I have my maternal grandmothers dishes, which are beautiful, and require hand washing. I only use them for special meals with my mom and sister/brother. Otherwise, I use solid white dishwasher safe dishes when I have a big crowd over. I still do it up, cloth napkins, stem ware, the works! But clean up is much easier. I would consider purchasing and using fancy dishes for just my husband and my self...wouldn't be a big deal to hand wash just a couple of dishes and I would definitely use every day!