Honestly, I think this is a good trend. Mismatched is more environmentally reasonable since you can find some great used items (and don't have to throw out a whole set when most of it chips). Plus - it adds to the creative challenge of matching. I say down with the Matched monarchy.

Oh heavens! Not mismatched corckery!! ;)

I totally agree with Sleepy Dog. We're in the age of green living, and there are some AH-MAZE-ING finds out there are antique stores, estate sales, and flea markets that are in line with the reduce/reuse mind set.

Of course, there shouldn't be a stop of cool, innovative dish design either! I think a mix of old and new can be not only beautiful, but a great creative expression of who you are.

I also agree that this is a good trend. Aside from being less wasteful it's more economical. Especially for young people just getting started on their own they could better use the money in other ways like putting it towards education expenses or saving it in an emergency fund. My dishes certainly don't match, when I first moved out my mom gave me a small set of dishes (4 place settings) and those are the only ones I own that match at all, everything else has been picked up a few pieces at a time because I thought they were pretty and they were on sale. I've tried to stick in the same color family though so they don't clash.

My doctor friend, about 10 years into her training and $250k in debt, recently mentioned how her mom wanted her to window shop for a $4-12k set of place settings at the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain factory, so she can join the ranks of the rest of the family. I was confused. XD

A mix of old and new, traditional and modern, quirky original combos are always best.

Down with orthodoxy!

"Mismatched is more environmentally reasonable since you can find some great used items (and don't have to throw out a whole set when most of it chips)."

Um - You've never heard of Replacements.com or eBay, have you?

I've collected an entire sets of Wedgwood china and Heath Dinnerware by shopping thru eBay.

Maybe they should realize that young people don't have enough money to buy place settings for 12 all at one time! I have a mix of cheap and expensive things. The manufacturer has discontinued my cutlery and I'm missing 5 forks to have 12 matching place settings because I took too long to buy them. I have been collecting them over the last 10 years but 48 pieces at 15$ a piece takes time when you're not made of money.

So anyone looking to unload 5 Bodum Madrid forks are more than welcome to give me a shout :)

I dislike the trend for mismatched china. It offends my sensibilities :)
I went for a more mainstream collection and only got place settings for 6 people. Denby White FTW! I got about half my stuff as wedding presents, I've been adding to it ever since as and when I had money. But I only get stuff I know will be used. We're not tea drinkers so why bother with a teapot?
Then again, I'm probably no longer a "young person" in Debenham's eyes...

Perfect example that you that you can get upset about *anything* if it affects the industry you happen to work in.

We illustrators got all pissed off about clip art for a while, timber people are probably newly concerned about the importance of books and newspapers... and of course the oil industry has been PAYING scientists for decades to say that global warming doesn't exist. Nobody wants to watch their product or service being replaced, but that's technology and taste for ya: always changing.

If Debenham's is so interested in preserving Victorian etiquette, perhaps they should require their sales staff to climb into corsets and powdered wigs every morning, before comparing their customers to Alice in Wonderland characters.

Or at the very least - they could refrain from dramatic hyperbole and leave the cries of "We're under attack!" to Libyan rebels and Afghani women trying to get to school.

bepsf: I have never heard of that site! You have made my day!! my mother in law got me these beautiful sunflower dishes and she bought all she could find. I love them so much but they have since chipped and we lost one to the tile floor, I just sent in a request to see if they can find them (they had photos of the plates on the site!!)
Thank you so much for posting that link I may be able to replace my beloved plates ( i refuse to get rid of them despite my husbands protesting)

Um, you know what also "destroyed" formal dining? Super expensive dinnerware.

When we were filling out our wedding registry years back, people kept asking what kind of china we were going to pick. Picking china? We weren't going to spend hundreds of dollars on fancy dishes that we had nowhere to keep in our small apartment.

Three years later, we still don't have formal dinnerware and no one cares. Everyone is perfectly fine with using Fiesta!

I see plenty of matched place settings, just fewer people wanting the super expensive ones. Personally, I own some heirloom stuff that I will never use, because it just doesn't match my style of life and the kind of gatherings that occur at my house.

I love mismatched settings, but I always feel like I'm an alien creature for liking formal china even though I'm under the age of 60. The nice stuff is actually more durable (minus gold trim) and I'm not afraid to use for casual dinner parties, etc. Mixing up the patterns centered on a basic white set makes it seem less stuffy to me.

I have a set of fine china I inherited from my mother. Over time, I've had to cull chipped and otherwise damaged dishes, which is mostly fine; I started out with 16 place settings. But replacements.com does not carry the dishes I have. I will have to start filling in my collection with mismatched items, especially since my china set is sorely lacking dessert and serving bowls.

For everyday eating, I've been using mismatched plates, bowls, and glasses for years. No one seems to mind.

I <3 Replacements.com

My grandmother gave me a set of her beautiful crystal from her wedding in the 40's and I was able to complete the set there (since some of it had been ruined in a dish washer fiasco in the 70's).

When I got married, I registered for dishes to match.

A little mix-and-match, but still supported the industry ;)

I was lucky enough to inherit two sets of sterling silver from my mother and godmother, but I was at a loss about china. There was nothing I liked, and I married without a china pattern, at all. My husband, the avocational chef, loved black china and white china, so we had a mismatched set.

One day I walked into a Wedgwood/Waterford store, and saw a mug out of the corner of my eye. I fell in love immediately, and I had found my china. The mug was in the Edme pattern, by far the least expensive of the Wedgwood patterns. It is a daily pattern, of course, and regularly used in restaurants and catering operations.

Now skip ahead two decades, and I must have a thousand pieces. I have collected, first from Replacements and then Ebay, for years now, and have some of the rarest pieces ever made. It was a Victorian pattern, and ceased production after 100 years. I use it every day, every holiday, and every Christmas. My mother had three china patterns, and I didn't like any of them. My simple Edme pattern fits me perfectly, and it was been such a blast to collect a pattern I could afford to collect, and break. I have now retired. I still have a cabinet full of china still wrapped in bubble wrap. That's when you know it's time to stop.

PS I had a friend who married with a china pattern that cost $1,000 a plate, not a place setting, a plate. I never ate at her house. It would have made me too nervous.

I LOVE THIS! My china is a mixture of different brands and patterns, and it is beautiful together. I'm young and single, and didn't need to wait for a wedding to have what I wanted; so I've shopped clearance sales, ebay, thrift stores and flea markets. My collection not only makes for a chic tabletop, but is unique to me and is ever evolving.

My parents have two sets of fine china, but seeing how few times they've been used of the years I just don't think it is worth it.

I prefer to be able to mix and match as I want to - and it is completely possible to create a nice matching table with china from IKEA.

I really dont think the kind of china is the threat to formal dining, rather is it small apartments and another kind of lifestyle. I know hardly any friends (no matter income) who throws formal dinner parties. It just don't happen anymore.

Coming from a long line of "poor as church mice" types, there is no family tradition of "good china" or any other aspect of Victorian etiquette. (For which I am grateful!)

Maybe Debenhams is used to catering to the peerage in Britain, and are just figuring out how few of them are left! I find it hard to believe many other folks worry about doing anything the "Victorian" Way, nowadays. Wasn't that when a deliberate effort was made to outclass your neighbor by having ridiculously specialized flatware for every possible use: oyster forks, etc. -- who needs that kind of one-upsmanship? Not all "etiquette" has to do with mannerly behavior!