In the search for essential home furnishings, the quest for the best dinnerware sets falls somewhere in between a couch and a Spiralizer. Sure, plates matter—you can’t eat cacio e pepe over the sink—but they aren’t as crucial to everyday life as your mattress. Perhaps that’s why dinnerware sets tend not to elicit the kind of deep-dive, dark-corners-of-the-internet, sub-sub-Reddit research the way beds and vacuums do. Does this plate hold my food? Yes. Is the color not offensive to my eyes? Yes. Annnnd scene. Sure, any old thing can serve as a functional vessel for holding roast chicken/avocado toast/Frosted Flakes, but the best dinnerware sets do a lot more—and we found the 15 best ones worthy of every single meal.
The Best Dinnerware Sets, According to GQ
Uh oh, you have a dinner party planned and forgot you only have paper plates. Hurry and get all your dinnerware essentials right here, right now.
The Best Dinnerware Set, Overall: Our Place
Our Place is most well-known for its multi-tasking Always Pan, but its dining essentials deserve equal consideration. Maryah Ananda, a cook and content creator, says she’s been a “long-time fan” of Our Place, calling the brand’s entry into dinnerware “gorgeous.” The plates and bowls boast a speckled ceramic surface with a more raw clay bottom. That combo, regardless of which of the millennial-friendly colors you purchase, imbues the Our Place with a handmade feel that’s usually shorthand for “very expensive.”
Fortunately, the Our Place sets are reasonably priced: $50 for a set of four plates, and $45 for a set of four side bowls. Unfortunately, if you want anything else—like a wide bowl for pasta—you’ll have to look elsewhere for it. The sets are co-signed by Alexandra Kalita, co-founder and CEO of Common Bond Design, who lists the Main plates in a locked Pinterest board of dinnerware she keeps for her clients and notes that the full dinnerware set is “great if you care about design, but you’re 23 and just moved into a teeny tiny apartment.”
The Best Classic Dinnerware Set: Fable
Canada-based dinnerware brand Fable offer an array of different options for the table, and its Base collection is one of its most affordable: a four-piece set of classics that you can use for most meals (and snacks). Ananda credits her love for the brand to its sustainable values and designs, which are also plenty handsome. The pieces from the Base line are smooth with rounded, natural curves, and also come in a variety of muted hues—from a blush pink to a speckled finish—in case boring old white just isn’t doing it for you.
The Best Budget Dinnerware Set: Stone Lain
If you’re entertaining a whole dinner party, look no further than Stone Lain on the ‘Zon for excellent black matte place settings that include plates, bowls, and mugs. You can serve up to eight people for just $120, and each piece has a bit of a Hasami-esque look (more on that below), thanks to the minimalist design. The flared lip is super popular these days in dinnerware, if not because it’s an elegant finish but also because it keeps food from slipping and sliding off the plate as you eat.
The Best Dinnerware Set for Minimalists: Hasami Porcelain
Most of the designers we spoke to were reticent to recommend dishware from direct-to-consumer startups, which tend towards the basic and nondescript. They generally wanted their dinnerware sets to come with a bit more history. Hasami Porcelain fits that bill. The company was founded in this century, but sees itself as the product of 400 years of Japanese pottery in the Nagasaki prefecture. All the products in its line, from dinner plates to planters, are strikingly simple—thanks to their raised lips, gentle curves, and perfect matte finish. For Emilio Halperin, designer at Emilio Halperin Studio, the dinnerware is a hallmark of someone having made it. “Your plates will stack so nicely, you’ll hesitate to use them,” he said. “Why disturb something so beautiful?”
The Best Dinnerware Set for Modernists: Mud Ceramics
All of the dinnerware from Mud Ceramics have beautiful, slightly odd silhouettes, and a shiny matte finish. “It toes the line really well between a traditional dinnerware set and a more modern one,” says Kalita. “I think it’s a good registry item, if you can get a bunch of people to cobble a set together for you.”
Interior designer Jessica Helgerson has amassed a collection of Mud pieces over the years, with a preference for the company’s softer colored options. “Their pieces are incredibly fine and delicate, but also somehow very hard to break—a dream combination,” she said. “I also love the fact that the working side of the plates is glazed but the undersides are unglazed, which makes them feel as if the clay itself is pigmented rather than the glaze.”
The Best Colorful Dinnerware Set: Casafina Pacifica
In a sea of variously hued white dinneware, go bold with Casafina’s Pacifica stoneware set, which comes in five colors (and yes, a variation of white—in this case, vanilla) is one of them. Kelly Allen, an editor at House Beautiful, finds the Pacifica stoneware set to be especially appealing, especially with its lightly speckled stoneware aesthetic that makes it both timeless and durable. For something spicy, she recommends the cayenne colorway, a slightly muted hue that’s still bold enough add a “bold pop of red.” Alas, if you do opt for vanilla, Allen has some high praise: “the creamy hue can warm up any tablescape, no matter the season.”
9 More Dinnerware Sets You Should Consider
While the above picks represent a curated edit of the best new and enduringly classic dinnerware sets, we surfaced so many great dinnerware recommendations that we’d be remiss not to share them. Here, some of our honorable mentions in the dinnerware category, including an assorted mixture of expert picks and options that our editors have put to the test first-hand among ham-fisted roommates, saucy spaghettis and stain-inducing spices, along with cycles in the microwave and dishwasher. You’ll also find a couple of less expensive dupes here and there for some of the more rarefied picks on this list—e.g., if you have Mud taste, but are living the Crate & Barrel lifestyle.
From bath and bedding goodies to gear for the kitchen, Hawkins is a home brand to know. Its dinnerware is about as basic (without being, y’know, basic) as you can get for something you’d want to eat out of every day. Its affordability is a huge selling point too, offering 16 pieces for under $200. Julia Stevens, style editor at Domino and Dwell, loves that the set includes low bowls, which she dubs “the blate,” because of its ability to pull double duty as both a bowl or plate.
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