Well Amazon Basics get pretty good reviews. They come in a plain white https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-18-Piece-Dinnerware-Set-Service/dp/B019EEUQ2O?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1 and various patterns. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7V5WZB/ref=psdc_367146011_t1_B019EEUQ2O?th=1

I second Corelle. Yes they shatter, but it takes pretty much to shatter one.

My hands are arthritic, so lightweight dishes has always been important to me, especially since I have a larger than average sized family, so we always need a lot of them on a regular basis. For many years, when my kiddos were young, we had plain white corelle dishes. Because I trained my kids from quite a young age to help with all chores, we had many corelle dishes shatter into shards and dust on our tile floor. To be fair, we lost a lot of glasses that way too. In fact, we had a whole routine for every time something broke because it happened so often! It wasn’t that the corelle was breaking easy, it was that my young children were clumsy like little kids are and they were learning. (The routine was that every child froze like a statue, and I’d go get my shoes and pick up each child to remove them from the kitchen so I could clean up the mess... only my extremely stubborn son disobeyed the routine once, and he never did it again after I had to pick glass shards out of his feet. LOL!) Anyways, they eventually got older and it started not happening anymore and we kept our corelle dishes for many years. A couple of years ago, with all of our kids now older teens and young adults, hubby decided he wanted something a little more fancy than those corelle dishes, but I still wanted something lightweight and easy to stack. After a lot of searching we realized that bone china fit the bill perfectly! I still have solid white dishes, I’m not one who is into much pattern, but they’re a really nice (imo) set of Mikasa bone china dishes and I’m really happy with them. They get everyday use (we donated all of our corelle to goodwill) and I’ve chipped a couple of bowls and broken a couple of plates... and now it’s mostly me doing it because my hands just aren’t great and I lose my grip on things a little too easily sometimes, but since it’s a standard Mikasa pattern it’s easy to purchase single replacement pieces. Another place you might want to look for dishes is ikea... I get a bunch of their drinking glasses (I forget the name of them, they’re tall and skinny, with sides that don’t flare) and it’s not that they hold up any better than any other glass, it’s that they’re lightweight, I can cram a zillion of them in my cupboard because the sides are straight, and they’re super cheap and easy to replace as needed. If I didn’t have my bone china already I probably would’ve gotten some of their table ware as well.

I have plain white bone china which can be dressed up or down. The plates fit perfectly in the DW's narrow tines and luckily no chips or crazing after two years of use. Ours are discontinued but there are many similar. Macy's Hotel Collection is one that I know of.

Check Pier 1. We have some from there that are thicker than Corelle yet not as heavy as Fiesta. I can’t handle anything heavy either and they are just right. Also dishwasher & microwave safe.

These are great ideas and I'll check them all out. I briefly looked at the Macy's hotel collection at Wilson's suggestion and their "Black Line" collection is catching my eye. Thank you guys so much. When I've gone to places like Bed Beth and Beyond I didn't see a lot, and what I did see was bulky heavy pieces and some Corelle so I was frustrated out of the gate. But that is good to know those of you that have had some Corelle shatter say it's not often and still worth buying. I do love the thinness. It used to be that you could bang it against the counter and it wouldn't break (Ok not that I did that, but it had that reputation).

Corelle - I had one shatter—which really was more like an explosion due to the noise and the distances everything flew—and the experience was so terrifying, I threw the whole set away. It just takes one time for one of those razor-sharp slivers - and I mean literally razor-sharp - to lose an eye, or be scarred, or to have a beloved pet tear its paw.

There are other good suggestions here, and if you have an Ikea nearby, check out Ikea 365+ dinnerware. It’s Veldspar porcelain, has rims (I don’t like dishes without rims), fits in narrow European dishwasher tines very well, and so astonishingly inexpensive that if it chips or breaks (not into slivered shards thankfully), it’s just a shrug-no-problem to replace it.

I love dishes. Seriously, I have a ridiculous amount of dishware.

I know Fiestaware is popular but heavy so that's not an option.

I adore my Fiestaware, but -- yes -- it is heavy, and it's a space hog in the dishwasher (I have the medium bowls with straight sides, and they require "two pegs" per bowl in the dishwasher). However, I love that they are oven-freezer-microwave-dishwasher safe ... and I've never broken a piece, even though I've had some bad drops.

If you like that bright-casual look but don't want the weight, let me throw out an unusual thought: Fiestaware but small plates. My Fiestaware plates are what's called "buffet plates" (sold, I believe, only at Kohl's). Other companies call these "luncheon plates", and they're a nice size for everyday use ... I don't reach for them when we have a big fat steak or ribs, but they're perfect for a serving of casserole or lasagna, or a small piece of fish with a salad. They're not lightweight like Corelle, but they're not nearly as heavy as the full-sized dinner plates.

Next thought: I also have some bright colored Pioneer Woman dishes, which are also what I'd term "luncheon size". They're exactly the same size as my Fiestaware (I stack them together), and my Fiesta colors coordinate nicely with them. These Pioneer Woman dishes have lots of "extras" like matching ramekins, which I adore.

Another nice middle-of-the-road line is Johnson Brothers. I grew up with Johnson Brothers' dishes in my mother's house ... and my grandmother's house. They're not as indestructible as Fiestaware, but they're also not super fragile, and they're only one bit heavier than Corelle ... for a lot more style, in my opinion.

My hands are arthritic,

Okay, with that as a consideration, you're not going to beat the weight of Corelle.

Check Pier 1.

Thing about Pier 1 -- though I tend to like their stuff -- is that it's available for a season, then it's gone. Though, admittedly, the OP didn't say that availability of replacement items is a consideration.

I have Mikasa StoneCraft (a discontinued style but can be found on Ebay) that are not as light as Corelle, but way lighter and more graceful than Fiesta - types (I also hate thick lips and edges on mugs and bowls). They don't get hard use (no young kids) but have held up well for some 9 years. I found some smaller bowls at Ikea that went well with the Mikasa, also nice and light. I would definitely look there if I needed to replace my set.

I have bought small sets at Target a few times, before I got the Mikasa, just because they were pretty and I wanted a change. Theirs were hit or miss -- some didn't hold up well at all ( one brand in particular easily chipped but they no longer carry it), another I still have and pull out occasionally just for a change.

I have had Johnson Bros. dishes decades ago and they also were fairly light and held up well.

One other thing that I look for besides weight is the size and shape of the bowls. I like having shallow wide bowls for salads, but more often I use deeper, not as wide bowls and I want those to be easily held in my hand -- so they mustn't be the oversized things that hold half a box of cereal and are so common now.

You can't beat Corelle dishes. They are light-weight, fit in the DW well and well-priced. I bought stoneware one time and went back to Corell.

YIKES, M Miller, I can't believe your Corelle shattered like that. I saw a few suggestions for bone china and will look closer at that. I imagine they have changed the "formula" from the days it was in my Grandmother's kitchen. Sighhh.

Be careful with Pyrex too. Seems it’s not what it used to be either. It was probably on here somewhere that I came across stories of it exploding in the oven or microwave now.

Abby Mac - check out this video showing the aftermath of one Corelle dish breaking - how far the pieces travelled, how they are in slivers, and the people in the video report the sound of it breaking too.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XiDzZU7c3DU

I really like Crate & Barrel Aspen. They are some of the cheapest dishware there and you can buy it per piece. They've been making it for a long time so you don't have to worry about breaking a plate and not being able to replace it.

I had to suspend my search for awhile when more important things came up, so I'm not sure if commenting will "bump up" my post.

But it looks like Macy's phased out the old hotel collection - anyone have any experience with this particular set? My closest Macy's is a couple hours away and I don't have time to drive there so I thought I'd check to see if anyone has feedback.

https://www.macys.com/shop/product/hotel-collection-coupe-bone-china-created-for-macys?ID=9841407&CategoryID=53629#fn=sp%3D1%26spc%3D5468%26ruleId%3D78%7CBOOST%20ATTRIBUTE%7CBOOST%20SAVED%20SET%26searchPass%3DmatchNone%26slotId%3D9