I had a feeling I am not alone in the search. Thank you for the link to the recent thread. And I do remember the much longer post you mentioned. I'm sure it was on this forum. I tried to locate it, too, but was not successful. I can't recall how old it is.

I like the Mikasa dishes shown in the thread you linked and will take a closer look at them and any reviews on them I can find. Thanks.

While searching for the thread on white dishes, I found this one (linked) and looked at these beautiful dishes from Williams-Sonoma. Now, I love these, but they're even more expensive than the Lenox I was looking at. I really like how the variety of designs work together.

Here is a link that might be useful: Anyone Have Pillivuyt Porcelain Dinnerware

I sometimes wonder if my parameters are so narrow that nothing will suffice. I remember Mrs. Blandings describing paint colors to her contractor:
"I want it to be a soft green, not as blue green as a robin's egg but not as yellow green as daffodil buds .......it should just be a grayish yellow green."

Even though my upper cabinets are deep I don't want oversize plates that might encourage over indulgence, yet I don't want a plate that's all rim, and I want them to stack reasonably. There are several Mikasa patterns available and I noticed that the
French Countryside stack higher than the Italian Countryside because the French Countryside pieces have deeper bowls.

Since these will be our everyday dishes both DH and I prefer mugs, but the handle has to be comfortable, none of those little dainty handles that only accommodate 2 fingers. And while it isn't a deal breaker I'd prefer the plates to have smooth, fully glazed bottoms so they won't scratch a wood table when the grand kids slide their plates. And then there's the bowls.......soup, cereal, cream soup, past.........lol

This post was edited by maire_cate on Sun, Jul 7, 13 at 23:01

I read that Barkeepers Friend is perfect for removing that gray stain that occurs on white dishes. It's marks from the flatware that generally cause that staining. Try that on your dishes and see if it helps clean them up so they remain white.

What Pesky said. Other than that, I don't know what would cause a plate to turn gray unless it has crazing in the glaze. Generally, I find you get what you pay for. My Denby, while certainly not to everyone's taste, has held up like iron but it is a bit pricey. Johnson Brothers bit the dust years ago, French Countryside, while sturdy, is wildly clunky/chunky, some PB dishes have a poor glaze and the old antique porcelain and bone china sets still look great but get careful attention.
I would get stoneware, which can have chunky lines or porcelain. I have porcelain Christmas china from Crate and Barrel that has held up beautifully.

I was tired of the gray scratches on my stoneware, but could not find a set that I really liked....for years. Finally, I stopped in Home Goods. I bought white china plates, bowls and small dessert plates. I have enough serving items etc. They wash really well in the dishwasher.
Whenever i stop in, I look to see if they have similar dishes to add to my collection, although I am good for now.

pesky1 & Bumblebeez-- I tried the Barkeeper's Friend and it made a huge difference on the plates!!! Thank you so much for the suggestion. I'm still going to keep looking at new white dishes, in case keeping up with the BKF becomes a PITA.

I'm still wondering if there is anyone else out there who has white dishes that stay white!

Magic eraser will also take the marks off. I have some white plates that sometimes show slight silverware marks. These are not stains - just the marking from the utensils. The eraser takes them right off.

tina

If you can find (powdered) ZUD, similar to BKF, it works well at removing metal marks from dishes and cups, too.

I've got dishes from The Hotel Collection. I think you can get them at either JCP or Macy's. They are on the creamy side of white, but they are the only ones I've had that don't mark.

My Denby White stays white.

I purchased my white porcelain dishes from Crate and Barrel about 8 years ago. They have many choices of open stock/by the piece plates, bowls and mugs. I like being able to choose the sizes of soup/pasta/cereal bowls, and I prefer big mugs rather than the smaller cups that usually come when you get sets. My dishes have been through the dishwasher thousands of times and are still white as new. They are used everyday by a big family.

I have the Basketweave dishes from Williams Sonoma and they still look great after 10 years! Ours are slightly cream, they're not a bright white.

Here is another thread that delves deeper into the type of dishes - stoneware, porcelain, bone china and corelle

Here is a link that might be useful: Everyday dishes - porcelain, bone china or Corelle

Pesky and Bumble - thank you! I have been looking for new white dishes too. I was about to toss mine because I thought the glaze had worn through as they had grey spidery 'cracks'. I tried BKF, frankly without much hope, and guess what! My dishes look like new!

Thank you so much, GWlolo, for the link to the everyday dishes thread! I'm pretty sure that's the thread I couldn't locate. There is a lot of great info on that thread.

Today, I looked at all the beautiful white dishes at Williams-Sonoma. I'm taking my time making up my mind.

Late to the party, but wanted to throw another option into the mix. We wanted lead-free, preferably US made white dishes that would be durable and go from oven to freezer. Homer Laughlin China Company will sell their restaurant porcelain dinnerware direct to the consumer. Lots of shapes and sizes to choose from, and their "American White" is a nice slightly creamy shade. So far, they have survived several drops from my young ones without a problem.

I purchased Williams Sonoma brand white and returned them. They come boxed so you get what you get... My sets had porosity in the glaze. Bubbles larger than toothpicks down to the clay.

If you purchase from W-S, go for Apilco. Love their quality. I have serving pieces from that Company and love.

I have some of the white Coupe dinner plates from World Market. I just looked them up and they are porcelain. I've had them for a few years and they still look brand new - no markings. I do have several other kinds of plates that get the marks from silverware but these ones are still perfect. Very simple plates, but I like simple white plates.

My white corelle has stayed white for over 35 years...

I have had Dansk Cafe Blanc for about twenty years. It is not used everyday, but looks like new and great quality. No issue with silverware marks. They also show a pattern called Kristaal and another more contemporary white pattern.
I did have the marking issue w/a PB set and the porcelain wasn't nearly as high quality and broke/chipped easily.

I am reviving this thread, as I am looking to replace/upgrade my everyday stoneware dishes. Was thinking I wanted to get plain white, but while shopping did find I was drawn to the colourful stoneware dishes...

Part of the reason I wanted to replace my current set was the grey (Now I know from cutlery) marks all over the dishes. From reading this post, I cleaned them all off with BKF, magic eraser didn't work at all. Totally amazed at how new they all look, but many of the plates have chips under the rims, so am going to buy new. After doing research on the web for a few days, it is not 100% clear how to avoid those cutlery marks on dinnerware, various opinions blamed the SS count, ie whether is was 18/10, 18/8 etc. I have a feeling it is the stoneware that marks up the most. My porcelain and my good china dishes aren't marked. DH says it's because they're not used as much. He's right, they don't get much use, but I'm wondering if those of you who DO use porcelain or bone china daily still get grey marks.

To make it even harder, just got an email today that Ikea is putting their Fargrik 6 place setting stoneware set on sale for $19.99! Maybe I just buy 2 sets of that for now, and wait to fall in love with some coloured/patterned set and buy when it's on sale. Still won't address the grey cutlery marks...

I had Johnson Brothers Heritage White stoneware for 20 years with no grey markings. Over time, the glaze on some of the plates and bowls that were used in the microwave began to craze.

Last year, I was sort of tired of white, so I gifted my JB to a young friend and replaced them with Lenox Chirp porcelain. To my surprise, I'm starting to see grey utensil marks particularly in the mugs where a spoon is used to stir. I'm very disappointed. Now, I wish that I had kept my JB.

I been using my white dishes for the last 6 years and have never experienced the gray marking that's been mentioned. Sometimes the dishwasher can cause gray marks or the utincils. Those can be erased w/BonAmi or Barkeepers cleanser. They're ironstone, but not the heavy duty ironstone that was popular in bright colors a few years ago. Maybe the composition material has been changed leaving the dishes vulnerable to easy marking.

I love my Ikea 365 dishes...no gray marks, no chipping and they are dirt cheap in sets or open stock. If one breaks(not yet)...no big deal.

raehelen, I registered an account just to post that I bought a pretty large collection of Denby White Squares last summer in part because of this problem with gray marks. I thought it would be of a quality that would not have this problem. I just found gray marks on a salad plate while unloading the dishwasher! BKF lightened them to the point that only I will see them. Previously I noticed gray marks on the corners of the soup/cereal bowls and they removed entirely and more easily with BKF or a Magic Eraser. I am going to send an email to Denby. This is disappointing. We are using Oneida Easton 18/10 flatware.

Mrs. Paw, if I had spent what Denby costs, I'd be sending a letter too! Have you tried contacting them directly with a phone call to customer service? I would try that also.

I did end up buying vitrified porcelain plates, supposedly "combines the advantages of bone china and durable porcelain", from an Italian company called Luigi Bormioli. I'd never heard of them before, but am now seeing them in several stores...particularly their glassware..

I bought these Oct 19/13, used everyday, so far no marks.

I started another thread in kitchens...

Here is a link that might be useful: Looking for dinnerware that doesn't get grey cutlery marks