The Only True Dinner Plates Are White

[Mysterian]

I was killing time in the homeware district of my local big Sainsbury's today when I stumbled upon the dinner plate selection. I was distressed to see such a myriad of patterns and hues flagrantly displayed. Why would anybody want anything but clean clear crisp white plates? I don't want to accidentality misplace a nugget or waffle fry amongst a geometric jungle of shapes and shades. Surely the beauty of a blueberry pancake would be dulled when presented on a blue and white oriental landscape? And you can tell when white plates still have congealed egg on them from the other day.

AIBU?

Obviously not, but why do shops sell stuff like that?

I love my Portmeirion plates and dished. I have collected them for years after staying in a holiday cottage equipped entirely with it.Not to everyones taste but they make me happy. I also have multi coloured cutlery.

I buy plain white but only because I like crockery to match, and since pieces get broken, the best way to get new ones that match is to buy white from well known stores.

I prefer a pattern / colour and we still have a full set of what we asked for our wedding, which we use for "best". It's not prissy or fussy though and no gilt in sight.

My father would agree with @Mysterian . He is most vociferous on the subject. (He is a photographer and has a keen eye for the aesthetic).

I disagree. I have a wonderful set of completely mismatched Spode Woodland and Blue Italian and Game birds plus alot of Victorian china all bought from charity shops (including the Spode). I use these every day and love them completely.

I buy plain white but only because I like crockery to match, and since pieces get broken, the best way to get new ones that match is to buy white from well known stores. Me too .
My plain stainless steel cutlery matches.
My coffee mugs are assorted

I can see the appeal of Portmeirion, but it's not my sort of thing.

White plates remind me of school canteens

patterned plates have their place... hanging on walls for example, afternoon tea, as serveware and certain foods which look good against that particular pattern. but actual dinner - white. no patterns, no bullshit shapes. just nice round plates or bowls as required

also tea should only be drunk out of China mugs.

@moggerhanger That's beautiful. Not too fussy, lovely rich blue colour but delicate.

This is one of the Thai plates I'd like

You are right OP. I quite like colourful side plates for tea and cake but dinner plates have to be plain white. So much cheaper too and it does not matter if you break one as they are easily replaced. We use the cheap John Lewis stuff. We went to the Ivy Asia for dinner the other day and it was all charcoal grey scratchy plates: not right.

We also have some M&S Ditsy Floral but only small plates and some mugs bought in the sale years ago, they have been really good and I use the plates a lot for tasty titbits throughout the day as they take up far less room in the dishwasher that our Denby dinner service ones. I actually think the M&S ones are better quality than the Denby.

@BobnLen They've been fabulous over the years, I can't fault them. The dinner plates are looking faded now but oddly only those, the side plates (with the blue ribbon stripes) look far more vividly patterned still even though we use those daily (and put them in the dishwasher) too. The mugs M&S made in the Ditsy Floral pattern are perfect for drinking from, the shape and handle are just right imo. They used the same mug shape for lots of their patterns so happily we've plenty M&S mugs with that delicate-but-robust china feel.

Plain white is the aesthetic of the day I think

Ours are about 35 years old and mostly white but with blue edges. I think in those days, completely plain white plates would have been considered cheap and shit and boring. These days it's different. Having everything white in a house is a thing now, certainly on social media. Sofa, floor, plates, walls, all white!

Surely you need two sets.
The dinner party set - that we aspire to using at sophisticated gatherings presenting restaurant quality food to our discerning friends. - and which live in a cupboard and never see the light of day. (I hear you grumbling wedding service used twice in 10 years)
The every day set - purposely mismatched so it doesn't matter when you drop them. Bright and cheery so that you don't feel the need to scream when you ungrateful kids refuse to eat the healthy food presented and instead ask for beige again. Maybe the exotic birds on the design will influence the food and make the cottage pie taste exciting for once.

Our every day plates are white and boring, but our naice plates are patterned.

What's a "true" dinner plate? I thought dinner plates are by definition "a flat dish, typically circular and made of china, from which food is eaten or served".

OP, you shouldn't be so distressed by a flat dish with colours. Colours are wonderful, rejoice in variety.

Nothing compares to an egg yolk in a white and blue plate. It's like looking at a Van Gogh picture without leaving home.

Distressed? What is this nonsense?

I hate snobs

White dinner plates make me think of somewhere institutional, frankly.

School. Prison. Asylum for the Mentally Ill.

Cheap and easily replaced. I like stuff with colour and pattern.

Each to there own.. I guess the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same stuff

My sister is team white plate all the way but she has ocd tendencies about cleanliness and has alot of eating and sensory issues with food so it partly stems from checking the plates are cleen... the rest of her house is bright but tidy

I'm team bright bold and I love crockery so have alot and its all mismatched I've got florals, spots stripes, geographic patterns, block colours etc (and might get some more after seeing some of the posts)

my sister has issues when she comes over but i let her choose her plait and she can check it's cleen befor

I've never had a problem with loosing food definitely never anything as large as a nugget! I like my food and a good scrape over will bring all the leftover together in a last tasty mouthful

I've got a full set of plain white Olympia dinnerware, which comes out when I'm having people round for dinner. But my kitchen is grey and rainbow themed (based on grey skies and rainbows), so this Windhorse rainbow set fits in, and cheers me up :) There's more to it than in the picture - also pasta bowls, breakfast bowls, espresso mini-mugs, latte/hot chocolate mugs, salt and pepper pots - and more!

I've also got a full dinner service of bone china with pink, gold, and blue flowers on it, inherited from my Mum - it's in boxes in the shed!

It looks so clinical,cold and soulless.

I have a set of Denby with the grey rims, had them 25 years and nothing breaks the buggers. I have a cheap set from Sainsbury with a yellow rim, they make me happy and I mix both sets for everyday use. Also use the yellow if I want a yellow tablescape.

I also have Wedgewood jade green and gold which I absolutely love plus two sets of vintage china, also which I love (pretty pink flowers on white and green leaves on white)

I also love a table scape!!! So think I need more crookery depending on the mood. That blue up thread is divine!

Our wedding list / best china is white with a texture pattern around the outer edge. It mix and matches nicely with our every day crockery which is plain black. Food colours really pop on black plates. That's why M&S food ads were always against a black background.

We've got some lovely blue ones from Denby Pottery.

You are thinking of Woodsware, particularly the Beryl design, which is the green one. They were sold in the Co-Op and were cheap and hard-wearing utility wear and you are right about the deco design as they were brought out at about the beginning of the second world war. For decades, they were ubiquitous in church and village halls because they were cheap and lasted a long time. They were easy to replace should something break. They often turn up in charity shops and there is a Facebook group for collectors of utility ware.

There was a study that concluded food tastes better off white plates.

Ooh that's nice. [Scurries off to Google shop]