Tag: dinner sets

Be Safe With Your Dinnerware

Are you staring at your plate right now with suspicious eyes? If so, then relax and take off that crease from your forehead. If you are worried about lead being present in your dishes, then we are here for you. Here all your doubts about how to test dinnerware for lead will be addressed and you don’t have to worry.

Safety is the first thing anyone wants while buying any product. You wouldn’t have thought about searching for lead in your dinnerware. Did you? Dinnerware is the most regularly used item in our homes, but to find that unsafe for us is disappointing. And also you shouldn’t be even asking this question. Think about it, you bought a nice dinner set from a respectable company, but here you are getting suspicious? Don’t worry any further. We will clear all your suspicions. Come on, let’s have a look at how to test your dinnerware for lead?

Why is Lead unsafe?

Lead is a harmful toxin that if ingested, may cause serious damage to the body systems. Children and pregnant women stay at a higher risk of health issues from the toxic effects of lead. You may have heard of lead poisoning too. It is very real and lethal.

Lead does not leave your body after entering. It accumulates there and due to this, even small amounts are harmful to health. You need to remove lead from your dinnerware so that you can eat your food safely.

Why is Lead Used in Dinnerware?

Lead is used in dinnerware for glazes and bright colors. It is basically used to beautify the dishes. The glazes that make the dishes shine like glass, the bright red color designs, these all are lead. It seems nice but it’s lethal. Lead also provides strength to the dishes and prevents them from moisture.

How Does Lead Enter Our Body?

There are many ways in which lead can enter our bodies. Let us point them out for you.

  1. If hot food is served on plates with glaze, the heat tends to extract the traces of chemicals from the surface and enter the food.
  • If you heat your food in the microwave, it can get lead into it. So don’t heat too many times.
  • Serving too much acidic food on a plate can also cause lead to enter the food. Acids tend to fast forward the process.

What Type of Dishes Contain Lead?

Dishes come in many varieties, so it can be hard to figure out the safest one. But we have something for you that can help. Now try to avoid the following things when looking for dishes:

  1. Antique dishes that may be passed down in your family from generations.
  • Heavily designed dishes, especially with bright colors like red, yellow, or orange.
  • Used dinnerware found in thrift stores or second-hand dishes you bought at a lower price.
  • Terra cotta dishes which are heavily glazed
  • Handmade dishes or pots.
  • Any dish with corroded glaze, or old dishes with worn-out designs.
  • Dishes with designs made above the glazed surface.

How to Test For Lead in Dishes?

You didn’t think you can check for the lead with plain sight, did you? No, you can’t. But there are some ways to test dishes for lead. One of them is to avoid the above mentioned types of dishes. Another useful way is by testing the dinnerware by home kit for testing lead in dinnerware.

Home Kit for testing lead in dinnerware is mainly useful for high content lead testing. It does not detect if there are only small amounts of lead in the dishes.

Another way is to send the dishes to a laboratory. But this may be a bit of absurd advice considering everyone doesn’t have access to labs and it is a bit expensive as well.

Method to Test For Lead With Home Kit

  1. Buy the chemically tested swabs, which are not very expensive.
  • Clean your dish with the swab.
  • If your dish contains lead, the lead detector on the swab with turn bright red indicating the presence of lead in your dish.
  • Or use a small chipped section of the glaze from the dish.
  • Peel a small part of the glaze and test it with the swab for more accuracy.

This method doesn’t tell you the exact amount of lead present in the dish. It is not much use but is fine for testing at home.

Method For Testing Lead in Laboratories

  1. Laboratories use X-ray systems to test for lead in dishes.
  • This method tells the accurate amount of lead present in the dish by using some electron reactions (which you don’t need to know about).

There are many ways to test for lead in laboratories. But some of them might damage the dish in the process. So this method is not feasible.

How to Reduce Exposure to Lead From Dishes?

The following points might be of some help:

  1. Stop using antique dishes
  • Don’t heat food in contaminated dishes
  • Don’t use highly glazed dishes for regular use
  • Stop storing food in contaminated dishes for a long time
  • Don’t wash the dishes containing lead in the dishwasher
  • Don’t serve acidic food on dishes containing lead. It speeds up the process.

Safest Lead Free Dinnerware

Choosing lead-free dinnerware for your safety is not that hard as it sounds. Just keep some points in mind next time while shopping for dishes.

  1. Choose the dishes with minimum designs
  2. Dishes with less glaze will be safe
  3. Plain white plates or dishes is definitely a winner
  4. Try to find less bright colored dishes
  5. We recommend more glass dishes. With them, you can be sure they are lead-free.
  6. If you are an appreciator for old, vintage dishes, you may want to restrict to the plain white ones.
  7. Melamine is considered to be the safest as it is more plastic than a glazed surface.

Now you are just a step away from buying lead-free dinnerware. Step out, go to that store, keep these few points in mind and find the perfect dinner set for you. And we hope now you know how to test for lead in dinnerware.

How To Choose Dinnerware

Dinnerware is the allure of the dining table. It settles the right tone of the dinner. Whether it is an informal dinner with your friends or a formal with your boss and colleagues or maybe even your regular dinner at home with your family. Different types of dinnerware are used for different purposes of dinner gatherings. If you have doubts about how to choose dinnerware, you have come to the right place. This right here is the proper guide for choosing dinnerware for the perfect setting.

Dinnerware is not just for style, it should be useful as well. It is a daily use item and should be durable for a long time. Now, how do you choose the right type of dinnerware for all different purposes? Don’t know? Well, let us help you with that. Come on, let’s dive into the world of dinnerwares.

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Types of Materials Used for Dinnerware

Before searching for anything else like the style, design, and colors, of the dinnerware set, look for something that will be durable and will not embarrass you in front of your guests. Some of the famous materials used for dinnerware sets are Bone China, Porcelain, Earthenware, Ceramic, and many more. Read on to have a detailed look at the types of materials.

Bone China

Bone China is the perfect type of dinnerware for both daily use and formal dinners. It is durable, stylish, comes in many designs and colors. It is generally thin,  lightweight, and chip-resistant. In addition to its qualities, it is microwave safe and can be easily washed in a dishwasher. It has an elegant appearance and is better than fine china.

Earthenware

One of the oldest types of dinnerware sets that gives a casual appeal. Earthenware gives slight durability and adds value to the dinner set. It also provides a significant weight to the dishes. But make sure you avoid high temperature changes that may damage the look of the material. Keep the microwave at low temperature settings while using earthenware. It is affordable but not as suitable for daily use as others.

Porcelain

Porcelain is the most common type of dinnerware material and the best for daily use purposes. This amazing type of material is dishwasher, microwave, and oven safe. It provides wonderful durability and appealing designs. Porcelain has a non-porous surface that gives an amazing texture. It is difficult to manufacture. But it is less expensive than Bone China and is easily affordable.

Ceramic

Ceramic is specifically not a type of material but it is considered as a class containing different types of china and porcelain. It is generally white in appearance but ranges in color from white to blue. White also has many different shades in ceramic, like off-white and others.

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Stoneware

Stoneware is made from the same materials as porcelain but in different ratios. This makes it more heavy weight and sometimes it has a texture. This material may have speckles on it which gives a beautiful look to the plates and dishes. It generally comes with an off-white body. It is durable and user friendly. It is good for regular use as well as dinner parties. But they need to be kept at normal temperatures and away from both freezing or very high temperatures.

Melamine

Melamine is used for outdoor purposes as it is unbreakable. It is hard to break or chip. It is dishwasher safe but unfortunately not microwave or oven safe.

Sizes of Dinnerware sets

Now after getting to know about the materials of dinnerwares, next important point is to decide what size you have in mind. Is it a proper dinner set or just some plates for regular use? Let’s have a look.

Formal Dinnerware

Formal dinnerware sets mostly contain all the required dishes for a person to have a great dinner easily. It may also contain soup bowls. It contains full plates, quarter plates with serving spoons, and small spoons for eating.

Open stock

Open stock is a piece by piece sold dinnerware set. It can include dishes of your own choice. You are free to add items of your requirement like plates, spoons, or some dishes. You can mix and match with your collection at home if you need some white plates to go with your set, you can easily find them. If you don’t want the whole dinner set with things you don’t require, then you can go for open stock and select the items as per your requirements.

You can collect single pieces of different sizes or designs and colors according to what you have in mind. Choose whether you want soup bowls or not. Which color will go with your existing collection at home? Which design matches the tone for your dinner party? With open stock, you can customize your cabinet of dinnerware set with beautiful designs, shapes, and colors of the dishes and bowls. If you don’t want the unnecessary saucers, you can remove them, or maybe you just need one serving bowl, it’s your wish. Pick your item and that’s it.

Other Points to Keep in Mind While Buying Dinnerware

  • Choose plates and bowls according to the size of your cupboards and dishwasher. It will cause a problem for you if the plates are too wide or big.
  • Dinnerware makes the dining table look presentable if it is glazed or white with a beautifully designed plate set. So choose your set of designs and colors according to your choice.
  • Don’t shy away when buying a good dinnerware set. It will be useful in the long run. Don’t hold back if the set is a bit expensive. Make sure to buy enough for hosting a huge gathering. You don’t know when you might have to celebrate!
  • Look for thinner rim plates as they offer a larger plate area for use as compared to the ones with broad rims. Or maybe you want plates with flat surfaces.
  • You can decide whether to buy large cereal bowls, that can be used for many purposes, or you want shallow soup bowls. Commonly round bottom bowls are preferred over flat ones.
  •  If you are planning for a formal meal, you may want cups and saucers. They give an old and classic look to the setting.

These were all the required things you need to keep in mind while choosing your set of dinnerware. Enjoy shopping! We have made sure you have the answer to your query that is, ‘how to choose dinnerware?’ Remember these things and you are ready to start your collection of perfect dinnerware sets.