When the mailman was delivering my packages, I heard an ominous "clinking" around in the box, like broken dishes. "Please don't be my Kate Spade dishes!" I thought to myself. Alas, that's exactly where it was coming from. I usually don't like to slam packaging issues on products, as usually it doesn't matter a whole lot - and sometimes, things just happen outside of anyone's control, and it's not the fault of the seller and/or the product itself. That said, when it comes to higher end dishware...quality control needs to be exercised carefully when packing them up. I have received other Kate Spade dish settings with great success, and they were all packaged very securely and carefully. This set, unfortunately, was not. I was shocked when I opened the pretty green Kate Spade gift box to reveal the cup rolling around loosely and banging up against the bowl in this York Avenue 4 Piece Place Setting set. While the bowl was sorta secured in the box with basic cardboard (but still wiggling around some), the cup was not secured at all. Usually, there's bubble wrap on top of these sets or something to keep the dishes packed tightly to prevent them from wiggling around during shipping, but alas, this was not the case for my set. :( No bubble wrap at all inside the actual dish box - although the Amazon box it arrived in DID have a lot of their standard air packets to keep the whole thing from shifting around. The cup had apparently been rolling around quite a bit, and the handle was completely snapped off. I wish it was a clean break so as to be able to glue it back on discretely - but chunks of the handle were floating around in the box, and that part cannot be salvaged. Sigh. Here's the real shocker, though - despite the handle snapping off during shipping, upon careful inspection, neither the bowl or actual cup itself (aside from the handle) had ONE chip or scratch on it. None. When I saw the cup like that, I figured both were done for. The bowl is perfect. I will probably use the cup as a toothbrush holder and glue something on it where the handle used to be, so all is not lost...but still disappointing. It's just too darn pretty to throw away - I don't have the heart to do it! The 2 plates this set includes arrived without harm as well, so there's that. This is just one of those things where the seller should have made sure a little bubble wrap was placed on top of everything to secure it, sadly enough. As far as the set itself - yep, it's gorgeous! It's very chic and upscale, and I love the detailing around the edges of it. The china itself is super hardy and made from Lenox - an expensive but incredibly reliable, high quality brand - and everything is dishwasher safe. If you have any qualms about it, take it from me - this stuff is hardy, if the cup was smashing into the bowl like that the whole time while being slung around during shipping, and neither suffered damage or chips whatsoever (aside from the handle breaking, which was the weakest part about the whole set). This has a quaint look to it that almost appears delicate - and as aforementioned, this stuff is anything but! - but also has a really trendy, tasteful look to it that's classic and timeless. The grosgrain detailing around the edges alongside the shiny black accents on the edges really makes it stand out and assert itself as a higher-end place setting. Overall, this is an excellent quality set, despite what happened to my cup. If I hadn't already received other Kate Spade products before without any issues, I may have ended up ranking this much lower in stars...but I honestly think this was just a fluke and not the norm, as none of my other Kate Spade products ended up arriving like that - they were perfect and securely packaged - so I'm giving the benefit of the doubt for this one. Just note that this is for 1 place setting only, and is only 4 pieces.
