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The best plates for a beautifully set table
There’s a rumour that beautiful plates and dinner sets make your food taste better. OK, I might have made that up but a striking set of crockery really does make everything from a plate of eggs and soldiers to Christmas dinner look infinitely more appetising, and if you could make everything you served look more special with no extra effort, why wouldn’t you?
You can go one of two ways when it comes to dressing your dining table and choosing plate sets – throw caution and coordination to the wind and confidently clash your dinner plates with your side plates and bowls for an eclectic scheme, or plump for a sharp and timeless look with a full matching set. Just don’t panic if you find four wonderful plates in an antiques shop but there’s not a matching dessert bowl in sight, buy them anyway and play around with complementary pieces that allow you to experiment with what you’ve got and create various clever combinations.
You don’t need to spend a fortune but do invest more in beautifully made sets that you’ll keep forever and save on fun, brightly coloured plates and bowls. In a world of Instagram and online shopping, it’s easy to find excellent painted or splatterware ceramics now, with several independent brands stocking affordable plates from traditional Spanish and Portuguese makers.
With the festive season looming, it's the perfect time to refresh your table with a shiny new set of beautifully designed or decorated plates. Whether you prefer a clean and classic look or a rustic hand-painted plate, there's crockery in our curated edit that will suit your dining room table. Keep scrolling for comprehensive dinner sets or plates that can be purchased separately within a wider range to create a combination you love and the quantity you need.
Best places to shop at:
- Rebecca Udall: for an incredibly elegant selection of artisanally crafted plates with hand-painted details.
- Cornishware: for timeless, simple design and high quality, handmade crockery from a family business. We love the classic blue and off-white colour scheme, but their pieces are also available with the stripes in other colours, such as green and red.
- John Lewis: for reliable quality and reasonable prices for their own-brand offering, as well as stocking recognisable names such as as Royal Doulton, Denby and Bordallo Pinheiro.
- Liberty: shop here for unusual and high-end plates for special occasions from brands like Feldspar, Marin Montagut and Vaisselle. They also stock a particularly impressive, extensive selection of exquisite French brand Astier de Villatte.
- The White Company: a one-stop shop for smart variations on white plates that will easily fit into most tablescapes, and affordable bone china.
What's the best material for a dinnerware set?
Before you choose your plates purely based on their looks, do consider the material that suits your needs best. There are three popular offerings that you'll see on your search: bone china, stoneware and porcelain.
The first of these, bone china, is the thinnest, most expensive and most delicate type. This is perfect for occasional use, formal dining or special events as it looks incredibly elegant but isn't very durable. Stoneware is particularly trendy at the moment, it is stylish, chunky and modern feeling. Stoneware is often the most affordable option, but does still require some attention as it can mark quite easily. In the middle of these two options is porcelain. This is the most common of the three and possesses most of the qualities you'd want in a plate. It is affordable, durable, dishwasher and microwave safe, so it is a great all rounder.
31 best plate sets to buy
Once you've chosen your plates, all you need to do is pair them with some lovely cutlery and glasses. However, if you're going all out, we do have handy guides to napkins, tablecloths, candles and candlesticks that are well worth a read.
