When we think of casseroles, we also think of potholders for one surely needs a good potholder to pull that hot, heavy dish from the oven and offer it to our hungry friends and family. But there are a lot of potholders out there, coming in many shapes and sizes and made from a wide assortment of materials.

What's your favorite pot holder/oven mitt style?

Potholders come in an enormous variety of shapes and sizes. There's the mitt, the round or the square, the round or the square with hand pocket and the (mostly in Europe) the two-handed rectangle with pocket.

The materials are vary widely, too. There's crocheted, quilted cloth, terry cloth, silver heat-proof cloth, leather, silicone, and those fun cotton bands that we wove into a square in Brownies.

Some potholders are huge and some are small. Some are pretty and some are utilitarian and some, in the case of the silicone mitts, look like plastic shark puppets.

We prefer an assortment of potholder styles, depending on what we're doing with them. A heavy casserole needs a thick sturdy pot holder, while a pie may need something a little less cumbersome to avoid clamping down on the edge and ruining the crust. Reaching into a very hot over or broiler often calls for the mitt while turing a tray of roasting nuts only requires the simplest of pads.

Let us know in the comments what your preferred potholder is and why.

Oh and for the record: We hate the silicone ones. Bulky, floppy (or, alternatively, too stiff) and usually way more protection than we need, we find them awkward and ugly. We have, however, found amusing alternative uses for them (see shark comment above.)

Related: Can you Help Me Find a Better Oven Mitt?

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