Sensational Settings

If you watch HGTV, it hasn't escaped your notice that dining tables are always set, always, as if, at a moment's notice, a dinner party could happen. Apparently, tables must always be at the ready with layers of plates and accessorized with some sort of napkin flourish.

These table settings are more about showing your china collection than about functional dining, but they do make a pretty presentation. If you have several sets of compatible china, by all means stack them up at each place setting; it's not uncommon to see them three to five plates deep. But it is the little accessories that often steal the show.