Luned: Unless the chip's on the underside (we're talking a chip deep enough to expose the ceramic paste, not a crack or chip that doesn't completely penetrate the glaze layer), chips on gloss-glazed white plates are highly visible as well if you're close enough to actually be eating off of them. From across the room, you'd notice it on a red-glazed plate before the white-glazed. However, if you've never seen a set of these in the store or it's not a well-known brand, I'd be wary of buying dinnerware off a website (even Amazon). Photographs really don't tell you enough about the heft, thickness, quality, and size of the product when it comes to table wares.
HereForTheBeer: You can get a decent idea of the heft since it has a shipping weight of 22 pounds. That seems pretty healthy at about 1.25 pounds average per piece. FWIW, our Denby dinner plates are about 1 pound 10 ounce, and that's considered a quality brand. But yeah, hands-on is the ideal way to buy this stuff. For what it's worth, the brand seems to get good reviews...
If chips and breakage are a worry, buy an extra set. At that price, it won't clobber the wallet.
Hmm, HereForTheBeer, you say Denby are quality? I don't mind spending 60 bucks on a 4 piece set if they're really nice. This is the kind of thing I used to just hand my wife money to solve and never worried about it. She always picked out nice stuff (or at least it seemed nice to me). I just need something to replace the partial set that I have remaining, but since I'll probably keep the same set for 6-10 years I'd prefer to buy something nice rather than something I'll be pissed at. This is just not an area I know crap all about.
Good point, Luned, come to think of it, you can see a chip regardless if you're eating off it. I don't display my dishsets, so I just need something sturdy that won't chip in the dishwasher and isn't so moronically designed it's hard to wash/store.
