I like the colorful stuff HEB has.

I agree that Fiesta can be quite attractive. We tried to buy an abbreviated set not too many years ago, maybe 6 years ago, and found the quality control to be quite poor. I wound up going to 5 different Macys stores over perhaps 6 weeks to be able to have unbroken pieces in the shapes and colors we wanted, none of which were unusual. When we then started to use them, we found them to be unreasonably susceptible to scratching and marks from normal silverware use. We returned them all and got something completely different.

If you decide to buy some, I hope you have better luck. I've heard since that the quality of the older pieces is better. There was a 10 or 15 year break in production a few decades back and apparently the quality of the products made after the "no-production" period ended doesn't measure up to how it had been before.

I have Fiesta ware and love it. Love the colors! Yes, Elmer is right, if you use serrated knives on them they will scratch. I make sure we don’t!

i have some old pieces, but most are new. There are 5 piece place settings and 4 piece ones. Since I don’t like cups with saucers I bought the 4 piece sets. Got a great buy from Bealls’s Florida years ago. So good I called a friend Back home in Michigan. Bought her and me each 6 sets! There was a half price sale the week before, they never cancelled that sale and the next week it was buy one, get one free! So about $15 per set.

My DH is afraid the cupboard is going to fall off the wall, because the plates and bowls are heavy! Since I started having back problems it is an issue to unload the dishwasher.

But I love them!

Interesting, kathy. Our table knives have a small serration and these caused marks. The sides of forks and spoons put gray streaks on to the glazed surfaces that wouldn't wash off. All stainless steel and something I'd never seen or heard of before. We weren't about to eat everything with wooden chopsticks or our fingers so that was it for our Fiesta purchase, back to Macys. The clerk I returned it to said they'd been having a lot of problems with them.

Maybe we hit the product line at a time when they were having some batch problems, I don't know. We went full circle and got white European porcelain and that was right for us. Our meals are colorful, it's the food that does it instead.

This GW thread from 5 years ago does not mention the problems with marks and scratching but since it has been brought to light on this thread I think I will start with a small collection and add on after I see how the pieces do at my house. https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2461036/fiesta-dinnerware-any-other-fans#n=33

Lucille, I don't know were you live but the factory and outlet is in Newell, WV. I have a few pieces, one is an older platter that was my mothers. It is still in great shape. It's funny, but since the factory is close to us everyone's mother had Fiesta ware because it was cheap (at the time). Not many people use it around here. I think because they think it is grandma-ish and common. Or maybe because it is so heavy. You can find pieces cheep at garage sales.

You can order it directly from the factory on their website. It might be cheaper. I know they run sales different times of the year.

We've purchased quite a few pieces of Fiesta (daffodil, poppy, paprika and tangerine) over the past few years and haven't had any problems with marks or scratching even though they are used daily.

Husband did buy a set from Bed Bath and Beyond which appeared to be seconds with lots of visible flaws, so we returned them. But the ones purchased from Macy's have always been great quality.

Since I am rather clumsy I love how sturdy they are. I have not chipped a single one yet. And I also enjoy the bright, cheerful colors. And I really like the color-coordinated place mats and dish towels. Makes for pretty table settings.

I have never had fiesta ware... I have plain ole white corelle... but Lucille, since you want to buy some, I wish you luck, that you will be happy with them.

Moni

Kohl’s has 4 piece Fiesta Ware sets on sale right now for a good price. If you order them online you can use POPCORN20 code for an additional 20% off making them less then 14.00.

https://m.kohls.com/catalog/fiesta-kitchen-dining.jsp?CN=Brand:Fiesta+Department:Kitchen%20%26%20Dining&icid=Tabletop-SL-Fiesta&kls_sbp=01900731481454529424239493903966743523&clickId=3X93jW030Xgkxnz18PyrAyKXUklSSDTlrTdoQM0&irgwc=1&utm_campaign=362118&utm_source=12116&cid=affiliate-_-12116&utm_content=ONLINE_TRACKING_LINK&utm_medium=affiliate

I love my Fiesta. I bought it directly from them https://fiestafactorydirect.com/pages/sale and they are having a sale. I have 2 colors: sage and ivory.

We bought it (poppy, I think) for the Maui condo. Open stock means we can always replace only the pieces guests have broken and still keep 8 full place settings on the shelf.

In 2001 I bought 24 place settings of stainless in a bamboo pattern, hoping to keep 8 settings in the kitchen. By 2017 I was bottoming out. The KT helped me find more, but the quality had diminished.

Sometimes I wonder how guests 'lose' silverware; it's pretty heavy. The complex used to have "Display Days" in winter when more owners were present. Everyone would bring the odd dishes that had turned up in our condos from guests who'd partied between units.

It certainly is pretty. It's heavier than Corelle or porcelain. Too heavy for me.

I'm glad so many have had such good experiences with this product line. Maybe quality had hit a dip when we bought ours. The quality wasn't even near borderline acceptable, it was very much lower. I'm much happier with what we wound up with though at a substantially higher price.

Let me ask - those with Fiestaware, do your dinner plates have cut scratches or indentations on the surface?

I bought my Fiesta dishes after too many years of replacing broken/chipped dishes. I've had them for probably ten years now, not a single chip or break yet. I only have white, over time I do get marks (not scratches or indentation) once in a while I clean all of them and my other white dishes with Bar Keepers Friend or baking soda.

I'm very happy with my Fiesta dishes and highly recommend them.

Funny about them being heavy, I just bought eighteen Corelle dinner plates for our outside dining as carrying our Fiesta plates are bulky. I compared the Corelle to paper plates, finding them the best choice.

I found some used Fiesta place settings and pitchers to start off with and bought some of the larger 'gusto' bowls and a couple coordinating tablecloths from Macy's. The used dishes are beautiful and except for one which sadly arrived broken, are all perfect, no scratches or marks or anything. These days it seems like stuff is delivered pretty fast, I already have most of what I ordered with no place to put them. I am chalk painting and sealing a colorful china cabinet to hold my colorful Fiestaware but it will be another 3 or 4 days before it is ready.

Sadly I am too far from the factory outlet in Newell but I appreciate everyone's sale alerts (Macy's had great prices over the holiday weekend). I anticipate adding a few pieces every once in a while of the serving ware and maybe colors I don't have.

The cake plate (which when turned upside down is for deviled eggs) is not Fiestaware, but goes so well with it!

Alisandes post in the "radiation post" reminded me. I do have on of the "radiation red small plates". Threaten my DH that I will serve him tomatoes on it! (Not supposed to used acidic foods on them.) But I won't get rid of it, haven't ever used it.

Wait, what? I got two sets of 'Scarlet ' among the sets I bought. No tomatoes? Why?

LOVE your cake plate.

My wife used to work at a mom and pop shop that sold Fiesta ware and would buy pieces with slight flaws in the glazing for the store's cost less her 40% discount. We have a hodge podge of colors and pieces of every kind with quite a bit of it being serving bowls and platters. Our main set that we use daily for meals is Denby stoneware.

It is only the vintage Fiestaware that had radioactive glazes. And that was discontinued in the early 70's. Although the EPA has warned against these items being used to serve or store food, I had an extensive collection of vintage Fiesta that I did use (although not for daily use.....at the time it was too valuable for that :-)) and did use the red plates and serving pieces (Ivory also had a radioactive glaze) and no one ever dropped dead from radiation poisoning!! And considering how popular and extensively this china was used back in the day, I'm sure thousands have eaten off of radiated glazes.......and likely with no ill effects.

Modern Fiesta - introduced first in 1986 - have radiation free glazes and are perfectly "safe" to use. But none of the 34 colors they now offer matches the original 13 vintage Fiesta colors.

I don't care for many of the new colors but do purchase occasional pieces to compliment my current everyday dishes - not Fiesta but in the vintage Fiesta primary colors (or close to it). I like that you can purchase single items from open stock and not just a full place setting.

Ugh - just read this - bolding added by me:

Which Fiesta Ware Is Radioactive?

Fiesta commenced commercial sales of colored dinnerware in 1936. Most colored ceramics made prior to World War II, including Fiesta Ware, contained uranium oxide. In 1943, manufacturers stopped using the ingredient because the uranium was used for weapons. Homer Laughlin, the maker of Fiesta, resumed using the red glaze in the 1950s, using depleted uranium. The use of depleted uranium oxide ceased in 1972. Fiesta Ware manufactured after this date is not radioactive. Fiesta dinnerware made from 1936-1972 may be radioactive.

You can buy modern Fiesta ceramic dishes in just about any color of the rainbow, though the modern colors won't match the old colors. None of the dishes contain lead or uranium. None of the modern dishes are radioactive.

I get that some years are radioactive, I'm not getting the part about tomatoes. Do acidic food somehow dissolve the radioactivity? (A vision of a nuclear warhead on a plane with a can of pasta sauce welded to the front of the warhead popped into my mind; impact bursts can, tomato sauce releases radioactivity, bet it is cheaper than what the military has on there now).

I have always wondered my wife is always glowing. lol

Acidic foods can cause leaching of heavy metals from ceramic glazes, should they contain any, as the vintage Fiestaware did. But this is not unique to this product and one often finds glazed ceramics labeled as unsafe for food storage or service.

If you find yourself questioning the suitability of the Fiesta line, for whatever the reason, why not get something else? There are so very many other available choices of colorful tableware products.

If that was directed my way, I do not see how anyone could escape the description of a can of tomato sauce welded to a warhead as humor. Fiestaware seems perfect for my needs.

Not necessarily directed in anyone's path. For me, the decision to NOT keep the Fiesta stuff was the right one for the reasons I mentioned and that could have just been a quirk of the circumstances at that time. Others will have other experiences and other decisions.

Everyone makes different decisions, that's why you don't find just one type of car on the road. (Although in my area, you almost do, and it seems that what you see is either a Tesla or a Prius. )

I have a lot of Fiestaware that I bought maybe 8 years ago. No scratches that I've noticed. I have plates, bowls, coffee mugs and some baking dishes in the purple, teal and cream colors.

Actually I take it back - I just looked at some pieces and they do have some light scratches but not enough to bother me. Only noticable with close inspection.