Just Like a Restaurant, but without the Waiters

I've been hearing some complaints from moms like myself lately about the durability of the plates and glasses in their kitchen. For them, and everyone else who has high traffic in the kitchen, I have some helpful advice: pretend your kitchen is a restaurant and stock it accordingly.

Restaurants typically use porcelain or stoneware plates because they don't chip or break easily, and they can survive millions of trips through the dishwasher. Don't confuse porcelain with china -- I'm talking heavy, thick porcelain plates. I think the best source for really durable white plates is Williams Sonoma.
They have Buffalo China, American made dinnerware still used in many restaurants:

And Apilco, a beautiful and heavy french porcelain that's perfect for a busy kitchen:

For their glassware, restaurants typically use pressed glass because of it's durability. Blown glass, even the heavy mexican variety looks pretty, but is prone to breaking and chipping. My favorite glass is the restaurant pint jar:

They're big, they're hard to break, and they stack in your cupboard. At AbestKitchen you can get two dozen of them for $46, so you can even break a few.

Probably the most angst inducing item in the family kitchen's cupboard is the wine glass. Even a working mom likes to have a glass of wine once in a while. However, if the thought of exposing your stemware to wagging tails, flailing arms and the occasional flying soccer ball raises your blood pressure, then Schott Zweisel is the glass for you.

It's virtually unbreakable. This video shows some of the tests that the company performs on the glassware to ensure durability -- nothing compared to what goes on in my house, but it's a start.

I've personally whacked a Schott Zweisel bordeaux glass on the edge of my office desk to conduct my own product quality test, and was unable to break it. Perfect.

My husband and I have had the same two dozen white porcelain dinner plates in our cupboard since we were married 17 years ago, and haven't broken a single one. Those regular Suburban Zen readers who are familiar with what goes on in the Furber house will find that shocking.

I can't say the same for my wine glasses, but that's a post for another day. And maybe another blog.

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