Pyrex Makes Good

Back in the middle of the month, I wrote about my Pyrex dish exploding.

The post, along with photos of the thing in a 1,000 pieces, can be seen here.

Apparently, exploding Pyrex is not a new phenomenon. Snopes.com has a post about here. Here's an article about Pyrex and Anchor Hocking dishes that notes that the January 2011 issue of Consumer Reports all but said "don't buy these dishes."

This Consumer Affairs site has over 1,000 reports of exploding Pyrex.

Pyrex is now sold by World Kitchen, and after my Pyrex dish blew up, I called the company the next day. I was nice and said I was only calling because I was concerned and thought they should know the dishes blow up; I did not ask for a replacement nor was I calling to ask for one.

The man who answered the phone did not seem phased by my description of exploding dishware. Instead he chastised me a bit because surely I had used the dish improperly, and then he said he would send me another to replace the one that broke. I got the impression that my phone call was not out of the ordinary for their customer service.

The new dish arrived last week. My old dish was made of purple glass; this one is clear.

It also came with a list of instructions and precautions.

I grew up with Pyrex, as I am sure many others did. I don't recall my mother having to post a list of things I should and shouldn't do with the glass, but apparently now that is the case. It seemed to me to be virtually indestructible in those long-gone days.

Here are the warnings for the dish I received:

• Avoid sudden temperature changes to your glassware. Do not add liquid to hot glassware, place hot glassware on a wet or cool surface, or handle hot glassware with a wet towel. Do not place hot glassware directly on a countertop or any metal surface or in the sink. Allow hot glassware to cool on a cooling rack, dry potholder, or dry cloth. Allow hot glassware to cool before washing, refrigerating or freezing.

• Oven must be preheated before inserting glassware. Do not insert glassware into oven for cooking or reheating until the oven has been preheated to the desired temperature.

• Do not use on or under a flame or other direct heat source, including on a stovetop, under a broiler, on a grill or in a toaster oven.

I appreciate the fact that the company replaced the dish; that was nice of them, especially since I didn't ask. However, I am not sure I want to use it. It seems to me like a kitchen is a place where people do things like set hot glassware down on counters or whatever, and I am getting older and more forgetful. I need things that are not quite so delicate.

So I picked up a couple of metal Wilson pans last week and plan on eventually replacing most of my glass cookware with something else in time.

But I did want to report that the company made good on the exploding dish.