Hammershøi Plate Sizes: Ø19, Ø22 and Ø27 cm Compared

Kähler makes the Hammershøi plate in three flat diameters, Ø19, Ø22 and Ø27 cm, with a deep plate at Ø21 cm alongside them. Most tables do not need all four. This piece puts the measurements side by side and explains what each size actually does across a meal, in a cupboard and under a serving spoon.

One series, drawn from a set of grooves

Hammershøi is Kähler's modern classic. Hans-Christian Bauer drew on the work the Danish artist Svend Hammershøi made at Kähler's workshop in the early 1900s and translated his signature grooves into a quieter language for the table. The house itself was founded in Næstved, Denmark in 1839, and the ceramic character of that history carries through into the porcelain the plates are made from. If you want the longer version of that story, we set it out in Hammershøi by Kähler: the Grooves That Became a Table Range.

What matters for choosing between the sizes is that the ribbing is always on the rim, never in the well. Every plate in the range therefore has the same two zones: a banded outer edge that catches light, and a plain white centre that leaves food alone. The sizes differ in diameter, in height and in weight, not in language.

The three flat plates compared

The deep plate sits slightly apart. The Hammershøi Soup plate Ø21 cm white measures Ø21 cm and weighs 0.46 kg, so it reads as a lunch-sized plate with a well in it rather than as a bowl. That is the point of it: it keeps the same footprint on a laid table while holding soup, stew, pasta or a grain dish that would run to the edge of a flat plate.

What each diameter is for

The Hammershøi Plate Ø19 cm white is the small one, and small plates earn their place faster than large ones. At 19 cm it takes a slice of cake, two or three pieces of cheese, a pastry with a cup beside it, or bread and butter as a side plate to the left of a main. It weighs 0.25 kg, which makes it the plate people carry to the sofa and the one children handle without incident. If you buy a single size first and eat informally, this is a stronger opening move than the dinner plate.

The Hammershøi Plate Ø22 cm white is the working plate. Twenty-two centimetres is the size most weekday food is naturally portioned to: a piece of fish with potatoes, a salad, eggs on toast, a plate of pasta that is not being served to guests. It shares the 2.5 cm height of the Ø19, so the two stack in a single column in the cupboard, and at 0.42 kg it is light enough to handle in a stack of six. In a small flat where one set has to cover everything, the Ø22 does more work than either neighbour.

The Hammershøi Plate Ø27 cm white is the dinner plate and the one that changes how a table looks. At 27 cm the plain centre is wide enough to leave a margin of white around a portion, which is what makes composed food read as composed. It is also the only one of the three that stands 3.5 cm tall, and it weighs 0.71 kg. That extra height is partly rim depth, and it is useful: sauce stays where it is put. Used as a base under the soup plate or under a bowl, it turns two pieces into a single place setting.

How the grooved rim frames food

The ribbing runs as a band around the outer edge and stops cleanly where the well begins. Two things follow from that. First, the rim does the decorative work by shadow rather than by pattern: in daylight the grooves read as a fine grey rhythm, under a warm pendant in the evening they go softer and almost disappear. Nothing on the plate competes with the food, which is why the white Hammershøi pieces sit happily next to heavily glazed or patterned series.

Second, the band draws an edge. A portion placed in the well is visually bounded by the grooves, so a modest amount of food on the Ø27 looks deliberate rather than lost. The effect is strongest with plain dishes and dark ingredients, and it is the reason the range photographs well without styling. On the Ø19, where the well is proportionally smaller, the band takes up more of the surface and the plate behaves almost like a small tray.

Stacking height, weight and cupboard depth

Plates nest, so a stack is always shorter than the number of plates times their height. What the figures do tell you is the spacing you need between shelves and how much the shelf has to carry. Six Ø27 plates come to 4.26 kg, six Ø22 plates to 2.52 kg and six Ø19 plates to 1.5 kg, so a single shelf holding a full service of dinner plates is carrying real load. Fix floating shelves accordingly, and keep the heavy stack low.

For depth, measure the diameter and add room for fingers. A cupboard that takes the Ø27 comfortably needs about 30 cm of clear internal depth, while the Ø19 and Ø22 fit shelves that would be too shallow for the dinner size. Because the Ø19 and Ø22 share a height of 2.5 cm and the Ø27 stands 3.5 cm, splitting the stacks by size rather than mixing them keeps each column even and reduces the chance of a rim resting on a rim.

• Two shallow shelves suit the Ø19 and Ø22 stacks side by side.
• One deep shelf takes the Ø27 stack with the soup plates stacked on top of it.
• Dishwasher and microwave are both fine for the series, so daily use does not mean hand washing.

How many sizes a table really needs

Two sizes cover most households: the Ø22 for everyday meals and the Ø19 for everything served alongside or afterwards. That pair stacks in one column, fits an ordinary cupboard and handles breakfast through to cake. Add the Ø27 when you regularly seat six or more, when you serve courses, or when you want a base plate under a bowl at Christmas and birthdays. Add the Ø21 deep plate if soup, pasta and grain dishes are a weekly habit rather than an occasional one.

The three-plate setting, Ø27 on the table, Ø21 deep plate on top, Ø19 to the left for bread, is the clearest argument for buying the range rather than a single size. Because all four pieces carry the same rim, mixing diameters never looks like mixing services, and because the centres are plain white they take colour from glass, linen and whatever else is on the table. Start with the size you eat from most often and let the others follow. See the rest of the range in the Tableware collection.