Tempered glass has an undisputed characteristic of being weakened by scratches. It has happened to several people in the Bath Forum, who had their glass showers unexpectedly explode. It's why they warn you never to use any bare metal that might scratch the glass panels and cause a materials failure. So for example, we use a hook for hanging a bath towel - but it's rubber coated, not a standard steel "S" hook.

I don't know if she's still on the Kitchen or Cooking Forum, but a member here did post an actual experience of a Corningware baking dish exploding in her kitchen from thermal shock. It was old, and they do scratch after a while. I think she reported it at least two years ago, so she may no longer be on the boards. I remember it because she had walked out of the kitchen for a moment, and that's when it happened. She felt lucky no one, including her children, was in the kitchen at the time.

Let's define terms a little:

Explode? or just shatter?

I am not sure glass/ceramics can actually explode.

dcarch

I have one time when my MIL accidently set it on an electric burner and turned it on. Does that count! It really did explode if that's the right word. Glass flew everywhere in a million pieces. AND it will break if you put it in the oven on a lower rack on a high temperature. I heard someone post this on a forum before, they were all upset that it broke but you aren't supposed to put it in a high oven on the lower rack!

Yes, Elery had a set of Visions cookware and it did actually "explode", if by that you mean it was used on the cooktop as instructed and it shattered while in use. He was using it to cook macaroni.

My ex-MIL also had a Visions saucepan break while in use, although it only broke into several pieces, it didn't actually shatter. She was using hers to cook green beans.

And, as an added bonus, they both said it was the worst cookware they had ever used for the stove top, it was better for the oven.

I've only had a Corningware glass pan shatter when I took it from the hot oven and set it on my tile countertop, apparently too cool a surface. Now I set things on the pot holders.

I still have some old cornflower patterned Corningware that I love, I think it's as old as I am and I've had no problems with it, including a stove top percolator for coffee when the power is out.

Annie

I had a Pyrex casserole dish explode/shatter all over the place, but like in arkansas_girl's story, it was due to turning on the wrong burner. Last night my pyrex mixing bowl broke into 2 pieces when I ran water in the bowl still warm from the oven. I knew right after I had started that it wasn't a great idea (there was just a thread on the cooking forum recently about warping pans by filling them with water while still hot), but it was too late & the bowl broke. I didn't think it was that big a thermal shock, but I knew it was a risk, and there weren't any dangerous shards.

I figured the glass explosions might be exaggerations, too, until I read the Consumer Reports article last year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Consumer Reports Investigation (subscription may be required)

Not "explode" but a Corningware pan of lasagna broke into multiple pieces in the oven.

I had a Visions sauce pan. Put some frozen broccoli in it, put it on the stove top and next thing I know, glass was everywhere. I dont know if it shattered or exploded but there was glass everywhere.

I've never had any problems with Corningware or the visions cooktop pots but I did have a bad experience with a glass baking dish made by Anchor Hocking. It was new, and I was at my bother's house. I baked a 9 x 12 batch of cornbread and when we took it out of the oven, it had fine glass shards all over the top of it. My brother took the whole thing, cornbread and all, back to Walmart where he had bought it.

I'll never buy Anchor Hocking bakeware based on that expereince.

seagrass

"Tempered glass has an undisputed characteristic of being weakened by scratches."

That is true. Tempered glass is used in shower doors and the like where it is supposed to break into small harmless pieces when damaged rather than large, sharp shards.

However, I am unaware of any tempered glass cookware. I believe cookware is made of borosilicate glass, which withstands thermal shock better than plain glass.

Jim

From the Consumer Reports article:

"In the U.S. a major change occurred in the way glass bakeware was made. World Kitchen and Anchor Hocking now manufacture all of their glass bakeware using soda lime glass, which is less expensive to produce than borosilicate. Soda lime is commonly used in products such as drinking glasses and bottles.

It's not clear when the switch occurred. Anchor Hocking spokeswoman Barbara Wolf says borosilicate glass was phased out by the industry by the early 1980s. World Kitchen vice president Jim Aikins says Pyrex glass bakeware sold in the U.S. has consistently been made of soda lime glass that has been strengthened through thermal tempering at the Charleroi plant for about 60 years."

Wow! My knowledge of glass cookware is really out of date, isn't it. I should have done a search, as I usually do on technical matters, to confirm that what I was about to post was accurate.

Or I could have read the linked article which says, among other things, that "A Corning educational booklet from 1984 titled "All About Glass" describes soda lime as "the lowest in cost of all glasses" and notes that its "resistance to high temperatures and sudden changes of temperature are not good." It describes borosilicate as resistant to sudden changes in temperature and able to withstand higher operating temperatures than soda lime can."

Now I'm not surprised there are problems with glass cookware. Soda lime glass doesn't seem to be an appropriate material for this use, tempered or not.

Thanks for updating me.

Jim

I am sitting here with one hand bandaged and the other in a splint awaiting surgery to re attach my tendon and nerve in my little finger. My explanation even sounded strange to me. I was returning my very old corning ware casserole dish to the refrigerator and the next thing I knew there was glass and broccoli casserole everywhere. It did seem to have exploded. But until someone told me about this info on the web I had no idea that others had a similar event. Unfortunately I did get injured and hope that the operation will return the feeling and mobility to my finger I had cooked the casserole the night before and had taken it out of the fridge to eat some left overs. No heat was involved.

I use Corningware dishes and bakeware all of the time, but when my children were small, I stored every dish I had. My young daughter put butter in a Corningware bowl to melt in the microware. I think it was to put on popcorn. I walked into the kitchen as she was removing it from the microwave, and when she got the bowl about 3 feet from the microwave, it exploded into hundreds of pieces. I decided it was too dangerous for the children to use.

Now that they are all grown and don't live at home, I use Corningware dishes for every day tableware, have six Corning 'square-ish' type bakware dishes and probably 10 pie plates. I love it for pie crust. I like the dinner plates because it takes up so little space in the cabinets as they are very thin.

I had a rectangular Visions dish that I had baked chicken in the oven. I took it out and set it on one of the burners of the stove that HAD NOT been on during the time I was fixing dinner. We sat down to eat and all of a sudden the dish exploded and glass went everywhere. Hubby felt that even though the burner had not been on that the dish cooled unevenly due to the burner holding the heat in the center of the pan and the outer parts cooling faster. Don't know if that makes sense but all the Vision wear pots and lids went out of the house that day.

I've never had any of the Visions stuff but have been using Corningware for a long time and never had any problems. I'm reasonably careful with it, placing hot out of the oven dishes onto folded towels or wood surfaces. I don't normally put a frozen dish of Corningware into the oven or even one cold out of the refrigerator.

I have been using Visions cookware for many years now and what I have observed is this:

I could take a round saucepan full of boiling liquid off of the stove burner while in full rolling boil and put it directly into a bowl full of ice and water without incident. This was done repeatedly with never an incident. I have large pans - 2 qt size, I think, 1-1/2 qt size, 1 qt, and a large skillet - some in the "gold" and some in cranberry color. As far as temperature changes, I have done outrageous things with this cookware that I would NEVER dare to do with regular glassware or Pyrex. Two or three of my pan lids have been dropped on the kitchen floor tile and did do what I have to describe as "explode", and once I had a pan sitting on top of our food cooler in a hotel. I lifted the lid of the cooler and the pan slid across it in 'slo-mo' and made contact with a cinderblock wall, which caused it to shatter vigorously. Visions, when used properly are very resilient and can withstand extreme temperature changes (see above - boiling pan of liquid into ice water bath) and hold their heat much better than any other type of glass cookware I have used. I have to adjust my cooking time and temperature when using Visions so as not to overcook. I suppose it is advisable to use a trivet when cooking directly over a burner on a gas or electric stove and maybe use a wire rack under pans in the oven. I do not use trivets and have been cooking with Visions for years with the only breakage problems being related to dropping, or colliding with something, or general klutziness. Pans that broke with heat I suspect may have sustained damage to the glass structure that could not be seen. I only use Visions cookware for stovetop type cooking, I have never owned or used a Visions pan to cook food in the oven.

I had a pyrex casserole dish break iin my hand when I pulled it out of the oven. It was full of potato, cheese, and ham casserole. Went everywhere!

Glass and ceramics can explode!! I have had a heavy votive candle holder explode like a bomb, sending shrapnel everywhere when the candle burned too low.

Sounds scary,I also have had vision corning france glass/ceramic that I have been using several time,only cooking at the gas stove.it never explode...in my opinion it will not explode unless it has a lot of pressure inside the glass...

Kisshey, all glass is under pressure, as it were. Small scratches can release this which triggers the explosions.

"---.in my opinion it will not explode unless it has a lot of pressure inside the glass..."

All tempered glass, by design are pressurized to achieve higher strength, and to make sure that when it shatters, it breaks into small pieces. But they are extremely safe. All office building windows, glass doors, car windows, etc. trillions and trillions of acres of tempered glass, nothing much ever happens.

dcarch

This JUST happened to me! The Corningware dish was room temperature. I put chicken in it, and put it in a 350 degree oven. Five minutes later ... kaboom. I now have glass all over the bottom of my oven and a ruined chicken dish! This is the first time in my 40 years of cooking that something like this happened. I would have understood if the piece went through a huge thermal shock, but it did not at all.

I just had a Visionware "chicken fryer" pan explode into about a million shards covering my kitchen. I had *just* stepped away groom the stove seconds before it blew. Thankfully no one was hurt, but my kitchen is a disaster!

I've seen this happen with visionware and pyrex bakeware...every single time they were in the oven and hot..the cook opened the oven and added liquid and they shattered all thru the oven and into the kitchen. I wonder if people that have this happen are adding liquid to them after they are hot.

I was surprised just yesterday when I was cooking dinner and my favourite Corningware frypan suddenly shattered while in use on the stovetop. I have many Corningware pyroceram casserole dishes and small skillets as well as several sets of Visions saucepans including both regular saucepans and a set with pouring lips, plus a waffle base lidded frypan. Regarding the Corningware pyroceram frypan that shattered, I had noticed food tended to burn on one side of the pan more quickly than the other. I therefore think that minute stress fractures may have been developing over time in the frypan that I had not noticed. I though my stove hot plate was heating unevenly. My stove also has solid hotplates, a coiled element may have had less impact on the frypan. The thing that upset me most was losing my favourite frypan. I will be looking around and hope to find its replacement one day. If anything this incident has only taught me more about pyroceram, its materials and structure, and how to better care for my remaining pieces. The frypan made an exploding sound when it cracked, there were a few small shards scattered on the stovetop, but it basically cracked into three pieces. No explosive force and no injury. Indeed, I've had a stove hotplate literally explode while in use. That sent a molten shard of metal flying vertically up from the stove top and then float back down as a glowing red ember. It also momentarily electrified the entire stove top. I simply replaced the stove, it did not stop me from cooking. One shattering frypan will not stop me from enjoying using Corningware and Visions cookware.

I had read an article about the dangers of Pyrex cookware about 2 years ago and something clicked when I read one of the comments trying to discredit the article and accused the author of generating click bait. That motivated me to share my story.

I had purchased a pyrex cooking pot partially because I have used lab glass and had also seen all those advertisements on TV that showed foods being boiled on the stove top, so I decided to buy one. It was a mistake. This model was clear glass and purchased around the year 2000.

I was always careful, but one day after draining some pasta, I set the pot on a wooden cutting board. And at that time I heard a single pinging sound. I suspected something was wrong so I decided to throw the thing away. Better safe than sorry, right?

Whilst carrying it 4 feet to the trash-bin the thing fell apart in my hands. I has left holding a ring of glass in my hand and the bottom bowl landed on my foot slicing clean through my thick wool sock and into my foot. There was so much blood that I had to put my foot in a plastic bag before putting on my shoe to go get stitched up.

Arriving home that night the apartment smelled like pennies. It was very depressing having to clean up all that dried blood. And I now have a scar that takes me back to that time, every time I put on my socks. It even damaged the tendons as I can feel the indentations below the scar.

Why bother with this type of cookware when there are plenty of others that don't have such a history of exploding?

Poster says:

"specifically brands like Corning Ware Pyroceram, Arcoflam, Pyroflam and
VISIONS?" "No second-hand accounts, please"
"accidentally
using Pyrex amber bakeware"
"don't confuse mid-20th century white Pyrex with
Corning Ware Pyroceram."

Aaaaand 99% of responses are about Pyrex and other types of cookware with a smattering of second-hand accounts. That's the internet for you.

Well, this thread IS ten years old, but I did see both of those Visions brand saucepans break while in use on the stove top, so I guess I must be in the 1%. And I saw it happen TWICE, different sets with different people and different stove tops.

Annie

I have had several nice pieces crack and break, with tiny shards of the stuff on the floor. one was a nice 2 qt pan with a metal bottom. another was an elongated casserole; took it out of the oven and placed it on top of the stove on one of the black gas grill thingies. Suspect temperature change was too rapid, or there was a micro crack I never noticed.

Inherited a set of Visions pots, the purple ones, from a neighbor who moved to a retirement home. Was sooo happy, they looked gorgeous. She used the smallest pot for 15 years, still perfect looking except for a slight fog at bottom, the other two larger pots untouched. Though she had no incident with respect to using the smallest pot for 15 long years, all the information about Visions exploding makes me nervous. When you have pets or kids, you think twice about things... If I start using these beauties, I will have that image in my mind and be on constant red alert and edgy, not the most comfortable way to cook... I will probably end up tossing them... :(

Just had one explode in my hands last night. had cooked broccoli in the microwave (4:50 on high) and when i took it out and turned to set it on the stove, it exploded in mid air.

broccoli and glass EVERYWHERE!!

Fairly new square dish…purchased only about 6 months ago. used maybe 10 times in this same manner—cooking vegggies in micro.

Stacey, was your experience with new Pyrex or another brand? ... The formula for making Pyrex was changed in the early 1990s, and our lives in the kitchen haven't been as reliable since. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/pyrex-glass-isnt-as-shatterproof-as-it-once-was-report-finds

So my story is i used 2 sauce pans one big, one small not in use when stored in the cupboard the bigger one was the first to explode scared the out of me didn’t know at first what it was till went looking second one a few months later so never glass for me again no i was not cooking at the time of both events

Anyone using cookware, needs to understand thermal expansion, especially when using glass & pottery. Theres nothing like watching someone lunging hot piece of cookware under cold water!!

That's true, although none of the people above mentioned putting hot glass on a cold surface. Because I have done home canning for decades I'm very familiar with thermal shock. Some of the people above weren't even using the pans when they shattered.

Plus, I will point out that this thread is 12 years old, LOL.

Annie

My sister had one go when she just lightly bumped her counter edge - it was not hot - she had pulled it out of the cupboard. Forceful enough to embed pieces in the tv stand approx 6 ft away and lacerated her finger badly enough to require several surgeries to repair a tendon

HU-91902369....well that about finalizes it for me! SAD because at one point in time I really wanted the Vision set, I just thought it looked cool...so clear and see-through and all.....

-@8153, when it comes to cookware, looks isn't particularly useful. ;) You can't see through cast iron, of course, but you can pretty it up with enamel, and cast iron will work on any fuel in just about any way, and it's one of the most difficult to break.

Just had a visions cookware blow up on the stove. Had them for years! It literally spread glass over a 12 foot area!

I posted about my experience some years back. It was a glass plate, part of a set, quite new, less than a year old. I had just put a fried egg on it and set it on the counter when it exploded sending glass all over the kitchen. I sent the whole set to the dump.