Famiware Porcelain Dinnerware Set for 4

A photograph shows you the color and the shape. What it cannot show is the weight of a porcelain dinner plate in your hand, lighter than stoneware but every bit as dense. Set one down on a wooden table and the sound is brief and clean. The clay body is fired until it vitrifies, so the piece does not absorb moisture. There is no foot ring to trap soap, and the rim is thin enough to lift to your mouth.

Sixteen pieces for four places: dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, and cups with saucers. The two glazes are different enough that you might buy one set now and a second later, and the mismatch will look deliberate. Microwave and dishwasher safe, the pack says, so the set suits a Tuesday dinner as easily as a Sunday one.