Average Jane’s Surfeit of Dishes

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Yesterday’s post on Fussy.org made me realize that I have a ridiculous number of dishes. In fact, I have nearly three complete sets.

It all started with the set of cheap, clear glass Corning dishes I bought when I first moved out on my own. They are as close to indestructible as dishes can be. I’ve dropped them in the sink and frisbee’d them across the counter to no effect. I think our cat managed to knock one of the bowls onto the slate floor of the kitchen hard enough to break it, but otherwise the set remains intact. The plates are scratched and ugly now, but how can you throw away perfectly serviceable dishes?

When I got married, my mother insisted that I register for nicer dishes. I didn’t want china, but I registered for a stoneware pattern that probably seemed like a great idea at that very moment, but is now as dated as a pair of stirrup pants layered with a shoulder-padded sweater. It’s Noritake Sand ‘n Sky, if you feel like looking up a photo of it on Ebay to confirm my assertion. The very fact that I would select something that had ‘n in its name tells you how compromised my taste was at the time.

Thanks to my Vegas wedding and at-home reception, the wedding gifts didn’t exactly come rolling in. Thus, I didn’t get a full set of the Sand ‘n Sky (urgh!) until quite a few years later when my grandmother noticed the oversight and insisted on buying the rest. By then I already knew I wasn’t exactly in love with them, but the cereal bowls are nice and large and I have the matching chip and dip set and gravy boat, so it seemed reasonable not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I’m sure you’re thinking that’s all the dishes anyone could possibly need – and you’d be correct. However, that didn’t stop me from buying another set of dishes a few years ago. I was on a garage sale shopping roll one day when I spotted a nearly complete set of Vitromaster Jazz china for $25. I was contemplating turning my guest room into a dining room (and, in fact, the contemplation continues) and I thought the colors in the Jazz dishes might be a good starting point for the decor. The Jazz dishes have a little bit of an Art Deco feel, but they’re really the Madonna lace gloves and rubber bracelets that would nicely accessorize the aforementioned stirrup pants and linebacker sweater. In other words, I don’t know what I was thinking.

So here I am with three sets of dishes hogging an entire kitchen cabinet. We use the old glass dishes every day, move on to the stoneware ones when all of the glass dishes are dirty, and almost never use the china. Yes, that was money well spent.

It’s all a symptom of my compulsive collecting of kitchen items. But that’s a story for another time…

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4 responses to “Average Jane’s Surfeit of Dishes”

January 25, 2005

Kevin

My mother-in-law compulsively collects Fiestaware (the heavy ceramic stuff). She decided at some point to start giving us the old stuff, which was great at first, but now we have about 16 of everything, and no room for more. To top it off, I noticed that the cabinets appear to be SAGGING from the weight. Yes, that’s right — they’re pulling away from the ceiling as we speak.

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January 25, 2005

Stacie

My mom has an obsession for Depression Glass. She’ll find an almost complete set, buy it, sure that she’ll find the missing pieces cos she just saw them a few weeks ago at a different rummage sale/flea market. She never does, so the dishes just sit in boxes.
I think I have been given three or four “sets” and my brother has at least two. She is moving again and will clean out the boxes to see what she has versus what she needs. If she finds less than four sets, I’m gonna be surprised.
Stacie

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January 25, 2005

Cagey

Jane, this post was for me! I have had a dish fetish since I was a little girl looking wistfully at dish patterns in the many antique malls my mom and aunt dragged me through. I have a particular fondness for Franciscan (I have settings for 9 people of the Apple, plus other odds ‘n ends). However, they are mostly in the newer version of Apple and I really prefer the older (1940s and 50s). I have started getting some of the Desert Rose pieces, too – which is SCARY considering how much I love dishes and antique malls (like I need a reason to even go in one). I am just grateful that the Ivy pattern is difficult to find and very expensive. The silver lining? My aunt has a MASSIVE collection of the Apple with some hard-to-find and rare pieces. She has no daughters. Only sons. And nieces. Like me.
Now, silverware is another story. Through a quirk of gift-giving from a great-aunt and my grandma, I have place settings for 40, yes **40**!! people in my pattern of silver. That’s a lot of polishing, folks.

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February 20, 2005

Judi Lynne Judy

Hey,
Do you still have the Vitromaster Jazz dishes? I have three plates and one bowl that I got at a second hand store in Washington state while camping. I now have a little art cabin that I am finishing building; (two 12×12 rooms,) and wanted to fill the tiny open cupboard we just finished making with Jazz dishes. Wanna sell your Vitromaster Jazz to an artist who would love them dearly? It would mean a lot to me.
Judi Judy
oval333@hotmail.com

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