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Don't Underestimate the Power of a Napkin Napkins can pack quite a punch when chosen with a plan in mind. Match, contrast, complement, stand apart, blend in – they can do it all in the name of tying your tabletop together  Paired with white dishes, these green napkins jump off the table with their color and pizzazz. Image courtesy stock.xchng Mix-and-match dinnerware sets a lively mood for entertaining. But if your table resembles the mishmash of a garage sale instead of a dinner party, you need something to pull the various elements together. Napkins do the trick. You can either select a napkin in a color that's similar to the dishes or choose a hue that contrasts with the rest of the table, say the experts. “You have to have a common thread somewhere, and napkins provide that,” says Amy Pomp Lorette, manager and buyer for Mrs. Cook's cookware store in Seattle. Napkins in subtle complementary colors bring an elegant finish to the table setting. That's Carol Smoler's preference. “I tend to use beige tones that blend with everything I use,” says Smoler, a food stylist and consultant in Chicago. “I stay away from wild tones,” says Smoler. She also avoids white napkins because they're almost impossible to keep clean. You could take the opposite approach, as food writer Anne Byrn does, and put the color in the napkin for a lively festive arrangement. “White plates show off linens well. Put the color in the napkins and let the food pop up on white plates,” says Byrn, author of “What Can I Bring? Cookbook” (Workman Publishing, 2007). If your table arrangement includes dishes in more than one color, Lorette suggests you opt for a multicolored pattern that ties everything together. Whether you go subtle or bold, you can't have enough napkins, say the food pros. Byrn suggests stocking up on cute, inexpensive napkins whenever you see them, and Smoler says to watch for linen sales to bulk up your napkin supplies. “If you find a super sale, buy napkins by the dozen. New napkins have a crisp look from never having been laundered,” she says.
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Bev Bennett, a veteran food writer and editor, is the author of "Dinner for Two: A Cookbook for Couples" and "30-Minute Meals for Dummies"
