I used to use mine often and have gold, silver, green metal, red, and rattan. I also have four square lime green plastic ones that I use with my square white everyday dishes and they are perfect for when heating food in microwave and the plate is hot. Oh and I have brass chargers too .

I almost always use chargers and have several sets. I keep them out for the entire meal and when the dinner plate is removed, the dessert plate goes on the charger next.

While they can be formal, my favorite ones are rustic in nature; jute, wicker, twig, round wood slabs, etc.

I serve buffet style and they also help to keep the table linens and/or table clean and mark the place.

Some styles of chargers are dated, like certain china patterns, but not chargers themselves.

Chargers can be a lovely addition for a beautiful table setting . I have stopped using them because mine have to be washed by hand. I entertain frequently and can’t be bothered with the extra clean up. Chargers also take up room on the table, which can make a difference when hosting a big group. If you have a big table and lots of storage, and you don’t mind the washing up, I see no reason why you wouldn’t keep them.

When I saw this topic header, I thought for sure this was about charging stations for cell phones, Kindles etc. Wrong!

They look wonderful, but I've never owned a set, and nor did my parents. If you have the space, by all means do so. I've seen some lovely sets, but they'll have to go with the appropriate dishes (which I do not have, even if I keep my parental set of gold-plated china).

I don’t use them but they look lovely on other people’s tables and when I see a table displayed online or in a magazine. If you like them, keep them. They’re not out of date iMHO

They look pretty. I suppose it’s like a frame for the dinner plate. Very fancy, but not my style.

I actually don't own any but I love them when I see them in magazines or at the homes of others. They can be very festive. I have Christmas Dishes, thanksgiving dishes, good china, and everyday dishes.

Between Naps On The Porch shows chargers on her tablescapes, and it does look nice, but then she piles all the other dishes on top, which looks a little much. But the chargers are a nice anchor and different chargers change the feeling of the same china.

Am I correct in assuming that most are using chargers with formal china? If so, I’m thinking that’s what’s going out of style more than chargers themselves. I struggle to find occasions to use mine. But I do manage to pull it out once every year or two and have often felt the table could use something more, so I’m interested in clarifying a bit more about their use.

I understand this is up to personal preference, but in general: Say the meal has a soup and salad course. Is there a stack of charger, salad plate and soup bowl, the charger removed with the salad plate and replaced with the dinner plate? If so, this would solve my problem of the salad plate/soup bowl looking too sparse on the table. I’ve toyed with using dinner plates under the stack but that looks a little like eating off the display, and risks dirtying up the dinner plate. Do chargers solve my problem?

I'm the last person to ask about style. But if you must downsize, keep only your most formal set, because chargers seem to be about formality, and let your other sets go.

Kate I love it!

Foas, I always use a plate under a bowl. But if I had a charger, I don’t know. I might anyway, so that when the bowl and spoon are removed, the spoon is on the plate and not leaving drips of soup on the charger.

Kate that’s a lovely table setting and really nice looking dining room!

Proper etiquette for formal table settings is agreed by multiple sources- Martha, Amy Vanderbilt, etc. These are very old rules that I agree are made to be broken in anyone’s home as they see fit.

Kate....WOW! So pretty! That's a pulled together look.

Chargers can skew towards any style, these are somewhat rustic.

Nice, bumblebeez! And yes now that I’m looking I’m seeing them used across many styles and levels of formality.

Kate - I keep coming back to look at your table, which is VERY unlike me. I’ve spent an unsuccessful hour looking for similar tablecloths. Maybe it’s my search terms. Would you share a pattern name or possibly source? “Black plaid” isn’t cutting it.

Kate, that is beautiful. It looks like the perfect New Years table.

Round = charger, rectangular = placemat? ??

I like having a plate under a soup bowl. I do use chargers for formal meals. It keeps the place setting neat as you change courses. Dinner plates from really old china are fairly small especially compared to more modern stuff. I use a larger formal china plate under my older small dinner plates. I happen to have some Haviland plates with gold embossed edges. They go beautifully with the rose floral plates that are much older. It is not unacceptable to use the 'charger' as the plate for the main course. I have china with three different sized plates plus more sizes from the gold embossed plates. With Victorians and Edwardians more was better.

I just realized my soup bowls are wider than my salad plates. So I guess I’d have to use dinner plates either way. The salad plates are too small for salad also, IMO. Annoying.

Nickel - No, plates vs placemats. Even the ratan ones.

Food I had to chuckle at your salad plates being too small for salad. Salads used to be a small side dish although I do wonder if your salad plates are actually bread plates as at one time sets did not include salad plates. There might be a soup/salad bowl but not a salad plate as we know them. A salad of the size currently served would have only been served at lunch on a smaller than dinner sized 1/2-3/4 size plate called a luncheon plate. Occasionally on YT or other places documentaries popup that include people eating along with what were the normal serving sizes for the day. Most of the ones I have seen are from the 1930s through 1960s. Most of the people today would be complaining about the starvation sized servings.

When you make your way through all the courses you get more than enough to eat. I once gave a dinner party where one of my guests fretted over getting enough to eat. We had seven courses.

Way back Salad was often cooked like we have wilted lettuce now and often included meats and chopped eggs. Still it was a digestive. The greens were often bitter and surprisingly varied. That was back when they used small squares of bread as a charger.

No, my salad plates are salad plates and my bread plates are appropriately small. See my issue? Soup bowl is too big for the salad plate.

Other issue is that the soup gets cold. Maybe I should skip the soup, use the salad plate for first course and the soup bowl as salad bowl. Oy!

Tableware with wide rims have less usable area, I think that's part of the issue too.

A few houses ago, my home was showcased in a magazine. One of the shots included my dining table which I set for the camera. House was an 1840 half Cape with massive stone fireplaces and exposed beams. I got out all the finery, including chargers. I guess editors like the look.

https://www.houzz.com/hznb/photos/my-1840-half-cape-cottage-farmhouse-boston-phvw-vp~141446248

Interesting thing about soup. A standard serving is one cup. Those bowls would appear about half full if they only contained one cup. But most soup bowls are like that. Depending on how fast or slow a person eats will depend if the soup becomes could if the proper serving size is given and the thickness of the soup. Thin soups cool faster than thick ones.

Ahh but at a formal dinner you’d serve consommé in a proper consommé cup. Those soup bowls are far too casual. I laugh as I type this because it’s all so ridiculous, right?

I lost them when my basement flooded and things were too moldy to save but I had several of what I would classify as newly married cookbooks for the middle class that detailed either through drawings or pictures many of the different types of tableware and their usages that were popular in the mid 1800s and early 1900s. You would need a sturdy attic or out building to store even half of them. Each one had a 'proper' use and if you wanted to rise in society a woman needed to know what they were so they could direct the servants on what to use. They were very interesting and I would still like to find proper fruit knives.

Elmer - You’re right about the rims, but I do prefer discrete portions and coming back for seconds over loading edge to edge, so I’m good with it. My everyday set (SLT Bistro) is the same. Might not be great for a load your plate and stuff your face Thanksgiving meal but aside from that they work for us.

Maifleur - Here’s one cup. It does look a little light. Another half cup gets it about as close to the rim as I’d want to walk with.

Anyway we’re getting way off topic. I‘ve spent the afternoon looking at chargers and placemats and tablecloths. Covid schedules have helped us get better about sitting down together for meals, family including kids comment appreciatively when the table looks nice, so I’m going to look for ways to up the ante a bit without breaking the bank (and storage space) on fluff.

All the looks on this thread look great to me. I’m curious what the OP is considering getting rid of. Speaking of getting rid of, JudyG I‘d imagine you left a piece of your heart with that cottage. Stunning.

Many years ago, I used chargers but truly have not used them in about 20 years. Things just got less formal and I enjoy less formal.

I love @Carrie B's statement above: "The dining table equivalent to all those decorative pillows that so many people put on the bed every morning, and then take off the bed every night"

I like chargers better than the decorative pillows!

foodonastump. In the case of those 4 dishes, the smallest bread plate would not be on the charger. The soup, salad, and dinner pieces would be placed and removed from the chargers.

Something to think about- soup and salad rounds can be before or after main dish service. In the case of the deep and wide soup bowl and smaller flat salad plate- soup should be before main courses in bowls like that, salad can be before or after the soup- or even after the main dish in some dinner services.

"I do prefer discrete portions and coming back for seconds over loading edge to edge,"

Portion control is important. We're on Team Rimless all the same and I like having the extra wiggle room.

You must not have anyone in your family who gets uncomfortable when different foods touch on a plate. They do exist.

There were no tracks near where I grew up but wherever they were, I must have been on the wrong side of them. I've really never seen these things in a home. Casual dining has always been much more the norm at our house and at the homes of others. The food matters, the wine matters, the company matters, the table settings don't.

Re foods not touching, yeah my son was like that and grew out of it, my daughter hasn’t grown out of it yet and survives by serving herself one thing at a time. I try to ignore it. I don’t like salad mixing with my food, but I also like that in a chilled dish and my main on a warmed plate so there’s two birds with one stone. No plate is big enough to keep maple syrup off my eggs so again that’s two plates.

Beesneeds I like salad after the main meal but now that you mentioned it I haven‘t served or been served that way in decades. Reminds me of eating at my old Belgian neighbor’s house. And yes, I realize bread is up and to the left, just showed it to differentiate from the salad plate.

Chargers were a big thing a few years ago. I had gone most of my life never needing to own them. I can’t remember seeing them at any formal dinner before the late 90s.

Something (Martha Stewart?) happened and I got 3 sets. We used them on occasion. They looked pretty. I recently offered mine to my daughter and my daughter-in-law who are more into trends then I am. They both said thanks but no thanks. Mine went to the thrift store.

I have a "no touching allowed" member of my extended family. A 40-something person so it's too late to grow out of it. Also won't eat meat with a bone if on the plate - if the bone is removed in the kitchen, then it's fine. We're cognizant of that as a guest's preference. Refer to Far Side Boneless Chicken Ranch cartoon.

One of my kids is a serial (not cereal) eater. Not a picky eater, they like me will eat anything served as Western (and a lot of Eastern) food but whatever is on the plate is eaten one thing at a time, start to finish.

We don't chill or warm plates, relying on serving the foods promptly to be adequate, but I share the "no syrup on anything else" preference too. We rarely have such an elaborate breakfast at home but when eating out, I always request a separate plate. More often than not, I get a "we always do that" response.

We all have our idiosyncrasies but by a certain age most of us learn to navigate through life with them. I put thought, effort and money into hosting a meal, and if someone’s going to go home grumbling that my plates are too small then I can only hope that they are upset enough by it to not consider any future invite.

Huh?

I am 60, and have no idea idea what you're talking about. I thought this would be about having cell phone chargers at each individual dinner setting while having a family dinner. LOL

Most of this table fol-d-rol was foisted upon American women in the 20th Century, mostly by 'Home' magazines. There was money to be made selling accoutrements that aped a dying world of live-in help.

Unless you have butlers, cooks, servers and dishwashers at the ready, all this is TOO MUCH: Charger/dinner plate, b & b plate, soup dish, salad plate, individual s & p's, dessert dishes -- and sometimes more. Add the various glasses, silverware, silver serving pieces, candlesticks and flower holders, placecard holders. People would be 'at table' for hours! It's OVER. Who can be 'gracious hostess' while fulfilling all these roles? How can the food be edible once served?

Some 'rules' are still quoted, like only linen cloths below a formal meal. Placemats are OK for luncheons. Do not 'layer' placemats on top of table cloths. (Looks OK to me, but I can see the same 'why not' as laying area rugs over carpeting. A a charger is usully a decorated plate, intended to be admired. It's not a substitute for a table cloth or placemat (to catch drips). It can support an early course, served separately in a small container; it provides a 'landing place' for the utensils for the course. (After which the charger, the dish, and the spoon or fork are removed.)

We won't mention *paper* anything . Your laundress has to get the candle wax out of the table cloth anyway; she'll get the lipstick and wine stains out of those napkins. The butler can finish polishing the silver.

Today, I'd like to see a means of keeping hot food HOT at table. Replace 'chargers' with battery-powered heating elements! That's just me...I'm a slow eater. Maybe more people would slow down if they didn't have to race the falling temperature of their food. Maybe they'd wipe their mouths before transfering bits to a wine or water glass.

I’m with you about the heat, chisue! I’ve often thought it’d be nice to design a table with a built in hot plate running right down the middle.

In my house the food matters, the wine matters, the company matters, and the table settings do also. I love a beautiful table either casual or dressed up (we're never 'formal'). My grandchildren - ages 12-25 always love to see my tables and have since they were little. Its special for them and for me.

That said, I donated my chargers as well as my MANY little various 'holiday table setting goodies' when we downsized from a 3,000 sq ft home to a 1,600 sq ft condo on the beach. Tuns out I don't miss them.

I’ve rethought my quest for chargers. Dinner plates are about the cheapest item in my set and I‘ve got extras. Just a few more would ensure that I have plenty to use under salad/soup to take care of the look, and replace for the main course if needed. Now if only I could have yesterday afternoon back! 😂

Hot table side service isn't as popular as it used to be. Chafing dishes, steam tables, crockpots on the table, insulated servers, fondue pots, raclette grills... and those nice glass electric hot service trays and stands that were rather popular in the 50-70's-ish era are still a thing, just not as popular as it used to be.

I ended up getting rid of some of my chafing and steam service stuff- we just don't have larger dinners and parties like that anymore. But I I still use a bunch of the rest of table side service stuff- the hot service tray I have can hold a nice brunch for 2 with a spot to keep a tea or coffee pot warm. Also nice for taco night to keep a tortilla dish, meat, and beans warm. And my breadbasket stone- any breads that should be warm through dinner get set up with the hot stone in the basket. There's also versions of hot stones for keeping dinner/service dishes warm too, but I don't have any of those. Some electric griddles and pots can go low temp to warm for table service, and portable induction burners function for table side service now too. And cast iron can be great if one has the trivet and hot handling action to have it on the table- we do that a bit when out camping and wrap the pan with a towel to keep it warm on the table. I would figure out something prettier than that for the kind of service that includes using chargers.

Chargers can also serve to help keep dishes warm, particularly if they are heated just prior to when service starts. Nice insulating placemats can help too.

I always warm our dinner plates in the oven before serving, like my Grandpa did.

My friend's New Year's table setting with the chargers. I think they make the table look really nice.

@foodonastump, I had to disappoint but that’s just an inexpensive flannel piece of fabric I buy by the yard. I got it long enough to fold the end under so I don’t have to hem it:). The table is two pieces of plywood that I lay on top of my regular table since it’s too short for big parties. I’ve been able to seat up to 16. We do add 2x4 legs to support the ends. I painted those black this year. I change my table setting every year so I keep it simple and cheap. The charges are plastic and that’s my everyday China.

Thought this was funny to see today!

Being somewhat old fashioned the use of an object that is not solid such as porcelain, glass, or metal etc. is using a placemat rather than using a charger. You may call them a charger and places may sell them as such but the oldsters who grew up with them would throw their hands up in horror.