Saturday 8 February 2014

Zoom In Zoom Out #6

After another breakage on our unforgiving kitchen floor and yet another chipped dish thanks to careless dishwasher emptying, I decided we could not cope with seven assorted plates and four mismatched bowls and it was time for some new "everyday" crockery.  We found a style we liked in a local store but ordered online as that way we could get the requisite eight plate settings and have it delivered.  Eight might seem a little excessive as there are just three of us at home at the moment, but the dishwasher only runs once a day and when we have family here we regularly have a table full!

Another advantage of having the crockery delivered was that I could inspect it at my leisure before returning some.  It wasn't that I was expecting a packaging problem ... in fact there was so much bubble-wrap, corrugated cardboard and airbag filling that there was only one cracked plate in 40 items.  A good start.


However, experience has taught me that "everyday" crockery, made in China, is not subject to the world's best quality control and that there would be flaws in the glaze or pattern on a proportion of the dishes.  And I was right!  Three of the side plates and four of the dinner plates had tiny flecks in the white glaze that would forever make them look like they hadn't been washed properly!  Luckily the local store had enough stock without obvious flaws to replace them.  All that remained was an hour of plate washing (by hand) to remove the residue of labels and very sticky sticky-tape that had secured them during transit.

I'm linking up with Helena's 6th week of Zoom In Zoom Out ...but I'm hoping for better weather so that I can get outdoors for next week's ZIZO.

16 comments:

betty-NZ said...

What an interesting subject for ZI-ZO. It's always a good thing to have a nice table setting that you can be proud of.

Beverly said...

love the new pattern!

Chidkid said...

Nice crockery!

helena said...

great pattern on your new crockery

Jane said...

looks very stylish.

Lesley G said...

Our cupboard is a bit like that - all the bowls match and all the plates match but they don't match each other!!!

Sian said...

Wow, that's some rigorous quality control you have got going on there :) I hope you enjoy them for many years to come

Lisa said...

pretty set. I don't think I would have thought to have checked the glaze so thanks for the tip. BTW Lakeland do an excellent sticky stuff remover that I use for labels and tape etc (as well as my craft mat and scissors every now and again)

My not so simple life said...

beautiful dishes :)

Missus Wookie said...

Yeah for being able to get enough stock without having to reorder. Enjoy using the new dishes. When I bought our current set I went for fourteen of everything so eight seems perfectly reasonable ;)

Maria Ontiveros said...

What a great pairing! I loved replacing our everyday crockery a few years ago. . . especially because we had been living with the same pattern for about 20 years (we got it when we got married!).
Rinda

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

I like the pattern! We switched over to plain white plates 7 years ago, it's a lot easier to mix & match them when things break this way.

Sandie said...

Having them delivered also saved the carrying. Glad you was able to get the not-so-perfect items replaced and removing those sticky labels takes an age doesn't it?! I was shown a trick once - spray furniture polish over the sticky area left by the label and it wipes off much more easily. Hopefully now you have your new set you won't need to use this trick for a while :)

Prairie Jill said...

Sounds like a lot of work! But I love that pattern, and I love your ZIZO shots.

Alison said...

Lovely pairing...I like the pattern you've chosen!
Alison xx

Julene Matthews said...

Great pattern. They don't make things like they used to. Glad you sorted it out finally.