Pyrex Cinderella Bowls

          In 1957 my family moved to Corning, N.Y. when Dad got a job at the Corning Glass Works. The baby boom was at its peak: I was 3, my sister was 2, and a new brother was born in April. That spring Disney re-released its block-buster hit from 1950- the animated feature film, Cinderella.  Also in 1957 a Rogers & Hammerstein musical called Cinderella, starring Julie Andrews, was written for and aired by CBS.  A few weeks later NBC broadcast the ballet, Cinderella, starring Margot Fonteyn.  Apparently we were all crazy about Cinderella back then.

          That same year, Corning Glass introduced a new style of painted Pyrex glass mixing bowl with a pouring spout on one side & a handle on the other.  Can you guess what they called this new style?  Cinderella, of course.  It’s a good thing Corning introduced its new product in 1957 and not 1959; Sleeping Beauty would have been a silly name for mixing bowls.  Lady and the Tramp (1955) wouldn’t have been that great either.  But getting back to Cinderella- the bowls came in sets of four; each set contained a small, medium, large and extra-large bowl.  And they were produced in a variety of fashionable colors and patterns. My mother has always used Cinderella mixing bowls in her kitchen, and when I set up house-keeping in 1976 these were the bowls I started with.  I still love them.

          Suppose you want to make your favorite quick bread or muffins.  Get out your beautiful Cinderella bowls!  You can whisk eggs in the small bowl, mix them into the liquids which you have combined in the medium bowl, then pour that mixture into the dry ingredients in the extra large bowl.  The opalescent white glass interiors are easy to keep sparkling clean, perfect for food preparation.  And there are lots of pretty exteriors from which to choose- including pinks & aquas from the 50’s, harvest golds & avocado greens from the 60’s, and earth tones from the 70’s.  In the 80‘s I bought a set of Homestead bowls, which looked great in my blue & white kitchen.  

          Painted Pyrex was not produced after the 1980’s, but the Cinderella bowls and other great vintage Pyrex pieces, many in very good or new condition, are easy to find on Etsy and eBay.  There really are tons of wonderful patterns available, and the prices are quite reasonable.  Once you start looking at them you won’t be able to resist ordering at least one set for your kitchen.  I recently bought a set of Butterfly Gold 2 pictured above, but you might prefer green Verde (my daughter has these), pink Gooseberry, or yellow/orange Daisy.  Then you will want to pack up your non-Pyrex mixing bowls and put them in the attic, or better yet- take them to Good Will.

          Like all vintage Pyrex glass, these mixing bowls should not be put in the dishwasher as this can cause the paint to wear off over time, but they are so nice you will not mind hand-washing them.  With proper care your set of Cinderella bowls should last forever, and if you do break or lose one of them you can probably find a replacement on eBay.    

For more fun facts about vintage Pyrex and other Corning Glass products, check out these excellent websites- Pyrex Love. and Corelle Corner.