How to Choose the Perfect Dinnerware Set: A Guide to Materials, Shapes and Sizes
A good dinnerware set is something you live with. It joins you for morning coffee, family dinners, lazy Sunday breakfasts and evenings with friends. It gets stacked in cupboards, loaded into dishwashers and used day after day, often without much thought — until you find yourself reaching for your favourite plate again.
At Laima Ceramics, we make handmade porcelain and stoneware dinnerware in our studio in Latvia. We believe that everyday tableware should be beautiful, functional and durable enough to be used without hesitation, rather than saved for special occasions.
But how do you choose the right dinnerware set for your home? From porcelain vs. stoneware to plate sizes, bowl shapes and stackability, here are the things worth considering before investing in a set you will live with for years.
1. Choose Your Material: Porcelain or Stoneware?
The clay body is the foundation of every ceramic piece. It affects the colour, appearance, feel and character of the finished dinnerware, as well as how glazes look on its surface.
We work with porcelain and several types of high-fired stoneware. Both are excellent choices for everyday dinnerware, but they offer different aesthetic possibilities.
Porcelain: The Finest Canvas for Colour
Porcelain is the whitest and finest ceramic material we work with. Think of it like watercolour paper: even if you don't intend to leave it white, its bright surface provides an excellent background for colour.
Glazes can appear vivid, luminous and clear on porcelain, allowing subtle colour variations and surface details to stand out.
Porcelain doesn't have to mean white dinnerware. In fact, the bright clay beneath the glaze is precisely what makes it such an interesting material for colourful ceramic plates and bowls.
Stoneware: Character in the Clay Itself
Our stoneware comes in several natural tones, from white and speckled white to light concrete grey and dark grey. Each body brings its own personality to the finished piece.
The clay itself becomes part of the design. A glaze that looks bright and luminous on white porcelain might appear softer, more muted or more dramatic on grey stoneware. The contrast along a plate's edge, the appearance of a carved detail and the overall mood of a glaze can all change depending on the body beneath it.
Stoneware is a wonderful choice if you appreciate natural colours, tactile surfaces and a more earthy aesthetic.
Neither material is inherently the better choice for every home. It comes down to the appearance you love and the atmosphere you want your dinnerware to bring to the table.
2. Choose Your Dinnerware Profile
The profile is the shape of your dinnerware: the curve of the plate, the height of its edge and the way each piece sits in your hand.
It affects more than appearance. The profile influences how easily plates stack, how much cupboard space they occupy and how comfortable they are to eat from.
We offer three main profiles, each with its own character.
Classic: Practical, Versatile and Timeless
Our Classic profile is the one we make most often, and for good reason.
Its softly rounded shape and gently open edges allow plates to stack neatly on top of one another, while bowls nest comfortably inside each other to save space in cupboards and drawers.
The plate rim is just wide enough to help contain food without taking up unnecessary space in the dishwasher. Everything has been considered with everyday practicality in mind.
If you like an organised cupboard, efficient storage and a versatile shape that works for almost any meal, Classic is an excellent starting point.
It is available in porcelain and all our stoneware colours.
Organic and Open: Inspired by Nature
Our large open profile, seen in the Dragon collection, takes the basic idea of the Classic — an open shape that stacks — and gives it a more organic, irregular character.
The circles are less perfectly round, the edges are higher, and the silhouette feels freer and more sculptural. We often enhance this profile with added texture, allowing the surface to catch the light and emphasise its natural contours.
These pieces remind me of lily pads floating on a pond: broad, open shapes with softly irregular edges.
This profile is for those who want their dinnerware to feel a little less conventional and a little closer to nature, while still being designed for everyday use.
Our tip: Think about your cupboards and your eating habits as well as the look you love. A perfectly stackable set is practical, but a more sculptural profile may bring you more pleasure every time you use it.
Dune and Coral: Sculptural Edges and Everyday Comfort
Dune and Coral share the same profile, with Coral distinguished by its added surface texture. Instead of rising straight up from the plate, the rim curves gently inward, creating a more pronounced, sculptural silhouette.
As a passionate introvert, this is a personal favourite of mine. There is something quietly distinctive about the shape. It feels special without demanding attention.
Of course, a more expressive profile comes with a few compromises.
The plates take up more cupboard space, and their stacks are less uniform — more of an irregular tower than the satisfying, perfectly aligned stack of our Classic profile. A little water can also collect around the rim during a dishwasher cycle, although the plates fit in most dishwashers.
For me, the advantages more than make up for these small inconveniences.
The higher rim makes this an exceptionally practical plate to eat from. If, like me, you sometimes eat dinner curled up on the sofa, you'll appreciate being able to hold the plate almost like a bowl without worrying about food sliding off. The rim also makes it easier to gather food onto a spoon.
It can be particularly helpful for people who find a higher edge easier to eat from, including those with limited hand control or certain motor difficulties.
And then there is the beauty of it. The higher, inward-curving rim gives the plate a distinctive silhouette, making the profile stand out on the table even before you notice the glaze or texture.
3. Choose the Right Plate Sizes
We make ceramic plates in a wide range of sizes, from tiny 14 cm trinket plates to 32 cm serving platters and even larger pieces for fruit bowls and centrepieces.
But when it comes to building a dinnerware set, we tend to return to two essentials: a smaller plate and a dinner plate.
Finding the perfect dinner plate size has been a surprisingly long journey.
A 25 cm plate is practical, takes up less space and is ideal for everyday meals. But for some people, it simply feels too small. A 27 cm plate feels more generous and more like a proper dinner plate.
For our porcelain sets, we settled on 26 cm as a happy middle ground. Our stoneware dinner plates are available in different sizes, depending on the collection.
There is also a practical side to this decision. In our kiln, two 26 cm plates can fit on a shelf, whereas larger plates often take up an entire shelf by themselves. Small decisions like these help us make the most of our studio's resources.
A Quick Guide to Plate Sizes
14 cm / 5.5 in: Trinket plates, small bites and little treats.
18 cm / 7.1 in: Dessert plates, cake and breakfast.
20 cm / 7.9 in: Side plates and smaller meals.
25 cm / 9.8 in: Compact, practical everyday dinner plates.
26 cm / 10.2 in: Our middle-ground porcelain dinner plate.
27 cm / 10.6 in: A more generous everyday dinner plate.
30–32 cm / 11.8–12.6 in: Serving platters and centre-of-the-table dishes.
4. Find Your Perfect Bowl Size
Bowls are where personal habits really come into play. Some people love one generous bowl for everything; others prefer several smaller bowls for different courses.
Our sets most commonly include an 18 cm soup bowl. It is a versatile size for soup, porridge, salads and everyday meals.
The 15 cm bowl, which we call our dessert bowl, is another favourite. It is also perfectly suitable for soup, especially if you prefer smaller portions and the option of going back for seconds.
I like the Japanese approach of serving modest portions and taking only what you need. Rather than filling an enormous bowl and feeling obliged to finish it, a smaller bowl leaves room for another helping if you're still hungry.
At home, my go-to is the 20 cm bowl. It is my ideal size for everyday meals. My husband, on the other hand, prefers the generous 24 cm bowl.
Once you go beyond 24 cm, we generally move into serving-bowl territory, with our salad bowls typically measuring 26–30 cm.
A Quick Guide to Bowl Sizes
10–12 cm / 3.9–4.7 in: Dips, sauces, nuts and small sides.
15 cm / 5.9 in: Dessert, smaller portions and soup.
18 cm / 7.1 in: Everyday soup bowls and versatile individual servings.
20 cm / 7.9 in: Pasta, salads and everyday meals.
24 cm / 9.4 in: Generous pasta bowls and Buddha bowls.
26–30 cm / 10.2–11.8 in: Sharing salads and serving bowls.
A good collection often combines smaller bowls for sides and desserts, everyday bowls for individual meals, and a few larger pieces for serving at the centre of the table.
5. How Many Pieces Do You Need?
In my humble opinion, a six-person dinnerware set is the perfect starting point. It is enough for everyday family life, a few friends around the table or a small dinner party, without filling every cupboard with dishes.
And the beauty of a set of six is that it multiplies easily.
Add another six, and you're ready for twelve guests. Double it again, and you can serve twenty-four. Add another set, and you're hosting thirty-six. Perfect for those of us with mansions!
More seriously, choosing a set in multiples of six makes it easy to grow your collection over time. You can start with the essentials and add more pieces as your household, entertaining habits or collection evolves.
What Should a Six-Person Dinnerware Set Include?
A good starting point might be:
Six dinner plates, around 25–27 cm.
Six smaller plates, around 18-20 cm.
Six everyday bowls, around 15-18 cm.
From there, you can add pasta bowls, mugs, cups, serving bowls, platters and any other pieces that suit your lifestyle.
Some households use soup bowls every day. Others would rather have six generous pasta bowls. If you entertain frequently, you might need extra side plates or serving dishes. If you enjoy a slow breakfast, perhaps cups and smaller bowls are more important.
Your dinnerware set should reflect the way you actually live, not an arbitrary checklist of what a complete set is supposed to contain.
6. What Makes Handmade Dinnerware Durable?
Handmade ceramics are sometimes perceived as delicate objects best reserved for special occasions. We believe they should be part of everyday life.
That is why we work with porcelain and high-fired stoneware, firing our ceramics at approximately 1260°C. During firing, the clay body shrinks by around 15–18%, becoming dense and fully vitrified.
Vitrification is the process through which the ceramic body becomes dense and less porous. It is an important part of making durable stoneware and porcelain suitable for regular use.
Our dinnerware is designed for the realities of daily dining, including regular stacking, dishwasher use and microwave use where suitable for the individual piece and finish.
Our aim is to find the balance between refined shapes, practical functionality and lasting durability — dinnerware that is beautiful enough for a special meal but practical enough to use without hesitation on an ordinary Tuesday.
7. Choose Dinnerware You Will Love for Years
When I made my first dinner set in 2013, I asked the client a question.
Would they prefer thin, refined edges, or a set that was extra strong and durable, allowing them to stack the plates high?
Their answer was simple: both.
That has been my motto ever since.
I wanted to create dinnerware that didn't ask you to choose between elegance and practicality. Pieces with refined proportions and delicate-looking edges, yet the strength to stand up to everyday life.
Making dinnerware sets is one of our greatest strengths and one of our greatest joys. Restaurant tableware is an important part of our work, but creating dinner sets for families holds a special place in our hearts. We know these pieces will become part of everyday rituals: morning coffee, family dinners, long conversations around the table and all the ordinary moments that make a life.
There is no single perfect dinnerware set. There is the one that feels right in your hands, fits your cupboards, suits the way you eat and makes you happy to set the table.
Whether you choose the clean lines of our Classic profile, the sculptural edges of Dune and Coral, or the organic shapes of Dragon, every piece is made in our studio with the same intention: to bring beauty and practicality into everyday life.
