Let the warm weather continue. These lightweight, hard-wearing wood and enamel plates—the perfect alternative to disposable paper and plastic—stand ready for the beach, picnics, and backyard festivities.
ENAMELWARE
Above: West Elm Market's Enamelware Dinnerware is inspired by vintage designs, and is made of steel with a shatterproof porcelain-enamel finish. The dinner plates come in white with a black rim and are $40 for a set of four.
Above: From Italian designer Stefania di Petrillo, Variopinte Enamelware Plates are created by crushing natural pigments and mixing them with glass powder, all applied by hand before firing. The enamel is nontoxic and dishwasher safe; $26 for the blue-and-white dinner plate (shown top) at the Vitrine.
Above: At Labour and Wait in the UK, Marble Enamel Plates in red are €8.50 ($11.20) each.
Above: From the UK, Falcon Enamelware Plates are available with a blue, red, or gray rim; €24.99 ($33) each.
Above: Best Made Company's Seamless & Steadfast Enamel Steel Plates are hefty and durable—rims are reinforced with a double dipping of enamel; $35 for two, $90 for six.
WOOD
Above: Tony Farrell's Wooden Plates are Christine's favorite tableware for outdoor dinners. Farrell, a wood turner from Cork, Ireland, hand turns the plates from Irish ash and finishes them with a natural oil; €22 ($29) from Makers & Brothers.
Above: The Tondo 12-Inch Platter (left) and the Tondo 6-Inch Plate (right) are made of acacia harvested in the forests of the Philippines under a local government reforestation program; $14.95 and $4.95 each respectively from Crate & Barrel.
Above: Honore Natural and White Dinner Plates are made in Morocco from lemon tree wood; $35 for the 7.5-inch diameter plate (bottom of the stack) at Lost & Found, in LA. The Honore Natural and White Bowls start at $18.
Above: From Colorado furniture maker David Rasmussen, Wud Walnut Trays (shown), $51, and square Wud Plates, $61 each.
Above: Brook Farm General Store's Wooden Plates are made of acacia and finished with nontoxic mineral oil. They're are available in three sizes: small for $12, medium for $17, and large for $22.
Above: Sur la Table's Acacia Wood Salad Plates measure 10 inches square and are $12.95 each.
Above: Designed by Rino Ono in the Takahashi Kougei wood workshop in Hokkaido, Japan, the Cara Wood Plate is made of linden and finished with food-grade polyurethane; $55 for the small plate and $90 for the medium size from Muhs Home.
Looking for flatware, glassware, and other dinnerware? Browse our Tabletop selects in our Shop section. And go to Gardenista for more Outdoor Dining ideas, including the Perfect Picnic Basket.
N.B.: This post is an update; the original story ran on July 31, 2014, as part of our Entertaining: Summer Edition issue.
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