What does "river rock" space mean?

Why don't you provide a link to your kitchen.

I've heard that the square chip easier, can't confirm that personally.

Oops, sorry! I'm referring to the granite in my kitchen. Pics are here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen pics

Do you have a Home Goods near by? I would start there. If you are not successful, then look on line or in Macy's. With your gorgeous counters, I would stay very simple. If you are going for sturdy, then Fiesta Ware would work. If it's for special times, then something banded in one of your gorgeous colors.

I like a lot of Crate and Barrel's collections. They have some earthy colors that would look nice with your counters and overall feel (linked below).

Here is a link that might be useful: Crate and Barrel Dinnerware

After finishing my kitchen, I also decided new dinnerware was needed ( not actually a need but a want).
I looked around at local stores but ended up buying online directly from Noritake. They have casual as well as formal dinnerware. They had better prices than all the other sources I looked at. Right now they have a Black Friday special of 30% of plus free shipping starting on Thursday.
My order arrived very quickly. The boxes were all intact but 3 pieces of my order were broken. Customer service was pleasant to deal with and replacement pieces arrived within a week.

Here is a link that might be useful: Noritake Dinnerware

My flatware is from Crate & Barrel. I love it! Iona. I just bought Thanksgiving dishes from Pottery Barn. Found some good clearance ones. My "every day" dishes are Princess House and I've had them for maybe 15 years.

For flatware, I got a recommendation here on gardenweb for Liberty Tabletop manufactured by Sherrill, a product that is actually made in the USA. I hadn't heard of them before but I decided to take a leap of faith since I'm in favor of buying US whenever possible. The quality was excellent and the people were extremely nice to deal with.

Link to Liberty Tabletop

+1 for Crate and Barrel, I like their contemporary styles. Williams-Sonoma is also worth looking at. Made in USA (or at least not made in China) is an excellent point to be looking for too!

For your dishes, if you want to up the contemporary factor and go toward Bauhaus, check out the German brand Arzberg. I love their stuff! Some of it is traditional and classic, while some is modernist and sleek. If nothing else it's a fun website to browse through because there are many different styles.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arzberg Prozellan

do u have any outlets near you?? i bought Lenox everyday dishes "butterfly meadow" for a song.
also Corelle is very durable and light weight. you can't chip it if you try. i had my set for about 14 yrs and bought the lenox b/c it was so cheap the day i was shopping. and b/c i just got tired of my corelle.
love the link for Liberty Tabletop, it looks really nice!

and both corelle and some lenox is made in USA..
my personal choice is to stay away from ceramic dinnerware..it chips like crazy and its heavy/cumbersome
also, FWIW, the corelle stacks nice in the cabinet, nice and flat... it doesnt take up alot of room

I can't recommend where to get it, other than Bed, Bath & Beyond with a 20% off coupon, but I do recommend the colors white or bone. If you want something fancier, choose a plate that has an interesting raised pattern along the rim.

Food will always looks best on a white plate....I suggest bone or cream in case your kitchen has the warm colors.

Enjoy and happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks for the wonderful suggestions so far!

I had never heard of Home Goods, and it looks like their closest stores are over two hours (in every direction!), but on their website they have a Stylescope quiz to figure out your style. I'm cracking up that they defined me as "New Country with a touch of Farmhouse Glam." Who tipped them off that I'm living in a barn on a horse farm? I'll have to remember to take the quiz again in a couple months when I've moved into and settled down in the house and see if it changes a bit. I'm sure my current space skewed my selections a tad.

I did go look in stores yesterday, hitting Macy's, Dillards, Belk, Sears, JCPenny, William Sonoma and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I'm finding a lot of display space is given over to holiday stuff right now and there was very little dinnerware in the stores. Much of the flatware felt very light to me, too light. I think the idea of finding some outlet stores is a good one. Plus surfing the online sites you are all suggesting.

I love my Fiestaware -- colorful, durable, loads of accessories, and the colors are fab. I had white C&B dishes for years, but in my opinion, most food actually looks better on a dark plate. Cauliflower, chicken breast, and mashed potatoes never looked so good!

Well, the Black Friday sales just got me with a sale trifecta.

Macy's.com had the Dansk Bistro Cafe flatware on sale already, PLUS a buy-one-get-one-free promotion on some of the five-piece place-settings going until Tuesday, PLUS 10% off through today, and free shipping. So I got 16 place settings and some serving pieces for more than 60% off. Sweet. If I don't love it, I can return it to the local Macy's. Reviews at several different websites are good and I remember liking this design when I was looking at Macy's last week but it wasn't on sale then.

Dinnerware still to go. But this is progress.

Try Dinnerware Etc.

"(I need to get stuff decided ASAP or Mom will surprise me with something as a housewarming and I really want to pick my own!)"

I don't have relevant suggestions for you, but wanted to say how much I can relate to this statement! I remember years ago when I finally bought new towels ... A whole bunch that all matched ... And my mom said, "Why didn't you tell me you wanted new towels, I would have gotten you some for your birthday!" All I could think was, "because I wanted the fun of picking them out MYSELF."

Sometimes it's fun to pick stuff out, but I haven't found a way to break that to my mom, who likes to buy practical gifts. If you crack the code on that lemme know ;)

It looks like you've already made your purchase, but I'll chime in on the 1 big con to square plates anyway. Depending on the size, they won't turn in the microwave.

Our square dinner plates turn until the corners hit the back and the door . Then the turntable reverses and the opposite corners hit . Every few seconds .

I haven't purchased dinnerware yet, just flatware, so I very much appreciate the tip about the square plates, Gin Gin. And I think you have just provided a convincing argument that round is THE way to go!

Engineer Chic: This is the first time I'm getting to pick out dinnerware as Mom has beat me to the punch as I was moving twice before. This time I get to choose! As far as cracking the code, if she offers to buy for you, can you suggest that you shop together? That way you get to select? This works unless the gift is a total surprise, in which case you just get to happily accept it and live with the very thoughtful gift for two decades as I have done. But goshdarnit I am picking my own this time!

Another vote for Crate & Barrel. My every day dishes are from there. They're bone china, which I strongly recommend. Bone china sounds like it would be fragile and easily broken, but it's really just the opposite. Of course something will break if I drop it or drop something really heavy on it, but it's really chip resistant. We've had this set for years and it hasn't chipped once. Meanwhile, some ceramic bowls I've got chip like crazy around the rims.

We got TAG dishes when we were married (year and a half ago) and I LOVE them! I also got different colors so I could mix and match. Could not be happier with them and they are all lead free/microwave/dishwasher safe.

Here is a link that might be useful: pictures of dishes

I posted this in the other dinnerware thread I started, but I thought I should post here in case someone may find the information helpful.

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I want to find a robust set just for casual gathering when our best friends bring their kids who like to swipe things off the table. I happen to stumble on Corelle. For today only, Shopworldkitchen sells Corelle Openstock Dinnerware 50% off (must buy min. 6) with free shipping (code: REWARDS). I jumped on it and got myself a few sets. I like the fact that they are oven/microwave/dishwasher/freezer safe. Not sure if DH will like the light weight dinnerware, but that'll get us started in our new kitchen (I didn't keep any of our old stuff) while I slowly shopping for the right choice.