Denby or not?

[GrimeldaUpNorth]

I'm thinking of changing my plates etc., I've got far too many plates and bowls of every sort. Now it is just me and DC I could get rid of everything and replace it with a small set, freeing up two cupboards in my kitchen.

I've been looking at Denby, which I never used to like (the sound of cutlery on the rustic stuff). Still not sure if I will like the sound, but I like some of the designs more than I used to.

Is there anything else out there that is likely to be around for years or other dishwasher, warming oven, microwave safe alternatives?

Ours (stripes) is 20 years old now - it has survived VERY heavy handed DD, DH and DF! Dish washes brilliantly every day, but like others said - is lasting so well we can't justify changing it! Because of the edge colours I have been able to add a few items that aren't Denby (mugs and tiny dip bowls), but match from Broste Copenhagen which seems equally solid.

We bought some of ours as 'firsts', but most from the outlet at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth (not sure if its still there) not really noticed the difference.

Others have longer wearing Denby than me, but my set is going strong at 10 years so far! Not a chip on them!

Oh I got mine from Debenhams when they were a thing. Usually when they had sales on. Not sure if they are still about

@SweetLathyrus , Broste Copenhagen looks lovely, I might look at that too.

The seconds online are all a bit haphazard. I’ll probably just order a set to behind with.

I believe Debenhams is online only these days @ObsidianTree, but I could be wrong.

Just to go against the grain, I forked ou for some pasta bowls from them and most of them have chipped in some way.

If you're over Yorkshire way, could you make it over the Pennines to Boundary Mill at Colne? They have a lot of Denby at reduced prices and they also have lots of other brands you can compare it with.

They also have sites at Sheffield and Grantham but I don't know if they're as big or have the same ranges as Colne. Others may be able to confirm.

I have, in Blue Haze and Imperial Blue. The Blue Haze is brilliant because the colours vary anyway so you don't notice any faults (or I don't anyway). I have a few Imperial Blue cups that were seconds and you do notice the faults on them - a blue spot on the white inside of a cup for example. So I'd say it depends on the pattern you're buying. I'm happy with them though.

I also have the Greenwich as my "good" delph, but not seconds.

Very happy with it all. I'm the world's clumsiest person and I've yet to take a chip out of any of it. The Blue Haze is heavily used as our day to day stuff.

If you're ordering online, take time to sit down with a spreadsheet! You don't necessarily save by buying the big sets, I found it quite confusing to work out the cheapest deal.

@ForPearlViper that’s 50 odd miles away. I can fit in a York outlet stop with a visit to my parents if I need to, but I’ll probably just order online as I hate shopping.

Do you mean you want the pasta bowls?

You can get the shallow bowls but they seem to be different sizes and styles depending on which colour Denby set you get. I got a couple of the shallow bowls in the Regency green but they were quite small, but different colours have different styles

Agree with poster who said Denby is heavy, so think where you will put them. Previous employer had a wall mounted cupboard of Denby mugs that ended up smashed on the floor.

Oh no, we have Denby in ours plus La Rochere glasses and bowls which are also heavy and last forever

My mum died a few months ago, and we've been clearing her stuff. She had still been using the Denby Cottage Blue crockery that we used when I was a child. I'm now 68 and the collection of it is now boxed up in my garage. It looks as good as it did back then.

I have my own Denby dinner set, but that's a mere four decades old.

I had loads of Denby as wedding presents 36 yeads ago. It hasn't been used much because I find it too chunky to fit into the dishwasher easily. Does no one else have that issue.

I find most modern delph a bit of a pain for the dishwasher tbh, my previous stuff was very cheap and it was a pain too.

Dunelm has some Denby now

But any stoneware will be dishwasher/microwave safe

Often Denby sets come up at auction. Worth looking at your local ones. I needed some new dinnerware as my 10 year old porcelain from house of Fraser has worn so badly. I bought a full set of Wedgwood home (8 of everything, barely, if ever used in original boxes from Bentalls) for £35. I kept what we wanted and sold the rest for 3x that! I love a ceramic bargain!!

Yes it does take up a lot of room so i use the Denby for meals but if i need an odd plate, i seem to get through several in a day, I use my M&S Ditsy Floral which are slim and light and take up next to no room in the dishwasher and also have lasted years.

I’m a pottery fanatic but I couldn’t live with the Denby rustic scraping noise.

I’ve asked DS if he’d allow me the pleasure of kitting him out with his first “real” dinner sets. For every day we’ve chosen a full job lot (6 of everything including mugs and teapot, serving and cooking dishes £150) of discontinued but readily available Poole Pottery Vineyard design from Facebook marketplace. It’s rustic but stylish.

For his “forever” collection we’re looking at buying Rosenthal Loft (white spiral design) porcelain a few pieces at a time new which should be available well into the future.

So my advice is to look around at second hand alternatives, even Denby, on eBay etc. It can be great fun.
Or look online at Dawson’s ECookshop site. Their prices are excellent. www.ecookshop.co.uk/ecookshop/m/cook-shop.asp

@SensibleSigma i think they’ve stopped doing the rimmed bowls… we’ve got both. Mainly from gunwharf outlet store. Had it almost 30 years.

I was given a full set of the Greenwich for a wedding present nearly 25 years ago. DH is pretty hard on things and we have sustained some chips. Also, we only have one set, so they're in constant use and mine do look more aged than my neighbour's set that is the same age but kept "for best". That said, they're proper crockery so they do last.

We bought seconds from the online shop. They're totally fine, normally it's just a little imperfection in the paint pattern.

We’ve had this set for 30 years +. It’s Greenwhich I think they still do it.
My wider family are all Denby users. We also hat Cottage blue in the 60s.