Mine are alternating up & down--to save a little space. My glasses are narrow at the base and wider at the top. Coffee mugs in the same cabinet are upside down.

Open end up for regular drinking glass in a cabinet. Upside down for storing canning glass in their boxes on the back porch. Coffee cups are up on hooks out in the open. Stemware is a mix of up and down to make it work most efficiently space-wise in a cabinet.

Drinking vessels are upside down. Bowls are upright.

Up

Always upside down. No dust or God forbid a mouse in the house. I have our wine glass's in a rack in the kitchen, bottoms up, and they sure get dusty over time.

Everyday glasses down...wine glasses, crystal up. Too easy to chip the rim

on the more fragile glasses with them down. Told to do this by my Mom. To my knowledge she never chipped a rim. When I break them I drop them.

LOL

I always store stemmed glasses with the stems down. It is better for the crystal or glass. Regular glasses are sometimes alternated because of their shape and to save a little space in the cabinet. Depends on who puts them away. I usually put them bottoms down. If I am having guests, I always check glasses in plenty of time to wash ahead of time.

upside down

All stored facing up. I don't know that I've ever removed a glass from the cupboard by the rim ;0)

My crystal and better dishes in the built ins in my dining room, and those only occasionally used biggest salad bowls or pitchers on a top shelf - do sometimes feel less than spotless . I'll occasionally put them through quick wash in the dishwasher as part of deep cleaning.

Nothing is stored in the open, all in drawers or behind closed doors. Dust isn't really critical problem, as in they are dusty within a month of putting them away, and - I've never had a mouse. Knock on wood ;0) I trapped a rat in the basement of our former house one year, but no mice or critters upstairs ever other than the occasional 8-legged kind.

Don't tell my mom (well you can't, she died 15 years ago) but right-side up. Mom stored hers upside down after living in Texas and finding a dead scorpion in a glass.

Frequently used and washed in the cabinet bottoms down, rarely used on upper shelves are bottoms up (so interiors get less dusty). I don't have crystal, so no worries about that.

Always up and some stacked in a closed cupboard. I need to do a purge!

Every day glasses, including stemless wine glasses upside down. Wine glasses with stems right side up. No idea why, I guess that's the way my mom did it...

We use traditional pint glasses for every day and alternate up and down so more fit on the shelf. :)

Normally store regular glasses/tumblers upside down; stem glasses right side up, for reasons mentioned by Uptown Gal. In Cathedral City, we have a liquor cabinet (that came with the house) that has a rack for storing wine glasses upside down.

Here is what could be a flip-flop tumbler/candlestick. I see they are using it as a vase, but I bought a pair (not exactly like this) in the 1990s at Pier One as a Christmas gift for a co-worker, and it looked more like a drinking glass than a vase.

I store glasses upside down to prevent dust, even though they are stored in closed cabinets.

Critters are not a problem, but I have found silverfish in some items that are left in storage for long periods of time.

ETA: Mugs upside down always.

Glassware is up as are mugs and teacups. Nesting Tupperware tumblers are down.

My chug water bottles are on their sides on a vinyl coated rack in a different cupboard. They have two flat sides so I found that's the best way to store the ones not in the freezer half filled.

Things stored long term, like for entertaining, are upside down. Our everyday glasses are right side up. Although, now that it‘s just the three of us, and odd schedules, we really aren’t going through the glasses like we used to (seems counterintuitive but it‘s true), so I might turn two beer mugs and 4 tumblers upside down. We have only 2 wine glasses on “active duty” in the kitchen, the rest are upside down in the dining room. Oh, and only 3 or 4 mugs are on active duty, too. The rest are upside down, somewhere else (wherever they fit).

Upside down.

A habit left over from my time working in a restaurant, where health code said they had to be stored upside down.

Drinkware is designed to be stored upright. Never, ever, store crystal upside down.

Upside down, except for the stem ware.

I'm like Pudgeder mugs and glasses upside down. Wine glasses upright.

One set alternating, wider tops, narrow bottoms. All others up. Here, it would depend on shape, to fit space. All closed cabinets.

Elizabeth, thank you for the ID on the pitcher. I didn't know what it was and still didn't after I looked at the bottom and just saw a "star". I went hunting and found some great information on it. Thank you so much for the information and fun time looking for the info.

It's interesting to see everyone's preferences and reasons. As for me, it's just me here so I don't have to worry about breakage or germs. The mugs and glasses on the bottom shelf get the most use and are washed regularly. The wineglasses and other glasses and pitcher are seldom used so if I need them, I check them first. It's not dusty in general around here so that isn't really a concern.

Thanks, everyone, for sharing.

My everyday glasses are flared so they are stored in alternative directions. Party and holiday glasses are stored upside down because they are seldom used.

Upside down. No reason why. It's just how I do it.

Same as tvq1.

Sammy, when you say never, ever store crystal upside down, don't you mean that if you are going to set the crystal on its most fragile surface, do so slowly and carefully, preferably setting it on a padded surface rather than, say, a marble countertop? I mean, it's not as though the glasses are made of nitroglycerine and someone is going to get killed when an edge chips.

My drink glasses, including stem and wine glasses are stored in a closed cabinet. They used to be right side up until last month when I invited friends over for dinner I found some tiny dust bunnies in them so into the dishwasher they all went in. Ever since they’ve been upside down in there. I have soft felt material liner so they land smoothly no chipping. I would wash them all once a year or before a party since many of them are not used regularly. Closed cabinets but not air tight so dusts and cooking fume can still get in and cover their surfaces.

In the China display cabinet, dishes, tea cups, crystals and champagne glasses are up right - they would not look right upside down. They too get a clean job when they get dirty. The joy of owning stuffs!

Always upright. I remember reading an interview with one of the head sherangs at Waterford Crystal, where he said storing glassware on its rim is a very bad idea.

Down.

Down. I have the same pitcher you have too.

Sue

Down. I don't want any type of residue, dust, settling inside them. I keep wine glasses in their box. I hadn't thought of bowls, or, for that matter, plates. Hm.

A bartender taught me to always store my glasses right side up, because if it is slightly damp, it will dry completely.

I was taught by a restaurant owner to turn my glasses right side up. This also ensures that bacteria doesn't grow in a moist environment and unless completely sealed moisture will build up in most cupboards.

However if I don't use the glasses very frequently I tend to stack them and or put them upside down. This is because I know I won't be able to even use them unless I wash them before use. I just don't like using things that have been stored for any length of time without washing them.

Cups and glasses are always down in my kitchen as I cook in there and grease and grime still make their way inside cupboards. My China cabinet however, is in another room and everything is upright. I rarely use the dishes that are in there and when I do use them, I rinse them out first.

All drinkware is stored upside down. Bowls, etc., right side up. Plates, right side up. But if using a seldom used plate, I don't use the top one in the stack. I automatically rinse out, or at least wipe out with a dry cloth, any bowl that hasn't been recently used. All life long habits, starting with growing up on a farm where dust was almost always in the air, and that's how my mother did it. Plus I've almost always had pets in the house, so, again, dust and dander in the air a constant. No reason to change now.

Rusty

upside down

Up, definitely. The idea that there could be a little bit of dampness left in the glass which would then be trapped, bothers me. Also I don't like the idea of the rim, which goes into one's mouth, is sitting on a possibly not-quite-clean surface. I hope I don't offend!

Up for all glasses and cups. When I grab a glass, it's always by the middle, never the rim and cups by the handle. They are in a closed cupboard.

Right side up for everyday glasses and mugs. I like that they are open to the air in case of a bit of condensation or moisture from the dishwasher, and also for a general airing. They are also in a closed cupboard and we grasp mugs by the handle, glasses by the middle.

I don't understand why there is some much variation in practice.

Isn't this just exactly the same as how to put toilet paper on a horizontal spool? There's only one correct way, feed from the top!

We have a couple of vertical TP holders, it solves the top or bottom dilemma but introduces a new one - feed from the left or feed from the right? Maybe putting some glasses right side up and others upside down solves the problem. Or, using the wine glass hangers, only one way to use them.

cups up, glasses down ... tp from the back

Stay where you are, bragu.

You can visit here but not rearrange. ;-)

LOL!! This thread cracks me up!! The number of responses and the seriousness of how they are phrased seems to be overly focused on an issue that makes no difference one way or the other in the grand scheme of things!

I think too many are bored or have been too long stuck at home with no one to talk to except on the internet :-)

Up. If you store cups or glasses upside down, the rims (where you put your mouth) pick up dust from the shelves (and moisture is trapped). You must wash a dusty glass whether the dust is in the bowl or on the underside of it.

This is the same reasoning (sanitation) I have for drawing TP from the top of a roll, rather than have paper hang down the wall from the dispenser. I also don't want to 'fish' for the edge of the paper; I can see the edge on the top of the roll.

Are we ready to tackle world peace yet?

LOL LOL I'll just settle for Country Peace right now. ;)

I see some people have mentioned the possibility of moisture being trapped inside a cup or glass. I have my shelves in my cupboard where the cups and glasses go lined with pieces of plastic canvas (like is used for needlework). This provides a little ventilation. Many years ago I worked in a restaurant and the shelf for the glasses had something similar on it.

that needlework crafty stuff is incredibly inexpensive ... I bought some to put in the bottoms of my planters [keeps the soil from draining out the bottom with the moisture]

Of course, I usually keep my glasses right side up, but not always on my face...very often they're on top of my head or some place obscure where I'm running around the house for 10 min looking for them.

Annie, you know reading glasses sometimes look like glasses that have had the top sliced off? My mom was nearsighted and wore glasses for distance but couldn‘t see close up with them, so she got glasses the looked like the bottom had been sliced off. In stores, people were forever telling her gently that her glasses were upside down. And she‘d have to explain that no, they were right side up, and why.