A Place at the Table
My Mom’s Love Affair with Pfaltzgraff Dishes
My mom, Katie Corbo Petrasek, had nearly every piece of one of the original Pfaltzgraff “Yorktown” stone dishware patterns. I remember her paging through the catalog and carefully earmarking the next piece she’d buy. It was a contagious behavior, for it wasn’t long before my aunt was doing the same, and they gifted each other various vegetable bowls, butter dishes, and sugar and creamer sets for Christmas.
It wasn’t enough to have just a bowl or two, or a plate or two. Mom needed to have enough plates to feed a grand party! How or where she stored these things, I do not know.
She had soup bowls, pasta bowls, cereal bowls, and ice cream bowls. “You can’t serve ice cream in a cereal bowl, Kirsi.” She had dinner plates, salad plates, dessert plates, bread plates, and corn-on-the-cob plates. They didn’t eat corn-on-the-cob.
My mom has always appreciated a well-set table, so it gave her great pride and pleasure to have a full tablescape of matching dinnerware and serving pieces. Fancy china mostly stayed in the hutch. It was the Yorktown we ate off every day.
When I got older, the question became “What Pfaltzgraff pattern did I want?” I shopped and shopped and came across a pattern I loved called “Poetry.” Everyone said it was fortuitous since I was an English major in college at the time. And so, my collection began. I received place settings as birthday gifts and serving dishes for Christmas. My pattern didn’t have as many pieces as my mom’s, and I was OK with that since I didn’t inherit her need for symmetry and matchy-matchy. In fact, it wasn’t long before I offloaded most of my “Poetry” and transitioned to a pattern where the pieces complemented each other but did not match. It was aptly named “Choices,” it mixed well with what I had retained from my first set.
Tableware feels more fashionable now – not meant to last a lifetime and therefore not as collectible as perhaps it once was. My daughter has a beautiful set of dishes that I’m sure will be dropped at Goodwill when the next trendy style comes along. No judgments. I, myself, have transitioned once again to something I hope will be more timeless.
I always appreciated my mom’s love for her pattern. As my folks have downsized, my sister, who frequently commented on the “awesomeness of its completeness,” has inherited the full collection, decommissioning her previous Pfaltzgraff pattern “Aura”. (Oh yes, it is a family affair! Both of my sisters and my cousin all took up our mothers’ passion for quality dinnerware.)
Because you can’t eat Christmas meals off “regular, everyday Pfaltzgraff,” my mom also had a set of the original Pfaltzgraff “Christmas Heritage” stoneware. And because she almost always entertained on Christmas Eve, there are enough plates, bowls, and mugs for at least twenty. Not to mention platters, cookie plates, salt and pepper shakers, and more – all for a two-times-per-year event: Christmas Eve for the masses, Christmas morning for the immediate family. Every year, we’d haul the dishes out of storage to serve on them. I love these dishes, and today I have them and still use them for our Christmas Eve gatherings, which I now host.
My mom’s love of dishes wasn’t just about the utility or the patterns; it was about creating something special for the people she cared about. Her dishes weren’t just functional; they were a reflection of her hospitality and her love of bringing people together. And while styles may change, the essence of care and connection will always have a place at the table.
What everyday dishware stands out in your memories?
I always loved Pfalzgraff but never had any. We ate off of melamine when I was a kid - no patterns that I remember but unbreakable! Mom's nice china was only for holidays. My second husband had an old set of his mom's Franciscan Desert Rose which I loved. I don't remember what dishware I used after he took his with him as he walked out the door. My husband and I when dating both loved Fiesta ware and bought it for each of our homes. When we married we ended up with lots of it which we love and it's so cheery when I open the cabinet. Thanks for your post. Wonderful tradition and brought back so many memories for me!
For everyday it was always Corelware. White with the gold patterned trim. The Pfalzgraff is something I admired and yearned for as a teenager. So cool that your mom and your sisters and you all had Pfalzgraff dishes. The corn-on-the-cob plates, the Christmas pattern, and the everyday blue floral were treasures to be found at yard sales in Minnesota and Wisconsin for decades. My grandmother collected the Royal Copenhagen blue and white plates issued once a year; that was always her gift from her kids.