Customer Reviews

Pyrex Prepware 1-Cup Measuring Cup, Clear with Red Measurements

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have always used pyrex glass measuring cups, so when my old one-cup cup broke I wanted to replace it. I'm very disappointed with the design of the new cup. The cup itself will probably hold two cups of liquid. It only has markings for up to one cup. The cup is very short and wide. This makes the markings so close together they are hard to read and hard to pour the precise of liquid I need. I bought another one that I like. I can't imagine why Pyrex made this cup like this. I would have never believed I would review a measuring cup, but this one was so bad I decided to.

Pyrex is only a trade name ONLY now, licensed out to World Kitchen. It is NOT the original invention from 1915 that we all remember. It is NOT Pyrex BOROSILICATE glass anymore (after 1998). It is NOT safe to plunge into ice cold water from boiling oven anymore. It's also heavier because it's NOT PYREX anymore! After 1998, when Corning Glass stopped making Pyrex. (Think fiberoptics and bankruptcy, etc.) They sold off their 'household' glassmaking and it reformed as World Kitchen. PYREX is borosilicate glass and very resistant to wear and chip and cracking due to exposure to heat or quick changes in temperature. This is why Pyrex and Kimax and other borosilicate glasses are used for chemistry glassware. (Timex was to watches as these were to chemlabware! Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!) Corning has licensed the name of 'Pyrex' to World Kitchen, but nothing else about it is 'corning glass'. (As an aside - Corning made/makes great glass - of all kinds. A world-beater in their day. Management screwed them over going down the wrong economic road. Do check out their lovely glass museum in Corning, NY!) NOW, World Kitchen makes their 'pyrex' measuring cups out of ordinary soda-lime glass (kitchen drinking glass type). This is NOT safe to expose to heat changes!!!! (Think wear safety goggles - like you WERE working in a CHEM LAB!) I suspect that soda-lime glass is denser than borosilicate, but the actual measure wall thickness may be different now than before, and, thus, this accounts for some of the weight difference. If you want my opinion - find 'vintage' Pyrex Measuring Cups somehow and they will last multiple lifetimes. I have one of my mom's and she has two of her mom's measures. My new ones cannot hold a candle to the old ones (30 to 60 years old) and aren't worth a tinker's damn. Happy times in the kitchen!

This is a great cup, except for one little thing: the measurements are wrong! 1 cup, according to this measuring cup, is actually closer to 7/8 cup. I have compared it to older PYREX measuring cups (2 cup and 4 cup sizes), as well as to a variety of other measuring cups. The other measuring cups are all consistent, both Pyrex and non-Pyrex. But the measurements provided by this 1-cup Pyrex cup are consistently too low.

What is most astonishing to me is that none of the other reviewers has remarked about this. I hope that others will now test their own cups - it would be nice to know whether perhaps Pyrex's 1-cup measuring cups in general are okay, and I happened to end up with the lone defective unit. My measuring technique: I use the bottom of the meniscus (the curve in the surface of the liquid), which is how I was taught to do it in Chemistry and Biology laboratories. I have also compared the weights of 1 cup of room temperature water, as determined on a digital cooking scale, and found the weight of this cup's contents to be less than that of a cup as measured by other measuring cups.

A while back I accidently dropped my 20+ year old Pyrex measuring cup and it broke in pieces. I had had it so long it was like an old friend. I thought, no problem, I'll just order a couple of them to replace the one I broke. I would not consider any brand but Pyrex because my old one had served me so well for years. BIG MISTAKE! These days, Pyrex ain't what it used to be. My original Pyrex measuring cup was almost like hardened glass, almost chip resistant. The ones they now make are made out of a totally different kind of glass. The only word that comes to mind is "cheap glass." But that's not the worst of it. The way the handle is designed is awful. On the current design, you can't get a firm, solid grip because the handle only goes half way down. The old version's handle was like you would find on a coffee cup - the top and tip were attached to the cup part. You knew you had a good grip. Also, if your hand is not completely dry and clean, the cup can very easily slip out of your hand. I won't even pick mine up and hold it by the handle. Too much of a chance it will slip out of my hand. I am in the process of looking for a replacement even if it's just plastic. I do not recommend this Pyrex measuring cup.

So, my Pyrex measuring cup fell the distance of one foot onto my plain formica counter and pretty much exploded. There were sharp tiny shards everywhere -- even five feet away. It was almost impressive: I didn't know something could shatter so widely and effectively. I had to throw out the night's dinner, which was sitting on the stovetop nearby, and vacuum/mop the kitchen several times. I was still finding tiny slivers of glass days later. I don't take issue with the thing breaking: I dropped it, after all. But the way it broke makes it bad news in any kitchen.

This cup measures in multiple units and has extra room at the top, to minimize spills and allow room to mix ingredients in the cup. This means it's larger than other 1 cup measures, which may annoy some users.

My only complaint is the 'open' handle. I have trouble holding on to the cup when it's soapy. A 'closed' handle (welded on both sides) would be easier to hold on to. A benefit of the 'open' handle is the ability to stack the cups.

I've dropped it a few times in the sink without any damage. It's sturdy Pyrex you can expect to use for years.

I bought this Pyrex Prepware Measuring Cup thinking that it would be a great way to measure ingredients and pour them into a mixing bowl or to warm up hot water and pour it in a coffee cup filled with hot chocolate. This measuring cup doesn't pour well at all. If you are needing something to warm and pour avoid this and keep your counter tops dry. This is also true of the bigger Pyrex Prepware Measuring Cups as well.

Not to worry, no one else does either. The red measurement markings started peeling and fading after a dozen hand washings. That effect required twenty years of dishwasher abuse for my mother's measuring cups. I just keeping hoping it doesn't explode every time I fill it with hot liquids.

Pyrex is all over the place in quality as one can see from the reviews. Some reviews say the Pyrex measuring cups are great, others aren't complimentary. My mother has a Pyrex measuring cup that is impossible to measure 1 cup of liquid and not spill it because the 1-cup line is too close to the spout and rim. So, the updated version that gives more room between the top measuring line and the rim is a plus, but the manufactuer may have gone just a bit overboard with that space. I've seen them with measurements on the inside of the glass rather than the outside, but what about distortion or the measuring of cloudy or dark liquids that one cannot see through? How do we measure those? The measuring lines are too close together or the metric side isn't adequate. Overall, I have not been impressed with what Pyrex is coming out with lately (nor other brands for that matter). But, my mother's has some age on it and it is a poor design as well. Just carefully inspect and analyze what you are looking at when deciding on what to buy.

OK I'll make this short. I don't know about you but normally when I pour anything I grasp the glass with my left hand and pour with my right. If you're like me and you do this, then this is not the right measuring cup for you. The handle is positioned so that if you hold the handle by your left hand you get metric measurements instead of English. This is kinda of annoying when most recipes are in Cups and ounces. I do however recommend the OXO ones with the slotted insert. These are AWESOME! You can read them from the top so you don't have to bring the thing to eye level. They also have more increments than this. Oh and don't get me wrong, I love pyrex, most of my kitchen glassware is pyrex.