What's the difference between fine china and ordinary flatware?

[ultrafilter]

Fine china’s more expensive and more fragile, sure, but is that it?

[samclem]

We use the term “flatware” to refer to knives, forks and spoons in the silverware biz.

And, sure, you can charge more for things with adjectives.

“Fine Jewelry” as opposed to “jewelry.”

[ultrafilter]

OK, fine china and ordinary plates/bowls/etc. What’s the term for those?

[Reeder]

@ultrafilter

OK, fine china and ordinary plates/bowls/etc. What’s the term for those?

Dishes.

[violacrane]

Just an archaeologist, not a potter… The fineness of grain of the clay – some of the best clays are rare, the quality and number of glazes and very importantly the heat of firing. Irrc in general the finer the ware the hotter the kiln.

[phouka]

Porcelain clay has no grog - little bits of recycled clay - and thus, it is much more difficult to throw on a wheel. It can also be thrown to such delicate proportions that light can be seen through it. The skill necessary to handle porcelain clay, the greater time spent on it, the fine detail achieved, and the delicacy of the pieces all lend themselves to a higher price and a reputation for being finer than regular ceramicware.

[Zsofia]

Some fine china is “bone china” - I believe it uses bone ash. I think Lenox is the only bone china manufacturer here in the US, but there are many elsewhere. It’s finer than ordinary porcelain.

[kniz]

[sup]One big difference is price[/sup]

[picunurse]

I’m not sure if this is what you’re asking but My “good” dinner service is china and my “everyday” service is stoneware.
The stoneware is thicker & heavier.

[CBCD]

From a series of empirical observations of Eastern Seaboard Haute Wasps, I can state the following with confidence:

The china is kept in the dining room. The dishes are kept in the kitchen.

[Desmostylus]

You can make cups and plates out of just about anything. Wood, plastic, metal, etc. Confining the discussion to ceramics:

Defining China

Porcelain, hard paste- Made from white china clay or kaolin (the plastic infusable ingredient) and fusible felspathic china stone which provides translucence. When fired at great heat, these ingredients fuse to become a vitreous white surface, entirely hard and ringing with a metallic note when lightly struck. Often called true porcelain, this is the type developed by the Chinese during the Sung dynasty and emulated by Meissen.

Porcelain, soft paste- Made from white china clay and a vitreous frit that produced translucence. Nearly all 18th century English porcelain is of type. Firing is at a high temperature but not as great of that of hard paste porcelain, and the body is more liable to breakage.

Bone china- A paste intermediate between hard porcelain and soft paste porcelain; a combination of clay and china stone made white and strong by the addition of calcified bone. Josiah Spode first marketed this product in 1794. Of fine texture and color, it gave enduring service at a cost far lower than that of fragile soft paste porcelain, and quickly replaced it in the English market.

Earthenware- Opaque ware which is porous after the first firing and must be glazed before it can be applied for domestic use.

Ironstone china- A hard durable earthenware fired at a high heat. Variations are red and brown stoneware and Wedgwood’s black basalt.

Creamware- A mixture similar to ironstone of refined clay and flint but fired at a less intense heat. When a clear glaze was evolved that could be applied as a liquid dip, the resulting cream colored earthenware became immediately popular. Wedgwood and Leeds are the names primarily associated with early creamware.

Jasperware- A dense vitrified stoneware of nearly the same properties as porcelain, developed in 1774 by Josiah Wedgwood and still produced today. Adams and Turner also produced jasperware.

Majolica- A general term for a variety of ceramics decorated with an opaque tin glaze, usually brightly colored. In England in 1851, Herbert Minton developed a cane colored stoneware molded or pressed in high relief with details clear and sharp. The body was then dipped into tin enamel and fired. The final result began a Victorian craze for the brightly colored pieces that continues today.

Faience- Lightly fired earthenware that is painted, then covered with a glaze of tin oxide. When fired the glaze produces an opaque, white surface. Similar in look to majolica, faience flourished in French potteries during the 17th and 18th centuries. Trade declined after the French Revolution, when lighter, cheaper, and less fragile English pottery flooded the market.

Delft- Similar to faience and majolica in that it is a tin glazed earthenware, Delft was produced in Holland in the early 1600s to imitate Chinese porcelain. Designs, mainly in blue were at first Oriental in nature and later expanded to include Dutch subjects such as windmills. Shortly after its introduction, England began to produced Delft Ware, examples of which are now rare and very costly. Production of tin enamel glazed wares declined after 1790 when Wedgwood introduced creamware.

[daffyduck]

Go to any upmarket department store and look for yourself. Fine china is better quality. It is generally thinner and is designed to be more elegant. There are technical differences in how it is produced and fired that produce a higher quality product but there is also better design. Start with everyday dishware and gradually move up in price to fine china. If you can’t see the differences, then the technical issues are a moot point. Judging the quality of anything is almost always simply a matter of experience and knowing what to look for. Fine china should be lighweight and pleasing to the touch. The surfaces must be flawless and the shapes automatically pleasing to the eye. When struck, it should produce a bell like tone indicating a high degree of hardness. If you don’t know it when you see it, it probably isn’t fine china.