<p>Portmerion is on sale in Macy’s plus an extra 15% off, plus, buy one place setting, get one free!</p>
<p>Fiestaware is wonderful! I started my set 15 years ago for sentimental reasons after my mother passed away . Fiestaware was her pattern as a new bride .
Mine has survived through my three children’s toddlerhood and now their teen years . It’s been fun to add a place setting or accessory in various colors through the years .</p>
<p>Have your tried cleaning your dishwasher? My dishes were getting messed up a few years ago, and have been fine ever since a Bosch repairman told me to use Glisten ([Amazon.com:</a> Compac Glisten, 2 oz. Pouch (Pack of 6): Health & Personal Care](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Compac-Glisten-oz-Pouch-Pack/dp/B002XDQK9W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1375367119&sr=8-3&keywords=glisten]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Compac-Glisten-oz-Pouch-Pack/dp/B002XDQK9W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1375367119&sr=8-3&keywords=glisten) ) once a month.</p>
<p>We have white cereal bowls from Williams Sonoma. They are great! And they work very nicely with the Royal Doulton dishes (which oddly had no bowls). The WS dishes are microwave safe also.</p>
<p>Add me to the Botanic group, though ours is dessert and coffee.</p>
<p>Have you tried washing the dishes without the stainless in the dishwasher? Have you checked late in the cycle to see if the marks are there at that point? (Or to see when they do show up.) A great deal of what threatens good dishware is the heated drying cycle. This could also be affecting the stainless, as could the particular detergent. Auden is beautiful, a shame to have to let it go.</p>
<p>The microabrasive cleaners can also affect the finish in ways not detectable to the eye. Some swear by a baking soda and water mix or even Arm & Hammer baking soda toothpaste. I’d call the manufacturer- especially since the flatware is also V&B.</p>
<p>Wow- thank you all for the responses! There are some beautiful china patterns listed in this thread. I love the W-S options. But I think I will try contacting V&B to see whether they will do something. I won’t have time to do it until later in the month.</p>
<p>Toledo, thank you so much for finding that information! I will try the SoftScrub and bleach. I already have stainless that fits that description, V&B stainless, in fact. </p>
<p>lookingforward, I don’t think it’s reasonable to have to wash dishes and flatware in separate cycles. I could try not using the heated drying cycle, I think there is an option to dispense with that. I will look into the detergent issue, but I use either Cascade or Trader Joe’s brand, nothing unusual.</p>
<p>atp, I have cleaned the dishwasher, although not with the product you mentioned, and not as often as once a month. I will try this though, thanks!</p>
<p>ECmother, don’t tempt me with that beautiful Portmeiron on sale! I still have to see whether the Audun can be saved. And I have so many pieces, I initially bought 12 each of dinner plates, salad plates, b/b plates, cereal/rice bowls, flat soup bowls, mugs. I got a good price but it was still an investment. not all pieces are ruined. The dinner plates are absolutely awful, some of the soup plates have marks, the bowls and mugs don’t. And we hardly ever use the b/b plates; they have the wide yellow rim and it is still beautiful.</p>
<p>Here I am, joining late. I thought, “10 sets… wow… ellebud has a lot of china!” Then I started counting … and counting… and wondered if we were including antique sets? what about assembled sets of export wear for example?</p>
<p>Sometimes I give dinners for folks who think china and crystal (waterford or baccarat) are too hoity-toity, or they become nervous over the possibility of breakage. So I set the table with an assembled set of 19th c canton and stemware of the same date. They have no idea. They are comfortable and happy.</p>
<p>I designed a very small kitchen for our “new” antique retirement home. However, there is a fairly traditional butlers pantry for china, etc. I absolutely need a butlers pantry for storage, even though I have cupboards in the dining room.</p>
<p>Coming in late–Fiestaware is manufactured by Homer Laughlin. When the company started, it was located in East Liverpool, OH. It moved across the river to Newell, W. Virginia. My H grew up in East Liverpool and his mom worked in the pottery. I’ve been to the factory and retail showroom often when visiting my inlaws. I have a set of white Fiestaware. It’s indestructible. I use it at a vacation home. I inherited a set from my MIL, which is great because it’s an array of pastel colors. Homer Laughlin has contracts to provide china for a wide range of institutions from the government to colleges and universities. </p>
<p>I’d also second the recommendation for the Apilco china from Williams Sonoma. I wanted something different and bought a set of the square plates–it’s the Zen Collection and it wears extremely well.</p>
<p>Ok, now I’m off to Williams Sonoma. I’ve been trying to find something to replace my old dinnerware, with hopes that DD or DS will use the old stuff as a starter set. It’s got some chips and missing pieces, but it’s ok for cheap apartments and sketchy roommates, because if it breaks it’s no great loss. I’m not quite ready to go plain white, looks like WS has some with a blue band that might work for me.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback on Fiesta wear. It is reassuring. Katliamom, it is always on sale at Kohls as well.</p>
<p>The feedback on William Sonoma is good to know. I will have to check that out.</p>
<p>Also, last year at Homeplace (owned by TJMAXX etc), I purchased a caterers sets of china plates, salad plates and bowls. White. It works great when I have to feed a large crowd. Seems really durable.</p>
<p>Oooh, a butler’s pantry. How nice, alh.</p>
<p>EXMotherX2 - thanks for posting about the Macy’s sale. I always look for Portmeirion on sale. Sometimes HomeGoods will have an odd lot at a good price but the sale at Macy’s sounds great!</p>
<p>For what it is worth - I love my Botanic Garden collection so much I had a custom china cabinet designed for my kitchen and my Portmeirion Botanic Garden. It really was stunning. I always received compliments on the whole look. I thought I had super polite friends until I put the house on the market and had so much feedback from Realtors about the china hutch and the dish collection. It took awhile to sell the house but I had many, many offers to buy my collection & china cabinet!</p>
<p>For the past decade we’ve used Fiestaware in the dark cobalt blue color. Durable and easy to wash, it makes a nice presentation because of the contrast between the dark plate and mostly lighter colored or bright food. I also have Royal Copenhagen blue fluted china for special occasions, and it coordinates beautifully with that and with any white serving pieces one might have.</p>
<p>I am green with envy about the butler’s pantry and the custom china cabinet. I wish I could see a photo of your china collection in the cabinet, sportsmom!</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback on Fiestaware (and the heads-up on sales at Kohl’s). It’s threads like this that remind me why Im on CC LOOOOONG after my children’s college years ;)</p>
<p>Last minute…would that be Home Goods? They have great dishes but it is hit or miss.</p>
<p>DD and I were talking yesterday about dishes. I have Villeroy and Boch Botanica, another botanical. It is discontinued and I bought way too much of it thinking I would never replace it. My plates are getting pretty scratched because I have kitchen helpers that do a lot of sliding. Anyway, I told my daughter to sell them all on eBay when I go. </p>
<p>Have fun looking for new dishes. I love dishes!</p>
<p>What happened yesterday was all of you guys responsibility. Yours! I told Mr. Ellebud that this is your faults!</p>
<p>I went look for china for my future dil. I just may have found a few for me as well. Hmmmm</p>
<p>We take full responsibilty. Pattern, please, Ellebud!</p>
<p>limoges reynaud festivite…It would be a perfect mix and match with my fine wedding china…and it is, evidently going to be retired. But I must hold a steady course…we have a wedding…and a few other things planned. </p>
<p>But …I can’t help but look…darn it!</p>