June 25, 2022

A new house needs a new Flatware pattern! This was surprisingly difficult to do. We started out with a pattern from Bed, Bath and Beyond’s collection, but all of their flatware is manufactured in Asia and it isn’t any good. We got optimistic and ordered the full dozen place settings that we need and after the first trip through the dishwasher, they came out spotted and streaked. Not just a few water spots, the metal was actually permanently discolored!

So, time to try a name brand. We found an Oneida pattern that we liked, but it had the same problem, manufactured in Asia and permanent discoloration. It was also being discontinued!

All right, no more attempting to economize, let’s find something manufactured in the 1st world by a company that doesn’t do seasonal styles and constant discontinuations. We found the Sambonet Linear pattern. It is a huge pattern, with every piece you could imagine in it (except sporks) and it’s still in full production.

At the left, the Sambonet Linear, in the middle the Oneida, and at the right the Bed, Bath and Beyond. The permanent discoloration is really obvious.

We also needed a new china pattern and got that a while ago. At the time the whole world seemed to be going square, so we went with the Mikasa Couture Platinum pattern.  It looks like they discontinued it, but we’ll be able to replace any broken pieces from Replacements, Ltd for a long time.