Famiware Nebula 24-Piece Dinnerware Set

It sets eight places without a second thought. When a ninth turns up, you pull from the stack of dinner plates you keep for exactly that moment and set one more place with whatever comes close enough. The pieces have the dense weight of fired stoneware. They sit solid on the table.

You run them through the dishwasher cycle after cycle, and the pack says that is fine. You stack the bowls two high in the cabinet, and the plates nest flat. When one chips at the rim, you see the pale clay underneath and you know it is stoneware, not something softer. You use it anyway.