Favorite everyday dishes?

[KimJ]

Currently, our everyday dishes are a hodgepodge of Pfaltzgraff stoneware that we got when we got married in 1991 and a set of Corelle that we bought last-minute when we hosted Thanksgiving for DH's family in 2001. I have mixed feelings about them. I love the weight of the stoneware bowls and the "salad" plates (they are way too tiny for any salad I've ever had, but are great for snacks and desserts), but the full size dinner plates are way too bulky and heavy. I like how light and easy to handle the Corelle is. The plates are the perfect size, but the soup/cereal bowls are a little too big. I've never been a fan of the pattern and it hasn't held up well; the stripes on the edges are intact, but the fruits/leaves have faded off leaving a dirty-looking faint shadow of what once was there. I was also horrified to discover this morning that the plates my kids have been using basically their entire lives might have unsafe lead levels.

Anyway, as a hard-to-shop-for person, I thought a set of replacement dishes might be a good item to put on my Christmas list, but I don't know what I want. We had Corelle as well when I was growing up, so I'm not familiar with other brands. I like simple/modern, nothing too fussy or trendy, since with our buying patterns these will probably be what I have for the rest of my life. And it needs to be something I can throw in the dishwasher and not worry about. We do not use cups/saucers, so it would preferably be something I could affordably get without those pieces.

So do you have any favorite dishes you would recommend? Any to avoid? Anything you love about your dishes or anything that drives you crazy?

 

[Karen]

Do you have Meijer around you? It's my grocery store... kinda like a super Target because they have other stuff too. Anyway, they carry Correlle dishes and you can buy just the pieces you want. I have some plain white dishes with an embosses pattern that are simple and still kinda elegant for everyday use and for thanksgiving type meals too. Here's what I have and I love them. I did just buy a few more plates last week because my kids have broken a couple here and there and we always seemed to be short on plates....

Corelle Bella Faenza
They are only $5.50(ish) at the store

 

[Karen]

Also, funny enough, I had the same pattern as you before I got my current plates.

 

[KimJ]

@Karen LOL That you had the same pattern! No Meijer in this area. There was a Corning/Corelle/Revere factory outlet at one of the area malls, but I haven't been there in forever, so I don't know if it's still there. It looks like the Target near us has an 18pc set of this pattern (6 each dinner plates, lunch plates, and cereal bowls) for $80 which comes out to $4.44 per/piece, but 6 place settings would be an odd size for us with four people eating 2-3 (or more) times/day and plates of leftovers often in the fridge, so I'd probably have to get two or see if that outlet is still open.

Is the embossed pattern difficult to clean at all? I'm not sure how DH would feel about it. He's told me I can get whatever I want (except no more giant stoneware LOL), but this might be too fancy for him.

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I love melamine dinnerware because it looks great, it's light-weight and it doesn't break. We've used that for years and years and it never wears out. My stuff is packed, but currently, our dinnerware has oranges and plaid on it. Very Florida. I've started looking for my next set and I'm going to go with red. I have a few random pieces that I've picked up (serving dishes, etc.) and plan on getting the whole set. This is one of my "random pieces" - the only one I can find. LOL

 

[Karen]

@Karen LOL That you had the same pattern! No Meijer in this area. There was a Corning/Corelle/Revere factory outlet at one of the area malls, but I haven't been there in forever, so I don't know if it's still there. It looks like the Target near us has an 18pc set of this pattern (6 each dinner plates, lunch plates, and cereal bowls) for $80 which comes out to $4.44 per/piece, but 6 place settings would be an odd size for us with four people eating 2-3 (or more) times/day and plates of leftovers often in the fridge, so I'd probably have to get two or see if that outlet is still open.

Is the embossed pattern difficult to clean at all? I'm not sure how DH would feel about it. He's told me I can get whatever I want (except no more giant stoneware LOL), but this might be too fancy for him.

It is not hard to clean at all and the pattern is very subtle. I don’t think it would offend even the manly-est of men. Ha ha ha.

 

[Karen]

I love melamine dinnerware because it looks great, it's light-weight and it doesn't break. We've used that for years and years and it never wears out. My stuff is packed, but currently, our dinnerware has oranges and plaid on it. Very Florida. I've started looking for my next set and I'm going to go with red. I have a few random pieces that I've picked up (serving dishes, etc.) and plan on getting the whole set. This is one of my "random pieces" - the only one I can find. LOL
View attachment 419670

I will 2nd the melamine live. We have a set of melamine too that we use for when we eat outside on our cement patio (just in case we drop a plate). I got ours at Target years ago and it weathers the dishwasher very well.

 

[KimJ]

@Cherylndesigns Fun plate! My only hesitation with melamine is that from what I gather it's not supposed to go in the microwave, and heating up plates of leftovers is a common occurrence here.

 

[cfile]

@KimJ I have Pfaltzgraf also .. the Tea Rose collection.. I have had the pattern since 1988 and still use it.. I won [when I worked for Sallie Mae and our Christmas Party was at the Bell County Expo Center- a set of Pfaltzgraf Christmas dishes (service for 4) ] We have a a few pieces from my parents dishes but don't use them. My Pfaltzgraf Tea Rose is used for both everyday and company.

 

[cfile]

@Karen LOL That you had the same pattern! No Meijer in this area. There was a Corning/Corelle/Revere factory outlet at one of the area malls, but I haven't been there in forever, so I don't know if it's still there. It looks like the Target near us has an 18pc set of this pattern (6 each dinner plates, lunch plates, and cereal bowls) for $80 which comes out to $4.44 per/piece, but 6 place settings would be an odd size for us with four people eating 2-3 (or more) times/day and plates of leftovers often in the fridge, so I'd probably have to get two or see if that outlet is still open.

Is the embossed pattern difficult to clean at all? I'm not sure how DH would feel about it. He's told me I can get whatever I want (except no more giant stoneware LOL), but this might be too fancy for him.

Have you checked the outlets by New Bransfels? You can make a road trip out of it too!

 

[KimJ]

Have you checked the outlets by New Bransfels? You can make a road trip out of it too!

I haven't checked anywhere in person yet, since I'm in a not-sure-where-to-start mode right now. I'm not especially anxious to stray too far from home during the pandemic though, especially when there are so many options within an hour of my house.

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I will 2nd the melamine live. We have a set of melamine too that we use for when we eat outside on our cement patio (just in case we drop a plate). I got ours at Target years ago and it weathers the dishwasher very well.

Karen, I meant to add in my OG post that mine came from Target. It's lasts forever!

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I haven't checked anywhere in person yet, since I'm in a not-sure-where-to-start mode right now. I'm not especially anxious to stray too far from home during the pandemic though, especially when there are so many options within an hour of my house.

No, it says not to put it in the microwave. That's the only drawback, Kim.

 

[jesskab]

I have a really pretty set of green square bamboo patterned dishes. But they're heavy. So when I switched the kids over to real plates, I got 2 sets at the Dollar Tree. One is all white & the other is white with gold trim. They've really held up.

 

[bestcee]

I'm no help, I have plain white Ikea plates and bowls. They were cheap, they are dishwasher and microwave safe. Our bowls look new. Our plates have weird scratches after 5 years of use. So, I don't know that they would last you that long. The bowls still look fine, it's just the plates.
I did buy plates from Kroger - but they are exactly what you don't want. Stoneware and heavy.

 

[bcgal00]

I am not partial to any particular brand but I like lunch plates that have a bit of a straight lip on them so if I have something like icecream and cake, I don't have to worry about the icecream going over the edges. It's good for sloppy side dishes too. I have bought some from Fred Meyers over the last couple of yrs.

For dinner plates, I like medium sized plates in simple designs. It makes it easy to mix/match with other pieces.

 

[Tree City]

I'm no help, I have plain white Ikea plates and bowls. They were cheap, they are dishwasher and microwave safe. Our bowls look new. Our plates have weird scratches after 5 years of use. So, I don't know that they would last you that long. The bowls still look fine, it's just the plates.
I did buy plates from Kroger - but they are exactly what you don't want. Stoneware and heavy.

Have you tried Bar Keeper's Friend on your plates? My white Fiesta gets gray marks from knives--I swear DH thinks he's supposed to cut THROUGH the plate when he cuts food lol/col--and BKF, which we use to clean our stainless sink, works really well on removing those spots. You can get it at the grocery store or Home Depot/Target/etc and it's much less expensive than the Pfaltzgraff brand stuff my mom uses.

But back to the OP: @KimJ Fiesta is my recommendation: American-made, lots of color choices as well as dish sizes/side pieces. A few patterns for holidays etc if you want some fun.

 

[rach3975]

I don't have a specific plate recommendation--when we got married in 1998 we registered for an everyday set of dishes and a set for entertaining. Well, DH and I forgot to take into account that we hate entertaining! So that second set just sat around until about 2 years ago, when our everyday set really needed to be replaced. Now the entertaining set is our everyday set, and that works fine because it wasn't that fancy to begin with--at least we knew that wasn't us! Anyway, our "new" set is Mikasa Midnight. One of my favorite things about it is that it's mostly white with a little black near the rim. When there's something that we want to add to the set (like platters or small cereal bowls) it looks fine with any solid white and solid black pieces. So I highly recommend basic, easily found colors like that if you think you'll be using them long term.

 

[bestcee]

Have you tried Bar Keeper's Friend on your plates? My white Fiesta gets gray marks from knives--I swear DH thinks he's supposed to cut THROUGH the plate when he cuts food lol/col--and BKF, which we use to clean our stainless sink, works really well on removing those spots. You can get it at the grocery store or Home Depot/Target/etc and it's much less expensive than the Pfaltzgraff brand stuff my mom uses.

NO! But I love BKF and have it hanging around. It's totally knife marks I bet. I'm going to try it out!!

 

[amien1]

I'm with Sara- I LOVE Fiestaware! We got a bunch of the 4 piece sets (in rainbow colors!) for our wedding 14 years ago & besides a few that have been lost or broken over the years- they hold up & still look great! I add a few specialty pieces once a year or so- so now I have a lot of fun platters, big bowls, etc