It's glass, right? Hot egg (did you cook it in fat/oil?)+ glass with even a small scratch can lead to expansion and shattering.

I'm so glad you're OK, minus the horrific mess.

Duralex is similar to Pyrex. It's a less breakable than standard glass. The type does occasionally explode. This usually happens from thermal shock, but can also be because of internal stresses. Is there any chance the pan you fried the egg in touched the plate? Had you just microwaved it? Was the counter particularly cold?

Did you try to get in touch with Duralex in France?

You are correct, Duralex has a history of exploding. Thanks for the warning!

Well, YIKES!

Why would you use glass plates? I use china, pottery...iron stone....but not glass.

I've never even heard of Duralex, but I'm glad you're unhurt. That's odd, though, I wonder why they do that?

Annie (who has a fondness for stoneware, thank goodness)

Linda asked: "Why would you use glass plates?" I use china, pottery...iron stone....but not glass." Why not? Just because you don't use them, why would you question others who happen to like them?

I love glass plates and have had mine for 30+ years. One of the problems with pottery and ironstone is that you have to be careful to not get lead contamination and often china has metal rims that don't go in the micro. I also have white dishes from Crate and Barrel, but I use the glass in the microwave. I like the size of the plates and have shallow saucer shaped bowls that are wonderful for cereal and salads.

It's strange as can't find anything in french about these problems. It must be very frightening to have glass exploding all over the place. I have had a salad bowl for years and it's been used in schools for decades. I'll have another dig about.

All I can find is that it's nothing specific to Duralex, but it can happen to anything glass.

When I bought the Duralex plates, I'd been looking for some time for new plates. I liked the smaller size--the dinner plate was 9 1/4"--and best of all, I only wanted 6 of each and was able to buy them separately. They were advertised as very strong, tempered, wouldn't break easily, though it did say that if they did break they would break into a million pieces--tempered glass. But never did I see anything about their tendancy to explode for no reason at all. I have since!

They're in the barn now, on their way to the dump. And I ordered 2 sets of white china from Amazon to replace. I needed something fast and the price was right, though the dinner plates are larger than I want and the sets include cups, which I don't need.

I'm sorry this happened to you but glad you weren't hurt.

Linda, many people use Corelle which is glass.

Like olychick, I have used a set of glass plates as my everyday dishes for 30+ years. I have service for 12 and have never broken or cracked one, nor suffered a scary mishap like an exploding dish. Since they were a gift, all I remember is that they were made in France and the packaging was written only in French. I don't put them in the microwave or oven but do put lots of hot food on them.

I also have used glass fish plates for seafood since about 1975.

If one exploded like yours, Laceyvail, I would do the same as you and dump them all.

Linda92, I use glass plates because I like them and they have a cheerful personality.

Ruthanna, your red plate looks exactly like mine, except mine were blue. From France, likely Duralex. Hope it never happens to you.

Like a couple of the others, I too bought a set of glass dishes (clear) many years ago. Arcoroc, bought back in the 70s after I'd lived in London where the ironmonger always had them and they were cheap enough for students.

I've lost a few over the years from dropping them on tile, but never an explosion. Out they would go if that ever happened, for all that I'm so fond of them.

I had a similar experience with a Duralex glass mixing bowl. It was part of a set of 11 nesting bowls, I picked up bowls 3 through 7 so I could lift bowl 2 out of bowl 1. I barely bumped bowl 2 against either the bottom of the ones above it or against the rim of bowl 1, and bowl 2 exploded into a thousand pieces. The pieces went everywhere within that compartment of the upper cabinet, bounced off me onto the counter and flew past me onto the floor around me. Very scary.

We have a set of glass appetizer / salad plates that give me the shakes every time a put them down on the granite counter tops. Even glass drinking glasses around granite sets my level of caution on high.

That having been said, I have a beautiful set of ceramic dishes from Ravello, Italy that I've already reduced by two pieces by simply hitting other plates in the dishwasher.

I use glass salad plates and frankly am "into" glass....but I also know that glass is a strange substance and can explode.....even pyrex dishes that have been in use for a long time can explode.
And scratch on a piece of glass can add danger of it exploding.
Glass is lovely but only for salads and desserts, nothing hot...and I am very very careful about putting ice into glasses and after a few minutes adding room temperature liquid.
My latest "tragedy" was a dessert baked in a pyrex pie plate, as I have done dozens of times before, removed from the oven and placed on the tile counter.....and Ka-boom!. I now have pottery pie plates and use the pyrex for marinating meat of to hold beaten egg for breading.
I once had a glass candle holder go off like a bomb....luckily I had just stepped out of the room for a moment.
Another time I had 3 Orrefors votives on my coffee table and was sitting having drinks with friends....when I heard the unmistakable sound of glass cracking. I now have 2 Orrefors votives with fractures....but use them any way.

I purchased a set of 6 Duralex dinner plates, desert plates and pasta bowls in Aug 2016. Yesterday, Oct 7, one dinner plates spontaneously exploded in my cupboard. There's been very little use, no microwave, no temperature changes. No reason to just explode. But there were shards of glass all over inside the cupboard and some on the kitchen counter. They were neatly stacked with very little stress/pressure.

I don't understand how it is that these are still being sold. (Nor do I understand why a company can't make this glass product so that it doesn't explode. )

I have Pyrex baking dishes that I've been using since the 60s.

Freaky freaky and scary

How frightening!!! I'm so glad you're okay!!!!

You mentioned sending these off to the dump--my suggestion would be that you break each and every one of these into pieces and then wrap the pieces quite well inside a paper bag or other such material. I don't know about your area, but many areas have people "searching" for *treasures* in the dump and with the pieces or shards of broken glass, and for the plates that explode, I know you wouldn't want anyone getting cut or hurt..

Well, they went to the dump many months ago, and to tell the truth, I would have been afraid to break them. How would you do it safely? You'd have to contain them--all those shattered pieces. It took me over an hour to clean the kitchen after that one exploded, and even then, I found a few pieces over the next few days.

Tempered glass (heat strengthened internal stressed glass ) can be made extremely safe. There are trillions of acres of tempered glass in use and you never hear problems. All office buildings' curtain walls and windows, all store front walls and doors, etc. are tempered glass. They subject to extreme wind and temperature extremes, car windows, glass cook tops, etc.

dcarch

Yes, dcarch, and that's why I'm just baffled that the Duralex (French made) is so commonly explosive! And why it's allowed to be sold in this country.

I have to say again that I've never know it to explode and it's used all over...in schools etc. If it was so common for it to explode, it wouldn't be allowed in schools! French people love their children too!

Yet many people report exploding Duralex. In fact, the consumer contact person I spoke with it the USA branch told me she had a cup explode in her cabinet! (They couldn't help me with the blue dishes I had since the company never imported any of the blue ones; they had to have been imported directly from France by Cooks catalog, by that time out of business.

That person probably isn't working for them any more LOL

I only have one Duralex item and it's a blue salad bowl. It's very old - perrhaps I'll get the horrible explosion one day but I've never heard anyone talk of it so It has to be rare, I hope!!!

Very scary. I love glass because nothing seems cleaner, but my two glass loaf pans will now just have to go. I'm switching to metal. Can't believe i've been using them for years - sticking them into an oven preheated to 460 F!

I think that the problem is the NEW glass. None of the older stuff explodes. I have broke some, but it just broke when I dropped it. I don't know what is different, but I think someone has changed an ingredient in the glass or something in the manufacturing process.

Yes, the older glass cookware was made with borosilicate glass.

I knew it! I have been haunting the estate sales in the area when I need to replace something. My glass pie plates and meatloaf pans are all older and go into preheated ovens with no problem at all. Of course you don't take them out of a hot oven and set on a wet counter. Neither would you take them out of the freezer and put into a hot oven. I haven't had any problem taking a froze casserole out and putting into a COLD oven, turning it on, and letting it cook.

Are we still discussing the Duralex brand? That's the one that exploded, and as far as I know, other glass may break, but only Duralex has been reported to explode.

"----but only Duralex has been reported to explode."

Not that it makes any difference, actually glass does not explode.

The heat treating to strengthen the glass create compression stress inside the glass. Sometimes material defects, manufacturing unevenness or other environmental impacts can cause the glass to implode with great force and shatter with pieces flying everywhere.

dcarch

Lacey, the "explosive" shattering has been reported with Pyrex too.

Years ago, Pyrex was made with borosilicate glass then they changed to soda lime glass. Borosilicate handles bigger temperature changes so it doesn't shatter as easily.

Today I had a drinking glass literally explode in my hand when I picked it up. There was a big explosive bang and glass flying everywhere. I remembered this thread so didn't panic too much. It was a newly washed glass that I had picked up to dry. Now I wonder about it's shelf mates. ???

Kate, was it Duralex?

There's no hallmark on any of the glasses, only a 04 on the bottom.

We bought the glasses a long time ago and kept them as our 'good set'. When we moved I decided to use them for everyday. I have/had 18 in 3 sizes. At least now I know they are safety glass and don't break-up into shards, but rather pieces - like a windshield.

Still, I found the explosion something new and totally unexpected... and I mean EXPLOSION! with huge BAM! and everything. While I didn't get cut or anything, I'm lucky nothing went in my eyes.

Yes, an explosion. That's what my Duralex plate did. It exploded.

Wow....

I don't have any Duralex, but I do have Pyrex baking dishes, and I have a glass pot for the range that is made by Corning ("Vision"). Also two large mixing bowls I use mostly for salads and which hardly if ever see hot food.

The glass pot -- it did have a larger mate, which I dropped some years back, and it simply broke like china would break. I've also forgotten the surviving one once on the range, and caught it just before whatever was in it went completely dry. I still use it frequently -- just the right size for my breakfast soft boiled eggs, and I do winter oatmeal in it. (It WILL get retired when I move -- I'll have Induction when I move.)

I'll keep what I have but will avoid buying any more glass for cooking purposes!

Well, as I think I mentioned much earlier in this thread, I have Pyrex dishes that I've been using since the late 60s--no problem there.

It is not difficult to make glassware durable and safe for all kitchen uses.

Think all laboratories. They burn, chill, cook with glassware everyday.

dcarch

My Pyrex baking dish exploded last week also. I pulled it out the oven, placed it on the stove top and it shattered. I am still finding glass bits today.

Thanks for sharing. This happened to me …a large bowl blew up—exploded!! Duralex won’t refund but they will replace the product…who wants —who in their right mind would accept to use a product that exploded??? I was in living room when I heard a loud crash. It happened an hour after I had used it to mix cake batter…I had washed and dried and set it on my counter. glass pieces were all over my counter, and 20 feet under my utility stainless steel table…I filed a Health Canada report which I suggest people do.

Never touched or rested on stove, or near stove. i dont have a dishwasher. It was only 3 years old.

Still happening after all these years. And they're still in business?!

It can happen to any glass.

I'm still curious about this problem. I can't find a trace of it here. Is your Duralex manufactured in the States?

Glass is a tricky substance and the tiniest, invisible contamination made into the glass or a scratch can create weird stresses that will let go when the breaking point is reached. Like a drop of water than hangs off the end of the tap for ages until just the right amount of extra water is added to make it drip off. It’s not just Duralex, it’s also Pyrex and even glass sliding doors have been known to suddenly shatter without warning.