Most helpful customer reviews

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful.
I know, I know, it's just a measuring cup!
By Jerry Tietjens
I must be getting old, as today I dropped my Pyrex 1 Quart Measuring Cup from a cupboard about 10 feet up and guess what, it didn't break, and I was very excited! I've bought dozens of measuring cups over the years and have managed to melt, break, tarnish and mutilate each and every one of them. This one seems to be up to the challenge. I've used it to melt butter and left it in the microwave too long, washed it a dozen times in the dishwasher, used a whisk in it (I love the sheer size of this thing!). Not a scratch on it! I know, I know, it's just a measuring cup. But quality does matter, and this one is top notch!

85 of 91 people found the following review helpful.
Easy to use measuring cup, but do not treat it the same way as vintage Pyrex glassware.
By B. Nguyen
I needed a small measuring cup and decided to purchase a Pyrex brand one because I already had a nice old large quart sized Pyrex measuring cup that had outlasted many other measuring cups which I got tired of replacing constantly. To make sure that my new measuring cup would last, I did some investigation on the new "Pyrex" brand of glassware. Corning Glass Works the company that manufactured the Pyrex line had sold the name to another company in the late 90s and there were reports of this newer glassware exploding/breaking. The explosions were a result of the new glassware being made of a different type of glass compared to the vintage Pyrex glassware which was made of borosilicate glass (the same type used in laboratory glassware abused by students and scientists). It was also a result of users not following instructions from the manufacturer (instructions who needs instructions? Uh oh... it blew up).

But some people are used to using the old Pyrex glassware in ways that the newer type of glass would not be compatible with. That type of usage almost always involved thermal shock or rapid change in temperature such as placing hot glassware onto a cold surface, putting hot glassware with burnt-on food into the sink to soak, placing refrigerated glassware into a preheated oven, etc. The borosilicate glass originally used to make Pyrex glassware had a low thermal expansion coefficient which made it more resistant to rapid temperature changes compared to the new tempered soda lime glass now in use. It is understandable that the company had to cut costs by using a low-cost type of glass in order to survive, but they should also remember that consumers have a habit of using their product in a certain way (hey habits are hard to break).

With that problem sorted out, I purchased the measuring cup and read the instructions/warnings before using it.

For most uses in the kitchen, the new measuring cup works great on most types of ingredients. It also has the clear measurement markings in metric and US units plus a comfortable handle similar to older Pyrex designs. The only issue I had was how to measure out boiling hot liquids for something like making Jello because this would mean that the glass is being exposed to a rapid temperature change. The way around this problem is to start with the liquid at room temperature, measure out the amount needed, and heating it up in the microwave. It felt inconvenient to have to wait for liquids to cool for measuring and then reheating it, but I had to break the old routine of pouring hot liquids into a measuring cup.

In any case, this is still a good measuring cup that is still made in the United States (hooray for supporting domestic jobs & reducing the amount of fuel used to transport it to consumers). The measuring cup is made of thick glass with bold, easy to read markings and a solid handle. It is also easier to clean than plastic measuring cups that tend to stain and absorb odors. Just remember not to expose the measuring cup to rapid temperature changes and it should last just as long as any other piece of old Pyrex glassware. Though I still wish Corning or World Kitchen would produce a measuring cup made of durable borosilicate glass.

63 of 71 people found the following review helpful.
This cup LITERALLY EXPLODED in my microwave yesterday!!
By Grigori Efimovich Rasputin
The name Pyrex as well as Anchor Hocking are names we all have associated with quality glass products used in the kitchen for many years. What a shock when this very cup exploded in my microwave yesterday. Fortunately no injuries - just a mess to clean up. Wow is all I can say. I have had the cup for several years and use it daily to heat water for tea, and never quite to boiling. WOW!!!

So I took it upon myself as a consumer to find out what was the problem. Would you believe this has happened to thousands of others? Let me tell you why and refer you to the January 2011 Issue of Consumer Reports beginning on page 44. It does a much better job of explaining the problem than I could ever do. Below is a quick summary of what I have discovered.

Apparently about 12 years ago Corning sold its Pyrex name and manufacturing operations to company called, "World Kitchen". Who knew?
Well according to the in depth article they switched the glass from something borosilicate to a much cheaper to produce glass known as lime soda. There have been THOUSANDS of documented cases of Pyrex cookware literally exploding sometimes causing serious injury over the last 10 years. Our government is very aware of this problem yet no warnings or action has been taken to protect the innocent public consumer. So what else is new? I can think of many things from tainted meat and eggs to lead contaminated toys from China that we have been subjected to in the last few years. This is just one more.

So now if you have gone this far you are now fully aware of the problem. If you choose to ignore what has happened to Pyrex and Anchor Hocking products then as they always say, "Let the buyer beware". From reading the article I have found that a safe product does exist on the market. It is produced by a French company called Arcuisine. More money of course. But I don't want anything exploding in my hands or into my face made of glass, so I guess I must pay the price to be safe. Now you know why the Pyrex products are so cheap - and they aren't produced in China - or are they? According to the article all manufacturing for Pyrex products is done in Charleroi, PA. But now I'm even suspicious of that claim. After all China is a much cheaper place to manufacture most things. And who would know?

Let the buyer beware. Your government is not going to protect you.