Dishes
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive August 2005:
Dishes
I need a new set of dishes, all mine are chipped and not really kid friendly.
I want a set of just plain white dishes. We were at Ikea today and we can buy an 18 piece set for about $30. However, one piece broken and that's it as their sets are not necessarily kept in stock over the years.
DH and I discussed Corelle dishes, the ones that don't easily break as they come in plain white and are a lot more kid friendly. They're not the sexiest dishes in the world but I figure I can jazz them up with place matts.
http://www.corelle.com/table.asp?userPattern=null#
Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with them? What about Ikea dishes any comments?
TIA
Sexy dishes?! LOL! I wasn't aware Ikea sold dishes and haven't looked into Corelle for a long time, but am considering getting new dishes myself. Actually, I just remembered we do have a few Corelle bowls that we use as cat dishes. I think we inherited them from DH's mother. They are quite old and have held up very well. The cottage we rented last summer had Fiestaware dishes and I really liked them. Hmm, decisions, decisions! LOL!
Pfaltzgraff Heritage is an all white pattern. I've had Pfaltzgraff in Tea Rose for over 15 years now as my everyday china. It's amazingly tough. I'm sure all their stoneware is very kid friendly. There are outlet stores all over the US and Canada and places to buy online.
Corelle will stand up to anything and you can buy it anywhere. Pfaltzgraff is nice but very heavy (which can make it not kid friendly...) and you can also find that anywhere. Corelle is less expensive and very lightweight though, which may be a big consideration. Good luck!
I have white corelle dishes.......you *can* chip or break them, but it takes a lot to do it........the good thing about the white corelle is you can always add to it or replace the broken ones.
Oh, I forgot to mention... I've had Pfaltzgraff (Yorktown?) dishes and misc. matching pieces for 17 years. They are heavy but durable. Some chips from normal wear. Of course I plan on keeping that set because my very dear MIL (may she rest in peace) bought many pieces for us = sentimental value. The dishes we use daily were DH's as a bachelor. They are cheap and the set is dwindling due to breakages. I'd like to replace them.
Just a warning on the corelle, they are very tough but when they brake they explode tiny little shards all over the place that are very very sharp.
I never liked the feel of Corelle. They are so thin, it's like eating on a shiny paper plate.
I have Fiesta as my everyday dishes and love them! They are so durable and just feel sturdy.
Glass Dishes???!!! We had a lovely set of correlle (matching) when we first built our house, and had one child (who had his *own* dishes).....now, with four kids, we have a *few* glass plates and bowls, but the answer for us is MELAMINE. Tough, uncrackable, unchippable - we got blue to match the kitchen, lol! (The only thing you can't do with them is microwave, which is why we still have a few glass ones around)
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&q=black+marks+pfaltzgraff+
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&q=marks+pfaltzgraff+
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000063538/102-3690415-4507339?v=glance
It isn't just me... See...
I don't like Pfaltzgraff . I had two sets of about 12 dish sets - arcadia was one set . Each dish had had thousands of black knife marks on it in little time. Something about the pfaltzgraff marks like crazy. We also had a Pfaltzgraff pink set I bought new at good will. (marked like crazy too) I gave all the Pfaltzgraff dishes away because I was embarressed to use them.(well I used them a good 10 years.) My everyday dishes are my entertaining dishes so it was getting ridiculous at holidays putting those black marked dishes out.
I couldn't find dishes that had lips on them like the pfaltzgraff and my husband insists on the lip on the dish so I kept them until I found dishes with a lip.(took ten years...) I couldn't find anything I like. The pfaltzgraff are very durable.... I must admit I like the lip on some of the dishes that pfaltzgraff makes and I love their bowls. Just very usable.
The scratch marks were from knifes and forks and spoons and dishwasher. Even the bowls were all black marked from the spoon use. Even the back of the dishes had thousands of marks from just anything scatching it. Nothing would break those dishes. I could have had them for 40 years but they would have been black and not pure white by the end of it.
I haven't had that problem with any other brand. I have a few mikasa's with very light very few black marks and some older no name brand with only few light black marks. The entire center of the Pfaltzgraff dishes were black with knife black marks.
I bought dansk in solid color tan. Not too many black marks(few and very light black marks) and we had about two years. No black marks on the outside of dish. I like a plain dish.
I use regular utensils from bed bath and beyond. They aren't the expensive ones because I like the plain without any ornamentation so I can have tons of them stacking together in the drawer. But they aren't the utensils that bend when you use them.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=102891
These are the dishes we bought. They have a lip to keep the food on the plate. (if you are eatting a snack on the couch. ) The coffee cups are nice size to actually use for coffee.
I had white Platzgraff for years and loved them! They were probably 10 years old when I switched to different dishes. I still use them as my 2nd set. I recently bought a fun patterned Tabletops International set (very similar to Fiestaware). It's kind of a mix and match pattern. Very fun.
Here's my big contradiction. I love, love, love Portmeirion china and love the serving bowls and few pieces I have. But, for $27.50 a plate, I don't have a full set. 
For every day dishes, I love Gibson dishes. I buy a couple boxes of them at Walmart and they are great. (They are around $20 or less!) They are cheap enough, that you can replace them every couple of years. I love that they are simple in design. I have a white set and a sage green set. They have held up very well! They are also not thin like Corelle. A couple of coffee mugs have a couple of chips, but it's been years now, so it's expected. I highly recommend the Gibson. Inexpensive, they look nice,(Believe me, I am all about the looks too!)they are sturdy, and I use them for my DD all the time; very kid friendly.
Corelle.
I think I have one. It gets very hot in the microwave. Stonewear don't get so hot in the microwave.
Well, I have been using the Corelle because it was replaceable. There's a set of seashell dishes I want, but they are expensive, I'd need 2 or 3 sets, since they come boxed in 4 place settings, and I don't use the little coffee cups and saucers that come with it, and WOULD use the extra serving pieces and pasta bowls. Point - it would cost more than I want to spend to have all the pieces I want.
Then, there's a woman who has a booth at the annual local festival here in November that does BEAUTIFUL work. I have 3 of her large pieces - fruit bowl, serving platter and salad bowl, and 8 small bowls in the same color pattern and one small bowl in another that I bought because I loved the color, and DH uses it for change, etc. in the bedroom; I would *really* like to get the dinner plates and salad plates. But they are EXPENSIVE too! The stuff is super heavy and dishwasher safe. I will see her at the festival - (this is the one I go to with my friend every year and we have our Christmas ornament tradition that I posted about last year) so maybe I'll just look into getting some more pieces from her.
My problem is, the stuff I *really* like, other than the white, locks me into certain colors for decor, etc. And I don't want to be locked in.
I have the Pfaltzgraff Filigree pattern, it's an all-white and I think it's beautiful. I really love it.
Reds, that's the one I had. Loved it too!
|
Members
