Luxe or Less: pastel tea pots

It's no secret I adore Limoges porcelain. Piece by piece, for birthdays and Christmas presents, I am accumulating quite a nice collection - so far I have five different tea cup and saucer sets (ice blue, pastel green, rose pink, old rose and parma) and four cake plates (I still have one on order to complete my ice blue set). I also have a tea pot in parma. I think I'll be adding a yellow set to my collection next and then start thinking about a sugar bowl and a creamer...

But I have to say it's a very expensive habit. I'm fortunate enough that Mr K and my parents have been very generous in funding much of my collection over the past four years but it's something that will take a long time to finish. I do love beautiful, elegant things and Limoges porcelain fits the bill to a tea (boom tish).

But if you want the Limoges look on a slightly cheaper budget, Miss Kitty can certainly help you out there.

Cristina Re, the celebrated wedding invitation designer, has a great selection of teapots, cups and tea accessories that mimic the vintage classic look of Limoges without the eye watering price tag.

Take, for example, this teapot:

The Limoges version at Malmaison is $415. At Peters of Kensington, it's $412. It's even more expensive at The Bay Tree.

The Cristina Re version is just $39.95. Less than 10% of the cost of the Limoges.

Now, there are obvious differences. The Re version is not hand made in France. It's chunkier and not as fine and it's certainly not porcelain. The cups and saucers are quite heavy, as is the teapot. But for sheer value for money and style, it can't be beaten.

Now, personally I do prefer the Limoges but when you consider the amount of money you have to invest to collect a set it certainly makes the Cristina Re versions seem quite reasonable, despite their flaws. I'm not in the market for a new teapot (well...) but if I was, the Cristina Re version would be at the top of my list.

In fact, I purchased the cake stand from the Re range this afternoon (from Sussans, donchaknow). Limoges don't make a stand, and for $50 it was very good value! It fits into my collection quite nicely, thankyouverymuch.

Kitty