The humble Pyrex dish seems like one of the few household items still made in the United States. Sure, they have some shattering issues due to a change in the composition of the glass, but are still relatively inexpensive kitchen workhorses. Jill is a big fan, and has a lot of Pyrex items in her kitchen. When one of her storage containers had a small crack in the middle of the side, she was ready to just toss it out, but called Pyrex on a whim. She had no receipt or other warranty information, but she gave them a call anyway. They had a surprise for her: a new container!

I know that you love happy stories, so I wanted to share my experience with you. I have bought a lot of Pyrex glassware in the last six or so years of living on my own and then buying a house, and my Mother has picked a few things up for me as well.

My husband was doing dishes the other day and he noticed that one of our 4 cup storage containers had a crack on the inside, and neither one of us was sure how it got there. I thought about just recycling it because I was sure I would not be able to find the receipt and the warranty info, but I decided to call the warranty replacement line and see if there was anything that I could do to see about a replacement.

I spoke with a very lovely representative who told me that she would just ship another one out. I had offered to send her a picture, or return the broken one to her, and she said that it wasn’t necessary. Instead she took my info chatted with me about my love for their glassware, and told me to hang onto the container and to call again if a few weeks went by and I didn’t get a replacement, and also not the use the container as it might shatter.

I put it aside, and thought that maybe I’d see a replacement if I was lucky. I got the box in the mail today, and lo and behold, it was a brand new container with a new warranty paper (that I carefully filed away) less than a week after I called! They didn’t have to do that, I’m sure that they could have run me though the ringer to find my receipt, warranty papers, spend time filling out a claim form, and then return the broken one, but instead they took my word and have a even more loyal customer.

Jill’s Pyrex is not Jill’s grandmother’s Pyrex. It’s still a nice product, but it’s not the same material that could go from the oven to a cold, wet countertop without shattering. Back in the late ’80s, Corning spun off the former Corning Consumer Products into a company called World Kitchen. World Kitchen licenses the Pyrex name, but doesn’t use the original borosilicate glass formula. They use a cheaper soda-lime glass, which the Consumer Products Safety Commission and our dish-cracking friends down the hall at Consumer Reports exposed a few years ago. You don’t have to avoid modern Pyrex, but don’t turn down any antique pieces you happen to see at the thrift store, either.

Update: As a reader pointed out, Pyrex counters that Consumer Reports and the CPSC are wrong, and that the Pyrex formula was changed to soda lime long before Corning spun off the company. Either way, you shouldn’t be taking dishes from a hot oven and setting them on a cold, wet granite countertop. Trivets are your friends.

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