I’ve recently fallen back in love with my wedding china. That said, I only bring it out maybe six times/year because it has a gold rim that needs to be hand washed.
My mom ended up using her wedding china weekly but it took so much of a beating that it was all chipped and they ended up throwing it away when they moved. She ended up buying other sets at thrift shops to use that my niece and nephew inherited.
I’d love to find a happy medium where I use it more but don’t destroy them. It’s one of the few things that my daughter actually likes and would like to inherit one day.
I also don’t know at “what age” I would throw caution to the wind and start using it whenever I wanted. (I know I can get replacements for my pattern if needed but it’s expensive!).
We chose not to have our “own” china, since we already had a set from H’s grandma. Over time, we also inherited some from my mom & some from H’s other grandma. We gave a set from one grandma to a good friend who really wanted a set of old china. A few years ago, I donated some of our remaining china to a local restaurant that served on mismatched vintage china. The remaining china gets used maybe once a year.
OTOH, H’s sister has their grandma’s wedding china, their mom’s wedding china + another set from their mom, her MIL’s china, and a couple of her own sets of china! I have no idea if she uses it, since I haven’t been inside her house in more than 30 years.
My D has zero interest in china, and I doubt S does, either. I’m sure anything I have at end of life will be donated.
I do use my china. My wedding china (Royal Doulton Cambridge), my Thanksgiving china, my Christmas Spode. My MIL started giving me the Spode when I admired hers. My mother liked it and I hoped she would start collecting it too, but instead Dad started buying the Pfaltzgraff which I do not care for. Mom never used her wedding china - it had a gold rim that had to be, you guessed it, hand washed. She kept quite a bit of her mother’s crystal and I also use that.
D has made it clear that she doesn’t want mine when I no longer need it. I wonder if I used it more she would develop more of an attachment to it? Probably not.
In my mind, setting the table with china, crystal, silver makes the simplest of meals special.
We use our china for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day breakfast in bed and the rare time we host a holiday. Even if it’s just dh and I, we use the china at Easter. I still love my china but really only ever use the plates. When we downsize and move, I’ll probably get rid of it.
We inherited H’s grandmother’s china when we bought our first house in 1996. It’s never been used, nor do I ever plan to use it. I think I’m also supposed to get my grandmother’s china someday. Yippee. (sarcasm)
We don’t entertain. I don’t like formal meals. Pizza in front of the TV watching football is more my style for a special meal.
We have three sets of china, one of which was our everyday service for years. We use whichever set is appropriate when we entertain or for holidays or Tuesdays. The set that gets the most use is the Wedgwood Edme that I collected from various antique stores during our Boston years due to its classic simplicity. But we also use our silver, crystal, and linen regularly.
I put it all in the dishwasher, even the platinum-rimmed set.
I say, if you’ve got it and love it, use it. Often.
I was just about to post I just put all my china into the dishwasher, both my gold and platinum edges are still going strong.
We use our china pretty regularly, what never gets used is the sterling silver flatware. That does need to be hand washed and I don’t like it enough to put that effort in. It stays in the fancy silver flatware box, hopefully someone decides they want to use it someday.
I use my wedding china weekly. It has a silver rim and “needs” to be handwashed but I don’t. The silver fades, and it now looks its age which is perfectly fine. A few years ago I was hosting a formal dinner for one of my nieces who had just gotten engaged and found a huge set on Ebay– unused, still with its price stickers– and negotiated with the seller an incredible price. So now I have the “broken in” set and a pristine (used a couple of times for big events) set and I’m good. It’s fun to have a friend come over for coffee and biscotti and serve with an actual cup and saucer instead of the ginormous mugs we’re all used to.
I use a set I inherited from a great aunt less frequently– it’s ornate and not really my taste (the wedding china is black, white and silver and very versatile) but now when I use it I like it more than I used to. It needs VERY simple everything else (plain white tablecloth, simple white flowers in a plain glass vase) in order to look somewhat contemporary– but it works. And I think of my great-aunt who would want to see it used and put in the dishwasher– which I now do (she didn’t have a dishwasher so wasn’t an option).
My kids like Ikea or anything durable that goes microwave, freezer, dishwasher. So the china gene skips a generation???
I put both gold and silver in the dishwasher. I’d say with weekly use of the silver, I had ten good years before you started to notice the wear. So washed once a week in a dishwasher, ten years, 520 washes before it faded. I use the gold less frequently, and it is in “almost pristine” condition so maybe 5 dishwasher cycles a year over the 40 years I’ve owned it?
My mom loves her fancy vintage china inherited from various relatives, and her large collection of novelty china items (she has so much star wars stuff…), and her equally large collection of handmade pottery and glass items made by my sister and friends. She uses all types of things on an everyday basis. Over MANY MANY years of regular use, the gold and silver rims on fancy things have faded some, but it still doesn’t look too shabby. I don’t think my mom has any plain and simple things in her house
We don’t have fancy old china in our house but we have quite a lot of Calamityware that my mom keeps sending us because my kids like it.
I put my gold rimmed china in the dishwasher. No problems. My thinking is, if it gets ruined, so be it. My kids don’t want it. My mother had 5 sets of china that I donated after she died. I now kind of wish I would have kept her Spode and the beautiful light blue set.
I use it for dinner parties, holidays and sometimes just for DH and me to make dinner seem a bit more special.
I have Wedgewood Amherst china. I think it was very popular in the mid to late 80s. It has a silver rim. I use is maybe once or twice a year. I use my crystal about that often also, but I don’t want to get rid of either.
I say, yes. I’ve dishwashed my rimmed china regularly for over 40 years and all the pieces still look fine.
But the Interwebs has this to add:
The type of gold rim on your china can greatly impact its dishwasher compatibility. Some gold rims are made using real gold, while others are made with a gold-colored metallic glaze. Generally, china with a 24-karat gold rim is more likely to be dishwasher safe compared to those with a gold-colored metallic glaze. The durability and thickness of the gold rim are essential factors to consider.
I guess I should finally break out the China. I think it’s still in boxes. Got married and had children right away and bringing out the China just wasn’t on my to-do list.
I used to use mine every Thanksgiving, but haven’t done that in years. I thought about selling it to Replacements.com, but D (surprisingly) said she might want it.
I use mine for all the holiday dinners (including b-days) so several times a year but not weekly. My dishwasher has a china setting. So far the dishes look perfect.
