The best dinner sets and cups and saucers from South African sellers

This is the most-rated item on the shelf and the best-rated with it: 4.9 from 179 shoppers. On a shelf where most listings have no ratings at all, that is real signal, and it is the main reason this set wins.

The listing describes triple-layer glass and a 16-piece set with a hand-sketched greenery pattern. Corelle's tempered glass plates are thin and stack flat, which matters more than it sounds in a normal kitchen cupboard. The pattern is restrained enough that it will not date the way a bold print does.

It sits at the upper end of the full sets here, but not at the very top, and the rating record justifies the gap over cheaper sets that nobody has rated.

The catch. Sixteen pieces means four settings. A household of six will need to buy twice or look at an 18-piece set.

Same price, same 16-piece format, same tempered glass construction, and a watercolour-inspired pattern instead of the sketched greenery. The rating is 4.8 from 63 shoppers, which is a strong second-best on this shelf.

If you are choosing between these two, choose on the pattern. There is nothing in the listings or the ratings to separate them on substance.

The catch. Same maker and same price as the top pick, so it is a sideways step rather than an alternative on value.

Eighteen pieces for well under half the top pick, which makes it the best piece-for-rand full set here that still comes from a known name. Plain white rim porcelain is the safest buy in tableware: it goes with everything, it is easy to add to, and nothing about it will look tired in five years.

The listing is short and tells you little beyond white, rim shape and everyday use. In this case the format does most of the talking.

The catch. No shopper ratings and a thin listing, so you are buying on the name and the shape rather than any track record.

A 27.5cm white rimmed dinner plate at a price where buying six still lands below most of the full sets here. Rated 5.0, though from only five shoppers.

Buying open stock is underrated. You replace what breaks, you choose your own mix of plate, side plate and bowl, and you are not stuck with four cups you never use. Maxwell & Williams White Basics runs deep on this shelf, with cereal bowls, soup bowls, side plates and sauce dishes in the same plain white, so the set grows as you need it.

The catch. Only five ratings, and buying a full six-setting table this way takes more thought than clicking one box.

Four porcelain cups and saucers in one gift box, which works out cheaper per cup than the single Carrol Boyes cup and saucer on this shelf and saves you wrapping it.

If you only want one good cup for yourself, the single ceramic cup and saucer listings here cost very little and will do the job. This one is for when you want a matching four.

The catch. No ratings and a brief listing with no capacity given, so you cannot tell from the page whether these are espresso-sized or proper mugs.

Count the settings, not the pieces. A 16-piece set is four settings, an 18-piece is usually six. Sets padded with extra bowls can look generous and still leave you short of plates when people come round. Work out how many you actually seat on a normal weeknight, then double-check the maths before you buy.

Decide early between tempered glass and porcelain. Glass sets stack thin and shrug off knocks, which is why they rate so well with families. Porcelain feels more substantial and comes in far more shapes, and plain white porcelain is the easiest thing in the world to add to later. Neither is wrong, but mixing them in one cupboard rarely looks good.

Plain beats patterned over time. A bold print is fun for a year and awkward for the next ten, and you cannot top it up once the maker drops the pattern. If you want character, get it from one serving platter or a set of cups rather than from the everyday plates.

Check what the listing actually says about dishwasher, microwave and oven use. Several listings here spell it out, several say nothing at all. When a listing is silent on the thing you most want to know, treat that as part of the price.