China Display?

[Aggie_Ama]

I am completely clueless... When my Nanny moved to assisted living in May I was given her 8 place setting china and china cabinet. My mom never had china, I like the pattern just a simple Lenox Platinum band pattern that is fortunate it isn't all dated and weird. I want to be able to see the plates, how do people normally do that? Are they on plate stands? What about the bowls? I am really clueless on what to do with the stuff, I don't even know when to use it! I know it has to be hand washed which means I will never want to use it- LOL. My friends all have their china still packed from moving, some help they are!

Luckily the cabinet gave me a curio of sorts for my porcelain Lenox dolls Nanny and Pawpaw bought me growing up, even though DH has deemed them "Creepy".

[Tuckervill]

Use the china every day. That's what it is for! (Ma Ingalls said special plates were for special people, not special occasions--or something like that.) Since there are only two of you, rotate the plates so they get even wear.

If you put them in the dishwasher carefully so they don't bump anything, you wouldn't have to hand wash. Seriously, who is going to care about that china after you are gone? Use it!

I would have loved to have had my grandmother's china, but I got her little cut glass salt bowls with the delicate little hand blown scoops, instead. If I had had her china, I would have been using it, for sure.

Karen

[SouthernBelle]

I have my china, my mother's, my grandmother's and my great grandmother's, as well as some crystal and a gold plated coffee service. I could host an army. One china cabinet has grooves in the shelving to set up plates. I set up a plate in the groove and set the smaller pieces in front.
Maybe set up the larger serving pieces in the center.

If you need pictures, let me know.

What constitutes dated and weird?

HTH,

[Mr. Bloom]

We have the same china and it's a good backdrop for collectibles we keep in our china cabinet.

[Zen]

Use it use it use it.
what's the point of looking a dishes in a cupboard

I have no china nor would I want any.
I do love Fiesta Ware though.

[malkin]

I have china that I don't use because it's awkward to get it in and out of the hutch. It's awkward to get it in and out of the hutch because it is angled funny, and the door opens into a corner. The hutch is angled funny in the corner because the homebrew carboys have to sit right there by it. The homebrew carboys are right there because when they weren't, I bumped my toes on them. And the bumped toes finally, were unacceptable.

So we use the other china, which lives on an open shelf, and sitting there in the open, it gets dusty if it sits there very long, so we try to use all of it routinely, even if it isn't the right size.

I suppose this is what people mean when they say "Life is full of compromises."

[Crankin]

I bought my own china when I started doing some of the holidays. It was cheap and has not held up that well. The reason you can't put it in the dishwasher is that the metallic (if you have that) comes off. I do put mine in the dishwasher, but I probably shouldn't. And yes, use it!
I finally bought myself sterling silver about 5 years ago. I love it! I got nothing like that for my wedding, but I do have many of my mom's large silver pieces that no one could afford today.

[Aggie_Ama]

What constitutes dated and weird?

HTH,

My husbands grandma bought herself some china that screams 1970 to me- aqua and pink and very weird pattern. I guess if I didn't think it was so not china like it might have personality. She was an interesting woman.

We have the same china and it's a good backdrop for collectibles we keep in our china cabinet.

Yup. I needed a curio for those creepy dolls, so thanks Nanny I got one.

I got nothing like that for my wedding, but I do have many of my mom's large silver pieces that no one could afford today.

We didn't register for china knowing my Nanny said as her only granddaughter it was mine. No one would have bought us china anyway, my family and DH's aren't like that. Nanny bought it for herself in the 1980's, oddly she never bought herself silver but I could truly care less about one more thing to polish or take special care of.

On a funny note. The dining room furniture is really not our style at all but last weekend I painted a darker blue accent wall and then lighter brown walls. Now the furniture suddenly looks more us, strange how that works.

[SouthernBelle]

For those who would like china, but don't have any, watch for estate auctions in the spring. That how I got a set of silver (only plate, alas).

[Zen]

I got some nice Fiesta Ware pieces at Goodwill and a FW pitcher at a yard sale.
So what if they're different colors? It makes me happy to look at them.

[bmccasland]

I got some nice Fiesta Ware pieces at Goodwill and a FW pitcher at a yard sale.
So what if they're different colors? It makes me happy to look at them.

But I thought one of the points of FW was that it isn't supposed to match - not all blue or orange or whatever. Isn't that part of the fun?

[Eden]

But I thought one of the points of FW was that it isn't supposed to match - not all blue or orange or whatever. Isn't that part of the fun?

Yeah - I thought that was the fun of having fiesta wear... I don't have any china, though long ago (when we were in college) my husband and I bought a set of matching dinner wear at an outlet. Over the years as we've broken bits of it we haven't replaced them. Instead we discovered Japanese ceramics. It was all so pretty we didn't want to just get one style... so we have a few pieced of this, a few of that and I quite like it.

[Mr. Bloom]

China with sentimental value is not for everyday use and the borders are not designed to hold up well to constant dishwashing.

Yup. I needed a curio for those creepy dolls, so thanks Nanny I got one.

Creepy dolls? Yuck! I think NOT!

[Possegal]

Be careful of old red fiestaware - it has uranium in it. Only the stuff made back in like the 30s and 40s. I used to work at a radiation research facility and we used to keep one around to show people, by running the Geiger counter over it and watching it go nuts.

I agree - use the China! My niece had this lovely pattern she got for her wedding, she joked how she used it once, to eat hotdogs off of. Her husband died less than 2 yrs into the marriage and she really regrets not having just enjoyed her dishes with him! Life is too short to worry about not using the good stuff!

Post pictures once you get the whole thing figured out. My china cabinet also has a groove in the back of the shelf where I can prop up the dinner plate.

[withm]

Go ahead. It's just a plate.

My mother always said there is no one better than your own family, so she used her china and silver every night for our family dinner. Once a week we would eat in shifts in the kichen (not enough room for everyone to sit together in there) and then it was every day plates (many of which were plastic). So in deference to her and to my upbringing I use mine on an almost daily basis too even if it's just me. Why not?