10 Ceramic Dinnerware Brands Worth Splurging On

Picture this: You’re hosting a little get-together and have your best cookware set ready to whip up something delicious. Then, you look over at your dinnerware selection and realize that not only are there not enough plates to serve your guests, but the plates you do have are chipped and mismatched. Luckily, dinnerware has come a long way, with many great direct-to-consumer brands making it easy to invest in a sturdy set of matching ceramic plates, bowls and glasses that will make you feel fancy (and last for years to come). These ceramic dinnerware sets are not only functional and microwave-safe, but they will certainly be the talk of the table, too.

Jono Pondolfi Designs hand-crafts custom ceramic dinnerware for Michelin-starred restaurants across ... [+] the country, using non-toxic porcelain clay.

The bottom line? It's time to ditch those disposable plates and upgrade your dinner table for your next soirée. Below, a roundup of ceramic dinnerware sets that will live up to you—and your guests’—expectations.

Material Kitchen

Founded in 2018, co-founders Eunice Byun and David Nguyen teamed up to create thoughtfully-designed cookware, kitchen tools and tabletop accessories for the modern home cook. The brand's hand-finished ceramics are made from natural Korean clays crafted exclusively for the brand. Its dining sets and knives perfectly straddle the line between traditional and modern, offering an understated elegance that sings "heirloom status." Unlike some other more delicate dinnerware brands though, the sturdy quality of these pieces ensures everyday use as well.

East Fork

Skip your basic plates and bowls and go for an artful look with East Fork's pottery. Co-founded by Connie Matisse and based in Asheville, North Carolina, the brand makes lovely and durable tableware made from clay and baked in a wood-fired kiln. While well-known for its pottery, East Fork also carries an array of elegant tabletop essentials that aren't commonly found, such as recycled Moroccan glassware, brass ladles and linen tea towels. This seven-piece set gets you all the basics, including a breakfast bowl and a cake plate.

Our Place

L.A.-based cookware brand Our Place is known for its Always Pan and Perfect Pot but the brand also sells a line of tabletop essentials that will make your dinner presentation an Instagrammable experience. They’re made from sustainable porcelain ceramic with a hand-painted speckled surface and a lip so that your vegetable stir-fry doesn't slide off your plate when you set it down. Their stackable feature also makes storage easy and satisfying. The sets are available in three earthy colors that allow you to color-coordinate perfectly with your Always Pan.

Year & Day

Year & Day's unfussy ceramic dinnerware collection is sustainably forged and features a color palette inspired by the California coastline. The clean, classic lines of its bowls allow it to look good whether it's holding bananas on your kitchen table or steaming with Thai soup. The plates and bowls are not only microwave and dishwasher–safe but can withstand oven temperatures of up to 480 degrees.

Food52

If you’re the type to find beauty in imperfection, you’ll appreciate Hawkins New York Essentials’ Atelier stoneware ceramic collection. The charmingly uneven edges and solid matte surface gives the otherwise pragmatic plates and bowls a quiet, dignified look. The collection is a great way to show off your tastefulness without sacrificing function, putting the attention on your painstakingly-made dinner presentation rather than on flashy features that distract.

Haand

Haand offers ethically-sourced ceramic collections broken down by aesthetic like the thunderstorm-inspired Stormware set and Nordic-inspired Skali set. We’re partial to the Ripple set, which features a lovely, asymmetric design reminiscent of the ripples that occur when you throw a stone into a quiet pond. Haand prides itself on doing everything in-house with real craftspeople rather than machines. Its porcelain is made in bisque kilns and fired to temperatures used in industrial porcelain to ensure durability. The result is high-performing dinnerware worthy of plating the meals you worked so hard to cook.

Made In Cookware

Made In is known for its restaurant-quality cookware line but has expanded to include tabletop essentials created with the same commitment to detail. The plates and bowls are made from local clay in England, using factories with experience creating products for commercial use. Added bonus: Made In's collection comes with a one-year no-chip guarantee; the brand will replace your plates if they chip within that time.

Macy's

If you like your table setting to have a splash of color and a little history, Fiesta's kaleidoscopic collection is the perfect fit. The brand's pottery is made in the U.S. and its history dates back to as far as 1871. Many reviewers fondly mention how their Fiesta collections have been passed down through generations. Since 1936, Fiesta has had a tradition of introducing a new color to the collection every year, which continues today, so you’ll always have the opportunity to make your table setting even more colorful than it already is.

Jono Pandolfi Designs

This New Jersey-based brand originally hand-crafted custom ceramic dinnerware for Michelin-starred restaurants across the country. Now, it's available to hold your store-bought ramen noodles too. In addition to dinner plates, the collection includes cereal bowls and mugs, each piece thick yet elegant, making them as ideal for everyday use as they are for classy dinner parties. Some pieces are painstakingly created using as many as 15 individual steps in the process, meaning that once it finally makes it to your table, it’ll hold up well.

Leeway Home

Leeway Home is all about convenient bundles that come with everything you need, including glassware and flatware. True to its name, it takes all the hassle out of dining room shopping, giving you more leeway to focus on the important parts instead—like what you want for dinner. You also have the option of building your own kit if you choose not to go for the readymade ones. Its collections are made of clay stoneware and come in understated pastels like pink and blue, alongside basics like white.