What's for dinner?

I'm in the process of changing (ordered but not yet delivered) our everyday plates and dishes.  The mister here wonders if other people do this as frequently as we seem to do. 

For daily useage I don't choose anything expensive so that they can be replaced when the inevitable chips appear or changed quite easily when I get sick of the sight of them.  This time round I've gone for this design. (The smaller plates and bowls have an all-over pattern.)

We have other sets (sadly nothing in the way of family heirlooms) which have changed over the years, just not so frequently, and which come out for different occasions along with mix and match serving bowls and dishes. 

One I'll keep forever is the first one we ever used, the one my late brother bought us as a wedding present and which always comes out at Christmas as it doesn't matter what the table colour scheme is.  I've had to replace a few items which have been broken over the years but the range has been discontinued so I suspect that's not going to be quite so straightforward for any future breakages.

Then we have one from this range which is used for New Year and when we have people round for dinner.  (This replaced a rather brown Denby service.)

For summer dining there's one like this

 

or some plates in this pattern which I bought last year for those rare occasions we have dinner in the garden.

Then there's the collection of tea cups, saucers and plates which deserves a post of it's own. 

So, tell me, do you have different dinnerware for different occasions?  And do you like to spring clean your place settings and make changes? 

 

Comments

[rachel]

Not any more - all my china is plain white nowadays. But teacups and mugs, ah, that's another matter......

[Annie]

One plain white set, one plain pale green set ... a bit of mix and match going on with shapes, but that's it for dining. I do have assorted other pieces though, bought because I love them. And the nice thing is I can used them mixed in with the white, or the green, or in some cases both and everything looks great together :D

My Mum has a dinner service like the plate in the fifth picture, and any number of others. Now she's the person to talk to if you want to talk frequent china buying!

[Helen]

I collect Emma Bridgewater, I like to mix the patterns, and over the years it has become quite an investment!! I use most of it everyday though, and I love it so I use it!! Breakages or not!!
Love Helen xx

[Anne Donald]

We have several different sets, which we use for different things. Years ago I bought 'Eternal Beau' (the pattern subsequently appeared on anything and everything and I went off it fro a while) - we now use that for lunch. Last year I got a lovely set with poppies which we use for dinner. We also have a pretty set that we bought in Indonesia. But the most special and which we don't use very often as it is irreplaceable, is a hand-thrown pottery set which was made for us years ago. And now I've remembered other sets that are lurking at the back of cupboards - perhaps I will have to get them out and use them too!!
I also have a very, very special teaplate - all that remains of my grandparents wedding china (I think they married in 1914)

[LauraVW]

I love so many of your choices, particularly the latest one! We have one main set, a white porcelain one from Habitat, which has colourful decorations around the edges. They discontinued it about two months after I bought it, so we can't replace anything if it gets broken. We also have oddments from other collections - cake plates, fancy dishes, etc.

[Rattling On]

Oh, yes... Plain, patterened, 'good', mix and match Burleigh, spotty... and I keep them all as well. Funnily enough I've never chipped a plate and only broken a few. Glasses are the thing I do in the most! The one your brother bought you I also bought for my parents a long time ago (I worked about 20 miles away and bought it back on the bus, it weighed an enormous amount and I really don't know how I managed to carry the box). They still have a reasonable amount of it left and get it out sometimes. I still like it as well!

[colleen]

We get out the Crown Derby and Mason's Ironstone at Christmas, a leftover from the years I spent travelling. Very old fashioned, but I'm a sucker for a bit of gold at Christmas. Otherwise it's pretty much plain white for us.

Your new tableware is very pretty.

[Laura]

I had a very very very hideous set that my mother in law bought me as a wedding present. We used those for years, until I finally admitted to my husband that I hated them. Turns out, he didn't like them either. I now have a mish mash of vintage plates picked up from the thrift store. The preference, however, would be Royal Copenhagen!

[Jennyff]

Now that makes me feel so much better about finally putting our 1970s Hornsea pottery, which we'd had since the early 70s, into the charity shop. I treated myself to some John Lewis white bone china for every day and other than that only have a best Thomas Trend set also plain white. Do have lots of Emma Bridgewater mugs though. I like the idea of all your different sets for different occasions but I am trying to be more minimalist and preparing for when we downsize our property.

[Brenda B]

It's something I haven't really considered before but I'm drawn to earthenware much more than delicate china. Our best set will be 23 years old in May (wedding present) and is a Highland Stoneware complete dinner set along with a complete tea set and also little coffee cups too. Oh and a cheese dish! Can't believe the prices now though but it is stunning beautiful, comes out at Christmas and birthdays etc. Our everyday set we bought when me moved into our current house almost 12 years ago and it's still going strong! Like you though, the mug collection have taken on a mind of it's own!

[SmitoniusAndSonata]

We have all sorts of plates mostly found in charity shops years ago , often by my mother , another inveterate hoarder . The best buy of all were nine lovely flowery vintage soup plates from a jumble sale . Why then do we still mostly have soup in chunky white pottery ?

[lazylol]

I don't buy enough plates, I need a new set. I buy lots of mugs though, too many to fit in the cupboard!