I just think the "basic dishes" from WS are higher quality than C&B's...but you've obviously had better luck with yours than we did.

I'm still amused my wife insisted on registering for a fondue set. I'm still waiting to have that big fucking fondue-ganza.

OK, I get that it is ridiculous to buy someone a single fork or just a saucer. BUT, this is why you should make sure to have plenty of smaller yet reasonable items people can buy. If you don't register for anything that someone can afford, you end up with ridiculous things like this because not everyone can drop a hundred bucks or more on your gift. And if they look down your list and buying a place setting is gonna cost 'em more than they can afford and you're asking for all big ticket items... you end up getting a fork. Even you well off people I am sure have relatives of friends who are in less ideal circumstances. (and yes, the fork person should have just stuffed a 20 in a card and called it a day)

Also, I am surprised at how many people seem to still do the silver and china these days. My folks have a basement full of both that none of the kids want and they can't give the stuff away. IT's jsut too bulky and takes up too much space for something you drag out a couple times a year and then you have to wash it by hand and it's a giant pain in the ass. I really thought that stuff was obsolete. Is it a southern thing?

We had plenty of shit at all prices...To be honest, the concept of registering for stuff was a little icky for me: I figure if you need or want something you should be able to buy it. BUT, considering the gifts that you get from people who buy "off the registry" (these gifts inevitably never come with a gift receipt), i think it's a good idea. People want to buy you shit, and in the culture I live in, it's gifts over cash for the most part.

As for china and silver: I think my MiL convinced us to register for it; we certainly didn't want to. I have three partial sets that my grandmother amassed when she worked at Rich's in the 50's-70's (that nobody else wanted) and another full set I got out of a storage unit. The set we ended up using isn't fragile, it's more utilitarian, gets washed in the dishwasher and it's been kind of fun to fill in some of the pieces via ebay.

Silver is a different story. I wish I had a set because, well, its silver. It will last forever and contrary to popular belief you can wash it in the dishwasher and get away with polishing it only once every year or so.

Those williams-sonoma basic dishes are the tits. I wish i had taken them in the great exodus, since we used gift cards from my students to buy them when i really wanted a stand mixer or a nice mandoline.

greedy bastards.

Those are the tools by which food is made for you, laura.

You might be the only person I've ever cooked for that I've never met.

I lived with wifewilleatyou for 3 years before we got married. We had lots of stuff but our main goal was a 60 piece pot and pan set well beyond the range of any of our guests.

Strategy:
Register for what you want and TONS of stuff you don't really care about. Ideally only at one or two places.
This gives your guests items in their price range.
Take all that shit back to Dead Death and Beyond and buy yourself the cooking ware of your dreams.

So you really don't do the Goodfellas route in the US? No envelopes stuffed with cash? Seriously, you need to do it. Don't waste your time with crap gifts.

Lots of people just do cash and it is appreciated. I actually did like the gifts though because more cash just meant more drugs and booze to splurge on over the next month or two. The good kitchen stuff is still in use, unfortunately at my ex's place, but still.

It's all been said I guess... missed this in yesterday's stay-home-sick-a-thon. If there are big kitchen items that you Really Will Use, then those get precidence. It really is nice, too, to have an everyday set of dishes that get chipped and broken over the years, and then a big matching set of good stuff for Thanksgiving and whatnot.

We got a lot of Williams Sonoma goodies that we still use every damned day, 7 years on.

Y'all bougie. That W-S too high dollar folks like us.

Best - A grill with all the rotisserie attachments
Most Useless - The Wife

A+

This from the guy who just ordered an Eames chair.

The silver/china stuff is most definitely a southern thing. I remember buying some niceish crystal at Macy's when I was in grad school and my mother immediately declaring that at last I 'had a pattern'. She of course had chosen silver, china and crystal patterns by age ten, so she could build a stockpile even before finding the lucky guy. (My pattern was Mikasa Stephanie, which is pretty but fragile, and I have used stoneware wine glasses for years).

Nothing you get from a registry beats saving the time, hassle, and money and eloping.