Sterling Check is the quietest of the MacKenzie-Childs checks: the hand-painted checkerboard in soft gray and white. It gives you the pattern without a strong color, which makes it the easiest check to live with in a kitchen that is already mostly white, gray or stainless.

It is painted by hand in upstate New York like Courtly Check, with the same slightly uneven squares, so the two sit together naturally. Our Sterling Check guide covers where the pattern came from.

Sterling Check goes further than most checks at the table. The Dinner Plate, Salad/Dessert Plate and Everyday Bowl make a place setting, and the Serving Platter and Serving Bowl finish it. In the kitchen, the 2 Quart and 3 Quart Tea Kettles and the Cookie Jar with Enamel Lid are where most people start. The Mug and Spoon Rest are small, useful first pieces.

Dekado has been an authorized MacKenzie-Childs retailer since 2010.