Polished silver is so warm and lovely, and while it is not a fun project, it is rewarding to do with an old movie you are familiar with playing.

I don't actually like it when it is just polished! To me it looks fake. I like it better after it mellows a bit.

ENjoy your dinner party!

Oh trust me Mtn - you would not like the look of this stuff pre-polishing! It might look nice and mellow over the next few years but not after 20 or more. It's very ornate (not what I would choose) so even after the extent of my polishing I think there's enough aging left in those nooks and crannies to prevent the fake look. 🙂

Roll your silver in silvercloth so it'll be almost ready next time. Or use it more!

I polished up an antique silverplated cornet with a lovely goldwashed bell for my daughter recently.

"I liked it better black."

Thanks kid.

Use your silver every day. The dishwasher works just fine. Silver and stainless touching is not a problem (some people say the ss knife blades should not touch silver.) Only runny egg yolks necessitate immediate wiping down with a polishing cloth since they turn the tines of a fork or bowl of a spoon black instantly.

I polish my silver once a year. And honestly, it's not really necessay. My everyday service has been in my husband's family since the early 30s, used daily.

Oh, just saw your service is ornate, and not what you would choose, bummer. Mine is super simple.

@Zalco/bring back Sophie! - Wow I can't imagine using sterling every day. We don't even eat at the table let alone use sterling!! It wouldn't be the ornate pattern that stops me - it's just the whole idea is too fancy for our lifestyle. I'm planning my next dinner party for January and will use all of this again and hopefully much more often in the future. One of my goals post-retirement was to have dinner parties and use this stuff. Covid kind of put a stop to that but I'm back on track now.

Oh, what a pretty table setting for a cozy dinner.

How do you like the stemware? I have a set of my grandmother’s and I’m not sure I like the flare of the mouth.

We used sterling every for years. Spoons disappeared. Forks got chewed up in disposals. It was sad. I do have 16 knives intact. And now I no longer like my pattern anyway. I use my Mom's but not every day.

Our housekeeper uses barkeepers friend on our silver and it comes out way better than using that smelly silver paste.

How do I like the stemware? Hard to say since it's used so seldom. The smaller glasses were my grandmother's. The larger ones are some cheap things I bought years ago for a progressive dinner - blue, green and purple stems. I wanted to use all green but remembered one of the green ones broke in the past so I'm using blue and green. The china has blue in it. I like that they have the same shape.

What's the menu?

@beaglesdoitbetter - housekeeper! I was thinking about Downtown Abbey when I was doing this and how helpful it would be to have "staff" to polish the silver if you had a lot of it. Then my mind wandered to my new housecleaner who would gladly help with a project like this. However I got through it without difficulty - Weiman's silver polish - odor free. 😀

It really does look pretty.

I should pull out my nice (mostly inherited) stuff and freak out my ultracasual inlaws. My father-in-law was always wary of using a stemmed glass for anything due to the tip factor. Good guy.

@mtnrdredux_gw - menu - I worked on that today too. Meyer Lemon Chicken Piccata, Citrus Green Beans with Pine Nuts, Angel Hair Pasta with Garlic and Herbs, White Russian Tiramisu. SIL will bring some kind of salad. I'm fond of an old fashioned relish tray for appetizer - olives, pickles and the like - nothing very heavy.

What prompted this dinner is that my SIL is buying replacement appliances and the last to be replaced is the cooktop. When we were last there we were talking about it and she said she couldn't wait to get gas instead of electric. I told her she really should get induction but she is skeptical. So I invited her over for a cooking party so she can try it out. So we will be making dinner together - should be fun! And I know she appreciates china, crystal and silver and my BIL will appreciate the significance of the things that came from his mother.

I am hoping one of my nieces is a grandmillennial. but they might not get of age in time to save the 4 different sets of china my dad has, the set I have from my mom and all the silver. I never use it and honestly am tired of storing it.

If you use the silver, it won't need polishing so often, if at all. I have a collection of various small silver boxes and antique odds and ends. If I polish them every couple of months, it makes it easier to shine up the next time. When I don't polish the silver for a long time, it takes a lot of time and effort to polish.

For what it's worth, if you enjoy the look and feel of the silver, use it wherever you eat. The table setting is lovely.

2Katz, what a lovely evening and such a sweet idea!

Oh and, yum

My parents' sterling was never polished in 50 odd years of marriage, it just got put in the DW when we used it, which was maybe 8 times a year. (Just don't let it touch any other metal).

The serving pieces rarely need polishing, eventually everything eventually got put in silver cloth bags and they maybe need a little bit of touch up. There were/are a few pieces that got left out in the open air and they really are the only things that needed some occasional polishing. The silver cloth bags really make a big difference and actually storage in their china cupboard with really tight fitting doors, the pieces that got displayed didn't even tarnish quickly.

The bags are not inexpensive but they are a major labor saver. I do remember having to polish the punch bowl, the huge rotating caviar/seafood server, and some other Victorian stuff when we didn't have big enough bags. Nobody knows where the big rotating thing came from anymore, but it's such a curiosity I could not let it go.

This household takes their silver storage seriously:

Candlelight and gleaming silver…such a beautiful sight

Pal, I would kill for that fabulous storage!

2Katz those are lovely things and the set table looks perfect for your dinner. You are so thoughtful to plan such a fun evening for your in-laws; they must adore you. My own silver is plain but I am enjoying using my MIL’s ornate pattern more and more. She had a massive collection—i think i have 30 iced teaspoons and cake forks and 24 of everything else. She loved her silver and we always remember her when we use it. I am a lover of china and crystal and silver and although our lives are fairly casual—- much more so than when I grew up—-I LOVE using these things and it makes our family and guests feel special.

Your menu sounds scrumptious, especially the tiramisu!

I have sterling silver flatware that onky gets used a few times a year. I've never needed to polish it in the 25 years we've had it but it is stored in one of those boxes designed for sterling utensils.

@3katz4me this statement made me chuckle "I was thinking about Downtown Abbey when I was doing this and how helpful it would be to have "staff" to polish the silver"

When my paternal gandmother died, her grandkids were allowed to choose anything we wanted from her china cabinet. She was old school Italian with the plastic covered furniture and ornate formal dining room. One of the few things that I liked were her silver salt and pepper shakers. They were already somewhat tarnished, but they have been sitting in my china cabinet for 20+ years and look awful so I have never used them. My elderly but spry parents came over for Thanksgiving dinner. My father likes to keep busy so is always looking for a project. Having noticed the shakers while setting my table, I suggested to my father he take the salt and pepper shakers and polish them for me. He was happy to do it and already reported they are ready for me, and look nothing like they did before.

So I guess I don't need a staff, just an elderly parent who needed a project.😀

I’m encouraged to know I will likely never need to polish the silver again as long as I use it regularly. So my goal is to have someone over for a ”fancy” dinner at least once a month with a few for DH and I thrown in for good measure. That will take a little coaxing as he likes to eat in front of the TV.

Thank you @Kswl - you are my inspiration!

I'm infamous in my family for taking it upon myself, as a preteen, to do my Mom a favor and "polish" her silver candlesticks. With Brillo.

I'm so happy to see someone enjoying their china, silver and crystal. I store my silver in a box made to store silver. I never need to polish it as long as I dry it thoroughly before putting it back into the box. @3katz4me, your menu sounds delicious.

Growing up, we used sterling every day because my parents had received it as a wedding gift and we were too poor to afford a stainless steel set.

I LOVE to polish silver and the smell of silver polish! When I was a teen, I always volunteered to polish silver at my babysitting jobs. I inherited sterling flatware from an auntie ( my mom had silverplate, which I use for every day). My aunt kept pieces of blackboard chalk in the silver chest; apparently it inhibits tarnishing. I don't think I have ever had to polish her sterling.

Recntly, I set a container of silver polish on the coffee service tray, so it will call to me. Hopefully before Christmas.

Beautiful table, Katz. What a lovely dinner you have planned.

I'm a big fan of silvercloth and have lined a highboy dresser with it in my closet to store jewelry. I have many silver serving pieces but don't use them much anymore, not a style I dig out much. I have flatware from mom in a storage chest and occasionally use but again, not my current style.

I like wrights silver polish best and am not a dishwasher fan.

I have on occasion done the aluminum foil and baking soda dunk but the cream brings out the shine.

I used to, but not anymore. Our pattern is pretty ornate-Reed & Barton Francis I. When my inlaws died, we inherited theirs (can't remember the pattern, but it looks fine mixed with ours). My MIL used sterling at every meal and put it in the dishwasher. They married in 1946 and both lived into their nineties.