Judy, I'm one of the "towel over the shoulder" people and I haven't caught a towel on fire yet, but I do have a gas stove and I'm just sure it's gonna happen... I also don't like the mitts and those silicone mitts are the worst EXCEPT when I'm canning. I can reach right into a boiling water bath and grab the handles of my canning rack to set it on the side of the canner. Booberry taught me that, I miss her... Here there are mostly cheap potholders too, the silicone potholders make great trivets and David loves them for taking hot radiator caps off trucks, LOL, but they're clumsy and not flexible enough. Maybe I'll try those leather ones before I DO catch a towel on fire. Annie

I have a rather coarse textured rectangular one I bought and didn't like all that well that stays in the oven and gets spilled on etc. I don't cook on it, its just for stabilizing the oven temperature since I don't like it for anything else. I have a round pampered chef one that seemed almost pre-seasoned (which made me wonder with what) that I cook mostly cookies, biscuits etc. on since I'm yeast dough challenged. Choclate chip cookies make a mess of it so I take a soft mushroom cleaner type brush and with some plain water and the brush scrub off the worst of it. When cooking cookies I put the dough on the room temperature stone for the first batch, then after that since its hot I switch to the aluminum pans if making a whole batch (often I freeze the dough in small batches since I'm single and just cook one stone full of 6 cookies at a time). Haven't had a problem with the 'cold' stone going into the oven. Who wants to put dough on a hot stone?

I recommend the Ove Glove. I got one as a gift for xmas and thought I would hate it but I love it. They are very 'stretchy' and not as cumbersome to get on and off as I thought they would be. They are very flexible and make it easy to handle little things. I bought a second one so I can lift heavy things out of the oven with a good grip and not be afraid of it slipping. I broil a lot in an electric oven and using a glove protects the tops of my hands from feeling like they are "cooking" if I am just checking the meat thermometer or sticking my hands in real quick.

Mine is an original "Ove" Glove (how it is written on the label) made in South Korea, and it has a UL marking on it as well. The label says Max. temp 480°. Also, it is two layers, and this does make it a bit awkward to take off. I've had mine for a very long time - maybe the newer ones are better. I do need new pot holders - I go through them very quickly. What I hate is when they get a hole between the thumb and finger parts, and then I can get burned.