Here’s the Reason Why the Colour of Your Dinner Plate Matters

The aesthetics of tableware have gone through ups and downs of trends over the years, including trends for white, patterned, plain and coloured designs.

You might think that it’s just a plate, it doesn’t matter much to your dining experience. But did you know that many people disagree and think that it actually matters to your dining experience? Here we’ve gathered why the colour of your dinner plate matters to increase your dining experience!

The colour of your dinner plate sets the mood and theme of your entire table setting.

White Coloured

White crockeries is always a good choice when choosing tableware as it is timeless and suits a variety of dishes and presentation styles. The timeless quality of white crockeries mean that you don’t need to waste and invest more money to stay on top of the current trends. By using white plates, you allow your food to take centre stage, allowing the beauty of your ingredients to be proudly presented with the colour contrast of your ingredients to the white plate. 

Earthy Tones

Earthy, rich tones including sage greens and darker browns portrays naturalism and an environmentally conscious attitude. It is an exquisite way to promote the wholesome nutrition of your food and can also a great emphasis of its nutritional credentials. 

Patterned Rims

A patterned rim on a plate gives a subtle rustic twist to a classic white tableware and is an excellent way to provide ornamentation without having a pattern beneath the food itself. Patterns can extend across the entire lip of the plate and carry a variety of themes. Different patterns and designs will complement different cuisines or styles, making the colours of the ingredients pop out and making simple looking food more colourful.

Pastel Tones

Pastel tones such as sky blues, baby pinks and mint greens helps to accentuate the homemade nature of the food in a cute and retro feel.  Pastel crockery provides you and your guests a homey feel to your scrumptious meal. 

Bright Tones

Bright and colourful tones provide acts as a statement piece that completes the theme and feel of a restaurant. It can also be used to determine allergies during the plating process, for example by only using blue plates for gluten-free meals. There has also been a study made that shows that using yellow crockeries encourages Alzheimer’s disease sufferers to eat larger portion sizes, this may also be the reason why bright coloured plates are commonly used in children’s dining.

Black 

Black plates may not seem like an intuitive choice but there are still some people who choose to use black crockery. According to a Cornell University study, darker plate colours alters people’s perception of portion sizes by giving the impression of large and generous portion sizes compared to white alternatives. It also makes a striking impression on the table! 

The colour of your dinner plate affects your appetite.

The colour of your dinner plate matters not only aesthetically but also to how much you food you consume. A recent study shows that people eat more food if there’s only a little colour contrast between the food and the plate it was served on. (For instance “white rice on white plate”) 

This is what we call the Delboeuf Illusion which means that the colour similarity causes people to misjudge the amount of food they have on their plates. A study made by two Cornell University researchers has shown that those who had food that only has a little colour contrast between the food and their plate served themselves 22% more food than those who had a strong colour contrast between them.

There is no style of plate that is universally “wrong”, each crockery colour has benefits and drawbacks which means that it is important to have the knowledge on how to use it to your advantage. Let yourself be more experimental with the colours of your tablewares the next time you are choosing and buying from a tableware company. Let yourself experiment and spice up your culinary cabaret with plates of different colours!

Embark in the beauty of your dining experience with Kopin! We are one of the biggest tableware company in Indonesia offering you an array of tablewares for different seasons, holidays and occasions.

Interested to learn more about tableware and the sciences behind it? Read our blog here!