hmmmm my dinner plates are about 10 inches, but the area that you actually put food on is 7.... I rarely use them though. I tend to prefer bowls.

Smilingcat is so right about appliances - we didn't want a big fridge. It's just the two of us and I like to shop daily, so a huge side by side would not only waste space in my small house (the fridge isn't even in the kitchen - its in the pantry), it would go largely unused. Small fridges in this country were all seriously ugly with no amenities - like not even movable shelves at the time (this was about 15 years ago), but we'd been overseas - and were soooooo jealous. In Japan, Italy and England where living spaces are mostly much smaller than we have here small appliances were seriously stylish. We finally did find a place here selling a Swedish brand. We ended up with a really nice, really energy efficient fridge eventually, but it took a lot of effort.