My husband and I just purchased place settings with pasta bowls of both the French Perle White and the French Perle Bead patterns. They arrived amazingly quickly and in perfect condition. The quality is simply superb. My husband wanted white, as he is the chef of the family and cares about displaying his art on a white canvas. I care about uniqueness and color. Our values competed with each other's, until we found two Lenox French Perle Collections in the three different patterns. They are elegant but quite interesting, especially when combined. Initially, we thought of buying the highly rated Mikasa Antique White; however, once we saw them in the store, they appeared uninteresting and the stark white color reminded us of Corelle. We then noticed a table display of the French Perle, which included a blend of the White pattern, the Bead pattern, and the new colorful French Perle Everything, all of which are different yet blend perfectly together, depending on your mood and the occasion. One can easily set a table, alternating the White and the Bead in every other place setting and, for additional interest, we mix the patterns within a single place setting. For example, the combination of the Bead plate, the White salad plate and the Bead pasta bowl is wonderful. Now, with the recent addition of the Everything pattern, the combinations are endless. The Everything pattern is more casual and is available in 8 colors; it can add a great splash of color and fun to the table. We've chosen 2 colors, alternating the salad plate colors. Committing to a pattern is often a long-term investment because of the cost and hassle. We looked for a long time and are thrilled with our decision because of getting high quality dishes that can be both formal and casual, with an amazing number of options, and a wide variety of serving dishes and accessories. We look forward to adding more over the next couple of years. UPDATE: One year later it grieves me to lower my rating from 5 Stars to 1 Star...in fact, we just returned ALL our dishes, which included 10 place settings. The dishes, and particularly the plates, were getting dark scratches. It was getting progressively worse and we were tired of having to use Bar Keepers Friend to fix the problems. I talked with a couple of Sales Associates at Macy's and they said they have started to see the problem and theorized that it was due to a factory change or a "bad batch" by Lenox. This perhaps might be true since Lenox has not responded to any of my multiple inquiries. When we have inquired about a color or pattern option, they respond within 24 hours, however, when we asked about this problem....NOTHING. I think they know. Buy at your own risk.
