Plate Design
Apr. 21st, 2007 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI hate the way you usually learn this kind of stuff the hard way. But here are some features I like in dinner plates:
1) A circular ridge on the bottom. This gives you an anchor for your fingers which, added to wrapping your thumb around the edge, makes for a very nice grip.
2) A similar handhold on the top of the plate. Generally there is a flat span around the edge, and then the rest of the plate is deeper, like a shallow bowl, and you can use the edge between the two to help you hang on to the plate if you are holding it upside down, which I do when I am washing it by hand. (This wide flat band is a terrible feature for bowls if you are the type to ever want to just drink the last bit of broth or milk.)
3) Lightweight. This is less important if you are young and healthy and but at least half-grown, more important if you don't have the ridges described in #1 or #2 above or if you think a three-year-old might help you carry dishes. R. got some beautiful china which did not have any of these first three features, and they got very slippery in the soapy water and let me just say that I am very happy that I am not the one who accidentally broke any of those.
4) A large flat expanse in the middle. Some plates look more like giant bowls which is all good and well until you try to cut something. If most of the "plate" is curving up, you are quite likely to be sawing over an area that is not (yet) touching the table underneath, and so it is quite easy to suddenly tip your plate over and have salad parts flying across the room. (Am I the only one who wants to cut those long chicken strips in Hyde Park's delicious Asian chicken salad into smaller pieces?)
5) Good stacking. Most plates stack well--this is not as big of an issue for plates as it is for bowls. One thing about plastic and Corelle dishes is that you can fit a lot of dishes in a stack of a given height. If your plates don't stack well, you can store them sideways in those little wooden racks, but they take up a lot more space. Even if you have one of those modern kitchens with infinite storage space, your most convenient storage space is still limited.
6) Fits well in a rack. Again this is more likely to be a problem with bowls, but whether you use a dishwasher or wash your dishes by hand and let them dry in a rack, it's nice if they are not so curvy that they just won't fit between the tines. If you are storing them on their sides in one of those wooden racks, you want plates that can fit into the racks you can find.
7) Coordinates well with other things. If you buy neutral colored solid plates, they are likely to go with the most things such as glasses, serving dishes, tablecloths, napkins, and centerpieces, not to mention the actual food you are putting on it. If you buy other solid color plates, they can still go with a wide variety of patterns. If you get patterned plates, you probably don't want to get too many other things with patterns, though you may still have a lot of choices for solid-colored accessories.
8) Replaceable. One good thing about common dishes that have been around forever is that you can replace things when they break. If you are afraid you are buying things that will be difficult to find replacements for, you can always buy some replacements ahead of time and store them someplace out of the way (but well-labeled). My experience as well as my observations in thrift stores show that people are most likely to lose bowls, then plates. They never lose those cups and saucers that they never use. My mom also says that, of all the silverware, people are most likely to accidentally throw away forks, so stock up on those.
Another strategy is to do like the Mexican family a friend of my stayed with once and don't worry about your plates matching each other. She said she was surprised, but it was still beautiful. A strategy I like is to collect white plates that stack well together but don't match. I currently use this strategy with my glasses: I get nonmatching clear glass glasses. I love, love, love this strategy for glasses.
9) Durable. Plastic plates don't break easily, though they do get scratched up. I saw some beautiful ones in a store once and I let myself get two, telling myself that they would be good for picnics and for when kids come over. And maybe to use as decorative serving plates. I don't think I've used them yet, but they are totally out of the way on the bottom of the stack of plates, and I occasionally go look at them. Those Corelle ones are also hard to break, although when they do break, well, it's very spectacular with all the flying shards!
10) Affordable. It's me, so I had to put that. But really, if you love some plates, and they cost a ridiculous amount of money, they may still be worth it to you, especially if you're the type to have lots of tea parties (even if only for yourself) or something like that. Unlike some things, this is something you can be looking at every day of your life, so affordability is less important than for many other kinds of purchases. Of course, if you can't afford food because you've spent all your money on plates, that's not your ideal strategy.
11) Reusable or at least biodegradable. Though sometimes disposable plates can make you very, very happy and be a very affordable treatment to relieve stress. They may even make you more likely to throw parties to which you then want to invite me, and I am also a fan of this. Sadly, any plate that goes into a landfill is not going to degrade. Do people stick these in their compost heaps? I don't know.
12) Does not have lead glaze or any other type of poison.
13) Dishwasher safe.
When I started this entry, I was just going to talk about the first two things, and now it's getting ridiculous. I have things to do!
But if you have some additional opinions about plates, I would love to hear them.
1) A circular ridge on the bottom. This gives you an anchor for your fingers which, added to wrapping your thumb around the edge, makes for a very nice grip.
2) A similar handhold on the top of the plate. Generally there is a flat span around the edge, and then the rest of the plate is deeper, like a shallow bowl, and you can use the edge between the two to help you hang on to the plate if you are holding it upside down, which I do when I am washing it by hand. (This wide flat band is a terrible feature for bowls if you are the type to ever want to just drink the last bit of broth or milk.)
3) Lightweight. This is less important if you are young and healthy and but at least half-grown, more important if you don't have the ridges described in #1 or #2 above or if you think a three-year-old might help you carry dishes. R. got some beautiful china which did not have any of these first three features, and they got very slippery in the soapy water and let me just say that I am very happy that I am not the one who accidentally broke any of those.
4) A large flat expanse in the middle. Some plates look more like giant bowls which is all good and well until you try to cut something. If most of the "plate" is curving up, you are quite likely to be sawing over an area that is not (yet) touching the table underneath, and so it is quite easy to suddenly tip your plate over and have salad parts flying across the room. (Am I the only one who wants to cut those long chicken strips in Hyde Park's delicious Asian chicken salad into smaller pieces?)
5) Good stacking. Most plates stack well--this is not as big of an issue for plates as it is for bowls. One thing about plastic and Corelle dishes is that you can fit a lot of dishes in a stack of a given height. If your plates don't stack well, you can store them sideways in those little wooden racks, but they take up a lot more space. Even if you have one of those modern kitchens with infinite storage space, your most convenient storage space is still limited.
6) Fits well in a rack. Again this is more likely to be a problem with bowls, but whether you use a dishwasher or wash your dishes by hand and let them dry in a rack, it's nice if they are not so curvy that they just won't fit between the tines. If you are storing them on their sides in one of those wooden racks, you want plates that can fit into the racks you can find.
7) Coordinates well with other things. If you buy neutral colored solid plates, they are likely to go with the most things such as glasses, serving dishes, tablecloths, napkins, and centerpieces, not to mention the actual food you are putting on it. If you buy other solid color plates, they can still go with a wide variety of patterns. If you get patterned plates, you probably don't want to get too many other things with patterns, though you may still have a lot of choices for solid-colored accessories.
8) Replaceable. One good thing about common dishes that have been around forever is that you can replace things when they break. If you are afraid you are buying things that will be difficult to find replacements for, you can always buy some replacements ahead of time and store them someplace out of the way (but well-labeled). My experience as well as my observations in thrift stores show that people are most likely to lose bowls, then plates. They never lose those cups and saucers that they never use. My mom also says that, of all the silverware, people are most likely to accidentally throw away forks, so stock up on those.
Another strategy is to do like the Mexican family a friend of my stayed with once and don't worry about your plates matching each other. She said she was surprised, but it was still beautiful. A strategy I like is to collect white plates that stack well together but don't match. I currently use this strategy with my glasses: I get nonmatching clear glass glasses. I love, love, love this strategy for glasses.
9) Durable. Plastic plates don't break easily, though they do get scratched up. I saw some beautiful ones in a store once and I let myself get two, telling myself that they would be good for picnics and for when kids come over. And maybe to use as decorative serving plates. I don't think I've used them yet, but they are totally out of the way on the bottom of the stack of plates, and I occasionally go look at them. Those Corelle ones are also hard to break, although when they do break, well, it's very spectacular with all the flying shards!
10) Affordable. It's me, so I had to put that. But really, if you love some plates, and they cost a ridiculous amount of money, they may still be worth it to you, especially if you're the type to have lots of tea parties (even if only for yourself) or something like that. Unlike some things, this is something you can be looking at every day of your life, so affordability is less important than for many other kinds of purchases. Of course, if you can't afford food because you've spent all your money on plates, that's not your ideal strategy.
11) Reusable or at least biodegradable. Though sometimes disposable plates can make you very, very happy and be a very affordable treatment to relieve stress. They may even make you more likely to throw parties to which you then want to invite me, and I am also a fan of this. Sadly, any plate that goes into a landfill is not going to degrade. Do people stick these in their compost heaps? I don't know.
12) Does not have lead glaze or any other type of poison.
13) Dishwasher safe.
When I started this entry, I was just going to talk about the first two things, and now it's getting ridiculous. I have things to do!
But if you have some additional opinions about plates, I would love to hear them.
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no subject
on 2007-04-21 07:26 pm (UTC)If you use plastic cups: Shouldn't be top heavy or prone to tip. Should be durable. No scratchy edges (again with the nice mouth-feel -- if it's unpleasant you won't use it so it's wasteful). Should be easy to stack (because why not, if you're using plastic?).
You're right about the only learning stuff the hard way. Back in junior high we had a home economics class that taught us things like you shouldn't spend more than 25% of your monthly salary on housing (ha! around here?) and how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Why not the practical shopping-for-dishes stuff?
no subject
on 2007-04-22 05:03 am (UTC)And I like glasses to slope out as you go up, at least at one point in the design under which you can hold the glass, so that laws of physics don't help you drop the glass.
I don't like the glass ones that are super thin--too breakable.
Another lesson I learned about glass glasses is that they don't mix well with stone tile floors. As a result, I am never getting marble or granite counters, no matter how "in" they are or how beautiful they are (Texas actually has some fine looking pink granite). I do not want to have to be that paranoid.
And, especially if the water has been turned off for some reason, be careful with putting fragile things under the faucet as you turn on the water, because sometimes that first spurt is very powerful. Once it slammed the glass I was holding into the glass underneath it, breaking both of them. I really liked those ones, too!
When I took home ec in the eight grade we learned how to sew (but not how to maintain sewing machines), and we watched some little kids, and I remember learning to make chocolate fondue using ingredients I don't ever want to use. The best part was that we had to put together a cookbook with eight sections and at least ten recipes per section. Because of that assignment, I got a lot of my favorite family recipes.
We also had to do some price comparisons in the grocery story. I learned that parmesan cheese is much, much cheaper when you buy it in a block than when you buy it finely grated. That was our only personal finance lesson as far as I know.
no subject
on 2007-04-26 12:36 am (UTC)microwave safe
on 2007-04-22 06:58 am (UTC)Re: microwave safe
on 2007-04-22 08:12 pm (UTC)I also use the plates to cover bowls of stuff I am microwaving and sometimes to cover glasses of things I decided I am done drinking for a while.
And you remembered the real name for Corelle dishes. I went back and updated my entry to make it look like I had remembered this the whole time.