Dishes for everyday

Another daily user of Botanical Garden here Chimaera. Like so many other Gransnetters who married &/or set up home in the 80s, I used to have Eternal Beau but I'd always hankered after the Portmeirion that the family where I used to babysit as a teenager used daily. How I loved it & I always vowed I'd have it one day. Eventually, about 12 years ago when I was working, we had our one and only bonus & I bought my first 4 place settings & I was so thrilled. Since then, I've quietly added to it & we use it all the time for every day or the rare smarter dinner parties. It's all I ever wanted & I wouldn't change it for anything!!

I have a Royal Doulton dinner set. My husband won it, many years ago, for coming top in some sort of sales figures. I used to drag it out for special occasions but I don't bother now. Everyone says it is old-fashioned.

Our crockery is Black Toast by Emma Bridgewater. I like it and it is hard-wearing.

I'm another 'plain white from Ikea' fan with a few additions from Sainsbury's white range. As others have said, they take no matching, do well in the dishwasher and are easily replaced. I have loads of different mugs for tea and coffee, though.

Midwinter Spanish garden for every day and Wedgwood for good which I use from time to time.

For our 25th wedding anniversary when people asked what present we would like we asked for a piece of Port Merion Botanical Garden. I have kept adding to it ever since. though now I am going to have to retire the larger dishes as they are too heavy.

Plain white from Dunhelm

We used Botanic Garden for years which I always loved. I was thrilled when my sister in law bought us this soup tureen but have only used it twice as it holds enough to feed an army.
When we redid our kitchen and dining room about 12 years ago DH ( Paw) decided we needed a change so we kitted ourselves out with white Denby - 12 of everything , all the veg dishes etc etc. and I gave much of the BG away to a friend who had it.
Last year I had a nostalgic yearning for my Botanic Garden, resurrecting what I could from the cupboard in the garage and re-buying the rest from the Portmeirion seconds website.
Fortunately DD1 has white Denby too and as she is the only person with a dining room and table big enough for 20 people I was able to offload much of my white for her to use.
Win-win!

When we married in 1989 we had Marks and Spencer Harvest for every day - as did many other people who married in the late eighties/early nineties. We still have our best Royal Doulton set but l also have some Royal Worcester that was my grandmother's set. These days we are another couple with Portmeirion Botanic Garden for every day. Strong and attractive. I still have the Harvest teapot as it makes the best cups of tea.

Botanic garden here too, along with eclectic mug collection and plain white bowls from IKEA and Matalan for pasta. Have two full sets of bone china, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton, inherited from parents. Recently dug out two of the cups and saucers, plates, sugar bowl and teapot from one set to use everyday. Tea in a bone china cup is soo much nicer and decided it was such a waste not to use them, kids will only get rid when we have gone. Within days Mr Happy smashed milk jug and one plate!!! To give him his due he quickly sourced replacements on Internet. He is a lot more careful since discovering it would cost £80 to £100 to replace teapot.?

HANDBAGHOARDER I have an Eternal beau miniture tea set on a tray, oh, and a chicken egg pot. All the other pieces I gave to charity.

Plain white here for every day and a different white set for "best".

We're another Denby household in a sort of speckled grey which I think is now discontinued. Two of the mugs are chipped and i thought it would be easy to replace them. I looked on Ebay and there was every colour and design of Denby mug apart from the ones I was looking for. Eventually I did find exactly what I was looking for - from the USA at £14.00 per mug and £39.00 postage!! Needless to say I didn't buy them.

White with poppies from Wilco good enough for me food tastes the same

BlueBelle does your Wilko stuff chip? I bought enough for 8 for everyday a couple of years ago being bored with white and several of the plates have chipped badly. Unlike former everyday set which was white bone China from ..... Woolworths and never chipped in 15 years ?

We had ikea years ago and it chipped like nobody's business

Before we married, in 1963, I bought a Spode set of Lavender china, bit by bit.
It was used for every day, surviving 3 growing children, and although the soup bowls and most of the smaller plates have long gone, we still have 6 large dinner plates.
I began to buy any blue and white china that I liked and these mismatches are used daily. I have bought some lovely china from charity shops, and get pleasure from all of it.
Tending to buy if I like the design, we have an eclectic mix, and one of my favourite plates is a french one. The design is Alice, the name if one of our granddaughters.
Another is a Corelle plate, just because it is so pretty.

Plain white Churchill Heritage 8sided, got everything to go with it but wasn’t expensive. Have had it for years and still going strong for occasional use.
Everyday is plain cream from Supermarket, changed every few years. Whatever I buy has to go in dishwasher!!

When we got married 43 year ago we started collecting Roysl Doulton cornflower I think it was called all we have left are the teapot and coffee pot never used. For our 25th wedding anniversary my mum and dad bought us a marks and Spencer’s dinner service white with silver edging, we still have all that and I still love it. For everyday we have m and s white maxim, I’d like something else as these keep getting chipped and I’m forever buying spares. ?

We had grey IKEA crockery at work, and it made a terrible scraping sound when we ate.

It felt like I was doing a 10 stretch in Belmarsh.

I put my Wedgwood and Rosenthal in the dishwasher Mamma7 ?

Eclectic mix for everyday, none of it plain white which I hate. I have 4 large Dinner plates & 3 mugs (all good china) which DH bought from company he worked for, design is Wild Ivy & very expensive, rarely used, most of my everyday is ASDA or Tesco.

Our wedding present (1991) was my choice of M&S Ashbury, it sit in my sideboard & is rarely used but I can't part with it

Do folk still keep a ‘best’ dinner service..... seems such a waste just sitting in a cupboard you e also had to buy to house them....find the older I get the less stuff I want to ‘keep for best’ . I’ve learnt everyday at 70+ should be regarded as a ‘best’ day.

A mish-mash of white here. We are very informal. Some from Sainsburys, some from Oxfam. I do have beautiful Italian mugs and plates which we use for tea and cake. DD, mid twenties, will rummage in the cupboard for her childhood melamine "froggy bowl" when she visits.

I'm lucky my aged mum bless her has had Portmerian Botanical Garden for years and passes on any duplicate patterns when she restocks her service, in addition I use IKEA white plates and bowls which match near enough.

Was unable to log on over Sunday - what a good thread I started! So interesting to hear how your tables are set, and I have looked up some of the sets mentioned here.

I especially like the Denby green set mentioned by several, and the Portmeiron, although it's a bit busy for me.

Someone was asking what is corelle. They make Corning casserole dishes as well; I believe the material is a tempered glass instead of china or porcelain. It is very durable, in fact almost indestructable! The plates are also very light and thin, similar to china. I found a picture on line, it is called First of Spring. Not my favourite, but I feel a bit extravagant replacing it by choice and not necessity.

A beloved ‘informal’ aunt of mine had Corelle-type tableware. It was also a favourite in seaside cafes in the 60’s.