The white dinnerware you never replace.

Villeroy & Boch has made porcelain since 1748, and Manoir is one of its everyday classics: a creamy white premium porcelain plate made in Germany, with a quiet carved relief around the rim that catches the light without calling attention to itself.

It is dishwasher and microwave safe, stacks neatly, and is sold by the plate, which is what makes it such a good entry point. Buy exactly as many as you need, and replace a broken one years later without replacing the set.

Skip it if you want a pure, bright white. Manoir is a warm, creamy white, which flatters food and linen but looks slightly different next to cool white serving pieces.

Pillivuyt has made porcelain in Mehun-sur-Yèvre, in central France, since 1818. It fires at about 2,550°F, which gives a very hard, non-porous body and a glaze the maker says resists chipping, scratching, cracking and crazing.

Plissé has a gently pleated rim, which is enough to make it look considered without dating it. The maker rates Pillivuyt for oven use to 550°F, the microwave, the freezer and the dishwasher, and says you can move a piece straight from the freezer into a hot oven. Very few plates can claim that.

Skip it if you want a completely plain plate. The pleats catch the light nicely but they are a design, and if you ever add another white shape they will be the thing that does not match.

Delray is Mikasa's plain white bone china: clean lines, a bright white body and the fine, slightly translucent edge that bone china has and stoneware does not. The set gives four each of an 11 inch dinner plate, a 9 inch salad plate, a cereal bowl and a 13 ounce mug.

Bone china sounds delicate, but it is one of the toughest everyday materials, and Mikasa rates Delray as chip resistant and safe in the oven, dishwasher, microwave and freezer. For a first real set, or a second home, it is the fastest way to a matched table.

Skip it if you want to buy plates one at a time or prefer a heavy, rustic plate. Delray is light and refined, and the mugs will not suit everyone.

Royal is made in Germany from what Villeroy & Boch calls premium bone porcelain, its highest grade: a very white body with a high degree of translucency and a smooth sheen. The 27 centimeter plate, about 10.6 inches, has a modest classic shape that lets the material do the talking.

It is the plate for a table set for a dinner party, but it is not precious. It is made for everyday use as well as celebrations, and a set of six covers most tables.

Skip it if you are hard on dishes or want a rustic look. Fine bone porcelain is strong for its weight, but its appeal is refinement, and on a farmhouse table it can look formal.