Families of 5 or 6...

[3 ladybugs]

How many placesettings do you have? For instance, bowls, plates and so on. 

 

I have service for 10 right now and I don't feel like it is enough, but I don't want to go over board either. So what is the right amount?

 

* we have 3 kids right now even though it isn't reflective in my siggy. 

[Heatherwith4]

I think we have 12.

[Carrie12345]

We're 6.5. (Oldest isn't around much.)  We haven't had matched place settings in at least a decade!  I have no idea how many we have of anything, but it always feels like we don't have enough, whether I buy more or do dishes three times a day.

[Tap]

I have Fiesta Ware that I bought as single items to get exactly what I wanted 

 

16 dinner plates

12 luncheon plates (small dinner plate size)

8 chowder bowels

8 pasta bowels

10 fruit bowls

6 java mugs

 

 

We have holiday dinners here, so that is why we have lots of plates but fewer bowels and mugs.  

[happypamama]

For seven people, I have around 12 bowls, 12 lunch sized plates, and 9 or 10 dinner plates. Close to 36 spoons and forks. We run the dishwasher about every other meal. But if we are short on dinner plates, we will grab a lunch sized plate or we will use the nice plates. (I have six handmade pottery plates. They were a custom item and hard to replace, plus they’re heavy, so we mainly save them for date night and other special occasions.)

 

And we have a gazillion glasses and mugs.

Edited October 16, 2017 by happypamama

[gardenmom5]

I think I had four (fam of six) when I bought my current pattern of dishes.

I have a dozen cereal bowls and a dozen soup bowls.

I have 18 plates, dinner, salad, b&b.  (might not be exactly 18 anymore.  I've replaced broken plates, and the numbers changed.  that's my minimum to have on hand.)

I have two sets of costco flatware for 24 place settings.

 

a  dozen mugs in two sizes, plus odds and ends

pyrex custard dishes

 

Edited October 16, 2017 by gardenmom5

[TheReader]

We started off with 12, because that's how many the biggest group is that we'll generally ever have all at one time. I have Fiestaware, though, so add a new set every year when they announce the new color, so now we have 15. We keep 10 down in "regular rotation" and the other 5 on a higher shelf for extras. 

 

Ten works for us (we do have more glasses than that), running the dishwasher more or less once a day, and using paper plates on weekends. 

[Rachel]

Our dishes didn't come in place settings. We have 20 dinner plates. That is a good amount for our family of 5. If we all have eggs or toast for breakfast instead of cereal we have enough plates to get through lunch and can still have company for supper without having to wash dishes. We could probably get by with fewer plates but I purchased 2 boxes of 10.

 

I believe we have 12 complete place settings of silverware. Although the kids eat with salad forks instead of dinner forks so silverware isn't really an issue.

[Rachel]

Oh and when my original dishes started breaking, I replaced them with white. That way if whatever I end up with isn't exactly the same style my table still looks nice.

[Night Elf]

I have a service of 8, which includes dinner plates, bowls, small dessert plates, and coffee cups. We also have some plastic plates so if we run out of regular dishes, which almost never happens, we can use them. I have lots of glasses and silverware. Our silverware is a hodgepodge, it's not matched really so I don't know how many of each we have. 

 

When we do have family here, which is once every year or two, we use nice paper plates and plastic cups. Otherwise we'd have dishes to wash and my family is informal enough to not want to go through that trouble.

[Spryte]

We have service for between 10 - 12, depending on which dishes we need (we have fiesta ware).  We are a family of 5, but we regularly entertain, and we often (several times a week) have a family of 7 join us for meals.  I feel we need a few more place settings to make it less tight when we have guests.  We can swing it, mostly, but I have to stay on top of the dishes and plan ahead.

[Plink]

16

[BarbecueMom]

Household of five. I have exactly five bowls and five of those little condiment bowls. Nine plastic salsa/dipping/snack bowls (so there are three of each color because heaven forbid one kid not get a red bowl!). Eight dinner plates and three smaller plates. Plates match, bowls are all the cheapest white ones from Target.

 

Six mason jars and three actual drinking glasses. Seven mugs and an assortment of random plastic cups (usually giveaway/swag bag type things).

 

No clue on silverware. Enough that we don't run out.

 

I've been known to eat lunch out of old lunch meat containers. It works.

[carriede]

I have service for 6, plus an extra set of salad/lunch plates. We have maybe 6 glass glasses and 2 days worth of those $1 plastic cups for the 3 older kids (toddler=supply cups). We also have about 6 misc. plastic cups that are grown up size. 6 nice mugs, then about 4 random ones. 7 cereal bowls and 4 large bowls that a whole can of soup fits into.

 

Things seem to be okay for our family for now. I run the dishwasher every night. I might occasionally have to wash a bowl or something, but usually it works out. We are not strict about using the same TYPE of thing either - if we need to use a soup bowl for cereal it's okay.

 

We have family visit relatively often, but no "entertaining". Usually we can squeeze in 2 more per meal, but more than that and we just switch to paper products for that time (sometimes for all, sometimes just the kids to supplement). Same goes for flatware. If we have dessert with family over, that guarantees either washing flatware or using plasticware.

 

Oh, and there are 6 of us: 2 adults, 3 kids, one toddler in a high chair (no plates yet).

[rdj2027]

We have 8 sets for 6 people.

[Rebel Yell]

This is sad. We have not gotten any new place settings since our wedding shower 23.5 years ago. :( I have three children, 1 away at college, plus the ones at home have boyfriends who frequently join us for dinner. All girls have friends who are regular guests as well.

 

The most matching sets I could pull together would be three with dinner plates, bowls, and dessert plates, with matching mugs. We have two teaspoons and two iced tea spoons, six forks, don't know how many butter knives, no steak knives (which is good because we can't afford steak LOL) many mugs, and three glasses. We do have 11 dinner plates, 7clear 4 white. We have about 5 different silverware patterns, but very few that make a matched place setting

 

And none of is is inhat cool eclectic mismatched style... just odds and ends and enough to get by so we never really replaced anything.

 

Somehow we manage to feed small crowds, and I use paper/plastic when necessary

 

If I were buying a new set, I would get service for 12. 8 would be enough for each DD to have a guest, and 12 fits comfortable around the table with both leaves in place. Of course, the chairs won't match, but that wasn't part of the original question ;)

Edited October 16, 2017 by Rebel Yell

[bethben]

We have 6 in our family and I have 12 place settings.  If I have a bigger crowd than that, I usually just use nicer paper plates.  

[FaithManor]

LOL, I had eight. Enough for the six of us and two to spare. I have my grandmother's china though and it serves 20, so no worries if we had company.

 

But, over the years, I've broken three of these place settings. With just dh, myself, and one ds here full time, that works out okay so long as we keep up with the dishes. BUT, when the other two are home from college, then we have exactly enough. IF dd and hubby are home, we have to break out the china which is not ideal for every day meals.

 

I can't get the same pattern anymore, and two plates have chips as well, so I am considering going out and buying five place settings of something that would go with the other, and then the china can stay safely packed for those times when we have a big crowd or want to do formal dining.

 

My sons lose forks. I don't know how. I really don't. Seems to be an annoying super power that they possess.

[3 ladybugs]

Hmm... Maybe I don't need whole placesettings I just need more salad plates. We use those as dinner plates unless it is a holiday. We have fiestaware so nothing matches exactly. It is all fiestaware though so it matches sort of. ;) 

 

Right now I have my dishwasher about 1/3 full but I am out of plates. :( I don't like wasting energy and running the dishwasher for just that. However we rarely use our big dinner plates and the coffee cups don't work for the Nespresso machine. We use the bowls but we have yet to use more then half in a 24 hour period. 

 

Silverware is another story. If we were all using the same silverware we would be up a creek right now. However the youngest 2 use Ikea toddlerware so that works. They use normal Fiestaware dishes with the rest of us though. 

[StephanieZ]

12 . . .

 

It's enough so long as the kids don't take things away and lose them in their rooms/basement/etc. So, it was fine until the kids became teens and became more . . . resistant/rebellious to my rules against taking food/dishes out of the kitchen/dining areas. It's still fine for the dishes, as they're large enough to fairly easily find among the kids' rooms/etc. The forks and spoons, however, are seemingly disappearing . . . I think they get thrown away accidentally . . . I've had my set of 12 flatware for about 25 years, and I am now shy on forks and spoons (even though I bought an extra 6 or so of them 5-8 years ago). Anyway, if I were doing it over, I'd get 18-24 of the flatware, and keep 6-12 of them stored "for later"  . . . (like I do with cheap glassware, lol). 

[Loowit]

If you mean that all match, maybe 3.  We just mix and match our plates, bowls and such.  I do have some fine china that I inherited recently with 18 (I think) place settings, but we only use that for special occasions.  I keep thinking maybe I should buy some matching dishes now that the kids are older and then they break something and it reminds me why I don't bother.  We rarely have people over for meals, and the people we do have other don't seem to care that they don't match.

[desertstrawberry5]

Oh and when my original dishes started breaking, I replaced them with white. That way if whatever I end up with isn't exactly the same style my table still looks nice.

 

I am switching over to all white, mix and match. We are 7. We have 8 place settings, Plus one divided dish for Luna and 8 small plastic bowls. 

[Rachel]

Hmm... Maybe I don't need whole placesettings I just need more salad plates. We use those as dinner plates unless it is a holiday. We have fiestaware so nothing matches exactly. It is all fiestaware though so it matches sort of. ;)

 

Right now I have my dishwasher about 1/3 full but I am out of plates. :( I don't like wasting energy and running the dishwasher for just that. However we rarely use our big dinner plates and the coffee cups don't work for the Nespresso machine. We use the bowls but we have yet to use more then half in a 24 hour period.

 

Silverware is another story. If we were all using the same silverware we would be up a creek right now. However the youngest 2 use Ikea toddlerware so that works. They use normal Fiestaware dishes with the rest of us though.

You can probably just buy salad plates.

[Pam in CT]

We host holidays, so I have two holiday sets (one just for Passover) of 24.  But I keep those in the basement.

 

My everyday dinner plates are 8 and 12 respectively... and they go together well (one is solid blue and the other solid off-white and nearly all my tablecloths are blue or white or patterned with blue or white, lol.)  And they're not whole "sets," just plates.  My 12 everyday bowls are also white.  

 

 

[Katy]

I bought some extra china at estate sales that I've never had to break into, so I'm guessing 50+ will be way too many.  Why don't you buy two more place settings at a time until you feel like you have enough?  And stop when you have no more room in the dishwasher to wash them all at once.  Handwashing is never worth it.

[Pam in CT]

I bought some extra china at estate sales that I've never had to break into, so I'm guessing 50+ will be way too many.  Why don't you buy two more place settings at a time until you feel like you have enough?  And stop when you have no more room in the dishwasher to wash them all at once.  Handwashing is never worth it.

 

 

Indeed.

[AnnE-girl]

We're a family of five. We started with twelve place settings of our everyday dishes and 15 of our China due to an error on our registry. We use the salad plates for most meals, so we're down to eight of those, and most are chipped. They are white with a raised dot border, so I'm debating between buying more of the same since Crate and Barrel still has them, or buying other sturdier (cheaper) white salad plates. I like having a pretty table, even if it is just for our family.

[EMS83]

We have something like 20 [each] of dinner plates, dessert plates, and bowls.  Not all matching; about 4 different sets.  The silverware is bananas.  :D

Edited October 16, 2017 by CES2005

[MamaBearTeacher]

Family of five.  We have 10 of each dinner plates, smaller plates and bowls.  Plus 2 additional bowls that are the same color and chipped that I just keep.  Plus we have outdoor dishes (5 plates, 5 bowls of which 3 just broke) .  If I had more than this it would not fit in the dishwasher because I like to put pots and cooking and storage dishes in the dishwasher too and I end up running it 2-3 times a day anyways.  

 

I have never had expensive dishes and I replace when things break.  Years ago we had a few years when I had a set of large bowls (about 12 maybe) and no other dishes.

[SamanthaCarter]

We have a mishmash. I have 10 dinner plates, 7 smaller plates, 15 of a mix of cereal, dip, and plastic bowls. Five mugs. I'm afraid to buy any more because the kitchen is small. We're kind of slobs so we'd use as much as we had and our countertops would be dangerously overloaded with dished to be washed. This way if somebody needs something and they're all dirty, the person is forced to wash.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[athomeontheprairie]

For most meals in a family of 5. For supper we have 7.

I have 14 plates. If my two men are home for lunch it gives me enough to not need to wash lunch dishes before supper.

I do not have enough bowls or salad plates.... I told my kids that's what I want for Christmas.

I use corelle. Not everything matches. That's ok.

[Murphy101]

I have a place setting for 30. LOL

[mmasc]

Hmm... Maybe I don't need whole placesettings I just need more salad plates. We use those as dinner plates unless it is a holiday. We have fiestaware so nothing matches exactly. It is all fiestaware though so it matches sort of. ;)

 

Right now I have my dishwasher about 1/3 full but I am out of plates. :( I don't like wasting energy and running the dishwasher for just that. However we rarely use our big dinner plates and the coffee cups don't work for the Nespresso machine. We use the bowls but we have yet to use more then half in a 24 hour period.

 

Silverware is another story. If we were all using the same silverware we would be up a creek right now. However the youngest 2 use Ikea toddlerware so that works. They use normal Fiestaware dishes with the rest of us though.

Sounds like several buffet or luncheon plates are exactly what you need. Fortunately, you can buy those a la cart. Right now Kohl’s has 30% off, which is where (and when!) I buy the buffet plates. They’re bigger than saucers, smaller than dinner plates. Perfect!

 

ETA: We are a family of five. Last year (after posting here 😊) I bought 8 of the Fiesta Bistro 3-piece sets and 8 of the Tapered Mugs. Since then, I’ve added 8 buffet plates, which pretty much makes everything just right. ðŸ‘ðŸ¼

Edited October 16, 2017 by mmasc

[KungFuPanda]

If you have enough plates to eat three meals without washing dishes all day, that should cover normal use plus holidays. You might not want 15 complete place settings, but complete dinner place settings for 8, plus 8 luncheon-sized plates should get you through most scenarios. It's also nice to have a stack of those cheap, clear dessert plates you can get for a dollar. You know, the ones that either have the imprint of a cabbage leaf or a flower.

 

Eta: At my house we also have 8 white correlle pasta dishes. Those things are so versatile.

Edited October 16, 2017 by KungFuPanda

[magnificent_baby]

12, however, I did order additional bowls. We seem to go through those the most. When we have company we usually use paper plates or pull out the good china, which is actually everyday use china. 

[3 ladybugs]

Sounds like several buffet or luncheon plates are exactly what you need. Fortunately, you can buy those a la cart. Right now Kohl’s has 30% off, which is where (and when!) I buy the buffet plates. They’re bigger than saucers, smaller than dinner plates. Perfect!

 

ETA: We are a family of five. Last year (after posting here 😊) I bought 8 of the Fiesta Bistro 3-piece sets and 8 of the Tapered Mugs. Since then, I’ve added 8 buffet plates, which pretty much makes everything just right. ðŸ‘ðŸ¼

Is it wrong that I only want the colors I don't have yet? I just don't the idea of having anything matchy matchy. Although white Fiestaware seems like a waste! 

[mmasc]

Is it wrong that I only want the colors I don't have yet? I just don't the idea of having anything matchy matchy. Although white Fiestaware seems like a waste!

I think it makes perfect sense to want the colors you don’t have! ;)

BUT, I did buy white Fiesta ware. :) My buffet plates are different colors, but my dinner plates, bowls, saucers, and mugs are white. I was really, really wanting white dishes and I love them! The colored buffet plates did make me feel like I was really making use of the colors of fiesta ware though. Lol

[Rachel]

My friend gave me her old China cabinet this weekend. After reading this thread today I started putting my grandma's China into it. I knew there were two sets at one time but I also knew most of the salad plates and bowls were gone because we used them as everyday dishes growing up. What I didn't realize is that I have 32 saucers and 29 teacups!

 

I guess those are the only pieces that weren't used regularly and survived 50 some odd years? I don't know how I ended up with that many but I can have a tea party for everyone I know!

[mom@shiloh]

Well, I have more kids than that, but only five still living at home.  However, we have guests often and I'm sure I have about two dozen place settings.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Family of 6. 12 place settings. Dishwasher run frequently.

[My4arrows]

We are a family of 6 soon to be 7. At one point we had 12 settings, but over the years it's dwindled. I think we are down to 1 bowl, 10 soup bowels, 10 dinner and salad (the smaller plates). We have since added different bowls for daily use and have 12 of those. The plates are getting worn so we will most likely get more in the near future. I want at least 14-16 plates, but not entire place settings. We only use the large dinner plates when guest come over and then daily the smaller plates. We don't use the other bowls, so we'd go without those as well.