White Plates v. Plates with Patterns

[Fat Guy]

It seems that the overwhelming majority of fine restaurants these days serve their food on plain white plates. Whereas, in the overwhelming majority of nice homes the china has patterns.

I get that the white place shows off the food. But a beautiful pattern on a plate can really enhance a table.

Which camp are you in? I'm in the patterned/colored plate camp. I'm not sure I own any plain white plates.

[vice]

I like white, simply because I own relatively few plates and white ones are the most versatile. I certainly couldn't justify full place settings of a variety of colors/patterns.

[Big Mike]

I'm in the white plate camp. They look so nice and clean when everything is plated well. I do like a big patterned dish for family style presentations though.

[Melissa]

I'm in the plain white camp as well.

[nickrey]

Plain white. They make the food look much better in both real-life and photographs.

[Dakki]

Patterned, blue on white, both the "everyday" china and my great-aunt's "special occasion" plates.

[Mjx]

Plain white for my plates, too, and I've never had any that were not. It's strongly the visual aesthetic: I love the way light washes about the forms. I'm a sucker for a good still life.

However, I usually enjoy the colours/patterns of the plates my food shows up on at restaurants: When we went to Parma about a year ago, I loved the plates as well as the terrific food at places such as Ombre Rosse and La Bottega si Nota e Gusta. But now that I think of it, In the US (or at least in NYC), plates in restaurants are usually white.

Edited January 25, 2011 by Mjx (log)

[Anna N]

Mix n Match for me. Plain white with solid and patterned blue on white. Love the plain white but get bored sometimes so I have solid dark blue side plates and some dinner sized plates with a blue leafy/flowering pattern around the rim. Best of both worlds.

[Tri2Cook]

I prefer plain white most of the time but I also have some plain black that work well in some cases.

[HungryC]

Give me pattern, and color; for most meals at home, no one is scrutinizing presentation or composition on the plate (thank goodness). Let the restaurants do all-white; they can afford to use a huge variety of shapes to keep it interesting. No black, thanks; somehow it is unappetizing. My favorite japanese place has a lovely collection of seasonal ceramics, with colors & motifs chosen to complement the food & time of year. None of their ware is white, and the food always looks glorious.

[Peter the eater]

I'm looking in the cupboard -- I see lots of white, solid colors and no patterns.

[mkayahara]

My favorite japanese place has a lovely collection of seasonal ceramics, with colors & motifs chosen to complement the food & time of year. None of their ware is white, and the food always looks glorious.

This is an interesting point: the case is often made that plain white is the best way to highlight the food and its presentation, and yet high-end Japanese cuisine manages to achieve beautiful, dramatic presentations while using a variety of colourful, often highly textured, dishes. Why is that?

For what it's worth, I tend to be a fan of plain white. Patterns do make a table look nicer, though. If money were no object, I think my preferred solution would be patterned chargers with plain white plates atop them.

[haresfur]

Firmly in the non-white camp.

My preference is for hand-made stoneware or porcelain. I haven't been potting much and really need to make some more plates to replace the broken ones. So likely, I'll just keep my eye out for a professional potter to support. Celadon can be particularly nice and I can't fire reduction glazes.

My fancy plates are German porcelain with hand painted flowers. They were from my cousin's family and not what I would initially consider as my style but are extremely well done and I have grown very fond of them.

I can understand the plain white thing for restaurants, but I'm willing to give up the artsy plating for an artsy plate.

[Richard Kilgore]

Plain white French porcelain much of the time for me, complemented with serving pieces that provide color and texture. Fine china that has color and pattern around the rim and white or off-white for the center offers both elements, but I use it rarely. I also enjoy solid color ceramics on the tables of friends.

[jsmeeker]

At home, my plates and bowls are either plan white or plain white with a thin blue line/strip around the outer edge. For me, I think designs are OK, but they should be small/subtle and mostly limited to the edge/rim. What I really DON'T like are plates that are colored. Red. Blue. Green. Whatever. Don't like that at all.

[Darienne]

Good dishes inherited from Mother are plain white. Everyday dishes are new and plain white.

Had blue glass Arcopal for years. (Have a thing about blue glass.)

Silly mid-winter to perk up your spirits acrylic set is wild pseudo-Mexican pattern and colors.

[dcarch]

I know this may sound stupid to some. I use white plates because I print my photos.

Color inks cost a lot of money. Using white plates use much less color ink.

dcarch

[Prawncrackers]

I'm in both camps. In general white plates for Western dishes plated individually. For a 'composed' plate or a bowl of pasta then a white plate or shallow bowl always seems the most sensible choice to me. But I do love a patterned plate for Asian or shared dishes. I'm starting to get a mild fetish for individually patterned plates, I just think they're wonderful for serving up Asian dishes. As each dish (in the food sense) is different I try to match a suitable looking plate or bowl to it. Bought a lovely large black pearlescent plate the other day which has little pastel flowers on it that I plated this quail salad dish on. The black of the plate made the colours of the salad pop, to my mind it made it much more appetising and it was pretty nice to begin with! So as for Nick's suggestion that food always looks better on white plates then I would definitely disagree with him on that point (I don't usually )

I suppose there are as many differences in styles of patterns as there differences in styles of cuisine, if not more. Chinese plates are usually intricately patterned and of course Japanese ceramics elevate plating to whole another level of gastronomic artistry. It's strange though how subjective things can be though, imagine a large Chinese style platter say with a fish pattern and a banquet sized serving of lobster noodles served upon it. Then imagine that same platter but with a large Italian family size portion of lobster spaghetti, feels wrong dosen't it?! They are essentially the same dishes (ok stretching a little but the same ethos at least) but clearly a large white platter or solid colour is best for the latter but the question may be whether it would be better for the former too? It's like eating long pasta in a bowl with chopsticks, slurping it up like soup noodles. It shouldn't make a difference to the taste but somehow it does, try it, I know it's psychosomatic but every bone in your body knows that eating spaghetti carbonara like you would ramen is wrong. That sense of wrongness affects if not the taste then at least the pleasure of eating it. I may have got a little sidetracked but I think my drift is that the plate is very much part of the civilised eating experience. So at home whether you prefer white or patterned, just make sure you've considered how you plate your food, it does make a difference.

White plates in restaurants are generally just a practical issue, they are easy to replace and uniform. It doesn’t really say anything about the place, they're perfectly neutral. But when I see interesting plates in a restaurant then I know that it's another level of detail and that may augur interesting food too.

[heidih]

At present I only have white plates in the house. The patterns are in storage. I like the white for everyday as it forms a pleasant background and highlights the food. For entertaining, I like the concepts that Prawncrackers raises and will experiment.

[qrn]

every day dishes here are White plates I got from the restaurant supply place, they are very sturdy and are at least 25 years old, look new, and are bullet proof, have never broken one or even chipped one...

Bud

[robirdstx]

I'm in both camps. Most of the plates we use for every day are white but I do like colored bowls.

I have two sets of dishes with patterned rims that we use when we have company, mostly because I don't have more than two matching plates of the white ones.

[andiesenji]

I like patterns and color.

I grew up in a time when plain white "china" was inexpensive "dime-store" stuff.

Inexpensive cafes and restaurants used plain china, except some had a colored ring around the perimeter.

More expensive eateries, hotels and etc., usually had proprietary patterns on their china and some was quite elaborate.

Trains also had beautiful china with their own patterns.

I have "seasonal" china patterns so swap the stuff in and out.

The only plain stuff I have is Corning Corelle, except for a few pasta dishes left over from my catering days.

I've had all of these for a minimum of 30 years.

Spring

Spring/Summer

Summer This is an Eva Zeisel design.

Winter/holidays

Autumn

Edited January 25, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Darienne]

Spring

Andie, you just touched my heart deeply. We used to have Blue Onion dishes. I think I actually have one or two left. Love blue and white together.

[andiesenji]

Spring

Andie, you just touched my heart deeply. We used to have Blue Onion dishes. I think I actually have one or two left. Love blue and white together.

I've also got a service for 24 in the Blue Willow pattern (my grandmother's) but haven't used it for many years.

Plus my 'good' china which has been packed away for decades.

[Darienne]

I've also got a service for 24 in the Blue Willow pattern (my grandmother's) but haven't used it for many years.

Plus my 'good' china which has been packed away for decades.

You know what they say about using your good dishes. What are you saving them for?