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Most Durable Dinnerware of 2024: Top 9 Picks

By Eugene WilliamsLast update: 2024-05-02

Why do you want to buy the most durable dinnerware?

Here are the most durable dinnerware you can buy in 2024:

  • Best For Casual Occasions (Stoneware Dinnerware): Sango
  • Best For Formal Occasions (Stoneware Dinnerware): Pfaltzgraff
  • Easy To Clean (Stoneware Dinnerware): Elama
  • Rustic Design (Melamine Dinnerware): Craft & Kin
  • Scratch-Proof (Melamine Dinnerware): Topmela
  • Retro Design (Melamine Dinnerware): Bowla
6 Most Durable Dinnerware
Best For Casual Occasions
Sango
  • Stoneware Dinnerware
Best For Formal Occasions
Pfaltzgraff
  • Stoneware Dinnerware
Easy To Clean
Elama
  • Stoneware Dinnerware
Rustic Design
Craft & Kin
  • Melamine Dinnerware
Scratch-Proof
Topmela
  • Melamine Dinnerware
Retro Design
Bowla
  • Melamine Dinnerware

Best For Casual Occasions: Sango

Pros
  • Super durable and sturdy
  • Beautiful
  • 2 bowl sizes
Cons
  • Heavy

You will use dinnerware on casual occasions more often than special occasions, so make sure that your items are affordable, easy to care for, maintain, and durable. This helps you avoid wasting a lot of money on buying new dinnerware regularly. Luckily, the Sango stoneware dinnerware can meet these requirements.

This is a worthy investment because you have a set of 16 pieces at a low price, including 8 round bowls and 8 round plates with different colors and sizes. Thus, if you forget and put a cold bowl into an oven, breaking it, you don’t have to use a plate for rice.

This set is microwave and dishwasher-safe, so you can easily and quickly reheat and wash your bowls and plates. It works well for regular and daily uses since you don’t have to wait for long or deal with your dirty dishes in a complicated washing and cleaning process.

Keeping this dinnerware from sudden and extreme temperature changes can last its lifespan very long because the stoneware is pretty durable. Small impacts on the surface won’t leave any scratching marks, so you don’t have to be careful every minute counts while casually using it.

Sango Specifications

What’s Included

Four 10.75-inch dinner plates

Four 7.9-inch salad plates

Four 2.6-inch cereal bowls

Four 2.48-inch rice bowls

Pattern

Solid

Highlight Features

Multicolor

Dishwasher and microwave safe

Verdict

With an attractive appearance, Sango stoneware dinnerware works well for both special and casual occasions.

Best For Formal Occasions: Pfaltzgraff

Pfaltzgraff
Pfaltzgraff
Pros
  • Microwave safe
  • Pretty
  • Durable and sturdy
  • Reasonable
Cons
  • A bit heavy

When it comes to formal occasions, people usually think about expensive porcelain dinnerware. If you are looking for an inexpensive set that suits formal occasions, consider the Pfaltzgraff Gabriela Blue stoneware.

This option is crafted with reactive glaze and combined with unique floral details and patterns on a white surface, creating a modern look to suit any formal occasion.

Pfaltzgraff Specifications

What’s Included

Four 10-1/2 inch dinner plates

Four 8-1/2 inch Salad plates

Four 6-inch bowls

Four 12-ounce mugs

Pattern

Modern

Highlight Features

Beautiful reactive glaze

Dishwasher and microwave safe

Verdict

Pfaltzgraff Gabriela Blue stoneware is a beautiful formal dinnerware at a reasonable price.

Easy To Clean: Elama

Pros
  • Beautiful
  • Not too heavy
  • Well-made and durable
Cons
  • Small size

You buy a dishwasher at home because you don’t want to spend and waste a lot of your valuable time on this housework, right? So, you should know that not all dinnerware can be safely used in your machine. You need to pick up a dishwasher-safe product, and the Elama Round Stoneware should be your solution.

Elama Specifications

What’s Included

4 dinner plates

4 salad plates

4 mugs

4 bowls

Pattern

Red

Highlight Features

Beautiful dark red with bronze accents

A unique and contemporary shape

Microwave and dishwasher safe

Verdict

You can quickly wash the Elama Round Stoneware in your dishwasher machine with less effort on your part.

Rustic Design: Craft & Kin

Craft & Kin
Craft & Kin
Pros
  • Thick plates
  • Beautiful and adorable
  • Sturdy and durable
  • Lightweight
  • Microwave-safe
Cons
  • Too light color

Rustic dinnerware brings a simple beauty to your meals. Most people usually think that only wood material can bring this beauty, but this melamine dinnerware with wood grain color, simulating wood can result in a similar outcome.

Craft & Kin Specifications

What’s Included

4 large 10.5" dinner plates

4 8.5" salad or dessert plates

4 6" wide x 3" high bowls

Pattern

Woodgrain

Highlight Features

Top-rack dishwasher safe

Food grade & BPA Free

Verdict

The beautiful and rustic design of the Craft & Kin Melamine Dinnerware Set suits both indoor and outdoor meals.

Scratch-Proof: Topmela

Pros
  • Beautiful color
  • Lovely
  • Lightweight
  • Sturdy and durable
Cons
  • Not smooth surface

While the normal plastic types are susceptible to scratch, the Topmela Melamine Dinnerware’s melamine material is a hard plastic material. Its appearance looks like ceramic, but it is more lightweight and less prone to chip and break than ceramic material.

This dinnerware is thicker than other sets, so it is less breakable than pottery. Apart from impressive durability, this product is more scratch-proof, chip-resistant, and shatter-proof.

Topmela Specifications

What’s Included

4 11-inch dinner plates

4 9-inch green salad plates

4 7-inch bowls

Highlight Features

Shatter-proof, chip-resistant, and scratch-proof

BPA free and dishwasher safe

Verdict

Topmela Melamine Dinnerware can withstand hard touches with hard materials without damaging or breaking.

Retro Design: Bowla

Pros
  • Durable and unbreakable
  • Attractive
  • Lightweight
Cons
  • Weird smell

Do you want to add a piece of retro decor to your dinner table?

The Bowla Melamine Dinnerware Set gives you simple retro details. Although 4 bowls are covered with a single color (bluegrass), 2 plate sizes have their own unique patterns. While the 11’ plate features a cute four-leaf clover pattern and hachure, the smaller one is designed with a pattern silhouette.

Bowla Specifications

What’s Included

4 11-inch dinner plates

4 9-inch salad plates

4 6-inch bowls

Pattern

Geometric

Highlight Features

100% Melamine

BPA Free

Dishwasher safe

Verdict

The Bowla is a retro dinnerware set, suiting any traditional and elegant meals and dinner table decor styles.

How To Choose The Most Durable Dinnerware?

The dinnerware’s durability is based on materials, so you just need to consider this aspect. Roll down to take a look at common materials’ features:

Earthenware

Earthenware is a common ceramic material fired to make it harder. Though the price is low, it has an attractive look; especially, it’s easy to work on this material. When being glazed, the earthenware material is watertight.

However, earthenware is less durable than stoneware. This material is more porous, so it’s easy to stain and absorb liquid. You shouldn’t leave it submerged in the water.

Its thin walls bring advantages and disadvantages. They create a rustic look and feel, but it is easy to crack and chip.

It’s better to read the label or check the information from the manufacturer to use your dinnerware without causing unessential damages.

EARTHENWARE WORKS BEST FOR CASUAL DINING.

Stoneware

This is also an affordable ceramic, but it’s less porous and more durable than earthenware. Its vitreous (glass) material can strengthen its durability. Meanwhile, the dense body is also more scratching-resistant than earthenware.

Once you pick up good-quality stoneware, it’s versatile to use and maintain.

Although this choice is safe to use in the freezer, oven, dishwasher, and microwave, don’t leave it exposed to extreme and sudden temperature changes.

The stoneware is more opaque than porcelain, creating an opaque finish, which fits casual dining with a rustic setting.

Porcelain

Porcelain is fine-particle clay, heated at high temperatures, so the dinnerware is strongly durable and nonporous. Besides, good insulator properties can resist thermal shock.

This attractive and classic high-end dinnerware with a superior white body works well with restaurants and catering businesses. But, you must be as careful as possible as it’s effortless to break.

Though this material is safe for the oven, microwave and dishwasher, bear in mind these things:

  • The microwave can lose the gold, silver, and platinum borders.
  • Citrus and lemon-scented detergents damage metal accents.

Bone China

Bone ash is combined from animal bones and porcelain clay, heated at a lower temperature than porcelain.

Bone China features a milky look with a delicate and lightweight feel. Despite its fragile appearance, this ceramic dinnerware material is really durable.

It is safe with dishwasher, microwave, and oven, but make sure your dinnerware doesn’t come with metallic banding. If not, you will lose these beautiful details.

This option is suitable for both daily uses and formal dining occasions.

Glass

Many people said that glass is the easiest-to-break material compared to other materials. This is right with cheap products, not high-quality and high-end dinnerware. Nowadays, some manufacturers can produce more difficult-to-shatter dinnerware versions.

Duralex, for example, bounces many times when dropping on the floor without a crack. What’s more, it can withstand a sudden thermal shock because its temperature glass goes from - 4°f to 212°f without breaking, which is ideal for hot drinks.

This material is more lightweight and elegant than others, so I strongly recommend it for salad bars and sit-down restaurants.

Vitrified Glass

You can consider an opaque vitrified glass version if you don’t care about the dinnerware’s appearance. It is heated at a high temperature to make it more durable and nonporous. Corelle, for instance, is an indestructible glass type without breaking and chipping when dropping onto a hard floor.

Vitrified glass is safe to use in a microwave and dishwasher. And its strong durability is great for kids and outdoor uses.

Plastic

Styrene Acrylonitrile, a common plastic material, works well in quick-serve restaurants, cafeterias, and buffets because it is scratch-resistant, heat-resistant, and chemical-resistant. However, this material yellows quicker than other types of dinnerware plastic materials. I don’t appreciate this material’s durability.

Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate is usually used in bottles, food containers, and drinkware, but not many people love it due to the BPA ingredient. Besides, this material isn’t too durable.

Melamine

Melamine is unbreakable, so this material is ideal for children and outdoor uses.

Although it brings a sturdy, inflexible feel and a glossy finish, it is prone to be stained by foods if leaving foods like tomatoes on the surface too long.

It is safe for the dishwasher on the top rack, but you shouldn’t put it in your oven and microwave. Though melamine is BPA-free, its chemicals can leach into your food.

This material is so lightweight that the wait staff can easily carry it, perfect for healthcare industries, restaurants, and hotels.

Which Brands Make The Most Durable Dinnerware?

Sango

PTS, which is a family-owned company, was founded in 1977. They have 4 generations, and one of them is Sango. This brand is a tableware import company at the first stage, only supplying the local Indonesian market. With more than 40 experience years and updated technologies, PTS has become one of the top brands in this industry.

FAQs

Which is more durable: porcelain or stoneware?

Porcelain dinnerware is more durable than stoneware. Although it’s safe to use stoneware in a freezer, oven, dishwasher, and microwave, this material can’t withstand extreme and sudden temperature changes. Meanwhile, porcelain has a great ability to resist thermal shock thanks to the porcelain’s good insulator properties.

Are stoneware plates safe?

Stoneware plates are oven, freezer, dishwasher, and microwave-safe, but they can’t put up with extreme temperature changes. Thus, don’t put a very cold plate into your oven. It takes time to cool after removing the plate from your freezer or refrigerator.

Does stoneware break easily?

Like other ceramic materials, stoneware easily breaks when dropping on a hard floor. And without the sudden impact of temperature, this material can last very long.

Is bone china stronger than stoneware?

Yes.

Can I put melamine dinnerware in the microwave?

No, because chemicals can leach into your food.

Conclusion

In general, the most durable dinnerware recommended in this article can put up with at least light bumps of your dishwasher and the heat of your microwave. So, you just need to choose one based on how you use it.

Hi, my name is Eugene, the ultimate home enthusiast! I write buying guides and ideas on how to create a warm and welcoming home. Join me on my journey to make everyday in your house a staycation in the comfort of your own space!


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