Do you have nice crockery/serving dishes?

[beneathhereyes]

We eat dinner together every day, and it struck me that our crockery/serving dishes are very meh and not adding to the experience IYKWIM. I'm conflicted as it's mostly old but perfectly functioning Pyrex, but it's ugly. I saw some really nice casserole type dishes in TKMaxx that I could afford, but decided not to as technically I don't need them.
I suppose I'm looking for validation to buy them.
Just wondering if nice tableware/serving dishes is something that you have, and if so please tell me about them.

We have a grey Jars Ceramiste set we got for our wedding that we get out got having people over. When we got married I just had a bit of a woolies set and DH odds and ends for daily use.

I should add that we have several matching dinner sets, so that isn't as issue, it's just the serving dishes.

Yes, we use our full matching dinner service all the time, and that has matching casserole/serving dishes. We got most of it as wedding presents, so still going strong after 25 years!

We have matching serving dishes to our crockery and I love them them (the Ellen Degeneres range at Royal Doulton). I also got a Sophie Conran roasting dish as a gift last year. It doesn’t cook any better than my Pyrex dishes and I probably wouldn’t have spent the money myself, but it makes me happy whenever use it. Could you have a word with Father Christmas to see if he could get you some lovely cookware/serveware?

A right dog's dinner of stuff. But you get used to it - with things being the rights size, depth and weight. But like you I was looking at some dishes in TK Maxx yesterday - not matching just nicer than the pyrex and the casserole inherited from DH's first marriage.

We have a few. I saw some beautiful cheap ones in a local charity shop and I snapped them up. I actually use them to serve things and they really cheer me up!

Yep and got a fair amount of it from TK Maxx!
I like to set a table for dinner even midweek

Sainsburys and Tesco usually have nice kitchenware and their prices are very good.

I have ones in a range called Crazy Daisy and all the plates etc to match.
I also have Creuset nearly everything (my DH is addicted to it) but I find it too heavy to carry.

Yes I have several different sets and use them a lot. Not every single night (it's only the 2 of us day-to-day now), but usually 2 or 3 times a week for our more elaborate meals, and always when we have guests.

Yes yes yes! I don't even use serving dishes every day - we do a lot of me just serving up a plateful for everyone - but my life would be infinitely smaller and less enjoyable without my serving dishes and platters. I like things that are colourful and bright so mine aren't matching but using them just makes me feel like I'm one of those Jamie Oliver style cooking shows where there's a big family all outside enjoying lunch under the trees for 3 hours. Even if I just made spaghetti bolognaise!

And TKMaxx is brilliant because you can get great things without spending a fortune. I bought a couple of smallish serving bowls from there for a friend a few years ago. She loves them. Very irritatingly, so do I - I wish I'd bought some for me too and she loves to smugly get them out when I go over! So my top tip is if you've seen some, go and get them now because with TK Maxx, when they're gone they're gone!

Yes, agree with this although I find their serving platters/bowls less interesting than their day-to-day stuff. having said that, the bowl I use the most often is from Sainsbury's - but that's partly because it's just the perfect size for a big salad for me, dh and ds.

I have a huge selection of serving dishes; I ask for them as presents or pick them up in the sale. We use matching plates but random serving dishes. I like it that way and how it looks, plus different dishes (size/shape) are good for different things.

Use them probably 4 times a week for mid-week dinners plus then really go for it at the weekend. Any leftovers get stored in them in the fridge with clingfilm over.

I collect random small bowls as holiday souvenirs so for crisps, dips etc we just use those. I'm pretty sure they are just holiday tat but I don't care, they are MY holiday tat!

I use our one le creuset day to day but other than that, we don't use big dishes much when it's just the 4 of us. I'm allergic to creating extra washing up.

Homesense and Sainsburys are my goto for serving plates etc. Just be aware that the beautiful Portuguese ones from Homesense/TK Maxx do tend to chip in the dishwasher.

Don't feel bad about treating yourself though, you'll enjoy using them and it does make the table look so much nicer.

I'm tempted to get more now.

@NotLactoseFree I get so much joy out of these things too! I really love colourful dishes too, TKMaxx has a Tunisian range that I love that presses all of my buttons.

Dc1 was very ill for a number of years and we were in survival mode, with dinners on laps on random plates. Things are calmer now and having a matching dinner set and eating at the table has almost become a religious practice for me!

I'm 40 yrs+ old and last year we got our first complete dinnerware set. Denby and I love it, definitely feel more grown up and don't get embarrassed when people come for dinner.

<Dashes off to TK Maxx to check out Tunisian range>

I have a platter I bought when my mum was dying and I was visiting her. It's hand made, hand painted, with these huge pink flowers. I absolutely love it. My mum had NOTHING to do with me buying it but I think of her every time I get it out (in a good way. Which is also odd when you consider what I was doing when I bought it).

My only regret is that I chose to get the big one because I simply don't have enough occasions to use it. I wish I'd got a big and small one or just the small one (it was CRAZY expensive though, so I could only buy one).

You won't regret buying things like this that make you happy. Especially if eating together is such a huge part of what makes you happy.