I meant to mention that I'm trying to pare down my cookware so that I don't have 10 different bowls when three would do.

I still use the Pyrex mixing bowl set that I got for a shower present 32 years ago. Those are still my favorites. I gave away another ceramic set that I rarely used. We have the set that matches our dishes (Corelle) and my husband likes those. Of course the ones that come with the electric mixer get used a lot, too. I have some simple stainless steel bowls that were in my travel trailer, when we had one. Loved those as well.

My recommendation is to keep the ones you like and ditch the rest!

Donna

I have a cheap stainless set that I have had for 50 years...
I have3 very large crockery bowls I use for making bread or "big stuff" and even for serving....But I love those non chip easy to sling around stainless bowls!!
Linda C

Yes, yes, yes. I spent several years looking for the perfect set. I wanted light weight, stackable bowls. I got a set of melamine bowls at Walmart. They are Red, blue, green and yellow. They have a rubber ring on the bottom so they sit sturdy on the counter. They are very light weight and I love, love, love them. I think they were $25.00 or $29.00 for the set.

I have three glass bowls (two diff. sizes) that I use constantly. I've got a 4 piece hand-thrown set of bowls I don't use because they are so heavy!

I have one and I sure wish I remembered where I got it. It's stainless steel and has a handle and pour spout. It's as wide at the bottom as it is at the top which makes mixing up a cake, casserole or anything else really easy. No markings on it and I've had it about 25 years. I have a big huge ceramic mixing bowl I got at TJ Maxx years ago. It's good for feeding a crowd. And a kind of small pottery bowl with a handle and spout that's great for macerating berries. Those are my favorites.

I found a set like this at Tuesday Morning. Mine says Regal Melamine Ware on the bottom. I have glass, aluminum, stainless and plastic mixing bowl sets and these are the only ones I use now. They are light, have a non-skid ring on the bottom, and they have steep sides so ingredients don't splash out - especially important, as you know, when mixing liquids!

I have two Pyrex mixing bowls with a handle and pouring spout that I have had a long time. They are great for mixing small batters. I have two big SS mixing bowls and a glass mixing bowl from an old mixer that I use for a larger quantity.

I have almost bought the melamine mixing bowls, but I don't need anything else for the kitchen and don't have the room either.

Like Donnar57, I have a set of Pyrex bowls that were a wedding shower present 34 years ago. I also bought a very large, heavy, very old mixing bowl that I bought probably 25 years ago at an antique store back in Michigan when we were there on vacation. It's heavy but I love, love, love this big bowl. It reminds me of my grandma's and stays steady no matter what. It's great for mixing up big meatloaves, turkey stuffing, and I shred my cheese for lasgna into it. For cake/brownie mixes and the like, I use the largest pyrex in my set (3 bowls).

Cheap stainless steel bowls - nest compactly, can be thrown around, can be worn on one's head to block the voices, and useful when working on the car too. Restaurant supply store.

I have a set of three RevereWare SS mixing bowls with rings at the top (useful for hooking your thumb when mixing) that I got for a wedding gift 50 years ago and I love them. I used the middle size so much the ring came off but otherwise they are as good as new.
I do have large crock- type bowls that I use for various things but not for mixing bowls. I have even used one of the largest for a punchbowl. I love the old look of them.

jude

About that nested set.... just remove every other bowl, and they nest nicely. Someone here once suggested buying SS bowls at the restaurant supply store, but don't get sizes too close together. Over the years, I've kept a few duplicates, like a couple of the largest ones, a couple of the smallest ones, sizes that I use most often.

I have a nested set of 3 pyrex bowls I got as a wedding present about 22 years ago and I use them a lot. My other favorite is an el-cheapo large plastic bowl I got at the dollar store! I found I love it because it is so light and easy to clean and store. I also use a pyrex mix n pour from Pampered chef a lot because it can go in the microwave. I also still have the large yellow pyrex bowl my Mom had. She had a set with the different colored bowls..The largest is yellow and I still have it and I am reminded of her and all the wonderful meals she cooked! Sigh..the other colors are long gone because I guess they were used more. I think there was a medium sized red bowl and a small blue one..Anyone else remember those bowls?
Joann

I have what's left of mine, Joann--the largest and the smallest, both are a shade of yellow. They've survived 36 years of marriage.

Yes, Ghoghunter, I have a set of those DH got at an estate sale. You can find them at almost any antique mall. I was planning to post that those are my favorite mixing bowls. I feel happy when I'm using them. I'm a sucker for mixing bowls, though, and am in danger of having too many, just as a collection. I like the antique ones, and DH from time to time, or I will pick them up at estate sales.

Sally

Sally and Ghoghunter,
I have 2 sets of the nesting pyrex bowls, one set of all the colors and one set with designs on the outside that I think are 70's vintage. I use them all the time so have 2 sets. I also have 3 each of 3 different sizes of the Texasware melamine bowls that get used a lot for mixing and serving. I love vintage stuff and it seems like they are much more sturdier than those made today.

Stacie

I have a set of the nesting Pyrex bowls too, which my Mom gave me for my very first apartment as a senior in college. OK, it was in the seventies, gulp! They're still going strong. I have seen the Pyrex nesting bowls on eBay a lot, though some of the other patterns go for more $$, mine is fairly commonplace. While the color of mine has faded just a little, other than that they look like the day I got them. I also use the inexpensive stainless bowls that you can find anywhere, and I don't care if the stainless ones get knocked around by my handheld mixer or whatever. I tried Melamine bowls, but had to throw them away. I don't know if I got a bad set, but I found that they got a bit rough on the interior after only a few uses, and even shed a few melamine particles (akin to a sweater pilling), so I threw them away.

Like several others, I have a nested set of Pyrex bowls that are at least 30 years old, possibly older. They are clear and so do double duty as serving bowls if I need them for that.

I've had others, but always go right back to the Pyrex. I also have a Pyrex bowl with a handle, pouring spout and lid, it was about $12 or a bit more at the local Meijer, I use it for pancakes and waffles, to heat milk for homemade yogurt because I can put it in the microwave, and for measuring large amounts, like vinegar for pickles.

Other than those, I use the bowls on the KitchenAid mixer when I use the mixer.

Annie

My favorites are the two Pyrex sets I have.
One was my mother's.
I can remember using the large yellow bowl
When I was a teenager.
It has the little yellow bowl
And a medium red bowl.
I think at one time there was a green one, too.

The other Pyrex set is much newer,
Probably from the 70's.
They are a faux stoneware color,
With a Pennsylvania Dutch type design on them
Also have a set of covered casserole dishes to match.

There is a smallish/medium Melamine bowl
That I love!
At least I think it is Melamine.
Not sure who made it, no markings.
But I've had it for a lot of years now,
And used it a lot.
It's been dropped many times by kids and grandkids.
It's held up really well.

I've never learned to like the stainless bowls.
Have had them,
Used them once, or twice,
And they end up in the back of the cabinet.

Rusty

I have both stainless steel and pyrex. I love the pyrex because if a recipe calls for melted butter, for instance, I can just pop the whole thing in the microwave. One less dish and all of it ends up in the recipe. Can't do that with stainless steel or melamine.

I have a Pyrex mixing bowl set from when we were first married, and that was 64 years ago. The bowls are yellow, green, red and blue, The set still works great, even after all these years. :-)

Ceramic sets sing to my heart for some reason...Something about feeling like a farming mom from the 40s or something, I guess. But I don't have any ceramics at the moment. I have one bowl left of a Melamine set from WalMart...I am not a fan of the plasticky sound and feel, but liked them because of the ruby color, the classic mixing bowl shape, and useful sizes. My current favorites are a glass set I bought at Costco...Libbey clear glass with little raised lines around it, spaced about 3/8 inch apart. Like Annie's bowls, these can go in the microwave, are useful mixing bowl sizes, and are attractive enough for serving.

In our fantasy bucolic life, I live on the farm next to you rhome because I like ceramic mixing bowls best too for that same reason.

I have a dozen+ or so some matched sets, some not. On a productive day, I can use them all. Emile Henry, Rowe, Crate and Barrel,and yes, I also have an attractive Pyrex set.
I don't have any stainless bowls as they aren't aesthetically pleasing to me. Of course, I do have the KA mixing bowl.

"I don't have any stainless bowls as they aren't aesthetically pleasing to me. Of course, I do have the KA mixing bowl."

You said it ! !

And if I could find something else that fit my KA,
I wouldn't have that one.

I also have 2 very VERY old mixing bowls that were my Mother's.
I'm not sure of their make-up,
They may be ceramic,
Maybe something else.
She used to sharpen her knives on the unglazed rim of the one,
It is kind of like stoneware.

But I no longer use them,
They are in the china cabinet where I can see and enjoy looking at them.

Rusty

My favorite bowls are a set of 3 made by Over and Back - the pattern name is Pindot. I would've thought it would've been named honeycomb. I got them about 8 years ago. They look vintage.

We used to have the three piece pyrex set (harvest brown?), but they became too heavy for me and we have switched over to waaaaay too many stainless bowls, LOL. DH keeps buying them and seems to use every single darn one every time he cooks, grin.

If we need to melt butter, we just put a bowl on a burner and watch carefully.

My mom used to have the blue, red, green yellow set and I miss those for sentimental reasons.

The stainless bowls are great for mixing, but I'm really lusting for these pourable bowls for using with my KA mixer.

goldgirl, someone mentioned to unnest that set and take out alternating bowls, you'd have two sets of three...that's a great idea!

I have too many mixing bowls. Just found two mixing bowl sets of the milk glass that went to an old mixer at the thrift shop for next to nothing! What I use all the time is the Tupperware large measuring bowl/mixing bowl with the handle and pour spout for mixing small batches of stuff like waffles. Then for larger mixing I just got the OXO white plastic bowl with the black rubber bottom and pouring spout. I love it. They had tons of these at TJ MAXX at Christmas.

I'm sad because over the years of moving constantly, I got rid of things that I didn't use much and now I wish I had them. Two twin Melamine bowls, a set of wedding present nesting corning bowls...WAAAAAAH! :( Too many things to count.

Jothrive - 64 years! Congratulations!

Sally

I use a couple of cheap stainless bowls that my Dad gave me about thirty years ago. I also use a cheap plastic mixing bowl that I bought at Wal-Mart about that long ago for .99. Of course I have the Kitchen-aid bowl which I don't like. I have my Grandmother's mixing bowl which is green on the outside and white on the inside, some kind of glass I think. I don't use it.

My light-weight stainless bowls are used the most because they are easy to take down from the upper cabinet. Would you believe.....I still have a set of 3 stainless bowls that my mom won at a bridge game and put aside for me when I got engaged in 1968. I use them all the time.

Teresa

I do want one of those gigantic stainless bowls for when I make quadruple batches of something. They do seem handy.

Bumblebeez,
Try to locate a restaurant supply store in your area....they are really cheap there. Mine is too big to store in the cabinet, so it resides in the pantry. I can make 4 loaves of bread in it.

Teresa

Thanks Teresa. It's not something I think about needing until I want it so maybe this thread will prompt my memory on my next trip to the big city.
Sorta like snow boots!

Rusty,

Take a look at this bowl for the kitchenaid mixer(link below) if you don't like the stainless.

My favorite mixing bowls are a set of 4 white Rubbermaid bowls. I like them because they are lightweight. I've had them for 20 years.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchenaid

Bumblebeez and Rusty, I know exactly what you're talking about! --When we have our farms next to each other, we'll share coffee or something every morning in our big mugs while our bread rises in the ceramic bowls... ;-)

I do have the giant stainless bowls...4, I think. We use them for mixing giant bowls of salad, stirring up a 15-cup batch of granola, and for family-sized batches of popcorn. But they're thin, tinny-sounding, cold, and they have no character. For me, though, they're a good step up from plastic. I have to admit, I was glad have the lids go bad or find some other reason to get rid of the Tupperware mixing bowls...So handy and useful with the sealing lids and everything, but I couldn't relate to them either.

Now so many are urging me to try raising bread in plastic buckets. It's a hard sell. If I want to do the overnight-in-the-fridge thing, I guess I might have to give in. But the Mason Cash 9 qt bowl with a homespun towel thrown over the top is more my style. Form starts to really compete with function for me when you talk about bowls... I think it's the emotional connection I have with the warm memory of my mom and I chatting while she mixed my grandma's fruit bread recipe in the giant, thick ceramic bowl with the thin red stripe around the top....

I'm trying to stay away from plastic because of the landfill and ocean throwaway issue as well as manufacturing.
I'm also trying to avoid ceramics from China because I'm not sure how much to trust the glazes and because the reason they make things so cheaply is that they have zero environmental policies.
So I am using Pyrex which is at least glass and I trust that pretty much, tho I'm not sure about its manufacturing impact. It is a getting heavier as I get older but...use it or lose it. I used to have cheap stainless steel which was fine to but I think they ended up migrating out to be used in gardening. I can see going back to it at some point. I'm not hard core but it seems foolish not to make pretty easy choices that benefit the environment.

Here is a link that might be useful: Huge patches of swirling plastic in oceans

I don't like the way plastic feels either, I don't have any melamine or plastic mixing bowls and if I put hot food on a plastic plate I SWEAR I can taste the plastic.

Most everyone else says I'm crazy, or imagining it, but a couple of other people have mentioned the same off-taste of plastic.

Annie

Annie, I am the same exact way. I too can taste the plastic. The only time I eat out of plastic is when I use a plastic container to take my salad to work with me. I don't drink out of plastic, or us plastic mixing bowls, or plastic anything if I can avoid it.

Mary, there's no need to buy newly manufactured stuff with all the estate sales, thrift stores and antique/junk shops around. Bowls are readily available at places like that, and it's a good way to recycle or re-use something rather than it ending up in the landfill. Shoes, socks and underwear are about the only things I buy new. Everything else I get at the placed I mentioned before.

Sally

As a wedding gift I received a set of 11 nesting glass bowls, that range in size from 6 quarts all the way down to about 1/4 cup. I use them and love them so much that for several other weddings I've gone to, I've purchased a similar set, even when no such item is listed in their gift registry.

I used to have a 3 bowl set of rubberized melamine from Wegmans (local grocery store), I dropped the largest one and it cracked all the way from top to bottom.

So I started to look around, I decided to go with the 3 bowl set of All-Clad, they nest, the largest is huge, but I have used it a ton since I got the set. and they have a handle to hold onto it for stirring.

They were pricey at $150, but I had a $50 Williams-Sonoma gift card, so that took some sting out of it.

I love them.

I even put my huge plastic one I bought years ago from Martha Stewart that I only used for stuffing.

Just my $.02

Much depends on what I'm doing. Most of the time I like the Pyrex clear glass ones. I like to be able to see from the outside if things are mixed. Plus the shape is great for mixing, even using a mixer and they're deep enough without being too deep. I even bought a larger one for making angel food cake since the others weren't big enough. There too, it's great for things like slaw and salads to see that it's mixed well. I like to be able to see!

I had a plastic handle one similar to the one in the link only more conventional shape and used a lot for stuff that would pour. Don't use it much now though. I just bought an Anchor Hocking covered measuring thing from Aldi before Christmas when they had them reasonably priced and I used it to make banana bread. Worked great. I really liked the handle to keep a grip while stirring.

I guess I'm not too fussy, I'll usually grab what I can get my hands on, though I do have preferences.

Dawnp, thanks for the link.
I was really excited until I realized that bowl is for tilt-head mixers.
My KA is the bowl-lift style.
Oh well. . . . . .. .

Rhone410 and Bummblebeez, do you 'spose we might have been
related in some past life? ?

:>)

Rusty

My apologies, Bumblebeez,
For misspelling your name.
I got into too bag a hurry. .

Rusty

And misspelled something AGAIN! ! !

Guess I shouldn't have quit using the "preview message" option. . .

Rusty

I love my stainless steel or aluminum with the little ring that I received as a wedding gift 33 years ago. I think you got them from saving Betty Crocker box tops. I still use my pyrex-one is white with a little wheat design and I think one is gold and the other tan. I prefer the stainless steel.

I didn't notice, Ruusty.

Several vintage Pyrex bowls(no sets)from friends and thrift stores, and my(2)big yellow Tupperware bowls, which I mostly use for mixing cookie and pizza dough...and for salad...and I have a really old beat up one that I keep potting mix in...yeah, love my big yellows.

I have the round and square pyrex mixing bowl sets. I hesitate to use them becasue they were Mom's and I'm afraid I'll break one. I was at an antique mall the other day and saw several sets of the round bowls for $80.00 a set. I coulcn't believe my eyes!!