apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love white china. There is nothing better to showcase the food, and it look just perfect, in my eyes.

I did purchase my 'everyday set' at Ikea, very simple and not very expensive. 3 years later, it's perfect and not chipped.

my first set of dishes for college is still my favorite! we ordered the QUADRO 16 piece dinnerware set from target and i LOVE them! only $30 for the set so they are AFFORDABLE! the bowls and mugs are nice and deep, they look great stacked on shelves and i like the rounded square shape. they have held up very well... so when my hubby and i were looking for new dishes after looking at other sets i went back to these. plus we have a kid... and i'm pretty clumsy so if a plate does break i won't be that upset!

also.. i saw this exact set by the same company at a corelle/corningware outlet for about $45 so if you do like 'em get them from target.

http://www.target.com/Quadro-16-pc-Dinnerware-Set/dp/B000216I3K/sr=1-1/qid=1236195584/ref=sr_1_1/189-8519951-2238606?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Aquadro&page=1

Years--decades--ago I started buying Mikasa's Sophisticate pattern. One of my college friends will never live down her remark upon seeing it: "Oh. It's white." She registered for some flowery pattern and has since seen the error of her ways. (Replacements.com seems to always have a good supply of Sophisticate.)

I also have my grandmother's gold-banded ivory china; Vignelli plastic/melamine ware; and Wedgwood Midwinter White. Plus a set of ivory dishes that were never given away as premiums from a relative's gas station. That makes 5 sets of white dishes...and a lot of colorful table linens!

What about the Big I or Corelle?

What I need to find is bowls to go with my vintage Bavarian "delft" china.

There's also Maison at Crate & Barrel - it's been around for years, looks great and very durable.

Nice post!

We have some white Williams-Sonoma Everyday Restaurant Dinnerware pasta/soup bowls that we use all of the time:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/d103/index.cfm

Love them! Alas, they changed the design slightly and now I can't find a replacement for a bowl that went missing.

every year, usually around the winter holidays, dollartree and others have stacks and stacks of white buffet plates and bowls, and even sometimes cups and saucers.

a few have 'gold' rims.

perfect for painting, or just enjoying....

I bought the white nantucket dishes at World Market... they are extremely similar to the Emma collection at Pottery Barn... just a lot cheaper!

I just bought a set of white Corelle at Walmart recently for $30. It's slightly different than the Corelle at the Target link, though.

I love it. I've always loved how durable Corelle is. I love that the plates and bowls are all made in the US, but I'm a bit confused as to why the mugs (which are stoneware) are made in China.

I love white china - there's nothing like it for showing off beautiful food. We have Claire from Crate & Barrel (http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=20&f=22801) and love it. It's so thin and lovely, but very durable too - it's been dropped on the ground more than one and hasn't even chipped!

pier 1?

http://www.pier1.com/Catalog/Dining/tabid/493/CategoryID/109/List/0/catpageindex/2/Level/a/ProductID/75/Default.aspx

and

http://www.pier1.com/Catalog/Dining/tabid/493/CategoryID/109/List/0/catpageindex/2/Level/a/ProductID/1592/Default.aspx

they're both often on sale, and i've had the non-coupe version for years. the hub and i got service for 8 as a wedding present, and so far nothing's chipped or broken.

Eva Zeisel's beautiful 'Eve' pattern for Nambé is modern with organic influences. Plus, it's luminous white porcelain - as strong as it gets!

I use the Everyday Restaurant dinnerware from Williams-Sonoma. Great weight, super white color, and so practical. I love them!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/d489/index.cfm?pkey=cdinnerware&ckey=dinnerware

I really like the motto series from ikea. And I have a lot of bright white dishes, plates and bowls from that line.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90116379

Unfortunately, ikea only sells it in beige nowadays. But I also like the 365 line.

Never been a fine china type of person. I like using what I have (rather than displaying it), and I tend to break things. The life of a wine glass in my home is very short.

I also have the Ikea 365 set in white and I especially love the big, deep bowls: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00044476

I just bought a full set of the Heath Coupe line in linen. Last year I bought 1 studio mug to see if it could stand up to my constantly dropping things and that mug has not failed me yet.

It was not cheap but I know that I will have the set to give to my children one day :) And I think that is money well spent.

What I also like about Heath is that you can buy your everyday plates in Linen and buy larger platters with a different interior glaze to mix it up later.

Williams-Sonoma also carries Apilco and Pillivuyt dinnerware that is classy and goes with everything.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/shop/tabletop/dinnerware/index.cfm?cm_type=lnav

I've also had the IKEA 365 set for a couple of years with no problems. ('ll eventually want to upgrade, but for now it's great.) For serving pieces I always order from CB2. Their affordable prices make them great resource for stocking up for parties. I've yet to break a dish.

Maybe the stoneware, which is china, should be made in China (cue snarky chuckles)....

Love replacements.com! They usually have great prices on overstock or slight "imperfections". For example, I love my white Wedgewood Grand Gourmet - which was originally a line used in high end restaurants. Since the bottoms weren't stamped Wedgewood - I got them for $15 for 4 dinner plates!

Years ago I knew the youngest of three sisters who had all registered for Wedgwood White china, so they could share if one of them wanted to have a huge party. What a great idea!

I have a full set of "Everyday White" from Bed Bath and Beyond. They were a wedding registry item, and I love them dearly. However, when looking to expand my collection I found that Cost Plus World Market has identical china for less than half the price.

Check it out!

Crate and Barrel Cafeware II. Sturdy and uncomplicated but still unique. My set is ever-expanding, starting with six place settings I acquired ~15 years ago. I still adore it as much as when it was brand new.

All around, Crate and Barrel has a large and diverse selection of white china. I have the Aspen set, which has to be one of the cheaper porcelain sets out there. It's simple, delicate and white.

I live near to a restaurant fixture and supply store that sells to the public....ample white china available relatively cheaply! also they have an awesome $1-2 bin that often houses discontinued crocks perfect for stew and french onion soup. I live in a small city and I am sure you bigger city folks have an option like this.

I have been collecting odds & ends of white china for many years now. All bought used. From Noritake's "Angela" and some paper-thin German porcelain, to restaurant-grade Homer Laughlin and Buffalo China. I used to go by the same Goodwill Store so often they started staging all the white pieces together to make it easier for me! My favorite pieces? The little cafeteria-class four oz. one serving bowls. I used them for everything.

My white dishes are from CB2. They are great...really heavy and durable.

The problem with getting anything from CB2, though, is that they change their product line so much it is nearly impossible to get a replacement. Good thing I haven't broken any of the plates yet.

We received our Crate&Barrel "Maison" set ten years ago as a wedding gift. I still love them and they are still in fantastic shape despite being used daily. I would choose them again in a heartbeat.

Cost Plus -- known today as World Market -- has affordable plain white dishware. I have service for 6 from Crate and Barrel, but in a pinch when I needed extra settings, I picked up coordinating plates and soup bowls from World Market and no one could tell the difference but me.

When we finally replaced our motley collection of this-and-that dishes, we went with Ittala's Teema in white combined with their Bottna pattern -- a black-line leaf design. We love the randomness of not knowing which we'll get when we pull one off the shelf. Plus, they are as hard-wearing as anyone could wish for.

My tableware is black, which also looks nice with food on it.

love the denby white "everyday china" from macy's that we got as wedding presents! (even if the plates are just a smidge too big for the kitchen cabinets...)

The Studio Mug for the Heath collection that is shown above is especially pretty. The color shown in the post is Linen:

http://www.heathceramics.com/go/heath/tableware/store/?catID=12

... and about the "Basic Restaurant China", I purchased a dozen heavy, white buffet plates (bigger than regular dinner plates) almost 20 years ago from a restaurant supply. They are still intact, and still used. They are wonderful to have on hand for dinner parties.

Some of my favorite go-to pieces are plain white Hall China - available by the piece from restaurant-supply stores.

Here is the description of the Heller collection from DWR:

Materials:

Melamine plates and bowls; polycarbonate mugs.

Uh Uh, no way I'm eating off of melamine.

I've had the Coupe dinnerware from Cost Plus for a little over a year and am very pleased. Similar lines to the photo but obviously a mass market version. $16 gets you 4 dinner plates, and I use the soup bowls ($12 for 4) instead of salad plates, and also for pasta, stir fries, etc.; I love their wide, flat shape.

http://www.worldmarket.com/kitchen-tabletop/dinnerware/dinnerware-collections/Coupe-Dinnerware/lev/4/productId/9451/Ne/1100001/CATEGORY_AREA0/1/sectionId/2866/N/1100137/categoryId/1100137/pCategoryId/1100135/gpCategoryId/1100131/Ns/TOP_SELLER_INDEX|1||CATEGORY_SEQ_2980|0/index.pro

The Crate and Barrel Elements collection is my everyday china. It's inexpensive and right now it's on sale. http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=4310&f=1666

Another vote for Corelle. Besides being inexpensive, it's super-light, looks great, is pretty much impossible to chip or scratch, nearly indestructible and takes up very little space in a cabinet. I don't know why anyone bothers with stoneware.

My husband and I decided on Apilco b/c it can go in the oven, microwave, freezer and dishwasher, is super sturdy, and still looks gorgeous on the table. You can get all their patterns in the same white, so we're able to mix and match to create a set that fits our preferences and needs. Since they also have everything from cake stands to gravy boats to mustard pots to casseroles (etcetera, etcetera!), we can create an entire set from oven to table.

Here in Paris, we're able to purchase by the piece at a professional supply shop that also sells to individuals (nice for a couple starting out) but since it's also available in the U.S., we don't have to worry about what happens if we move back.

For variation, we've also added some pretty pieces from Muji's Hakuji line (porcelain made in Japan http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1&Sec=4&Sub=24&PID=2499) - white with very fine ridges.

I bought white plates and small bowls from Ikea in 2006 and I was a little disappointed a few months later when I broke a bowl that they don't have inexpensive, pure white dishes.

I've since added a few bowls and ramekins from Pier 1 as well as little appetizer dishes from CB2.

I love my dishes, they were so cheap and they look great paired with my teal serving pieces, mugs, and dessert plates from West Elm.