How many do I really need?

When I was young, everything in terms of dishes seemed to come in sets of at least six, or twelve. So, my Granny´s wedding china and silver plated cutlery was sufficient to host a party for twelve people. At a time when every family had at least three or four children and the consequently resulting number of inlaws, that wasn´t even a lot.
And yet it did take up all of the space inside a big buffet-style cupboard that filled one whole wall in the living room.

Now, I don´t usually do home invitations.
We have a relatively small flat, which is fine and sufficient for the two of us, but not for having parties.
Still, I have, in my cupboards, several "sets" of things in numbers bigger than what we need and use.
Part of those is due to my, once upon a time, wishing to have a "complete" household, and having something in sets of less than six simply didn´t feel complete.
Another part results from the package sizes things used to be offered in. I have a set of glass cups and plates I bought as a student that was sold in packages of six each. Since they are rather unbreakable, six of each is what I still have.
Of course, I couldn´t afford something expensive while at university, so they are very simple.
But in a pinch, they would be perfectly sufficient. 

And for ourselves?
We are living close to the factory outlet of a locally known porcelain factory. which enables us to get their (usually rather pricey) products with little imperfections at a very affordable price. And they sell them one piece at a time.
So, what I have done over the last years is decide which pieces we use, and then buying just two of each.
This actually has several advantages.
The most obvious is needing a lot less storage space.
Another is having a tidier kitchen. We are both working away from home, and thus, we tend to be rather lazy when coming home. With more than one set of plates for each of us, that led invariably to the creation of the Leaning Tower of China in the sink, which got attacked only when we had no clean plates left.
Nowadays, we have to clean up after ourselves immediately. Less dirty dishes mean less work cleaning them up, so the dreaded task of dishwashing is a lot easier than it used to be.
And I do not spend any more money on things that do not get used, either.

The answer to the question of how many plates we need, even for a multiple-course gourmet-style menu should I chose to prepare one, is simple- one of each for each of us.
That´s what we, today, with the lifestyle we have, need and use.
 I´d also rather be able to change between styles of dishes, to fit the food I am serving, than use the same dishes for everything (I never claimed to be a perfect minimalist). By having just two pieces of each, I can store three sets of plates where only one went before. And they all get their share of use.
Without taking up half of my living room.
The big buffet would not fit in with my other furniture anyway. 


Julia