If you’re partnered and had a registry, what have you found to be the most useful items from your registry? If you’ve bought things like china, barware, cookware, and large appliances for yourself, what purchases have been worth the money? Which purchases or gifts do you regret? (On the flipside, what is the cheapest item you’re loving in your kitchen or home right now?)
We’ve talked a bit about wedding-type things over the years, including polling the readers what to put on your registry, how to plan a wedding while working long hours, where to go on your honeymoon, and whether to invite your colleagues to your wedding.
The Most Useful Items in My Registry
We’ve been married for about 15 years now, and our registry included a lot of things that I thought we needed — so many Waterford glasses (Lismore), fine china, fancy pots and pans (All-Clad Copper Core). I regret a LOT of it, to be honest — all of that china and glassware required a lot of storage space, and the fancy pots and pans would have been much better given to people who cook often. (We’re much more likely to order, go out, or do a very easy recipe from the archive.) In fact, at the time we got them, my husband had just killed a stainless steel pot that my mother had had since her college days (burned rice) — so the Copper Core pans have almost always been primarily in storage or for show.
Still, the things that we’ve loved have been unexpected. We use our good china at least twice a month (Lenox Federal Platinum), and I also adore the matching mugs; they add a bit of elegance beyond our usual dishwasher safe Corelleware. (The Lenox tea service for 8 has, unfortunately, never been used.) We got our first rice cooker and Le Creuset Dutch oven through our wedding registry, and we use them both frequently. (I think of my dearly departed Aunt Maria every time I use the Dutch oven.)
While the All-Clad pots and pans may have been a bust, some of the things we upgraded were definitely worth it — we happily used our upgraded convection toaster oven for years. (It died only recently!)
Registry-Type Things We’re Buying For Ourselves
We still do buy barware for ourselves, although we’ve recognized that, for the most part, it’s just the two of us drinking — if anything comes in a set larger than that I have to really, really love it in order to make room for it in my cabinets. (We have about five sets each of martini glasses and lowball glasses, and I keep seeing beautiful cordial glasses when I go thrifting.)
I buy coffee mugs for us also, which we also use for large tea mugs, but again I try to limit it to two mugs — any set larger than that I have to truly love. At this point (for mugs and plates at least), I do my best to buy and use what I love, and stick it in the dishwasher if that’s easiest even if it’s not necessarily dishwasher safe — I’d rather break something than have it sit on a shelf unused.
Linens are another big thing that people register for — I don’t think we had them on our registry, but I have made a number of relatively nice bedding purchases for us. I hate throwing things away if they’ve still got life in them, though, so at this point any new additions to our closet have to be something I truly love. We have about 5 sets of linen sheets and 5 sets of thick flannel sheets, so things are in rotation constantly and last a long time.
We did not register for vases or things (or if we did it was probably Lismore stuff), and I’ve enjoyed building a collection of vases I love over the years through a variety of thrifting, estate sales, and regular shopping.
The Cheapest Items We’re Loving Right Now
Some of the most affordable things that we’re loving that were gifts include things like cheese knives and chacuterie-type accessories — they’re fun and elevate a basic night of wine, cheese, and crackers or fresh bread.
Readers, over to you — if you’re partnered and had a registry, what have you found to be the most useful items from your registry? If you’ve bought things like china, barware, cookware, and large appliances for yourself, what purchases have been worth the money? Which purchases or gifts do you regret?
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