Who else has tableware lust?

[R.E. Turner]

It all started when I decided to be a "practical" bride: I knew perfectly well that no one in the history of my family had ever used their fine china except when the preacher was invited for dinner, so my heathen heinie didn't need any stinkin' china. Practical, solid-colored stoneware would certainly be good enough for the likes of me. Then I realized that I'd like to liven up the table a bit for my first dinner party. Those dishes we ate from every single day just didn't seem festive enough for guests, so I really needed another set of tableware... You know, nothing expensive, just more colorful. A few more dinner parties under my belt, and then the need struck again. I just didn't have enough place settings of the "festive" stuff, and the pattern was discontinued, so a larger set was in order...

Things really took off when I started discovering bargains at thrift stores. I'd find service for seven or eleven of some wonderful shape/pattern/color, and the price couldn't be beat! I planned festive suppers, and invited however many guests the new dishes would support. An RSVP of "decline with regret" meant that I could use a different set of china or stoneware with an odd number of settings. I began dropping not-so-subtle hints to my grandmothers and aunties that I really, really loved their vintage table linens... and would provide a good home to any and all prized tablecloths that could be spared. I browsed catalogs and websites just to drool over beautiful dishes that I couldn't afford. I told myself that I could stop anytime I wanted to. I just didn't want to stop.

I knew that I was in trouble when I needed more storage for my multitude of dishes: I found an ad for a 28-foot travel trailer really cheap (just add axles!) Hmmm... My uncle had axles I could borrow, and a travel trailer/storage house meant that I could just hitch up and tow my goodies if I had to move. Whee! Now I have 168 linear feet of shelves' worth of tablewares, gadgets, linens, and assorted kitchen stuff, all totally portable.

I'm Rae, and I'm a tableware addict. (And let's don't even talk about my concurrent addictions to vintage barware and coffee/tea service items!)

[Curlz]

Curlz:

Here's the link because they are indeed available through the catalog.

At least with my browser, I have to say the image hardly does them justice. 

I was heartbroken when I dropped a bulbous hand-made mug that friends brought back from a road trip to Bennington, VT.  Had used it every morning for more than a decade.  The glaze was layered in blues and greens.  Thought I would never recover.

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Thanks for the link! As for your VT mug, if I can figure out how to use ImageGullet, I'll post a pic of my favorite giant pottery mug, which I brought back from Sedona, AZ many years ago...

[wattacetti]

Is it just a chick thing?

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No, it isn't. I've actually done karyotyping on my own blood and I did see a Y chromosome so the tableware lust isn't just a girl thing.

I'm still on the lookout for the perfect set of white tableware (round or square) but I keep myself from pulling the trigger on a purchase because I don't want to have to buy something a second time. Something's never quite right with whatever I see, and it's gotten worse now that I've seen these covered chawan mushi cups in tableware series displayed in Sogo/Taipei. Yes, I'd like white chawan mushi cups with my place setting…

[andiesenji]

One can never have too many sets of tableware, as long as there is a place to store them. I have inherited several sets and choosing to part with one instead of another would be like choosing between children.

[fifi]

. . . . .

I'm still on the lookout for the perfect set of white tableware (round or square) but I keep myself from pulling the trigger on a purchase because I don't want to have to buy something a second time. Something's never quite right with whatever I see, and it's gotten worse now that I've seen these covered chawan mushi cups in tableware series displayed in Sogo/Taipei. Yes, I'd like white chawan mushi cups with my place setting…

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I guess I am pretty immune to this particular affliction. I really like white porcelain and I went on a similar hunt for the "perfect white plates." I wanted something really basic that I could add stuff to for the setting. I finally found "it" at Crate & Barrel. They have probably the best selection of porcelain dishes at the best price I found anywhere. Back up to porcelain>dinnerware and select see all. I have had these dishes for about 10 years now and I still love them. Even better, you can buy pieces open stock.

Then I get these odd fixations. Like these quirky Gone Fishin' pieces from Sur la Table. I will have those.

Then I saw this lovely fern pattern fine china and went on a search for something similar. I have been searching for about 15 years. Of course, part of the problem may have something to do with the fact that I saw that china in the collection at Windsor Castle.

So, I guess I am not so much acquisitive as I am prone to obsessions about a few things.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I had a brief professional career making ceramics...  looking at tableware and then deciding you can make it easier (and cheaper) than buying it is dangerous!

So uh, yeah, add me to the list.

favorite self made ware that I could never find (hence why I had to make it)...

I love the spikey cups. You made them, McA? Cool!

I have way too many dishes, and I love them all so much that I can't even think of putting them away where I can't look at them all the time.

Briefly: I have two sets of Christmas dishes: One fine china, one pottery-ish. I have in my kitchen cabinets right now, three sets of "everydays" in square stone, square white ceramic, and black rounds (looks glorious together). I also have a few dozen glass salad plates and dishes for snack-plates for the kids. There's much more, and I keep finding stuff I have GOT to have: Purple square pasta bowls. rectangular salad plates. "leaning" drinkware. Or, my current favorite: The "Heros of the Torah" glass series at Fishs Eddy in New York! (I am not making this up!)

I'm redoing my kitchen and the architect is having me inventory all my stuff so we can design the storage around it. I'm really kind of embarrassed.

[azureus]

I'm redoing my kitchen and the architect is having me inventory all my stuff so we can design the storage around it.  I'm really kind of embarrassed.

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Wow! I'm going to fantasize about this! Your architect obviously understands your addiction.

I don't have much space to collect whole sets of dinnerware for myself. I assuage my needs by collecting small bowls to hold ingredients when I'm cooking. I also buy bowls and plates for my dog and cats. They each eat out of their own dinnerware patterns!

My one big indulgence is in vintage chromed barware like my father had when I was a child. It's usually very cheap, so I've amassed huge amounts of it. Now, I just need to have a cocktail party. But then I'd need new linens and. . .

April

[cakewalk]

One can never have too many sets of tableware, as long as there is a place to store them.

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Ay, there's the rub.

I would love to have a new set for every day of the year -- and every meal of the day! It's not that I don't love what I already have, but every time I see something new I think it is so beautiful. But I can be content with just looking (most of the time.) Stores that sell tableware are like museums!

[BarbaraY]

I am not alone! I thought this addiction was something I had to hide from everyone except my own family.

There are three sets of "everyday" dishes in the kitchen cabinet, two sets of "good" china in the dining room hutch, and assorted Japanese and Chinese dishes in another cupboard. (Well, who would serve sushi on a dinner plate?) And then there is the lovely crystal dessert service.

I have long maintained that dishes should wear out in a maximum of three years so new ones would be needed.

I walk through department stores fondling serving ware and muttering that I really would like that service for twelve even though I no longer entertain.

My daughter tears the Sur la Table catalog out of my hands before I can finish looking.

My name is Barb and I'm a tableware addict.

Edited January 13, 2006 by BarbaraY (log)

[moosnsqrl]

I don't have much space to collect whole sets of dinnerware for myself.  I assuage my needs by collecting small bowls to hold ingredients when I'm cooking.  I also buy bowls and plates for my dog and cats.  They each eat out of their own dinnerware patterns!

We may need to form a support sub-group for mise en place bowls and another for pet dishes. Sign me up for both and, depending on the extent of your "problem" I should probably chair the mise one.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I'm redoing my kitchen and the architect is having me inventory all my stuff so we can design the storage around it.  I'm really kind of embarrassed.

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Wow! I'm going to fantasize about this! Your architect obviously understands your addiction.

It's pretty great, until I start thinking about what will happen when I find something else that I just have to have. Will I have to get rid of something? Will we have room for my ever-expanding family of dishes? It's like having custom-shoe cubbies built into my closet. I just can't do it. All my little things deserve their own spot and shouldn't be sent out on their own if I find purple crystal dessert glasses (to go with the blue coupes I already have).

My one big indulgence is in vintage chromed barware like my father had when I was a child.  I

Oh, dear. I think I need some of this, too. I've been kind of ignoring the barware (except for the good crystal and the Reidels and the Reidels that you can buy at Target -- thank you, therese, for that tip), since we moved into a house with no existing wet bar. But, the new kitchen will have a new wet bar and the house is kind of contemporary, so if I start looking now

For God's Sake, someone stop me!

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I don't have much space to collect whole sets of dinnerware for myself.  I assuage my needs by collecting small bowls to hold ingredients when I'm cooking.  I also buy bowls and plates for my dog and cats.  They each eat out of their own dinnerware patterns!

We may need to form a support sub-group for mise en place bowls and another for pet dishes. Sign me up for both and, depending on the extent of your "problem" I should probably chair the mise one.

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Hmm. I only use pyrex custard cups and those little steel sauce cups for my mis. Or parchment.

However, my dog and cat are another story, especially since the former is 14 1/2 now, and deserves her (prescription, hypoallergenic) kibble to be served in something better than what she has now. As for the cat, well, he's got to go on a diet (sez the doc) so he should have something nice. All the diet books say so, right?

[nakji]

My tableware addiction is a little different, in that I cannot travel anywhere without purchasing a dish of some sort to bring home to remind me of my trip. I have become ever bolder with each vacation and the size of the prized item increases with each trip home. I used to be afraid that a large piece would break, but so far I have manged to get several large bowls from Italy, platters from Portugal and a large fish platter from Alaska home in one piece. Next stop Ireland.

See? This is my problem too. The effects of this addiction are even worse when you have to consider air travel to get everything home. I remember the stream of curse words out of my husband's mouth when I emerged from the restaurant supply district in Dotombori, in Osaka. He abandoned me altogether when I hit Panjiayuan market in Beijing. If you like china? Don't visit China.

I don't even want to think about what kind of trouble I could get into in Europe.

I usually limit myself to small bowls and plates; only two pieces of each in any pattern. but it's so hard. I end up cramming everything in my carryon bags wrapped in dirty laundry. Every trip, I vow it'll be different, but I always see the perfect little bowl for yogurt, or a plate that would be just right for cheese.... The next thing I know, I'm walking by airport security, whistling innocently and praying they don't pull me out of the line for a weight check.

/hangs head in shame/

My name is nakji, and I'm a tableware addict.

Will there be donuts and coffee at these meetings?

[Curlz]

Will there be donuts and coffee at these meetings?

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More importantly, what will we serve them on/in?!?

[GSBravo]

It's not a chick thing, the best Christmas present I got was some new stoneware.

[moosnsqrl]

Hmm. I only use pyrex custard cups and those little steel sauce cups for my mis. Or parchment.

However, my dog and cat are another story, especially since the former is 14 1/2 now, and deserves her (prescription, hypoallergenic) kibble to be served in something better than what she has now.  As for the cat, well, he's got to go on a diet (sez the doc) so he should have something nice.  All the diet books say so, right?

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And you call yourself a tableware addict...how could you have overlooked two such obvious opportunities?

[moosnsqrl]

My tableware addiction is a little different, in that I cannot travel anywhere without purchasing a dish of some sort to bring home to remind me of my trip. I have become ever bolder with each vacation and the size of the prized item increases with each trip home. I used to be afraid that a large piece would break, but so far I have manged to get several large bowls from Italy, platters from Portugal and a large fish platter from Alaska home in one piece. Next stop Ireland.

See? This is my problem too. The effects of this addiction are even worse when you have to consider air travel to get everything home. I remember the stream of curse words out of my husband's mouth

How well I know the feeling; I involuntarily winced when I read this. I almost had to buy an extra seat on the plane for the vinegar-mothering crock I *had* to buy in Calistoga. Speaking of which, Jeff and Sally Manfredi make some fun stuff (is that like advertising KetelOne in an AA forum? Sorry!).

Will there be donuts and coffee at these meetings?

Put me down for a dozen croissants.

Edited to delete an extra /quote tag.

Edited January 13, 2006 by moosnsqrl (log)

[andiesenji]

Regarding the "chick thing" - I think it depends on the guys. I have some gay guy friends(partners for at least 25 years) who could make us all look like pikers. They have a lovely home in Malibu, overlooking the sea, and one entire wall of the kitchen/breakfast room is glass with glass shelves, displaying many of their collected depression glass. You must have seen some of Martha Stewart's collections - - - they have many more, including entire sets of single patterns in every color. On one visit, I got to look through their storage room and counted more than 30 complete sets of dinnerware. They rotate the different ones out for display, changing the colors with the seasons. They have extras for daily use.

When I still lived down in the Valley, we used to go to estate auctions together, with the agreement that we wouldn't bid on each other's interests. Lots of fun.

[andiesenji]

And regarding the air travel with "fun finds", back in the early 90s I did a large collection of one-of-a-kind engraved glass trophies for a national specialty dog show and transported them to Illinois myself because I didn't trust shipping.

I had a few extra days on the way back and detoured to southern Ohio and the Hall China outlet and then across the river to West Virginia to visit a few small local potteries and loaded the cases in which I had transported the trophies with interesting pieces. I don't recall the exact amount but the charges for the extra luggage weight was more than $100.00 and I had to tip the skycap extremely well after he loaded it all into my van. He asked if I was a weight-lifter and carrying my weights in the cases.

[Kim Shook]

Will there be donuts and coffee at these meetings?

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More importantly, what will we serve them on/in?!?

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[Rebecca263]

Does anyone else here see the allure of collecting bone dishes and platters? Since I've become, um, income challenged I've only been a tiny bit lusty for tableware, and platters are SO practical. Well, OK, I admit it, platters and GIANT bowls. OK, Add serving pieces and spoons. Oh, and don't forget those bone dishes! and, mugs, teapots and soup bowls. Oh, and small pitchers. Um, OK, never mind, I DO have a problem. My name is Rebecca and I have lusted in my heart, AND in my cupboards.

spelling edit!

Edited January 13, 2006 by Rebecca263 (log)

[mizducky]

Regarding the "chick thing" - I think it depends on the guys.  I have some gay guy friends(partners for at least 25 years) who could make us all look like pikers.  They have a lovely home in Malibu, overlooking the sea, and one entire wall of the kitchen/breakfast room is glass with glass shelves, displaying many of their collected depression glass.  You must have seen some of Martha Stewart's collections - - - they have many more, including entire sets of single patterns in every color.  On one visit, I got to look through their storage room and counted more than 30 complete sets of dinnerware.  They rotate the different ones out for display, changing the colors with the seasons.  They have extras for daily use. 

When I still lived down in the Valley, we used to go to estate auctions together, with the agreement that we wouldn't bid on each other's interests.  Lots of fun.

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One of the group of gay guys I used to hang with back in my 20s in Boston had a huge collection of antique silverplate serving pieces--trays, bowls, I don't even remember the half of it--many of which were family heirlooms. Hard to beat a collection that had been started a couple generations before you were born! When our group would head off for our annual weekend at Tanglewood, this guy would bring a bunch of that stuff along, turning our before-concert picnic on the Tanglewood concert grounts into a truly decadent experience (if the food we brought hadn't already done so, which it usually did).

Oh and while we're at it, lesbians are not immune to the charms of tableware lust either. An ex of mine has a huge collection of beautifully ornate heirloom bone china teacups, most of which came from her extensive family back in Iowa--plus a classic wood-and-glass china cupboard (I want to say it was Queen Anne style) which she patiently schlepped from Iowa, had stripped and re-stained, so she could display all these gorgeous little teacups in the splendor they deserved. I think it amused her no end to think of her DAR forebears sipping out of those cups at ladies' luncheons and such.

[malarkey]

ohhhh I am really REALLY bad about this. I could buy ALL kinds of tableware. Beware of eBay and their Dinnerware section.

My weaknesses are vintage tableware and transferware. I stopped collecting when it dawned on me that I live in an earthquake zone LOL.

I still buy pieces now and then, but I'm definitely out of room.

[Susan in FL]

I'm in.

I have it too. And since I started photographing my food, I have a new excuse: "that serving dish has already been in a picture 5 times.. I need to give the folks at EGullet something new to look at " 

LOL, same here, Klary!

One can never have too many sets of tableware, as long as there is a place to store them.

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Ay, there's the rub.

That's it...

I used to be this way about antique tableware, but I've gotten worse and love contemporary stuff, too. I continue to feed my addiction (pardon the pun). What I did with antiques was buy one single plate of what I liked instead of sets, and just use a different plate for each person and a big mix and match of all kinds of tableware -- and yeah, including bone dishes. ...One must have bone dishes!!

[KatieLoeb]

Antique barware is my addiction as well. I have some really neat etched glass crystal snifters, pretty wineglasses, lots of little schnapps glasses and a collapsible Victorian metal cocktail shaker that comes in its own leather case. Definitely the sort of thing no proper gentleman would leave out of his steamer trunk before boarding the Orient Express.

My true lust though is for William Yeoward crystal and china. The stuff is obscenely expensive and gloriously beautiful.

High on my list when I win the Powerball drawing...