Really? That’s nice. As I mentioned, I did not choose it but it’s very sweet and special to me because it was a gift from my grandmother.

I just want to clarify something. Pretty much EVERY dish set I own, if not inherited, I’ve bought via online auctions or in secondhand or consignment shops. All for much reduced prices. My point is, good decent bargains are always out there if you’re diligent and patient enough to search them out. Yes, I have an inordinate amount of dish sets, but it’s my personal passion and brings me (and my family) much happiness. If you feel that pull yourself, online auctions, especially shopgoodwill.com and eBay are great sources. But do remember, all your “treasures” can not all follow you into retirement downsizing, which is what I’m starting to (painfully) deal with right now,

My wedding china was a Wegewood pattern called Black Florentine - it is very dramatic. We used it for a few years but it really wasn't my style - my husband liked the dragons, etc. I have threatened to give it to my SIL as he loves dragons also. My daughter is not thrilled with the idea. A number of years ago my kids gave me a Mikasa pattern called Suzanne and I love it. It is my everyday and company china.

"Just wanted to say that with today's lifestyle where familes rarely sit to enjoy a meal together"

Dolly, maybe this is the case for many families but there are other disadvantages of china that factor in to buying and use decisions. We had family meals whenever possible, never on china and sometimes on paper plates but always enjoyable.

We've gone through a number of sets of tableware over the years - we usually tire of them and dispose of them - but now we're happy with German porcelain from each of two different companies. One stark white with a subtle flat pattern and the other a bit more elaborate but without flowers or curly-ques and equally strong. We get compliments on both. Both are a bit pricey and probably more expensive than many kinds of china but they're completely dishwasher and microwave safe. Unlike many kids of china.

Most of the old china factories have closed down and the original companies have gone bankrupt. Production today is in China and third world countries in Asia with brands having been purchased for a song by new owners. Why? Because demand is gone, the stuff isn't popular and doesn't sell for today's tableware market. Everyone has hobbies and collections and this is one with long roots in time but generations after mine and yours, starting with your and my kids, aren't buying the stuff that was popular 50 years ago and earlier and will only have it if received by gift. We donated china owned by parents on both sides at their deaths - we didn't want it and none of their grandchildren (our kids and those of siblings) did either.

Also never married, so no wedding china. But I do love china but always wondered how one could commit to only one pattern. Now I see that one doesn't have to do that!!! LOL My everyday and only dishes are Lynn Swan. It's a rose pattern. It's the first "set" of china I have ever owned and I've only had it for a couple of years. A young woman was selling them and I liked the pattern. She told me that her grandmother had bought them for her. The young woman said she had 3 small sons and there was never going to be a time when using good china would be appropriate. LOL So I bought them and use them every day. I hand wash them because I enjoy doing that. They are dishwasher safe but I'm good with washing by hand. After seeing everyone's beautiful dishes I am tempted to give in the next time I see a pattern that I like. I guess you don't really have to limit yourself to just one pattern.

Happy2be, have you considered pairing the Forbidden fruit plates (maybe the salad plates) with something like fiesta solid colors for the dinner plate and bowls?

I registered for Royal Doulton Carlyle for formal china but when my mom passed I got her china as well as some of my grandmother's (Ansley Pembroke). My mom's Lenox Stanford is a simple gold band pattern and she looked for a pattern to mix it with. When she passed, she had only one B&B plate and a cup and saucer in Tudor and some Holiday pieces. I started checking the availability of Tudor to build on her idea. Found some, but I also found a newer pattern I know my mom would have picked if it had been available then. Lenox Independence -- with a blue band and stars in the gold border (subtle -- they are gold against gold, so it's just textural). My mom's favorite color was blue (mine too) and she loved stars (me too). I think she would have even loved the name. BINGO! Now I have a mixed set with Stanford, Independence and some Hamilton (twisted blue and gold rope) . Happened upon some of my crystal stems, also discontinued, and finished those out. I LOVE it!

Thanks for your reply Lynn, I’m so interested to see how others store dishes because I absolutely love them but I’m rather limited in storage.

I guess since everything is about throwing it away, a big box of paper plates from Sam's Club would be the best choice for a wedding gift for the new couple? GAH!

What bugs me the most is that if you try to sell dishes, no one wants them and you can't give them away...BUT if you go to buy dishes at the store, they are still extremely expensive!

I did not get fine china at my wedding, my parents bought us a huge box of a plain white everyday sort of dishes. I had a stainless picked out but only got a few pieces of it so I took it back to Joske's and got something that I could use.

Arkansas girl I actually sometimes keep an eye on my local classifieds for sets of China. I find that a lot of the patterns are not to my liking, and people expect a lot of $$. I should keep looking though!

Estate sales, thrift stores, antique malls (though will be more pricey), and Nextdoor app. Like I mentioned there is a lot at the antique mall, and I see a lot through the listservs I am on for estate sales. The estate sales are a great bargain.

Robo, when people will find out they can't sell this stuff they will hopefully drop the price. There just isn't demand for it.

I'm really glad I de-lurked here. What an interesting thread! I have my mother's china, Flintridge Bellmere Coupe:

https://www.replacements.com/webquote/fl_belc.htm

I'm linking because it's packed away until next Thanksgiving.

And mine is Villeroy & Boch Manoir. This is a stock photo because I'm too lazy to get up and take photos. I have two different sets of salad plates that I use for different occasions. They're the same Manoir, but with decoration.

These are the salad plates I use at Christmas, Holly.

I have these that I use for Easter and Mothers Day. Petite Fleur.

People have wedding china? We got married by a JP. Had dinner with the family (parents and siblings) and our best man and maid of honour (married couple) and our kids at a restaurant. Did the whole thing including my dress, husbands suit, and kids clothes, food and $ for JP for $1000.00. Didn't do anything fancy at all. Still married 28 years later.

I'm not married, but I do have "good china". It is a 4-place setting of White Silk from Mikasa that I bought for $15 from John Wanamaker in the early '80s. They had a "leftovers" section in the basement of their store in NE Philly, plus another 50% off the marked price. I don't know how this box got down there, but I grabbed it up. All of the pieces are perfect. I have paid much more for some of the companion pieces.

Mine is also Lenox Moonspun. I don't use it often because I'm not sure if it's dishwasher safe.

No big wedding for me, I’ve been married twice, but they were both very simple and low key. Because I had the first grandchild though, I inherited my Grandmother’s china so I could pass it down. It’s a bit plain, but still pretty. I’ve used it a couple of times but it mostly sits packed in a box in the basement. I tried to give it to my DD when she got married and was a bit sad when she declined to take it. That was 16 years ago, I’m hoping that as she grows older she’ll have a change of heart, but if not, I have a niece who said she’d like it, she just got engaged over Christmas, so I will probably pass it on to her.

Mojomom -- what pattern is your Waterford?

No wedding china here...but...I LOVE looking at what ya all have! Keep 'em coming!

I purchased Dansk Blue Mesa, 16 place settings that we use every day.

Dolly, just because people like me don't care about formal entertaining or using crystal and "fine" china doesn't mean we serve our families hot dogs on dollar store paper plates every night. Our kid is in college now, but we ate a home cooked dinner together, using real plates and cloth napkins, nearly every night. And we entertain too, but just because I don't own crystal water goblets, a silver tea service or a starched tablecloth doesn't mean I don't host a fun gathering with good food, a pleasing table and conviviality all around.

I don't see where Dolly said anything about formal entertaining and crystal, just that families make an effort for a sit down meal rather than eat on the go or at separate times.

You know, reading this I realized I have always wanted a set of Franciscan Desert Rose. I first admired them when I was high school age, half a century ago. ( **gasp**) I think I may just buy them for myself. I have one old set of gaudy, ugly dishes that I never use so after they go off to GoodWill, I will have room for the new.

My everyday set is Sango Overture.

Elizabeth -- do -- you own't be sorry!

No wedding china but I have a 16 place setting with all the extras that were moms...the back says *The gardenia collection Saks Fifth Avenue * so whatever it is its pretty.

DH and I love all things fancy! We registered for Mottahedeh Chinoise Blue for formal China. I didn’t *love* it but DH did and he didn’t say much about anything else so I agreed. I would have done a Limoges plain white with gold band or something similar for dinner plates and then Mottahedeh Tobacoo Leaf for salad plates if I had my way. That’s what I still want! He now says he should have listened to me. We only got 4 place settings and some serving pieces and we do use them and I do like them. I do hope to get other sets soon.

I also have Waterford Lismore wine glasses and champagne flutes. My mother started buying them as Christmas presents for me after I moved to NJ, I don't know why or how she even learned about the brand. I love them.

I LOVE looking at all the lovely china! I'm a pretty serious china junkie, too. I have 9 sets! I didn't register for wedding china, but my parents gave us a set of Franciscan "Madiera"--VERY 1968ish! For the past 10 years or so I'd been using it as our everyday dishes, but recently put it away in favor of a new set of Denby stoneware.

I have my grandmothers china, my husbands grandmothers china, and his great-grandmothers Flow Blue China. I bring them out for holidays and special occasions.n I just used my Grandmothers china for Christmas dinner, that really put a smile on my Mom's face.

Now I have "inherited" my mothers china--4 sets! After moving her out of her very large (and FULL) home in to a senior living facility Ive been tempted to clean every closet in my house and give family heirlooms to my soon to be daughter in law NOW.

I'm wondering why some of the earlier posts, including mine, disappeared yesterday and now are back.... Couldn't possibly be a flagging, could it? For China???

I think if you want the next generation to value your china, you have to use it more than once or twice a year. I keep my grandparent's dishes not because I like the pattern (it's okay but nothing I'd have picked out), but because it reminds me to strongly of them -- they used it most every day.

My mom wanted to buy me fancy china and a set of everyday when I got married in 1980. I didn't want 2 sets so I got a set of Royal Doulton Lambethware in the Uplands pattern.

We used it everyday for 20 years, then brought it to our weekend place. I bought a set of pfaltzgraff French Quarter to use in our primary house.

When our weekend house became our primary house, we kept both and still use both. I have to say that the Royal Doulton set still looks brand new. Not faded or scratched in the least. The pfaltzgraff is faded and has developed silverware marks that take a lot of scrubbing to get out. Over 38 years, we have full sets missing 1 coffee cup and 2 cereal bowls.

When we bought our winter residence in California, I bought a set of Royal Douton 'Pacific Lines'.

I love the simplicity of this pattern and it goes with our coastal modern kitchen wonderfully.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Portmeirion Botanic Garden...? I always thought for everyday it would be pretty. My Husband thought it was too feminine for him tho...lol I remember paying $25 a dinner plate & giving 3 as a wedding gift, per her registry. Then the happy couple moved to Arizona and the movers stole them.

Nicole, I've always liked that pattern -- thought it was so pretty!

I can never find anything I've posted in the past on GW. I think it was within the past year, but I posted pictures of all the china patterns I have. I cannot find it. If anyone can, will you send me a link?

I'm fascinated that there are as many "china addicts" out there as this thread would indicate! I love dishes! I'd have still more but I have now officially run out of space for what I have. This past fall, I took over a small bookcase next to the corner built-in in my breakfast room, had a door made for it and turned it into a china cabinet "annex" of the corner built-in. I no longer have one pattern stacked on top of another - SO much easier to find what I want. If I were younger, I might well take the rest of the bookcases on that wall and do the same, which would then allow me to buy more dishes. If I did that now, my children would file for guardianship over me!

There are still patterns I have loved for over 50 years. I love both the Wedgwood Ulander Ruby and the Turquoise. I think the Turquoise would look fabulous in my DR! I first fell in love with the Ruby when I was a newly wed in Washington DC in the mid 1960's. The old Biggs Furniture store had a gorgeous DR table set with Ulander Ruby.

As you can see, the ruby and turquoise have a "mottled" effect that is simply gorgeous.

Other dishes I covet:

And the one pattern I'd kill to just have two plates to display would be Worcester's Jabberwocky! It's nearly impossible to even find and the price? Well, it's in the stratosphere. Many years ago, Wakefield-Scearce Galleries in Shelbyville KY had an entire set (not all same age). It was $65,000 and a woman having lunch in the tea room, saw it and bought it for her daughter's "new house" - just perfect for her dining room. I wish she had adopted me!

No, I'm NOT a plain white dishes girl!!!

A couple of sets, and I'll admit a bunch of the china has bit the dust a while ago.

I'd get more plates and bowls, even if I don't care about the coffee mugs, if I can find them somewhere again.

This thread makes me want to go buy some patterned China after six years of using plain white! It's hard to find "everyday" China that isn't heavy, like stoneware. I don't like chunky, heavy plates. And dishes that get silverware marks drive me nuts...been there, done that.

Hmmmm....I am changing up the color scheme in my main living area...maybe I'll look for some new dishes in a color to use with my white ones to change things up a bit.

Czarina....love your Pacific Lines.

Hot Rod....I gravitate towards modern but I love your Petite Fleur plate....so pretty and feminine.

Joaniepoanie, try Wedgwood's Nantucket Basket. It's everyday dishes - microwave and dishwasher safe. It's on sale right now at Macy's - $299 for 4 place settings, regularly $460 or so. It's a classic and can even be used for "good" as it's such a pretty, plain pattern.

My wedding china was Royal Worcester Blue Regency.

I also have a secondary set of white on white china (12 place settings) that I use when I want a quieter color scheme on the table. It is similar to this

When DD married, she did not pick out fine china because she knew she would inherit mine and Mom’s one day. She chose a very nice Lenox pattern, Wickford, for every day use.

Elizabeth, having that Desert Rose set on display in my dining room makes me happy -- it is just so pretty! I am glad that I bought it. You will have to look for it at estate/tag sales or ebay now, though, because it is no longer made; and look for pieces that were made either in the USA or in England (the last several years, when it was made in China, was a sad deterioration in the workmanship; I would never have bought that new much less paid the prices they were asking for it).

Bbstx, I've always liked the Blue Regency, too.

Anglophilia, those are all patterns I've enjoyed "visiting" when department stores had bigger china departments.

All of you with full sets, how many of the serving bits and other accessories do you have? I have my grandmother's Noritake including, for the place settings, three sizes of bowls, three or four sizes of plates, cups and saucers (well, just a few of those now), plus coffee pot, celery dish, round and oval serving bowls, round and oval platters. But I usually use my Corning French White!

No wedding china here....I am enjoying seeing everyone's stuff! SO PRETTY!!!

I picked up a service for 12 plus completer pieces from my mom's boss as she was retiring. Sold it to me for $200 back in the mid 90s. She had 3 or 4 sets and was moving pretty far away. The pattern name had some (remote) ties to my maiden name and it was made fairly close to my birth year. It is a simple pattern (Noritake Rosay) and replacement pieces are pretty easy to find. I've added to the collection over the 20 years I've had it but don't use it as often as I'd like.

Now I kind of regret not checking out the other sets she had!!! I do look at antique malls/flea markets etc because nobody wants the stuff any more.

arkansas girl

"I guess since everything is about throwing it away, a big box of paper plates from Sam's Club would be the best choice for a wedding gift for the new couple? GAH!"

I don't think anyone here has said that. For myself, it would be a complete waste of money and space (which I don't have) to have multiple sets of dishes. I live alone, and rarely have the need to set a table. I expect that there are many others that have a similar situation and perspective.

What bugs me the most is that if you try to sell dishes, no one wants them and you can't give them away...BUT if you go to buy dishes at the store, they are still extremely expensive!

Furniture is the same way. As are automobiles. You always pay a premium for new. It often makes no sense to do so.

I have never had china "serving dishes". Even in my Tranquebar (my everyday dishes), I have teapot/c&s in two sizes, mustard pot, jam pot, sandwich plates, but no vegetable dishes or gravy boats. Don't like them, don't want them!

I have silver vegetable dishes/bread plate/gravy boat/large meat platter. Far less easy to break, plus I love silver on my table.

For daily meals, we have never served "family style" with bowls of food on the table. For me, that's a recipe for over-eating (I'll just finish off those potatoes!). We always plated the dishes in the kitchen and then served the table. Only hot bread was in some form of silver or woven basket (formal/informal).

When we lived in LA, my children were 9/11 when we arrived and 12/14 when we left. I had taught them how to serve a table, and I hired them when I had a dinner party. They usually just served plates that were plated in the kitchen, but it was very nice. When we had lived in St Louis, I could hire my cleaning woman to come serve a dinner party and do the clean-up. Sheer bliss! No being up half the night washing up while husband was upstairs in bed from too much wine! Actually, that would have been FIRST husband; SECOND husband would have been in the kitchen cleaning up and told me to go to bed.

When first married I bought a set of butter cup yellow ironstone with all of the serving pieces. They were the everyday dishes and I never got tired of them until 25 years later when I bought a white set and sold the yellow ones in a garage sale. I also had white China for good dishes but then I happened to see Royal Albert Old Country Roses pattern and could not rest until I bought a service for 12 with all of the serving pieces. They are still looking beautiful in the China cabinet but don't get used much anymore. I used to have my dinner on them from time to time but haven't done that in a long time. I too like silver serving pieces and have platters, gravy boat, place card holders , knife rests, and various other pieces. I love crystal also. And silverware sets......lets say too many! Lol. Some pretty patterns shown here!

Speaking of Desert Rose, about 25 or 30 years ago my daughter and I were in T.J. Maxx. At the time, they had a number of different dishes on display, one of them being Desert Rose. She mentioned that she liked that pattern. Several months later I was in that store and apparently they decided to stop carrying dishes and were clearing them out. On the table were several boxes of Desert Rose. I bought 8 4 piece place settings for $40.00! At the time you could buy one place setting for $30.00 if it was on sale. Several years later she was asking for some cereal bowls. It cost me more for 4 cereal bowls than it did for the 8 place settings!!!

That set of Desert Rose that I bought at the estate sale has almost everything -- including a couple of different sized pitchers, an individual coffee pot, a jam pot and egg cups (which make me think that chicken eggs must have been much larger in the 1930s!). Only one size of platter, though.

I have loved looking at all these beautiful china patterns. Whenever shopping at Marshall Fields (later Macy's) I use to go to the china dept just to look at all the beautiful china. I always wanted Wedgewood, but couldn't afford it. We really enjoyed the Wedgewood factory tour when we were in England.

Lenox Montclair. I have 8 places of everything, including cream soup, rim soup, cereal, demitasse, mugs, etc. and 12 to 20 of some of the plates. Selected it when I was 17. 49 years I still use it most days.

I love, love, love china. I have smaller amounts of other patterns.

Bernardaud historic china (Ancienne Manufacture Royale):

A la Reine (2 places) and Marie Antoinette - 6 places plus unusual pieces like the rafraichissoir which are no longer made.

Blue Onion salad plates for my morning toast, various pitchers.

Rosenthal Golden Palm espresso cups and saucers.

Such a fun and interesting thread! So very happy to learn that I am not the only China Addict!

When I got my first apartment, my Dad gave me a set of Lenox china. I still love the pattern.

And I have a whole bunch of buffet plates for parties in this Lenox pattern:

I also have soup bowls (with little handles) that also "match" these dishes, from a now-defunct bank's executive dining room (courtesy Fishs Eddy NYC).

I have some Limoges plates i bought to decorate the wall in my old DR, which had white wainscoting about 5' up and then a raspberry hand painted wall, then a recessed band of gold in the 9' ceiling moldings. I got some little Herend trays when in Hungary on business. They nearly match.

mtnrdredeux, I adore that raspberry/gold Limoges And it's perfect with the Herend Chinese Bouquet Raspberry! SO very pretty...

I'm always amazed at how pretty and how different Chinese Bouquet looks in its various colorways. Can't say I'm at all fond of the new "black" and "dark sapphire", but I guess they felt they had to appeal to the young who appear to think that black dishes are very edgy and hip. It's a pattern one will never tire of and that will always look good. Herend is now the only china being completely hand-painted. Even the venerable Royal Crown Derby no longer is, but at least it's still totally made in England, all the rest of the potteries long gone to the far east.

No one wants to learn how to do these skills any longer. There is no longer any company in England that can hand block print fabric. The traditional patterns have been outsourced to the far east, and the difference in the quality is noticeable (not as good) even though the prices have soared into the stratosphere. I wonder how much longer Hermes bags (at least the Birkin and Kelly) will continue to be all hand-cut and hand-stitched in France. It's no surprise that the prices of such continue to soar to unheard of heights.

Martha Scott, I have Runnymede Dark Blue and every serving piece made to go with it- sign of a late '70s-'80s bride!

Hey Artemis_ma - I saw some of your dishes yesterday at a thrift store!