We love our Rosenthal Thomas Loft set....beautiful, timeless and the mix of service pieces is fantastic. They have a full line that goes from freezer to oven to table to match.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosenthal Thomas Loft

The department stores often have cheap white porcelain. That's lightweight, and usually good looking. :)

I have White Pearl from Crate and Barrel. It is made by Nikko. It is bone china. Very durable and works well for everyday as well as more formal occasions. Much nicer than the basic white porcelain. I also like that you can buy open stock.

Well I know you said you were not looking for heavy dishes, but this is what I bought over 6 years ago when we redid our kitchen. Haven't broken one yet, very durable and always clean and very white. They are restaurant quality dishes, they are also very inexpensive.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bryan China Co.

Kohl's carries Food Network white porcelain open stock white dishes. Nice weight but not too heavy. Round or square dishes with coordinating serving pieces.

Check out BBB.
They have a wide variety and some great prices.
Our kitchen is black & white so we went with these.
They're by Mikasa
{{!gwi}}

I recently found a pattern from Oneida called "Culinaria" which I love! This pattern can be ordered in either square or round and several colors are offered. Mine are "a la mode" which is not true white, more of a cream color. The plate sizes are reasonable and they fit in the DW and my cabinets well. They are durable and Oneida offers a 3 year warranty against chipping (I had Pfaltzgraf Napoli before and they chipped if you just looked at them :) and also didn't fit in my DW or cabinets, so was glad to get rid of them) Oneida has several lovely patterns to choose from. I would recommend checking out their site! Their products are also reasonably priced and they regularly offer 20% off sales, which comes in handy for those completer pieces.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oneida

Do you have a Home Goods near you? You can find large boxed sets very inexpensively. I bought a set from a consignment store for maybe $20, service for 12 plus all the serving pieces. I noticed later that HG seems to carry the same brand. That's where they must have come from originally. They are white.

Plus, if you did any glass cabinets you might like the all white look.

ugh. I had that pfaltzgraff Napoli set. I wanted them so bad and one year got a full set for christmas. we loved them for a very short time. then they started chipping. After a few plus years, I was fed up. The no longer beautiful Napoli went off to "bless" another home and I went with the plain white corelle. Yep. Nothing fancy. But it works great - easily replace if need be (4 kids and ceramic tile floor - you do the math).

I bought them with the intention of getting nicer dishes soon for special... that was 2 yrs ago and the corelle is still hanging in there. (I know you don't want corelle - but thought I'd mention. My favorite thing about their lightweight and thinness - I have very little storage in my kitchen and thankfully the dishes take up very little room... and loading a dw is so easy compared to the big, clunky napoli pfaltzgraff stoneware we had before.)

I have pflatzgraff stoneware as well and wouldn't buy it again. It chips so easily and it stains. I haven't seen anything I like yet to replace it but am looking at bone china or porcelain.

I asked a similar question when we completed our kitchen. Anyway, I found my old thread, and I will link it below. (as an aside, I mentioned in that thread why I didn't want Corelle). I had seen mention of Ikea 365+ dinnerware in another thread, and was asking about it. I looked at Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Pier 1 and some others. The Ikea 365+ dinnerware is half the price or less of those. An 18-piece set is $30 (we bought two sets). There's plenty of individual stock too.

But even setting aside Ikea's amazing price, the dinnerware was perfect for us. It's actual feldspar porcelain. Not made in China either, if that matters to you. And I can say, a year and a half later, with hard use, there's not one chip, and it microwaves great too. One thing no one thinks of is how the dishes will fit in the dishwasher. I've had dishes that aren't very flat, and/or are very thick, and they took up a lot of room in the DW. The Ikea 365+ dishes are somewhat flat, so they fit in the tynes of our DW easily, and we can really squeeze a bunch of them into our DW with everything coming out clean. Also, check the depth of your cabinets - there have been threads by people spending money on dinnerware only to find it won't fit in their cabinets cause the diameters are 12" or more. The Ikea dinner plate is 11" diameter. At the same time, a must-have for us were dishes with rims; a pet peeve is a dish with no rim that allows food to spill out.

We use it everyday, and also used it for Thanksgiving (we don't have storage space for everyday china and "good" china), and it looked lovely on our Thanksgiving table. Yes, it is very plain, but I like that. I think Ikea also offers dishes with some colors if you want to mix and match to jazz it up. Just my $.02.

[P.S. we also bought the Ikea Pokal glasses - what a deal! A year and a half later, no chips or breaks, and it is very hard to tip them over. They stack too.]

Thread about Ikea dinnerware

Ikea 365+ Dinnerware

Ikea Pokal glasses

I also love my Rosenthal Loft. It is beautiful and goes with everything. But it does chip easily, especially the more delicate salad plates. DH is a constitutionally unable to be careful and we have six of our 12 salad plates chipped. GRR...

Great ideas everyone .....thank you, I will check into all the ones mentioned!

Costco has sets of white dishes too. Just saw them today.

We started replacing our dishes as well and picked Denby White. It comes in either a round or square choice. Right now we just have the cereal and pasta bowls and the butter dish. I am very happy with them - the weight and quality are exactly what I was looking for. Like you I did not want any heavy stoneware . The pasta bowls are a terrific size and perfect for not only pasta but stir fry, curry and other dishes.

I want plain white porcelain that can go in the DW, microwave, and oven. I probably won't put them in the oven, but I like knowing that they can handle it! My old dishes - Noritake Colorwave - chipped a little and scratched quite a bit, so I definitely want something a little more durable. I also want something that I can be assured is lead-free. I went to my local department stores and couldn't find much, so I looked online. I started by reading old threads here.

I narrowed it down to Lenox Aspen Ridge and Denby White, and I'm going to try Denby White first because I think this buffet saucer is the cutest thing going:

{{!gwi}}

I ordered 2 dinner plates and 2 pasta bowls so I can see what the size is like and how they fit in my DW and cabinets. I should get them tomorrow and I will report back.

Overstock.com sometimes has the 16-piece set (4 place settings) for $160 (I think), which is a great price for these dishes. You can get individual pieces on amazon.com for about $20 each, but they have a buy-3-get-1-free promotion that brings it down to about $60 a place setting. I have seen a couple places where the a la carte pricing is lower than the 4-piece set price, so always check that. I like the idea of a la carte because I don't want as many mugs and I want a mix of pasta and cereal bowls.

I got my Denby White dinner plates and pasta bowls today, and I have to say they might be too big and too white for me. The dinner plates are 11" diameter, and they are somewhat flatter than expected. They'll stack well, but I'm not sure I love the look. The white has a slight blue tint because it is porcelain. My second choice, Lenox Aspen Ridge, also has an 11" plate, so I don't know what I want to do right now. I don't want to spend that much money unless I really love it.