apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My gramma had the green ones. We had blue, but that was after the brown stoneware which was after the olive floral melamines from my very early days in the mid-70s.

I grew up with the plain white Corelle and almost bought my own set at Kmart.

My parents would never have used these (they had a set of white plates with a blue anchor on them that they bought at a Navy surplus store), so I tend to think IKEA and C&B are not the contemporary equivalent. Maybe lower-end Lenox or Pfaltzgraff?

I don't think the average American household has the same sort of general homogeny that it used to now that we have home decorating shows and the internet and all the home magazines. There are so many more options now, and so much more awareness of those choices.

I have Corelle Old Town Blue. Two generations of it.

ha! my parents still have those plates!

I would suggest C&B as the place to buy today's version - most of the 20 or so weddings I've attend in the past few years have registered for their everyday plates from there. And the majority of those registered for the 'capri' style or some variation thereof (wide band of color on the rim, contrasting smaller stripes on the outer & inner edges of the rim). I found these, the 'luster' style, in more subdued shades (the capri ones were bright yellow/blue/white, but are apparently discontinued):

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=30&f=14217

There's a corelle outlet center on Northern Blvd. in Queens. Take the R train to "Northern Blvd" and walk up 3-4 blocks.

My Mom has the white w/ blue trim ones. They get used EVERY DAY except on holidays. LOL

Wow. I never knew these were so pervasive. We lived in a small town in Australia and we had that dinner set as well.

Didn't have that dinner set at home, but Mom's Mom had something very, very similar in Corning Ware. Now that I have a toddler, I have bought Corelle. I got the "diner" pattern with the red stripe. C&B is the basic registry item, but I think most NY kids will remember Mom & Dad's Fishes Eddie finds and the Corelle less-breakable equivalents. 50's diner retro is kind of embarrassingly prevalent.

C&B, absolutely. Just about every house I visit of 20 or 30-somethings seems to be furnished out of a C&B catalog--it's more furniture than place setting, though.

For china, it's white plates with plain platinum bands. DARN IT. That's what I registered for--back when it wasn't nearly so popular. But the plain china is so FLEXIBLE that I can't regret it even if I am just like everybody else.

BTW, one of my grandmas had the green Corelle. The other had the blue. My parents? The yellow! They're being manufactured again. *g*

I've had a number of different dishes, and I've really come to appreciate Corelle. It's tougher than the heavier earthenware, and it stores better. It also bounces more often than breaks when you drop it. I drop a lot of things, so I appreciate that. Once I finish breaking my current set of Pfaltzgraff (unfortunately NOT the cheapest stuff), I may go to plain white Corelle. Then again, Fiestaware is calling me, too...

It's so strange when you see dishes, fabrics, wallpaper patterns, etc. that you remember from childhood, and they're so familiar--I find it almost spooky. I don't really think that will happen as much for people who are growing up now because C&B, etc. change their patterns much more often.

Fiesta Ware?

omg my mom had those plates or maybe it was my aunt. i cant remember and the trim was green (avocado)! hahahaha who knew everyone else had them too lol!

When I grew up we had these plates, and we also had Blue Willow china (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Willow), which I really loved. So much so, that when I grew up, I got a dinner set of blue willow plates for myself. :)

My mom is still using these. The mugs are tiny & very rounded at the edges. Plus, I had an aha! moment when I saw them featured in the low-budget movie "Primer".

I think it's probably something that comes from Target, K-Mart, Wal-Mart or low end department store. CB1 is too high end, compared to Corelle etc. Or something from an outlet mall.

Grew up with Franciscan (I think that's the pattern) from Marshall Field's no doubt (or maybe, a slight maybe, Carson's).

I have these plates (and bowls and mugs..) in avacado in my cabinets right now! My parents still use a similiar set by Corelle but it had a diferent flower pattern of orange, browns, and yellows. When I moved to the big city I was given second-hand sets of plain white dishes and these. The plain white dishes sit in the cabinet and these get used everyday! I think they remind me of home a little (a lot). Come to think of it, my grandmother has a set in blue, too.

I'm not sure what I'll choose when I "grow up," get married, and get to pick out nice tableware... At this point I think I'll ask for nice china and stick with my everyday "vintage" peices :)

Franklin Mint dinnerware series featuring Bob Hope, American Clown.

i see those plates at the goodwill all the time (various locations). i figured they were popular from the era, but i never knew much about them. i think they're really neat.
thanks for the interesting post!

as to what is the new patternor brand? no clue. half of my dishes were swiped from my dorm's dining hall, a quarter are from thrift stores, and the last bunch are from urban outfitters (their squircle plates and souper bowl series -- in red, orange, yellow, and lime. they look good, stack nicely, and have held up really well. and they're affordable!).

We had a wonderful amber glass set of dinnerware. Three kinds of bowls, saucers and mug shaped cups, tall glasses, juice glasses, and two sizes of plates. All that remains are three glasses, currently in my cupboard and a bowl or two.

But the corelle? We never had a set, but my mom, somehow, has three avocade dinner plates.

I have six cereal bowls in white. Love them.

also, thank you! I didn't know the name of the pattern before and now I can shop on ebay for some missing peices!
(ebay is much cheaper than the replacements.com website linked above FYI)

We had that blue and white Royal Copenhagen. Or maybe it was a knock-off as there are a few around. Once we'd broken enough of those, my mother started buy groovy pottery. It was the 70s.

My great-grandma had Franciscan Apple for 12, but she kept it for good, not everyday. My sister has it now.

I have two sets of porcelain from CB (both sets for 4, and both now missing pieces). There are so many more choices these days, that it's hard to have something as ubiquitous as a particular Corelle pattern.

My parents also had this set. I've considered stealing it because they no longer use it--it's stored away in another cabinet somewhere. My grandmother had plain white as well as the gold one (as well as other plates for Sunday dinner--big family) It does stack very nicely...and is so nice and light.

I think most of us are too removed from the mainstream in the socioeconomic and design aesthetic sense to really know what the more ubiquitous pattern these days is. Though, I have a feeling others are right in saying that there is a greater selection these days and people buy more and get rid of things more frequently too.

I'd say the new ubiquitous middle class American dinnerware is probably anything in that "classic white" style Crate & Barrel is known for, but which you see everywhere from Martha Stewart to Fishes Eddy.

Fiesta.

I had no idea that was the tableware of a generation, but somehow my parents have a bunch of baking ware in that pattern!

I too have that exact pattern in my cabinet right now and use them everyday. I inherited it from my grandmother and I absolutely love it. It very much reminds me of her and the pattern is just so cute. The only thing I don't have are the bowls, the ones that were with her set were just plain white.

My neighbors had the green. I had no idea it was a thing.

I use Fiesta and Franciscan Apple. Same as my grandmother. My parents had some navy blue Italian dishes. Can't remember the name.

I used these dishes today, they're one of my mom's two Corelle patterns, the other has harvest gold daisies because apparently you can't have avocado all the time.

I'm rather partial to Fiestaware, myself, and I see a lot of it around. Its similar to Corelle in terms of sturdiness and not too fancy, but I like the chunkiness and monochrome aspect while my mom says its "just too heavy."

I wanted to replace by Corelle once my kids were grown up, but the inexpensive tableware is all too heavy, too likely to chip. I love the Fishes Eddy type but they weigh so much I finally decided to stay with Corelle - plain white only though

Ditto, LizB! I know at least 4 people who have that C&B Capri pattern...though I dont' think it will last as long as the corelle. It seriously crackles over time (and not much time, either).

I still use my parents's set of mikasa "joy" dishes from the late sixties (avocado green and yellow ochre). I'm finally tired of them but haven't been able to commit to something new.

When I was little, my mom had dinnerware that she got piece by piece in Duz detergent boxes. It was cream color with a wheat sheaf design in the center and a thin band of gold at the outer edge. A few times I have seen a piece or two at a thrift store or consignment shop and it brought back memories.

It's funny to see the Corelle here, as I have been thinking of buying a set. I have moved so many times over the years and my current dinnerware set is heavy and chips easily. Corelle would be lighter and is much more durable, so would be much more practical for me.

If you want to move on from the Corelle, try porcelain. A friend who managed a Macy's china department and later worked at a CB swears by it.

Porcelain is actually much more durable than people think. I've had one set of mine for at least 20 years and I'm missing a plate, a saucer and a bowl. The saucer didn't even break -- it just evaporated into the ether. I'm an extremely klutzy person and I'm constantly dropping things in the kitchen sink, whacking the dishes on the tap while I'm trying to wash them, etc.

It's much sturdier than typical stoneware and is much lighter weight.

Fiesta. My mother has a HUGE collection of the original stuff, I have a set of the newer stuff. My brother and his wife have fiesta too.....

What a fun post/thread! My mom has my grandother's fiesta, which I eventually will inherit. Growing up, we used the American classic apple pattern china, which my brother's family now has, and my nephews are growing up with that!

No one in my family will ever need to buy dishes (not that we don't!) but we have a small family that gets smaller generation after generation....dozens of sets of antique china in our basement, not to mention all the mismatched pieces floating around various china cabinets!

We are a "blended" family for everyday dishes. My husband's family had white Corelle. We had something mult-color with a ballerina on the back. Then we got willowware like my mother's mother's set.

When we married in 1985 we got the light blue rimmed on white that they are bringing back now! We totally changed our decor about five years ago. You can break them if you leave them on a hot stove accidentally....a few times....

So, I went with matte earthenware in black, taupe and beige... Too heavy. Breaks all the time. Getting tired of handling it and replacing it. Thinking about going to one of the new Corelleware patterns. Nice stuff really.

This is too funny. My family didn't have the Corelle, but I remember lots of friends parents who had this growing up. My parents had Mikasa with wheat and flowers on the center of the plates - I hated it, even as a child! Mom has moved on to Fiestaware and I'm still using a set purchased from Target in undergrad. Maybe I should do something about that one of these days . . .

When I was about 7 or 8 I remember getting for a Xmas a childs set of the Corelle Cornflower set with the matching 'bakeware".

When I moved out to my own apartment I bought the real thing including the coffee pot. I only have the coffee pot now and unfortunately in my many moves since then somehow lost the coffee basket that goes inside (i've looked on ebay to try and find a replacement with no luck), but I have the pot sitting on my kitchen counter. I love looking at it and remembering when I was a kid and my Saturday chore was to dust the beautiful midcentury furniture we had while I listened to music by Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, The Temptations and who can forget Marvin Gaye. I'm waxing nostalgic...

We had the white with blue trim corelle, too. For "fancy" dishware, we had phaltzgraf (sp?) that was also stony-white with blue flowers. Our neighbors got the same set, so if either family was entertaining, they could borrow extras from the other family.

It seems like the white square-with-rounded-edges dishware is pretty popular these days.