Please help me find new kitchen bowls I can microwave

April 7, 2022 9:30 AM

I have a set of these white porcelain bowls from IKEA that I use for soups, chili and the like. When I heat up leftovers, they get really hot. They are about 6in in diameter. Can you recommend a similar sized set of bowls that don't get hot in the microwave? I'd prefer them to be "nice" like the IKEA ones. Thanks!
posted by Rad_Boy to Food & Drink (19 answers total)

I have been on this hunt for years and the answer is largely no. The contents need to get hot, and any porcelain (and most other materials that are microwaveable) bowls are going to get hot in the process. I do like my pasta plates because the edges are manageable to grab but the bottom of the bowl is still extremely hot. I've started using bowl huggers so I can live with the problem.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:45 AM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

When the contents in a glass or ceramic bowl are heated, the container also gets hot. The material conducts heat. Unless you can find some sort of double-walled container I don't see a way around this.

I solved the problem of how to remove hot dishes from the microwave by heating the bowl on a plate, which won't heat up unless the hot bowl sits there for a long period of time. Also useful when heating microwave meals.
posted by citygirl at 9:47 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

I have a set of identical ceramic dinner plates and some get insanely hot when put in a microwave while others don't get warm until the food does. I suspect that the glazing has microscopic cracks in it and moisture has infiltrated the material. This leads to the dish absorbing all the energy before the food does.

If you buy a similar brand-new bowl from IKEA, does it show the same behavior? If not, perhaps stick to hand washing the bowls. I suspect that automatic dishwashers contribute to this.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:59 AM on April 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'm only writing to say: Don't get discouraged by the naysayers. The answer is yes! They do exist.

Unfortunately, I don't have a recommendation for you as the best ones I've used are Longaberger, which (a) is no longer manufacturing so you'd be competing on ebay with collectors, (b) was an MLM, and (c) has more of a homey, farmhouse style.

I've used Ikea dishes and I will never ever allow them into my home ever again.
posted by meemzi at 10:04 AM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm also here to add that yes, such bowls do exist. I had the very same IKEA bowls you have, and the bowls get hot instead of the contents. But I have two bowls that I brought 30 years ago (they're some sort of hand-crafted pottery I got at a festival) and the contents get hot, not the bowls. Then at Costco last year, I picked up these bowls (or something very close) which get hot but so do the contents of the bowls. I got rid of my IKEA bowls after the buying the latter. They're not perfect, but they're better.
posted by jdroth at 10:31 AM on April 7, 2022

Best answer: Corelle winter frost white passes heat through to the contents, does not get hot unless the heated contents then heat it up. Their plates and bowls are basic, but perfectly neutral, and look nice with anything else. Also they are light, and chip resistant. (NB that Corelle also sells ceramic stuff which is totally different. Winter Frost White is the glass stuff I'm talking about.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:34 AM on April 7, 2022 [11 favorites]

Put the bowls in the microwave empty and dry, and then turn it on for a minute or so.

If the bowls heat up at all, there’s a good chance you'll find better bowls. But if they don’t, you probably will need to look around quite a bit.
posted by jamjam at 10:34 AM on April 7, 2022

Seconding the Corelle Winter Frost White line. They're also super lightweight and stack nicely.
posted by limeonaire at 11:08 AM on April 7, 2022

Oven mitts, or a different bowl design? These 12-oz Towle porcelain bowls have wide rims that keep cool; other wide-rimmed porcelain soup bowls/deep-enough pasta dishes.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:07 PM on April 7, 2022

Nthing Correlle, though do understand that it will still get hot if in direct contact with hot food, but in general they're better than stoneware (which usually seems to get hot even if there isn't food touching it) and other things I've tried (except maybe plastic, but that comes with its own issues). If I'm patient and wait a few minutes for the food to cool a bit after reheating it's usually cool enough to handle by that point, and putting it on a plate or using oven mitts is what I do when I'm impatient.
posted by Aleyn at 12:21 PM on April 7, 2022

This is precisely what Anyday dishes were made for.
posted by shesbookish at 2:09 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

I am intimately familiar with microwaving food in both those exact Ikea bowls as well as the standard Corelle bowls recommended above. There's no comparison, the Corelle bowls are wonderful to microwave and the Ikea bowls...you better make sure your health insurance covers skin grafts basically.

Nthing Corelle.
posted by phunniemee at 3:21 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

I bought these wheat-straw bowls off Amazon. They are pastel plastic-looking, and this particular one is 4 large and 4 medium. The medium ones are exactly 6 inches (26 oz) and the large ones are 7.6 inches. If you get the cheaper package it should be the smaller ones. They do warm up, but I microwave noodles with these 7-8 minutes at a time. They do get a bit warm, but not boiling hot.
posted by kschang at 3:33 PM on April 7, 2022

Try IKEA’s OFTAST bowls. They’re white but made of tempered glass.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:56 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yes, the IKEA glass bowls are basically Corelle but a lot less expensive. We have the plates for everyday use, not the bowls, but maybe we should pick some up.
posted by kindall at 11:11 AM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

Those anyday dishes look fantastic, shesbookish!

The metal rims which come down over the sides would make them absolutely ideal for refrigerator storage, and are a feature I’ve been looking for for years.
posted by jamjam at 12:23 PM on April 8, 2022

Response by poster: Probably go with the Corelle 18 Ounce Bowls in Winter Frost White. Thank you all!
posted by Rad_Boy at 2:39 PM on April 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

you can't go wrong with those.
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:59 PM on April 8, 2022

Buy as many Pyrex Flameware bowls and skillets off ebay that you can.

"By 1936, just when the borosilicate glass patent used in bakeware was due to expire, Corning Glass Works released a new type of glass under the Pyrex brand name: FLAMEWARE, an aluminosilicate glass that could be used on the stove top. FLAMEWARE boasted many of the same virtues as Pyrex bakeware, such as cleanliness, cooking efficiency, and the ability to cook, serve and store in the same dish, and was marketed in the same advertisements as Pyrex. The FLAMEWARE line included saucepans, frying pans, teapots, and coffee percolators."
posted by andreap at 12:16 PM on April 9, 2022