What Comes in a 52-Piece Dinner Set? Every Piece, Explained

Most dinner sets sold today are plates and bowls, and the serving dishes are bought separately. A 52-piece set is the older idea of a complete service: everything for the table in one pattern, from the soup to the tea afterwards. Here is what each piece is for, and who a set this complete suits, using our gold-plated bone china Athena set.

Athena at a glance

Athena Gold-Plated Bone China Dinner Set, $639.99. Fifty-two pieces of bone china with gold-plated detailing: place settings for six, seven serving pieces and a three-piece tea service. It is the most complete dinner set we carry.

The place settings: 42 pieces

Each of the six places gets seven pieces.

• Dinner plate: the main course.
• Dessert plate: the smaller plate, for starters, salad, bread or cake.
• Soup plate: a wide, shallow bowl with a rim, for soup, pasta and anything served with a sauce.
• Cereal bowl: deeper than the soup plate, for rice, cereal, noodles or a pudding with custard.
• Fruit bowl: the smallest bowl, for fruit, ice cream, chutney, raita or a dipping sauce.
• Tea cup and saucer: two pieces, for tea or coffee once the plates are cleared.

The serving pieces: 7 pieces

This is the part most sets leave out, and the reason a host's serving dishes are usually a mix of whatever was bought over the years.

• Three large salad bowls: salad, rice, vegetables. With three you can put a whole spread out at once.
• Large oval platter: a roast chicken, a whole fish or sliced turkey.
• Small platter: bread, starters, kebabs or a cheese course.
• Round serving dish: biryani, a pasta bake or roast vegetables.
• Soup tureen: a deep serving bowl that brings soup or stew to the table, so everyone can ladle their own.

The tea service: 3 pieces

A teapot, sugar pot and milk pot. Together with the six cups and saucers, that is a full tea set for six, so you do not need to buy one separately. For how to lay it out, see How to Set a Tea Table for Six.

Who a complete service suits

• Hosts who cook for six or more. Family dinners, holidays and the big meals where every serving dish in the house comes out.
• A wedding or first-home gift. One gift that covers the whole table, instead of a registry pieced together a few plates at a time.
• Anyone who wants a matched table. Plates, platters, tureen and teapot all in one pattern.

If you want a set for every day that goes in the microwave and dishwasher, a gold-plated service is the wrong choice. Look at Sea Blue ($59.99), a 32-piece bone china set that is microwave, oven and dishwasher safe.

Caring for gold-plated bone china

Bone china is fine and light, and strong for its weight. The gold plating is what sets the care rules: wash Athena by hand and keep it out of the microwave. Our guide How to Care for Gold-Plated Dinnerware goes through washing and storage step by step, and Bone China vs Porcelain explains the material.

What to set it with

A service for six pairs with one of our 24-piece gold flatware sets, also a service for six: Gold Versallion or Gold Royal Salute, $69.99 each. Our 24K gold-plated Marley set ($450) is the same idea in porcelain at 32 pieces, without the serving pieces and teapot.

Ordering

• Free shipping in Canada on orders over $100. Athena qualifies on its own.
• Free local pickup from our Toronto store.
• Arrives broken? Send us a photo and we will replace it.

Not sure how many settings you need? Read How Many Plates Do You Need for a Dinner Party? or browse Dinnerware Sets.