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Plates are an essential accessory in our homes, capable of adding an extra touch to the everyday table and creating the right atmosphere when we host a dinner party with friends. After talking to you about how to choose the tablecloth right for your dining table, today I will give you a few pointers on the type of plates best suited to your needs. When you realise you need a new set of plates, it is normal to have several doubts and not to know how to find your way around the vast proposal of materials, patterns and compositions that we can find on sale.
The dinner service: what do we want to use it for?
First of all, it would be good to ask ourselves why we want to buy new dishes, to help us choose more carefully: do we need dishes for everyday use or do we want dishes suitable for setting an elegant table for a special occasion?
The daily meal service
When choosing everyday dishes we tend to lean towards cheaper or lower quality products, but this is a mistake. Precisely because we use them every day, in fact, we need a robust, quality set that can withstand prolonged use and frequent washing in the dishwasher or by hand. It is a good idea to choose a practical and safe set of dishes that is resistant to breakage and therefore made of a material such as porcelain, without scratches and smooth to the touch, so that porosity does not compromise its resistance. Lastly, consider also the possibility of using the plates also during food preparation, for example by putting them in the microwave, and the ease of washing that allows you to clean them in the dishwasher, an essential feature for dishes in daily use.
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The dinner service for special occasions
If, on the other hand, we are looking for a special service with which to welcome guests to dinner, my advice is to start with the table we want to set. If it is your first set of elegant plates, start with a classic style, which can suit all occasions, with a solid colour, white if you love tradition or black if you want to give it a more contemporary touch.
If, on the other hand, you are looking for plates for festive occasions such as Christmas or Easter, it is a good idea to opt for the classic porcelain service with a gold border or decoration, to be combined with mirrored underplate. It is a refined and timeless service that will create a special atmosphere on your table and go perfectly with all types of tableware.
How to choose plate material
Once we have established what use we want to make of our new set of plates, let us clarify the type of material best suited to our objectives. Surely you know that there are plates in different materials on the market, from ceramic to porcelain, but what is the difference between one material and another and which is best suited to each use?
Porcelain dishes
Let us start with the most classic and emblazoned of those on the market, porcelain. Dish sets made of this material are the most elegant because it has always been used in the most refined designs. On the market you can find beautiful dishes, both decorated and white, which are the ultimate exaltation of this material, as porcelain has an unparalleled lustre and an appearance that is difficult to age and wear.
Precisely for this reason, it is generally preferred to create white plate sets or, as we mentioned above, excellent elegant sets with gilded borders and decorations, which are well suited for more formal dinners. It should always be borne in mind that such beauty is combined with great fragility, which in the event of knocks or falls often causes the plates to break: it is therefore preferable to wash them by hand and take special care when storing them, to make them last over the years.
Ceramic dishes
Ceramic is the material most suitable for modern decorations, for all handmade work and was by far the most widely used material for kitchen plates until porcelain partially replaced it for elegant occasions, thanks to its greater shine, even though they are still the most widely used in everyday life. Unlike the latter, in fact, ceramic plates are less shiny, especially in the white version, and this is precisely why we easily find them with colourful and original decorations, very pleasant and suitable to give an extra touch to our table. This is precisely why you can find particularly imaginative handmade versions of them: there are many artists who approach ceramics for the table and who express themselves through truly creative artefacts, creating handmade plates that are unique and unrepeatable.
This makes ceramics interesting and valuable to me, because it can give personality to any table. Ceramic can sometimes be a bit more fragile, and when it chips, the pinkish colour of the earth shines through. So be careful that ceramic dishes have a good glaze, free of visible scratches and cracks, as this can make your new set fragile and difficult to wash. I must tell you, however, that I also find some antique dinnerware sets that have small marks and tiny chipping beautiful. That lived-in side perfectly reflects my love for objects with a history, a philosophy that is now known by a Japanese word that encapsulates it in its entirety, Wabi Sabi.
I take a special pleasure in looking at and handling handmade ceramic plates. I find that they have the same charm as a beautiful painting and the fact that once set on the table they are all different with unique details makes them even more beautiful!
Gres dishes
Finally, let us spend a few words on Gres, a very robust material often used for plates with very modern and minimalist lines that favour neutral and mellow earthy tones or natural whites. Perfect for a décor with Scandinavian overtones, these plates go well with other natural materials such as linen in all earthy colours.
Melamine dishes
A separate issue applies to melamine plates. Although many people make this mistake, melamine is not plastic, but a very hard resin that does not streak and is very unlikely to peel or break and is super tough. A plate made of melanina is really perfect for everyday use because it is light, robust and dishwasher safe! Not only that, given the versatility of this highly resistant material, it is ideal for buffet dinners and for setting the table in the garden or on the boat, with an informal but nevertheless valuable result. It is therefore in no way to be confused with a plastic plate!
Plain or Decorated Dishes?
It is clear that a plain plate, especially if in a neutral colour, will be easy to match with everything, but sometimes choosing white is tantamount to going unnoticed and the result will be unattractive. On the other hand, even for the choice of dishes you have to reckon with the choices made in general terms for your home. Are you minimalists or maximalists? And more specifically take a look at your tablecloth and placemat scene. There is no point in falling in love with a set of plates with yellow lemons if they blatantly clash with the other elements of your tableware. Also consider the area in which you wish to set the table. Where do you find yourself? There are plates decorated with beautiful corals and fish, but perhaps not suitable for city and year-round table settings. Abstract designs, splashes of colour, or converselycgeometric designs are also beautiful when combined with floral patterns or patterns, have fun creating maximalist table settings if you feel up to it, and look for the common thread of a guiding colour. If you don't feel confident, however, you can always seek the reassuring comfort of a solid-coloured, classically shaped plate or instead the modern lines of stoneware to create a beautiful, natural atmosphere, perhaps by mixing different shades of sand, rust or greys. in this case, I recommend that you also use combinations of materials with different grains, i.e. favouring the contrast of materials, since you will be more delicate with colours. With natural shades, for example, combine linen, wood, iron, handmade glass straw!
How Many Dishes Should I Buy?
You may have noticed that when you have to buy a dinner service, people often talk about an 18-piece or 36-piece service. But what is meant exactly? And how many plates should you buy in general? When we talk about an 18-piece set, we mean a set for 6 persons consisting of a dinner plate, soup plate and fruit plate. On the other hand, when we talk about a 36-piece set, we mean 12 dinner plates, 12 soup plates and 12 fruit plates, to which serving dishes can generally be added.
In general, I always advise against buying sets of no less than 18 pieces, because even if there are only two or three of you at home, you will want to invite someone or, more simply, the fact of having a few extra plates will allow you not to have to wash the dishes at each meal, but to be able to load the dishwasher at lunchtime and then finish it in the evening with a considerable saving of energy and effort. I tell you more, my advice, where possible, is to also buy more flat plates, the famous double flat plates, because they are generally used more and it is therefore good to have more of them available. You also have to consider that over time, you are bound to break a few plates and you might not find the same model or colour on the market anymore.
I remember that when I got married, my mother advised me to buy as complete a set as possible, and to add at least three or four dishes for possible breakage. Over time I have broken a few plates, but even so I can still set the table for 12. If you buy a few plates, you will end up with a lame set of plates after a short time and would then be forced to change the whole set again.