Best Mixing Bowls: Stainless, Glass and Stoneware

Pyrex's Essentials set is three round tempered glass bowls of 1, 1.5 and 2.5 quarts. They are microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe, and glass does not hold on to stains or smells the way plastic does. Melting butter, proofing a small batch of dough where you can see it rise, holding a vinaigrette in the refrigerator: this is what glass is for.

America's Test Kitchen's glass winner is a larger Pyrex set with lids. This smaller set is the same idea without the lids, at a price that makes it an easy addition alongside stainless.

Skip glass as your only bowls. The largest here is 2.5 quarts, too small for salad for six or a double batch of cookie dough, and glass is heavier than steel and breaks on a tile floor.

The catch. No lids and no bowl larger than 2.5 quarts.

Anchor Hocking has made glass in Ohio since 1905. These are small tempered glass bowls built for mise en place: each holds a cup, with ribs embossed at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 cup so you can measure straight into the bowl instead of dirtying a measuring cup. For a cook who lines everything up before the pan goes on, they hold the chopped shallot, the melted butter and the beaten egg.

The snap-on lids are BPA-free, so leftover sauce or a half onion goes straight into the fridge, and the bowls stack. The glass goes in the oven up to 425 degrees, and the small bowls double as serving dishes for olives, salt or sauces at the table.

Skip them if you want bowls for mixing; at a cup each they are for prep, not batter. Anchor Hocking also sells a 2 cup version of the same set.

The catch. No large bowl for dough or salad; pair them with a big stainless one.

OXO's set is three nesting bowls of 1.5, 3 and 5 quarts. The inside is stainless steel, which will not hold odors or colors; the outside is a plastic shell that keeps hands off hot or icy steel, and the non-skid base keeps the bowl still while you whisk with one hand and pour with the other. They are dishwasher safe.

For a cook who has chased a spinning bowl across the counter, the base is the whole argument. America's Test Kitchen liked the stability too.

The same review names the problem: the plastic exterior means these cannot sit over simmering water as a double boiler. If you melt chocolate or make a sabayon, buy a plain steel bowl as well.

The catch. Not for use over a double boiler, and four times the price of plain steel.

Emile Henry has made ceramics in Burgundy since 1850, and this bowl is high-fired Burgundy clay under a hard glaze that the maker says will not scratch or craze. It holds 3.7 quarts, is oven, broiler and microwave safe to 520 degrees Fahrenheit, and can go from the refrigerator straight into a hot oven. It is dishwasher safe and carries a ten year guarantee against manufacturing defects.

This is the bowl for the bread dough that rises in it overnight, the potato salad that goes to the table in it, and the pudding that is baked and served in it. Clay holds its temperature, so a dough in a warm bowl stays warm and a salad in a chilled one stays cold.

Skip it as a workhorse. America's Test Kitchen left ceramic out of its testing entirely because it is heavy and expensive, and that is fair. Own one, and let the stainless do the everyday work.

The catch. Heavy when full, and a drop onto stone will end it.