Pyrex Love

About 6 months ago, I was in a patient's home giving wound dressing instructions to her sister, when I looked across the kitchen and saw the same set of mixing bowls my mother had when I was a child. I was so surprised, I asked the woman how she'd managed to hang onto them, because they had to be old. "They're Pyrex," she said. "You can find them in second hand stores and garage sales. That set goes for about $60."

I was intrigued. I hadn't realized they were Pyrex. I always associated Pyrex with clear 9 x 13" casserole dishes and measuring jugs.  Officially they are the 400 Series Primary Colors Mixing Bowl Set, and you can read more about them HERE. They made a second set with very 1970s oranges and browns, and another with pale pastels, but all are beautifully colored bowls with glossy white interiors. Mom always used the largest yellow one for making Christmas cookie dough, and she mixed scrambled eggs in the tiny blue one.

And my patient's sister was right. You can find them easily on Ebay and occasionally on Craig's List, and I did. So now I have my own set. And every time I take them out of the drawer, I think how lovely they are, and how wonderful of Pyrex to make something so solid and useful -- oven, freezer, microwave -- also so pretty. And it's also like having a comforting image of my mother beside me in the kitchen.

I also quickly discovered that Pyrex made loads of pretty kitchenware. Back in its heyday, which depending on your preference, seems to run from the 1940s to sometime in the '80s, they released sets of patterns and periodic one-off items, which are now collectible.  There are dozens of patterns for casseroles of various sizes, mixing bowls, and my favorite, refrigerator dishes. These were used before Tupperware and its ilk were invented, and are popular again, with all the plastic/BPA concerns. Here is a lovely collection from a crafts and vintage items blog, Girl With A Mini (and used with permission!)

My own little collection consists of a set of refrigerator dishes in that perfect avocado green flowered pattern, plus two small casseroles and a butter dish (golden butterfly - not difficult to find)  but I do use them every day.  The refrigerator dishes are perfect for all leftovers and stack neatly in with nesting lids. Beautiful design. The expert on all things Pyrex, especially what we affectionados call "vintage pyrex" is the Pyrex Love website (www.pyrexlove.com).  It lists all the patterns and dishes with links to current eBay listings for anyone interested in buying.

The really bright 1970s patterns are my favorites, along with the Americana mixing bowls.

Better by far than eBay, though, is to rummage through garage and estate sales. My friend's mother thought it was hilarious that I'd fallen in love with the workhorse kitchen gadgets of her generation at brought me a set of pink refrigerator dishes which she'd purchased for $3 at a garage sale in Vermont. Those will be a gift.