Sur La Table Mug Handle Found Scorchingly Hot After 2 Minutes In Microwave
UPDATE: Sur La Table Responds To Reader's Hot Handle Incident
"Dear Consumerist,
On the bottom of Sur La Table (by Ceramiche Toscane) brand coffee/tea mugs reads "may get hot in microwave." Now, we've microwaved coffee, tea, soup, and other food items in other-brand mugs before, and sure enough, the handle gets hot. Very often, one must put down the mug before enjoying its contents. But Sur La Table mugs, when microwaved, REACH TEMPERATURES HOT ENOUGH TO INSTANTLY BURN THE SHIT OUT OF ONE'S HAND."
"My wife recently heated water for tea in one of Sur La Table's mugs for under 2 minutes in our microwave and, when removing the mug from the microwave, received a nasty burn. The mug's handle was OUTRAGEOUSLY HOT.
Furthermore, even after many minutes had passed (as we ran cold water over her injuries and applied burn ointment to her hand), the mug's handle remained at a scorching temperature. I ran the mug under cold water in order to handle it safely and was amazed to find that, despite the bowl section of mug cooling appropriately, the mug's handle retained considerable heat and was more-than-warm to the touch.
[To allay your cynicism, my wife can easily handle the hot water directly from the tap, which reaches over 120 degrees. We could not verify what temperature the handle reached, but it was way above that. Therefore, be assured that this is not a case of wimpy sad-sacks whining that they can't take the heat.]
We contacted the company's customer service center and are awaiting their reply.
You've been warned,
HOT HAND"
Thanks, HOT HAND, we got a chuckle out of your letter and its tone of mock outrage. Still, odd that the cup handle would be hotter than the mug itself. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Just remember kids, when it says, "May get hot in microwave," err on the side of caution and consider it, "will burn your hand up all crazy-like after a couple of minutes."
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Comments:
Maybe there's something in the glaze?
@Trae: I agree with you 100%. I need to bitch about GE because that pan of brownies I made last night got really hot in the oven.
to tips@consumerist.com
The other day, I removed an overly large and pretentious Le Baron Rouge pizza from my oven. When I bit into the pizza, the sauce was hot enough TO INSTANTLY BURN MY TONGUE. Strangely enough, the crust by which I handled said pizza had cooled, but the sauce remained at an extraordinarily high temp.
def. is the glaze treatment - if the mug has a complete clear coat sheen. My girlfriend has a dish-set that does reach outrageous temperatures within a minute of being in there... UNLESS... the surface is covered with an item.
BTW- how outrageously big is that mug!
Agreed with everyone else. I mean, it even says "may get hot in microwave" -- how is this a surprise? I'm sorry about the burn, but what's customer service going to do, pass on a suggestion that they should design mugs that don't conduct heat so well? This is also why I never just grab anything straight out of the microwave.
@rewinditback:
I am thinking it might be the density and surface area of the handle. Though IANAT (I am not a thermodynamicicist), if that handle is solid, would it not hold on hold onto heat longer? There is definitely more surface area in the bowl portion too.
To quote Ellen DeGeneres:
I blame the microwave for most of our problems. Anything that gets that hot without fire, that's from the devil.
if they knew in the past that the handle gets hot, the wife could have used a pot holder to grab the cup out of the microwave.
that's how i protect my hands from hot items anyway...
Who picks up mugs by the handle, anyway? You wrap your hand AROUND the mug.
I have another tip. When coolking on a stove, the pots your using may get hot too.....
@rewinditback: The mug is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to that mug.
Sorry Douglas Adams.
Wow, everyone is so clever in this thread.
Kids? The whole point of having a ceramic mug with a special handle is that the handle should rarely get hot enough to cause discomfort, let alone burns.
in theory, if you have a thin piece and a thick piece of the same material, the thin piece will heat up quicker (heat all the way through) but will also lose that heat quicker, while the reverse should be true for the thicker piece. however, with a ceramic-based glaze added to the picture, i'm not sure the standard rules would apply. none of my mugs do that, the handle stays relatively cool, so i do think they have a legitimate problem. but the company in question has covered their ass with that disclaimer.
this complaint has about as much merit as complaining that coffee is hot. Next we'll hear about how water gets hot when you leave it on the stove and a magical reaction happens called "boiling".
@GitEmSteveDave: To add to the above,
You don't believe me, put a Sur La Table big mug in the microwave for three or four minutes, then grab it by the handle. If that's not Hell, my friend, I don't know what is.
Not to be alarmist, but it sounds like there's lead in the glaze. I have a set of charming hand-painted ceramic dishes that got hot enough to burn my hand the one time I tried to put one in the microwave. Later I found out the glaze had lead in it.
I have a cermamic mug from a Seattle megacorporation that has a particularly thick handle that also gets very hot in the microwave. Other ceramic mugs I have from the same company have thinner handles and do not have this problem. So I do not use the thick-handled mug in the microwave - I just use it for fresh pours from the coffee pot or brewing tea.
I've had something similar happen with mugs from Target (which I don't believe have the same warning). The handles get incredibly hot compared to the freebie mugs that I also use. The handles on the free mugs are warm, but comfortable to touch coming out of the microwave after two minutes, but the Target mugs are too hot to touch. What's also interesting is that while the cup will be too hot to touch, the liquid inside will be comfortable.
This is so not news-worthy. Enough to make me use the words 'so' and 'not' together in one sentence to describe the non-news worthyness. I can't beleive they allowed these people to marry... next you'll tell me they have kids.
And the mug is not big, the woman is really, really small.
Remember kids: allow things to cool down after nuking them in the microwave.
Constipated Mr. Holmes?
@protest: as soon as I saw this post, I thought I guarantee somebody is going to get all scientific for no good reason
thanks for making believe I am psychic
Don't heat water in the microwave. It could explode in your face.
An electric tea kettle is cheap and works well.
@Cassifras: since you are on a roll...any chance you can hit me up with the lotto numbers for Monday in Dallas? ;D
Oh, the update clears everything up. You know the people who wrote this, which means, ummm, yeah, a little help here maybe...
I'm glad to know that picture is a reenactment.
@Myron: In the article you cote, it mostly deals with glass containers, which are smooth enough to not have nucleation sites. Ceramic mugs/cups are glazed, which while smooth, contain imperfections enough to provide such sites
I've actually had this problem. Flaming hot handle and yet only tepid throughout the rest of the mug. Seems like a design flaw to me.
@radleyas: Was your microwave plugged in correctly? I had the same problem, and when I called tech support, they told me to reverse the plug. Apparently, the way I had it plugged in made the container hot and the food stayed cold. I flipped the plug, and now my food gets hot, and the container stays cold.
;-)
How is this a problem if they warn you? Maybe the warning needs to be taped on the exterior so you can read it before you purchase it?
Many items are not microwave safe as their materials readily soak up the RF and, well, get hot. Apparently, this is one of them.
FWIW, I thought the big old mugs went out of fashion when NBC killed "Friends".
Amazon has an excellent Braun kettle in their Friday sale today.
What a complete shower of assholes we have in this thread. When I nuke a cup of coffee or some water for a cup-o-noodles, yes, the handle warms up some, but not as much as the body of the mug or measuring cup, let alone more, which is the whole point of having a fucking handle in the first place. Your snark is weak and foolish, children.
@GitEmSteveDave: ...if I put something in my microwave for "3 or 4 minutes" I figure I'd be makin' molten anything at that point...
Bush's fault
@tips@consumerist.com
The other day i was at Marble Slab Iced Creams Emporium (and hep joint) where i ordered a mixtures of delicious iced creams and smashed up sweet candy treats. I immediately shoved as much of the cup, iced creams and sweet treats into my mouth forcing it into my throat.
IT WAS SO COLD IT MADE MY WHOLE HEAD HURT! This was one of the worst feelings i have ever experienced. It was like all the blood in my head had frozen over, like her delicious, but likely deadly, concauction had caused some sort of brain freeze.
Needless to say, i was outraged. I demanded that the 15 year old iced creams dispenser bring me her manager. She stated that he was late because he had some homework to finish (a real professional bunch you've got there, Mr Slab). Again, OUTRAGED! I knew this was not going to go down easy. I asked her: "Do you think this is funny?"; pointing at my face head and neck and then to some of the iced creams i had spit on the table when the intense pain hit me.
She didn't know what i was talking about.
So i took the 45 cent tip i left her from the tip jar and told her if this is how she is going to treat customers she will likely find her self making minimum wage in the food industry and she had better shape up! I swear, if the liberals hadn't outlawed spanking, kids wouldn't be pulling this sort of stuff.
As i was leaving i told her i would be telling my story to the whole internets IN ALL CAPS, if need be. And i would certainly be letting the popular weblog "Consuptionist" know all about my experience.
So here i am; head thawed and back to a proper 98.6 degrees.
What should i do? I've already faxed the mayor, several county commissioners, the state attorney general, this guy Brian i think is a lawyer, a local news paper and the sheriffs dept in the next county (i couldn't find my sheriffs dept fax number). Additionally, I've called Marble Slab's corporate offices and left profanity ridden messages with anyone who had voice mail.
What should my next step be?
Thats a big mug... Looks like a flower pot
Slow news day, Ben?
I agree witht the OP: One expects the object to be hot, but not the handle to be dangerously so. Thanks for the warning.
@demonradio: It appears we have a larger than usual number of people who get off on seeing their retarded comments in print.
I thought it was funny. Especially the picture "re-enactment." Also, the microwave does some funny stuff. You can have a water reach the boiling point, but not have the bubbles break the surface, thereby creating a potentially exposive situation. Now, when I add something to water I've just boiled in the microwave, I stir the water with a spoon just to break the surface. Because, in the past, I have boiled water and poured powdered baby formula into it and had it EXPLODE on me. It's a true scientific phenomenon; I've heard of it elsewhere. No, really. Oh, I remember, the water that does this was referred to as "super heated." You can Google it.
@King of the Wild Frontier: I second that opinion.
A mug intended for coffee/tea should be able to be microwaved without the handle getting too hot to touch. Most ceramic mugs are this way, and for this one not to be is a sign that something is wrong with its design.
The mug was in a microwave, so any comparisons to things getting hot in the oven are irrelevant. And if you don't know why that is, then kindly shut up.
Here is how Dell customer support would handle it:
Customer: Damn, the handle on this mug gets incredibly hot when you microwave it.
Dell: Don't microwave it.
- click-
Yeah, when the thing doesn't say "microwave safe" and it's ceramic, it'll probably get hot. If you want to heat up stuff in the microwave, use containers that are labeled "microwave safe".
Or, try it first, and if it's hot, don't do it again.
Just a thought on why a store would sell a non-microwave safe ceramic mug, when it's obvious you'd use it for coffee or tea: it's Sur La Table and they obviously want you to make tea the civilized way, in a tea pot (and I'm sure they have wonderful tea pot selections that they can sell you, possibly gigantic ones as well).
And, yes, I do like my giant cup, even after the 1990s, because it holds a buttload of coffee in the morning.
@King of the Wild Frontier: Isn't the point of a handle actually so that when heat is applied to the container portion of the device (as in a pot on the stove or putting hot liquid into a mug) the handle stays cooler? If you're doing something that heats up the handle as well (like putting a skillet in the oven or microwaving a mug), well, the handle gets hot too.
Yes, people are a bit snarky in the thread, but physics is physics. It's not like the mug was advertised as "handle stays cool in microwave!" Quite the opposite.
So... they were surprised when something got hot when placed in a device that heats things up.
Got it.