Famiware Milkyway 18-Piece Stoneware Dinnerware Set

The Milkyway line has a smaller set and a larger one, and this 18-piece version holds the middle. Six places is what a weeknight table fills, and it stretches for company. The stoneware body is dense, so a plate comes up heavy in the hand. The speckled glaze keeps the set at home with the rest of the line. This is the set you reach for when the table has to be laid fast.

It goes from breakfast cereal to Sunday pasta in the same day, then straight into the dishwasher. The microwave is fine, the pack says. A hard knock will chip a rim, and the chip shows pale clay underneath. Stoneware does not bend. It chips. Two pieces stack cleanly. Three start to wobble, so stack with care.