My favorite mixing bowl is melamine. I found it at a rummage sale. Brand is 'Rosti'--'Mepal Service'. 4 liter; made in Denmark.

Next favorite is a Volrath 8 qt stainless steel bowl, also a rummage sale find. I love the 8 qt one for making salads-combination, pasta, whatever. Plenty of room to toss ingredients and keep them in the bowl instead of all over the counter or floor!

I have melamine. I, too, was looking for a light weight and didn't want glass or stainless. I've had them about two years and they still look great. They are colorful, have a rubber rim on bottom so they don't move around but on the other hand, they don't suction to the counter either. I love them.....bought them in Walmart.

I've got a set of ceramic mixing bowls that Canadian Tire has one sale for $10 every year. Fellow Canadians will know what I'm talking about. The largest bowl is the one I use for my dough rising.

I also have ss bowls that I've had for a number of years and a green melamine set with a pouring spout and rubber ring on the bottom. They all get used at some point or other.

Oh, there was a discussion earlier this year on mixing bowls.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mixing Bowl Discussion

I use hand-thrown stoneware bowls. Some are 25 yr old, but newer ones have been purchased at a local art show.

Oh the joy of "having" mixing bowls. I have, but don't have them right now. My favorite set is stainless steel. They are in storage. Presently I use my large pasta pot for mixing stuff. I miss my mixing bowls.

Moni

My go-to mixing bowls now are stainless: easy to clean, won't break, melt or stain and very reasonably priced at restaurant supply stores. I've got a set of 3 graduated sizes that my mom gave me when she won them at a bridge evening more than 40 years ago.

Teresa

My favorites are some steel bowls. They are light, clean up easily, nest well, unbreakable. I think they are sold at Sur La Table. I've looked in restaurant supply stores but the ones there are subtly different, not quite as nice in some way that I can't really identify.

We have a set of clear glass bowls, I will use them if I have to. They are heavy and I can't throw them in the sink. I also have a round-bottomed copper bowl that I use for eggs, custards, hollandaise, etc.

Lately I've been mixing in those clear squarish food tubs you get at the restaurant supply stores. Come in various sizes from 1 qt to 4 qt, with handles, and nest fairly well. If the food has to get stashed in the refrigerator, maybe to chill or marinate or to await the next step, these fit much better than round bowls, plus they have lids and are microwaveable.

I seem to be collecting mixing bowls. Most of them are pyrex. Some are older Yellowware. My favorite are the nesting pyrex bowls that are a different color for each size. I use them almost exclusively. DH just bought 2, count them, 2 antique Sunbeam mixers just to get the bowls and the beaters. The first one he bought came with a jadite bowl and a smaller white bowl, but only one beater. He looked on line to find another set of beaters, but hadn't ordered any yet, when he came across another mixer, even older, with both beaters. It was less than the replacement beaters he found on line. So, yes, he bought the whole mixer just for the beaters. So, just so we could get the jadite bowl for next to nothing, he's added two antique (late 1940's) Sunbeam Mixmasters. Obviously, I have a thing for bowls.

Sally

It's a toss-up. I love my nesting stainless steel bowls, but I also love my 3-quart plastic mixing bowl (deep and narrow) that has a handle-grip, pouring spout, and a rim of silicon on the bottom to keep it from slipping around.

For soaking grains/seeds/beans/nuts/sourdough starter, etc. (non-reactive uses) - I have my trusty old avocado green nesting Pyrex bowls I got in 1971 as a wedding gift.

-Grainlady

Stainless steel. Several sizes. Someone once said that if you go to the restaurant supply store, there are a bunch of different sizes available. But the advice was to NOT buy ones that are next to each other in size. Get every other size and they will be easier to get intermediate sizes out of the stack. And get more than one each of the most useful sizes.

I love my collapsable plastic one from Amazon. My kitchen equipment gets pretty well abused, and it's the only kind I haven't managed to destroy (yet). It's very large, which is perfect for bread dough or storing a pile of produce.

I like ceramic best and have many different brands. For mixing with an electric mixer I always use the KA. So no beater bars in my ceramic bowls.
It's really preferable to have an assortment: nice ceramic ones are a joy to use and can also be serving bowls, pyrex ones go guilt free in the dishwasher and stainless can be used on the stove top.
If I only had room for one mixing bowl, it would be a large stoneware bowl.

I've got a nested set of 3 SS All-Clad with pouring spouts plus half a dozen various sizes of Bennington Pottery mixing bowls. The SS are lighter but I like the Bennington better...just feels good using those bowls. Then, I've got one humongous blue splatter-ware bowl that gets used for large quantities of bread dough, granola, Thanksgiving stuffing, etc. Used it a couple weeks ago to hold corn from 75 ears...could have easily held another 25 ears of corn. Big bowl. I got it at an auction in northern New Hampshire about 20+/- years ago. I borrowed a wheelbarrow to cart it to the car. DH still laughs & calls it my "cement mixer". :)

/tricia

I have a set of old Pyrex, clear. I got them for at an outlet a zillion years ago. I also have a Corningware covered "batter bowl" with a lid that doubles as a large measuring up.

I don't seem to like the feel of plastic, even melamine, so I don't use those for mixing bowls, although I do have some with lids that I use for refrigerator storage.

We did have a similar discussion several months ago, here is the link to that thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bowls

The ones I have found myself reaching for are my set of 3 glass nesting bowls. I first saw them on Tyler Florence's show. Narrower on the base, tall and wider on the top. Love them for whipping creme, I put the bowl along with the beaters in the fridge to get cold. Works great. I have other glass bowls that I use when making different batters. I have one large steel bowl with a silicon bottom to stop it from sliding on the counter. That works well also. NancyLouise

My favorites are my Pyrex nesting set that I got as a bridal shower gift. (My husband recently broke the smallest, and I did cry!) The second favorite are the stainless steel nesting set that I had in my 5th wheel for years (and are now in storage). The closest I have in the house to those, are the ones that go with my stand mixer.

Donna

Mine are Pyrex, and that is what I like best. I used to have a set of glass (or Pyrex) mixing bowls in Austin that came with plastic lids, but I asked my sister to store them for me when I moved back to California, and she decided to keep them instead. I replaced them with Pyrex without lids, but I did love the ones with lids. My sister would never buy these for herself, but once she found out how practical they were, she fell in love with them. I thought I would be able to replace them, but now I do not need to. She also kept a large mirror with a Palladio style frame, but I do not have room for that and have let her keep that as well. It's in a very important place in her bathroom, and so she really needs it. In return, she has always been very helpful to me, but being a lawyer, she has a completely different set of sensibilities.

Lars

Thank you for your responses. I guess I am having problems with my mind....I swear I did a search and did not see the previous discussion on mixing bowls. But my "mind loss" is for another discussion.....on another forum. Anyway.....I apologize.
I appreciate the information and the link to the previous discussion, gonna go in search of a set of melamine. I have a 3 bowl set of both stainless and pyrex from the sixties but I want the larger sizes and need something light weight.

Murphy

I wouldn't worry about it, until they do something to improve the use of this forum, the searching feature is just about useless(IMHO) compared to using other normal forums. I just cannot understand why then hang on to this old antiquated format...UGH! It is so NOT USER FRIENDLY!

If you want some old mixer bowls, just go to the flea market or a thrift shop. I have bought a couple sets and have spent a whole whopping $4 for both sets combined! HA! They are the white milk glass that came with an old Sunbeam mixer. For a light weight bowl, I love my OXO bowl that's new. Can usually find them at TJ MAXX for about $10 for the large one.

I use the Search feature often on the forums here. In order to be useful, you have to use the Search at the BOTTOM of the page, not the top.

I haven't done well with the search forums either. All I usually get are a bunch of cookalongs. # 352....

I've been using the internet for well over 10 years and searching on forums just as long, this is by far the worst format for searching I have EVER SEEN! Top(completely useless), bottom(darn near useless) it doesn't matter. Just TERRIBLE!

I've had better luck searching these forums using Google. I just add "GW" to my search string. The forum's "Search" feature is still here so others can use it as an example of what NOT to use...along with our "Edit" feature. :)

/tricia

I agree, the search function is abysmal, bordering on impossible.

Like Tricia, I just type in GardenWeb and then my topic, i.e. "Gardenweb Ann T scones", and I'll get several hits. I usually have to wade through those to see if it has what I'm looking for, but it at least gives me some options.

Annie

Yep, it doesn't matter top or bottom search...it is pretty bad and useless at this site. NancyLouise

Whew....I can rest easy now that I know it is the search engine not my mind that is at fault. That is my story and I'm sticking to it!
I have a little poster in my sewing room that says....."of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most". So true, so true......Guess I need a copy for my kitchen.
Murphy

I'm with Annie and /tricia. I just type in gardenweb and then my topic.

jude

Now, I don't think you guys are giving the search function the credit it deserves. It's only about 99.9% useless. I remember once I searched for something and found it!

I just bought a set of like 8 at BJs all colors I like them..

My favorite is a stainless steel 3 qt. bowl I've had for so long I don't even remember where I got it. It's as wide at the bottom as it is at the top and makes mixing cakes and things that need to be blended well so easy. It has a pouring spout and a handle. All it says on the bottom is "Stainless Steel" "Made in Korea". If the house catches fire, I'm grabbing that bowl before I leave!!

I have another smaller pottery bowl I bought at a craft show. It has a spout and handle, too. Good size for whipping up enough pancake batter or macerating fruit for the two of us.