Bring Restaurant-Quality Dining to Your Home: How to Choose the Right Crockery

Whether you're hosting a dinner party, treating yourself to a lazy Sunday lunch, or simply elevating your everyday meals, the crockery you eat from makes more of a difference than you might think. There's a reason the UK's best restaurants carefully select every plate, bowl and cup that reaches their tables, and it's not just about looks.

The good news? Restaurant-quality crockery isn't exclusively for the professionals anymore. At Brakes Catering Equipment, we've spent over 40 years supplying some of the UK's most respected hospitality names, from Pizza Express to Zizzi, and now we're bringing that same expertise directly to you.

In this guide, we'll walk you through everything you need to know about choosing the right crockery for your home, from materials and durability to styles that suit every occasion. Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to upgrade what you already have, you're in the right place.

Ready to transform your table? Let's start with why crockery matters more than most people realise.

It's not just a plate, it's part of the experience

Cast your mind back to the last time you ate at a really great restaurant. Chances are, you remember more than just the food. The weight of the plate as it was set down in front of you, the clean lines of a well-chosen bowl, the satisfying solidity of a proper coffee cup — these details all play a part in how we experience a meal.

This isn't just instinct, there's genuine psychology behind it. Studies have shown* that the size, colour and even the weight of your crockery can influence how food tastes. Food served on a heavier plate is often perceived as higher quality. A well-proportioned bowl makes a simple pasta dish feel considered. The right cup genuinely enhances your morning coffee.

Not all crockery is created equal — and that's actually a good thing. Different pieces serve different purposes, and understanding what each one does best is the key to building a set that works hard for every occasion. Here's a breakdown of the essentials:

When restaurants and hotels source their crockery, they're not just thinking about how it looks on the table. They're thinking about how it performs over thousands of uses, how easy it is to maintain, and whether it represents genuine long-term value. The good news is that these same considerations make just as much sense at home, and applying a little professional thinking to your next crockery purchase could save you a lot of money in the long run.

Here's what to look for:

Material: The material your crockery is made from affects everything — durability, weight, appearance and how it performs in the kitchen. Here's a quick guide to the most common options:

• Vitrified porcelain is the gold standard for professional catering, and for good reason. It's fired at extremely high temperatures, making it exceptionally dense, chip-resistant and non-porous. It keeps its appearance wash after wash and is the material of choice for most of the brands we stock, including Churchill and Steelite. For home use, it's simply the most durable and practical option available.

• Bone china is lighter and more delicate than vitrified porcelain, with a beautiful translucency that makes it a natural choice for formal occasions and afternoon tea settings. It's slightly less robust than vitrified porcelain, so it's better suited to occasional rather than everyday use.

• Melamine is a lightweight, highly durable plastic-based material that's virtually unbreakable, making it a popular choice for outdoor dining, families with young children, or anyone who'd rather not worry about breakages. It won't have quite the same premium feel as porcelain, but for the right setting it's an excellent practical choice.
  

Durability & Dishwasher Safety: Professional crockery is designed to withstand the rigours of a commercial dishwasher running multiple cycles a day, which means it will handle your home dishwasher with ease. Always check that pieces are fully dishwasher safe before buying, and look for crockery that's also microwave compatible if that matters to your day-to-day routine. You can find full care guidance for all our products on our Product Care & Guidance page.

Stackability: It might not be the most glamorous consideration, but if you're buying crockery for entertaining, stackability is genuinely important. Plates and bowls that stack neatly save cupboard space and reduce the risk of chips and cracks during storage. Most professional ranges are designed with this in mind, another reason buying from a catering-grade range makes practical sense for the home.

Consistency Across the Range: One of the biggest advantages of buying from an established crockery range is that pieces are designed to work together and crucially, you can replace individual items if something gets broken without having to replace the whole set. When you buy from a recognised brand like Churchill or Steelite, you're investing in a range that will remain available for years to come. That kind of long-term consistency simply isn't something you can rely on with cheaper, unbranded alternatives.

Trusted by restaurants, loved at home

With hundreds of crockery ranges available, knowing where to start can feel overwhelming. So we've done the hard work for you. Here are three of our favourite picks that we think work beautifully in a home setting, chosen for their quality, versatility and the fact that they're already trusted by some of the UK's most respected hospitality venues.

One of the most common mistakes people make when buying crockery is trying to do too much too soon. The temptation to buy a complete set in one go is understandable, but a more considered approach will serve you much better in the long run. Here's how to think about it.

Start with a four-person setting: Unless you're regularly cooking for large groups, a four-person setting is the perfect starting point. It covers you for everyday use, casual dinners with friends and most hosting occasions without taking over your cupboard space. A solid base of dinner plates, bowls and side plates in a style you love gives you something to build on gradually, adding serving pieces, mugs and extras as and when you need them. Our crockery range makes it easy to shop by type, so you can pick up exactly what you need without overcommitting.

Think about how you actually eat: The best crockery collection is one that fits your lifestyle, not someone else's. If you eat a lot of pasta and salads, prioritise good bowls. If you host Sunday lunches, large dinner plates and a decent serving dish should be near the top of your list. If your morning coffee is sacred, start there. There's no rulebook here — buy what you'll actually use.

Mixing and matching: Contrary to what you might think, your crockery doesn't all have to match perfectly. In fact, some of the most beautiful table settings combine different but complementary pieces. A neutral base like Churchill Alchemy white works brilliantly alongside a coloured range like Steelite Forma, giving you flexibility without sacrificing a sense of cohesion. The key is to stick to a consistent feel, mixing a rustic handmade bowl with sleek modern plates, for example, tends to look considered rather than chaotic.

Keep an eye on clearance: Building a crockery collection doesn't have to mean spending a fortune all at once. Our clearance section regularly features professional-grade pieces at significantly reduced prices, making it a great place to pick up quality additions to your collection without paying full price. The same restaurant-quality crockery, just kinder on the wallet.

Your table, restaurant-ready

Choosing the right crockery isn't about spending a fortune or overhauling everything in one go. It's about making considered choices, buying pieces that are well made, built to last and genuinely suited to the way you live and eat. The same qualities that make crockery perform in a busy professional kitchen are exactly the qualities that make it a smart investment for your home.

At Brakes Catering Equipment, we've spent over 40 years helping the UK's hospitality industry find the right tableware for every occasion. Now we're bringing that same expertise to your table. Whether you're drawn to the timeless simplicity of Churchill Alchemy, the rich colours of the Steelite Forma range or the café-style charm of Genware's coloured beverage collection, you'll find everything you need to start building a table setting you're genuinely proud of.

Ready to get started? Browse our full crockery range and find the pieces that are right for you.

Shop all crockery at Brakes Catering Equipment

* Springer Nature (2013) & Journal of Sensory Studies (2025)