Say it LOUD

LITTLE ROCK — Contemporary dinnerware may be just what you need to add a splash of color to your outdoor barbecue or indoor dinner party this year.

For years, white and beige tones have dominated fine china, everyday dining and even casual outdoor dinnerware, but that’s no longer the case. This year’s summer dinnerware features shades of lime, tangerine, strawberry and teal in solids and patterns ranging from stripes to bold, beautiful florals. Even better, these technicolor dishes are available at stores ranging from Kohl’s and Target to Bed Bath & Beyond and Crate & Barrel at prices that won’t put a huge dent in your pocketbook.

Melamine, an organic compound used to make Melmacdishes in the 1950s through the 1980s, is partly to thank for these inexpensive dishes. Melamine dishes are shatterproof - nearly impossible to break - and lightweight, which makes them ideal for outdoor dining.

STRIPES AND CIRCLES AND SQUARES - OH MY!

Unlike their counterparts from the mid-20th century, today’s melamine dishes are ultra-light and stylish. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors and patterns and lack the cumbersome heft of a 1970s Melmac plate with its traditional base and thick-set construction.

The only downside to melamine is that the dishes aren’t microwavesafe. That hasn’t stopped retailers from stocking them, however.

Even a brief trip down the kitchen aisles at Wal-Mart reveals that Arkansas’ largest retailer has jumped on the melamine bandwagon with inexpensiveand colorful dinnerware from Home Trends. You’ll find square melamine plates in greens, blues, pinks and oranges - all featuring square geometric patterns - for pocket change.

But Wal-Mart isn’t the only retailer to stock its shelves with geometric or striped melamine plates. Target sells blue- and redstriped melamine sets along with an assortment of solid-colored accent pieces.

If higher-end melamine for outdoor entertaining is what you crave, check out the Bobby Flay outdoor dinnerware collection at Kohl’s. Flay’s designs, as well as his recipes, feature a south of the border flavor with teal, red, yellow and orange striped square plates;

red square mosaics on yellow square plates; and swirling red circles within circles on a yellow background. Accent bowls, cups, margarita glasses and plates are available in yellows, blues, greensand oranges.

BUT WAIT - THERE’S MORE!

Like the Flay collection, Crate & Barrel’s Focus dishes offer colorful stripes and circles to liven the party. Available in redorange and green-blue, Focus plates and bowls feature a series of concentric circles that form a hypnotic geometric pattern on the former, while merely looking like stripes on the latter. Unlike the Flay collection, however, Focus dinnerware ismade from handpainted, white-glazed earthenware, making them microwave- and dishwasher-safe.

Crate & Barrel employs true stripes on its Raya serving set. Purple, aqua, lime and orange dominate the pattern, which is featured on a serving bowl and platter, a three-sided serving dish, a chip-and-dip bowl and a pitcher. Like the Flay collection, the Raya pattern is inspired by Mexican fiestas, and, like the Focus dinnerware, it’s made from earthenware.

Perhaps the most traditional (and yet nontraditional) geometric dinnerware comes from Corelle in the form of Isleha. A blanket of white serves as the backdrop for a lone stripe made of purples, greens and oranges. The stripe offsets a circle in the same colors on the opposite side of the plate. Part of the Corelle Global Fusion series, these plates are microwave-, ovenand dishwasher-safe and are made of Corelle’s patented Vitrelle, which makes them chip-resistant as well as faderesistant, lightweight and stackable.

NATURAL EXUBERANCE

Brands like Corelle, Laurie Gates, Paula Deen and Crate & Barrel are also leading the way in new floral dinnerware designs. Gone are the tiny floral patterns and muted floral trims that were once prevalent in dinnerware. Today’s florals are brassy and bold, with big flowers and brazen colors. The Laurie Gates florals epitomize this.Large, hand-painted spring flowers overtake white backdrops in Gates’ designs, which are available at Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy’s and Costco. Reds, yellows, light blues and purples shine against the glazed earthenware.

Corelle’s Simply Natural collection features tulips, buttercups, camellias and freesia that eschew tradition. Each plate features one or two stalks of each type of flowerin an asymmetrical arc rather than a tiny, regular pattern. If regular patterns are your thing, however, Corelle also offers the Happy Days collection, a series of multicolored dishes that feature vibrant, openfaced flowers and squiggling green branches. Likewise, Mikasa offers the Daylight dinnerware collection - a series with lifelike leaves against a white background.

Not all floral and natureinspired depictions in today’s dinnerware are realistic, however. Crate & Barrel offers wild floral plates in the Sorrento and Loire collections.The former features oversize tangerine and yellow flowers against teal, canary yellow, magenta and lime green backgrounds; the latter offers a more traditional, white floral pattern against the same color backdrops. The Sorrento collection is made of melamine, making its boldness ideal for outdoor dining. The porcelain Loire collection is microwave- and dishwashersafe and would probably be best used at casual dinner parties.

Target also makes some bold melamine dishes with floral patterns for summer cookouts. Blue-and-yellow floral plates, royal blue medallion dinnerware with floral centers, and serving trays with pinwheel and concentric circular patterns are all available from the retailer.

SIMPLICITY IS KEY

While some shoppers may be looking to spice up their barbecue, others may prefer simpler designs. Noritake, sengWare, Emile Henry and Crate & Barrel offer more demure designs that allow incorporation of color into the kitchen while adhering to traditional styles. Seattle’s sengWare offers simple, monochromatic dishes in an assortment of high-gloss colors from pistachio to cocoa. Available in classic round and “uptown square” shapes, these dishes are oven-, microwave- and dishwasher-safe. The sengWare line is available at Bed Bath & Beyond, Wal-Mart and sengware.com.

Likewise, French dishmaker Emile Henry makes an assortment of one-color dinnerware from Burgundy clay. These heavy, durable dishes come in greens, blues, reds and yellows, are chip-resistant, and can be ideal for everyday dining. A high-gloss color glaze ensures that colors will not fade or stain.

If you still like a white eating surface but crave a color splash, Noritake’s Colorwave collection may be for you. Colorwave dishes come in two forms: The first features colored rims in blue, suede, raspberry or mustard around white centers; the second has a cream-colored eating surface with a backing of peach, lilac, sky or mint. Both designs offer an understated elegance.

Made of stoneware, the Colorwave series can be dressed up or down for any occasion.

Crate & Barrel offers products similar to the Colorwave series with its Hamptons dinnerware. Green and yellow rims surround white porcelain centers for a classic look.Crate & Barrel’s Brio dishes invert the Noritake Colorwave scheme so that green and blue are predominant against white backs. Brio is ideal for those who like traditional dinnerware with a hint of the modern.

The Mikasa Circle Chic collection was created in that same vein, featuring red, yellow, orange and black rims against white centers. The twist here is that a series of tiny bubbles form an asymmetrical pattern in the middleof the white centers.

This summer’s dinnerware has it all - from traditional dishes with a hint of color to bold, floral creations and dramatic stripes.

Whether you’re looking for a splash of color to spice up a dinner party or barbecue, orwant to make over your table, retailers have colorful dinnerware to suit any occasion and taste. And, more often than not, it’s available at a price just about anyone can afford. Not bad for a design category once dominated by plain old whites and creams.