a couple of years ago and they are wonderful. I use the small square plates and they are tje perfect size for meals and can double as very shallow bowls. Really difficult to break and they come in a huge variety of styles and colors to mix and match!
I love Corelle and, when I was on my own, mostly used the luncheon size plates for meals. You do have to buy them open stock as they don’t come in the sets but they are a reasonable size and fairly easy to find.
I am a huge fan of IKEA, but YMMV
We have plates from IKEA, that are made from glass apparently (but they do look white, like fine china) and they are virtually indestructible. They’re also dirt cheap 😉
Costco has a set of nice Mikasa dishes in store. If you look on the Mikasa website, they also have sets at decent prices. These are every day dishes, not their china.
Williams Sonoma. Porcelain Brasserie. Great dinnerware. No scuffs on my plates. More than 20 years of use and 2 sons.
I like fiesta ware. You can get different sizes and colors. They are sturdy, they lived through 4 kids. Personally, I like mixing the colors up. Drives OCD people crazy. You can get the at Macy on sale all the time or online
Seconding Fiestaware! I bought my set after using them at my friend’s house over the years. I’ve loved them and they’ve held up well.
I use Dansk plates. My pattern was discontinued so I go to Replacements Ltd. online when I need to replace a piece. They carry discontinued patterns from everywhere.
Dansk is a good company, I’ve had my plates for over 30 years and they are still in great shape. Worth paying a bit more in my opinion. They have outlets and sales and are sold at lots of places.
Feel better soon! Also, I wouldn’t mind hearing more of your father’s stories.
I have the same problem with the dinnerware set we got for our wedding. To make things more complicated, the dinner plates are too big to fit into the dishwasher, and even if they did fit, they have a high gloss finish, so my husband is constantly saying they are dirty because of any water spots left. So we hardly use them.
I really like the look and feel of West Elm stoneware and china, and the set I am in love with (https://www.westelm.com/products/celadon-dinnerware-e1698/?pkey=cdinnerware-sets ) has the dinner plate, salad plate, pasta bowl and cereal bowl. I would use the salad plate as my dinner plate, and the ‘dinner plate’ as the base plate for the pasta bowl.
I usually eat off what manufacturers call “salad plates”. I like the selection Corell has. Interestingly my mother bought a green and white set of Corell in the 70s, and even after constant use, they are still in good condition now. Though she bought a few more pieces until they discontinued the pattern in the 90s.
BTW, just measured the salad plates. Both the Baum stoneware and the Corell are 8 1/2 inches.
I like ceramic. I have a few things from Blue Rose Polish Pottery that I use in my bathroom. I have 2 soap dispensers for my shampoo and conditioner, toothbrush holder and a “soap dish” that I use for my rings because the edges are raised. They have a number of patterns. Not sure if it is what you want to spend though. http://www.bluerosepottery.com/
Those are lovely!
Wayfair Lennox butterfly meadow has a variety of pretty plates I have fiesta ware it is heavy the Lennox China is lighter
I love your books!
I have Debby dinnerware and you can get plates in a variety of sizes, including a smaller sized plate. They’re on sale at Macy’s now. They’ve held up great.
https://m.macys.com/shop/dining-entertaining/denby?id=32384&edge=hybrid&cm_kws=Denby
After I left my former house* I decided I wanted a smaller set of dishes, and I wanted it to be handmade and pretty. I’ve been working with Cascadia Stoneware for a number of years now: https://cascadiastoneware.com/ and their work is very high quality and absolutely lovely, and they’re great folks. (I realize this might not be what you’re looking for at all, but maybe?)
* The house looms so much larger than the husband, somehow… I do have to retrieve the ridiculous heirloom furniture at some point.
I should add, their big plates are ginormous, and I use them mostly for serving and eat off of their smaller ones. But the smaller ones are a great size, for me, anyway.
Wow. Beautiful stoneware. Thanks for posting the website.
Many years ago I bought Pfaltzgraff stoneware. I got service for 8 for just a little over $25. It was a very long time ago. I recently replaced them with Mikasa porcelain. Got to tell you, I’m sold on porcelain. Mine holds up well under every day use. Mikasa makes various kinds of porcelain. It’s what a good B&B or hotel like Embassy Suites would have. It goes in the microwave, the dishwasher, etc. No flatware marks, no streaks from the microwave. Plus it’s just a joy to use.
I like my Corelle plates. I have only the larger size ones, and some pretty smaller ones from Pier One. Here is some that Amazon has that’s both sizes, and they show the larger size under the smaller. I like the lightness of the Corelle as opposed to the heavier stoneware, but that’s just me. And they don’t scratch, that I know of. https://www.amazon.com/Corelle-16-Piece-Dinnerware-Splendor-Service/dp/B00FN3SDWQ/ref=sr_1_6?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1512146218&sr=1-6&keywords=corningware%2Bplates&th=1
I am a fan of Mikasa for plate patterns. But I think in the US the size thing may be an issue for most companies. 11 inches for a dinner plate seems to be pretty standard now. IKEA is the only place I can personally think of that does smaller dinner plates.
Just wanted to say that I loved the Bohr story. *sits there and waves hi*.
And I hope you feel better soon 🙂
ditto
Go to the Williams-Sonoma at the San Marcos Outlet mall. They have lots of plates and you can see the sizes in person.
Hope you feel better soon. I have Dansk that I have had forever, like 40 years. Still looks good, and I still like it. White with navy border
Anything with decongestant in it drives your blood pressure up and interacts with most meds. Been banned by the pharmacy in our house for years. Yes, the antihistamines don’t work as well but….
I was planning on getting rid of my dishes and MIL found more at a penny sale 🙁 Should just use the good stuff . I have enough of it .
I have mixed colors of Fiesta. I just Googled until I found an online source and bought enough for free shipping. It’s easy to find and there are always sales. We also have vintage Fiesta bowls (can be pricey unless you hunt flea markets) which still go with the modern.
Our first dishes were the Baltic Sea (blue with a green rim) line by Arabia of Finland. Beautiful, tough, and they go everywhere–fridge, microwave, dishwasher–without issue. Arabia makes a very similar line called Ruska (warm brown) that is much more neutral. It’s also beautiful–I had a very hard time choosing between the two colorways. Our Baltic Sea dishes are pristine after 26 years.
Off topic but wanting to say thanks for all you do. Very tough time in my life for year plus. All your series books with excellent world building provide me a terrific place to take breaks and regroup recover. Get well soon and I love Fiesta wear too and enjoying mixing colors.
I like pottery. A lot. If you want to splurge my favorite Potter is Ryan greenheck. I have one of his teapots which I adore https://ryanjgreenheck.com/
Two other sources are Bennington pottery in Vermont
https://www.benningtonpotters.com/
Heath ceramics in California
https://www.benningtonpotters.com/
I also have the creeping crud and and I am trying the tea with honey approach as well as the over the counter meds. I hope you feel better soon.
Oops wrong link to health ceramics http://www.heathceramics.com
I love Heath Ceramics. I consider them functional art.
If the sore throat doesn’t clear really quickly I recommend azithromycin. I just had a miserable sore throat and that worked well. My boyfriend, who gave me the miserable sore throat, started with a different antibiotic and switched to mine after finishing the course and still not being healthy. Good luck!
This whole thread is like crack for me. I think I’ve kept myself to buying from people I know* partly just to keep the selection process simpler…
* I have a lot of single pieces from other potters.
I just saw a constellation “salad” plate at West Elm. 9″
https://www.westelm.com/products/constellation-salad-plate-e1921/?cm_src=AutoCatRel
My husband and I are using our smaller “salad” plates as well.
My god those are beautiful plates! My brain is going “gimme, gimme, gimme!” and my wallet saying, “sorry, you’re out of luck.” If I ever win the the lotto, first thing I’m going to buy…
We got our Denby stoneware plates for our wedding about 9 years ago. I love them. They’ve held up really nicely considering I am not very nice to our plates (dishwasher, chronically clumsy) and only the mugs have chipped on the handles. I know you might not be looking for a whole set, but large mugs are big (14 oz.) which I love because I add a lot of cream to my coffee. My whole family has loved them so much I’ve had to buy my sister and mom sets of their own ’cause they kept trying to steal mine! https://www.denbyusa.com/us-jet
Plain white Corelle that I dress up and down with accessories. Light, easy to clean, lots of shapes and sizes, and I have to work hard to break it. For best-best, I have my great-grandmother’s 60th anniversary China: cream and gold Crooksville. BarKeeper’s Friend is so great for so many things!
I’m loving this Crate & Barrel set:
https://m.crateandbarrel.com/marin-blue-dinner-plate/s468642
My dishes are Max Sierra stoneware that was sold in grocery stores in the 70’s. It was my parents, and I’ve bought replacements online (Replacements, ltd is great) as it is long discontinued. I love how sturdy this stoneware set is, but the dinner plates are rather large. Generally we eat out of the flat bottomed 9 inch bowls that came with the set rather than the plates, unless it is a slice of pizza or something, and then filling the plate isn’t the objective it’s not having the long pointy end of the pizza hanging off the plate.
My suggestion would be Amazon.com, as you could easily order a European dish set with smaller plates. Or a set that comes with both lunch and dinner plates and just use the lunch ones for eating and the dinner for serving, which is what my mother in law does.
Good luck with moving and feel better!
Rather than throwing the old dishes into the dumpster, why not recycle them by donating to GoodWill or the local humane society’s thrift shop? You do a good deed and get to take a tax deduction. You also keep the stuff you want to get rid of from sitting in a land fill or from being tossed into the oceans. It’s just a thought.
I got basic white from Pottery Barn 10+ year’s ago when I was a newlywed, and they pretty much look the same as when I bought them. They’re sturdy too. Several pieces have survived being dropped on the tiled kitchen floor by my nephews.
I was afraid I’d get bored with it, but I’be got colorful serving dishes and cereal bowls (Anthropologie has the BEST), and it works. ?
We started with dishes from Ceate and Barrel and over the years they have all chipped. The bowls survived okay but the dishes not so much. I’ve switched back to Corelle’s winter white set because my husband won’t let me use our Bone china with platinum bands because he’s convinced the kids will put them in the microwave. They last forever and stack really tightly!
I like the Apilco porcelain from Williams Sonoma (benefit — all site is 20% off with code Merry) but I also have the Open kitchen line and I like that a lot. I use the appetizer plates for my dinner plates.
https://www.williams-sonoma.com/shop/tabletop-glassware-bar/tabletop-dinnerware-sets/ws-open-kitchen-dinnerware/?cm_type=lnav
It was discontinued 2016, but we LOVE LOVE LOVE Lenox’s Simply Fine Viola line of bone china. China you say? isn’t that delicate? We literally watched while the Bed, Bath, and Beyond lady stood on one of their cups with her full weight and it didn’t break. There is no banding so these dishes can be put in the dishwasher and microwave with no issues. Supposedly the set is also oven and freezer safe, but I’ve never had occasion to test this. We’ve had our set and used it daily (including dishwashing and microwaving) for 6 years without any chips or breakage.
BB&B still has sets as listed for sale: https://tinyurl.com/yc5c6tv8
The smaller Luncheon plate is Size: 9 3/8 in
if you don’t want to take a chance on a discontinued set, the Simply Fine Chirp set is still available through Lenox: https://tinyurl.com/ya68kv8k
I get bored easily and like to change my dishes so I go to winners and Marshall (aka tjmaxx) and pier one. I buy luncheon plate size and cereal bowls.
European here, IKEA is nice and good quality for its price. Porcelain is better … if you know Dibbern? They are not extremely pricey but pretty. My favorite line is „solid color“ line, you can pick your favorite colors.
http://www.tableartonline.com/home.php?cat=290
I found it here, oh, the plate sizes are European.
When we moved, I sold my square set of plates, bowls, mugs, etc. I loved them, but they were so heavy it hurt my back lifting them out of the upper cabinet. The joys of aging.
Oh, and regarding the creeping crud you have coming on…straight from a pediatrician: gargle with Listerine every time you wake up during the night, and hourly during waking hours. This guy was exposed constantly to germs from runny-nosed (and worse) kids. He knew what he was talking about.
Alka Selzer Plus Cold combined with Children’s Dimatap Grape Cough Syrup are this household’s primary pharmaceutical defenses. Along with hot apple cider (served hot or cold) and a garlicky chicken soup and mandrin oranges can cut sick time to a minimum.
I bought Corelle dinnerware in a variety of patterns. My husband loves that the plates and bowls don’t tend to chip or break when dropped and I’ve never had one scratch. We use the salad bowls and 7″ plates for casual dining portion control and the 9″ plates for fancy or potluck dining. Their French White service never offends a hungover eye. My pattern test is can I face eggs sunnyside up on a hangover morning after.
I have Lennox Butterfly Meadow which isn’t one pattern but 5-6 different patterns which coordinate very well together. I’ve picked them up piecemeal over the years. I know what you mean about the large plates. I don’t use the large plates at all which at 10.75 inches in diameter. The smaller accent plates are 9 inches and a better size. I find myself using the 8 inch “dessert” plates the most. The dessert plates are relatively recent.
the good thing about buying piecemeal is that you only buy the pieces you want.
If you want to pick up more Lenox Butterfly Meadow, look at QVC’s website (www.qvc.com). The great thing about QVC is they let you break up the cost into monthly installments. Plus they have colors/patterns exclusive to QVC.
I buy blue and white bowls in all different patterns from the local japanese grocery store and mix them with basic white salad plates. I agree with you that the dinner plates are too big, I gave mine away years ago.
I have three of these four bowls! Love ‘em!
These are beautiful!
Vintage Fiestaware plates are smaller. I know this because I have almost enough to feed Cox’s army with plates left over. I originally began collecting the vintage yellow (it’s a distinctive mustardy color) and gradually expanded to the other colors as well. It’s not exactly cheap as it is a collectible item, but if you shop antique stores and Ebay, and if you aren’t set on any one particular color, you can get some bargains. I do not use them in the microwave, but they are dishwasher proof.
I don’t recommend Crate and Barre or anywhere like that. I research the hell out of anything I buy. I have only one set of dishes, and they are nearly indestructible, always replaceable and expandable and are nice enough that I don’t need a “guest” or holiday set. We are not careful with our dishes, AT ALL, and in 12 years I’ve chipped only one plate and I’ve broken another only by stepping on it (long story). They get piled in the sink, they go in the dish washer, We eat off them 24/7. I have kids over, I use them.
I highly recommend buying a legacy pattern, one that doesn’t retire, of high quality bone china from a proven brand. One without a silver or a metal rim. My own are Wedgwood White. Plain white like you get in nice restaurants. They go with everything. I can dress them up for any holiday or special occasion with chargers and nice linens. And I if I do break or chip one I can simply order another with one click of a button, even 12 years later.
Most brands of white bone china match it, so I don’t have to pay for the Wedgwood markup for pieces I only use rarely, like matching serving dishes. And it never goes out of style.
And the Wedgwood bone china in particular is stong (although there are other brands that match it).
Crate and barrels bone china is not as strong (I have some of their bowls), and it does retire. And, IMO, it’s overpriced.
If you are also looking for flatware I recommend my Onieda Moda.Affordable and modern and streamlined without being unrecognizable.
I hope you feel better soon.
Another vote for Denby. We have had our set for over 10 years and it still looks great! This pattern had been around forever and has some nice serving pieces and other things you can add to your collection https://www.denbyusa.com/imperial-blue/4-piece-sets/001046978
I live in Aus so no recommendations about dinnerware..but I found it interesting that you have the 25cm/30cm plate issue too.. I am a dietitian and regularly counsel people about managing portion sizes to control weight, one tip being is to move from 30cm to 25cm plates. Baker IDI here is Aus has a great resource called “plating it up” which goes through this issue as well as other tips if you are interested.
I am so tired of the oversized plates, bowls, and glasses that have been … fashionable … these last many years. Thank you for suggestions with smaller sizes.
** The oversized glasses are an okay weakness as long as non caloric drinks go in them, but…
Our dishes (everyday and formal) are from Mikasa. If you live near one of their warehouses you can get great deals. Otherwise there is mikasa.com
They are running some deals right now online.
Not sure if this is exactly what you’re looking for but the http://www.royalalbert.com/collections has beautiful china and the prettiest tea set collections. Highly recommend!
Find a local potter and have them hand throw and glaze a set made and sized just for you.
Similarly not online, my Mom went to Cost Plus and bought one of each plate. They are super colorful and fun and there’s no earthly reason they all need to b exactly the same.
I have Noritake Colorwave dishes – pretty, sturdy, affordable, and come in a variety coffee colors and sizes.
Ugh, that should be “of colors,” though I’m sure coffee is one of them.
We love our Fiesta dinnerware. It comes in lovely colors (our daughter uses a set of mixed colors), it is definitely not lightweight, and it has a smaller dinner plate available. It is sold at Kohl’s and Macy’s, and also at fiestafactorydirect.com.
I really appreciate the “find a local potter” idea, but if you choose commercial, you should know about http://www.Replacements.com. They have almost every pattern of porcelain, stonware, glassware, silverware, crystal ever made, and they sell it by the piece or sometimes by the set, depending on their inventory. They buy, too, all through the mail. They even have a pattern identification service. You can send them a picture and they’ll research it and tell you the name of the pattern and manufacturer.
I’ve been a customer of theirs since the 1990s. They identified my maternal great-grandmother’s German silverware patterns, though they had never had any pieces in it, and keep me informed of their stock and sales of my china pattern, my mother’s German china pattern, my sterling silverware pattern, my everyday stainless steel slverware, and my paternal grandmother’s silverplate silverware pattern.
They have a searchable database, including photos and measurements of most of the dish, silverware, crystal, and decorative items they have listed, whether or not they are currently in stock. Very useful for looking up all the patterns the book devouring horde is happily suggesting.
I recall an analysis that concluded the average plate size had increased over the past 30 years from 9 to 11 inches. It was based on plates for sale in ebay by vintage. All part of the supersizing of America!
I bought my plates at a thrift store. They often have interesting sets, occasionally valuable ones, and always reasonably priced.
Good luck. We bought Corelle when we first got married, it is still going strong. By the time I will probably change them I will end up with another set as they are light and are easy to handle. I always wanted to get a set of stoneware like my Mom had but they are heavy.
I think you might need to decide what type of dishes you need as in do you want sturdy that can handle the dishwasher all the time and being banged around or do you want something fine that you are willing to hand wash to protect. That way you can eliminate some choices. Also I would recommend handling some dishes just to see if you like how they feel.
Hope you feel better soon
I grew up washing stoneware dishes. When the time came to buy my own, I swore never again. I bought a set from Corelle seven years ago and have no regrets. Unless there’s company, we usually use the smaller salad plates.
I do have Christmas dishes that come out a couple times a year (dishwasher safe) and China that I never use, but it was my Grandma’s. The Corelle is so easy to use that my Aunt would ask me to bring the plates when she used to host the Thanksgiving dinner and I sometimes carried them in a tote bag ?
Since I touch them and see them 3 times a day, I decided to purchase beautiful plates. Lenox Butterfly Meadow makes me happy, they’re dishwasher safe, and they go in the microwave too! I was lucky enough to find my pattern at an estate sale at a great discount, so that made the investment easier to manage and I ended up with more peices than I originally intended to buy.
I know what you mean by big plates. We tried using the dinner plates, but at 11 inches across they made regular portions look like kids meals. Now we use the 9 inch salad plates for dinner and the dinner plates as platters. It works for us 😉
Good luck finding something you like and that holds up well!
BTW: ImmunoSTART from Mannatech helped my daughter get off of serial use of antibiotics for chronic sinus infections etc. It’s organic cow colostrum in tablet form. It tastes nice and works well. Though the shipping is steep, the product is worth taking the hickey. I rarely endorse products by brand, but quality varies by brand and I really want you to get well.
Healthy Ilona= snippets!
Bonus: You’ll enjoy the sacraficial chicken and both bottles of wine a lot more if they don’t taste like snot 😉
Lenox Butterfly Meadow also makes me happy. I have a few pieces (trivets, spoon rest, salt & pepper shakers) because my family is hard on dishes, but I really do like them.
I visited Pompeji’s exhibition and they had dishes on display. Bowl where they cooked food for the family was the size of sugarbowl. Individual plates were the size of a plate that goes under coffee cup. It was insane how small they were. And the “dead bodys” there, forever frozen ib death, were all skinny. I know romans used to have food orgies and they were fat- but it wasnt so in Pompeji.
Dinner plate 10.5″ or Salad plate 8.25″? We use the salad plate for our meals unless we have company. Admittedly the 1 inch rim sees the occasional use but it has helped reduce our consumption. It also helps that our kids do not live with us and the cook has gotten a better handle on portion control.
“Set mismatched fine China floral plates” (search terms) off eBay. Mixed with blue willow, Spode blue room, Wedgewood, and some from garage & estate sales. Some kinda match, color-wise. But now I’m looking at Lenox & some potters mentioned in the thread. But I can try 1 at a time!
About 10 years ago I decided to go with white bone china. I was tired of chipped plates and changing styles. Advantages of plain white bone china: 1. Bone china doesn’t chip. 2. Bone china doesn’t chip. 3. Bone china doesn’t chip. 3. You can go with whatever color scheme that you like by just switching up table clothes or serving dishes because your dishes are white. 4. Bone china doesn’t go out of style. 5. Did I mention that bone china doesn’t chip? You could go crazy and get a fancy set or go to the Home Goods store and score a decent set for a low price. I opted for a relatively plain set. It is a work horse. Microwave safe, oven safe, dishwasher safe. No chips. It does fancy dinners and low-key dinners. I have one set of dishes that work for every occasion. Enjoy plate shopping.
I have lovely plates from WalMart so I’m no help! LOL ?
I also really liked your dad’s story.
Fiestaware is awesome. They have a 5yr warranty from chips, made in the USA, and dishwasher/microwave safe. My set has moved with me 4 times in the last 6 years and I have not had a broken piece. Best place to buy sets is from Kohls. They regularly run specials on them.
Last week Dillards actually beat Kohls and Macy’s on Fiesta Wear.
I like the Hadley Pottery plates (we use the 9″ for portion control dinners and the 11″ for dinner with guests), http://www.hadleypottery.com. They are made and glazed and sold in Louisville, KY. Also, Simon Pearce has a made in Vermont pottery line: simonpearce.com . I do not know those dimensions. You could try etsy or Amazon handmade. Fun project!
I’m from West (by God) Virginia, so I of course have Fiestaware (it’s made in the northern panhandle, and I’ve been to the factory). I adore it.
I went with every plate is a different color (when small people come to visit, they get to choose who gets what color plate). I use the luncheon plates for dinner most of the time.
I also have a set of china that follows a similar pattern. When we got married, I told my family to pick a single setting in a pattern they liked. Then whenever we’d go past a china factory outlet, I’d pick up single pieces on sale that I liked.
This works especially well since I asked for a single setting of each of our grandmothers’ china sets from the family member who ended up with their china. This means I can easily use those settings for fancy dinners, since they “match” as well as anything else.
But for every day, I love my Fiestaware! And if you’re ever passing through WV, there are two factory outlet stores where you can get seconds super cheap. (I recently picked up a bunch of seconds and sent them to a friend who wanted some Fiestaware.)
When ever My husband or I feel a creeping crud approach we reach for a tube(or several) of Oscillococcinum, some Ascorbyl Palmitate, and depending on other indicators, straight Pineapple juice, a few other Immune-boosting herbs, vitamins, and mushroom extracts.
I love my bone China as well! Boxed up the first set (Royal Dalton everyday) after 15 yrs of use 5 yrs ago – not a chip or scratch on it and I’ve dropped it on granite counters and porcelain tile – I kid you not, it BOUNCED! Went with Lenox Chocolate this time and plan to switch back in another 10 yrs 🙂 (I despise chips as well :-). Good luck and enjoy shopping!
Where I live, if you had Corelle dinnerware, you’re seen as well-to-do and having fancy plates. I wish my dishes were Corelle and not melamine!
Actually, if you wanted to find something really interesting – you should check out your local thrift stores, salvation army, or Women in Distress, etc… I find that they have THE COOLEST stuff in cookware and dishes. Complete sets of crystal and China in unusual patterns from modern to antique… a whole set will be under $40 even for a really really nice one. I like browsing them. There are some truly unique finds. I got a shortbread pan the other day for $2. Those are $20 to $40 online. I also got some gorgeous crystal cake serving plates (without the high lip) for about $2 each. Complete sets are sooooo cheap.
And, you’ll be contributing money to charity, AND re-using perfectly good things and not contributing to more waste. I always feel really good about that.
Corelle/Corningware. They last forever and don’t scratch. Also, they are not too heavy & does well in microwave. I would not recommend any Stoneware as it is horrible when put in microwave cuz they get heated way fast even though food is not heated. Bed, bath and beyond has them (you can use 20% discount) and pretty much any retail store. Even Wal-Mart carries them now.
I also recommend looking at thrift stores/Salvation Army/etc or Craig’s list. I just nabbed a 12 place setting set with every accessory piece you could want for $40 on craigslist. It is beautiful and from the 1930’s and very similar to my grandma’s set. I love eating off them. Thrift stores and such are inundated with beautiful china right now because no one wants grandma’s dishes & house purging is popular right now. You can throw them in the dishwasher just don’t dry them when they are hot if they have gold or silver edging if you want it to stay on. If they break, so what and you are eating on beautiful dishes. You need to watch out for gold or silver edging if you are going to put them in the microwave. Good luck on your search. Also, you can’t go wrong with fiestaware. I don’t think they have super-sized their china.