Dining in Style: Everyday Dinnerware

With Thanksgiving just a few weeks ahead, I’m sure lots of people are getting out their fine china and polishing the silver. I don’t know who these people are. I don’t have fine china. We had a set at one point that we inherited but the fact that you couldn’t throw it in the dishwasher or put it in the microwave (not to mention the granny blue floral print), it just didn’t fit us. Ultimately, we donated it to a charity auction so somebody else could make use of it. I just can’t get my brain owning something so expensive, that takes up so much space, and not using it more than twice a year. As you might imagine, my family eats off of what retailers term as “everyday” dinnerware (um, that is, when we’re not using paper plates). I currently have 2 sets of everyday dinnerware, one a clear, scratched, crazed set (5 of 8 large plates remaining) that I have had since we got married almost 18 years ago. The other is an inexpensive matte black set from Ikea that’s probably about 15 years old. I sorta have the feeling that I should be a grown-up and get some good plates… but not too grown up… I’m still not wanting granny’s china… just maybe a nicer set or two of everyday plates. Here’s a few 16 piece sets I’ve spied ranging from $25 to $340. And between you and me, though the $340 one is cute, but we’re a clumsy crew so I won’t be investing in anything even that pricey, but I just had to include those birds because they made me happy. Which would you pick?

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