Good Question: Multi-Purpose Drinking Glasses?

Here’s a question from Amy. Can you help her?

My husband and I are deciding to stay put in our small home because of the horrible housing market, and we’re trying to make it feel a little more spacious. One effort is downsizing our kitchenwares. Instead of separate mugs, small and large glasses, and wine glasses, we’re looking for an “everything” glass. We love the double-walled Bodum glasses, and even found a great stacking version, but at $19.99 – $29.99 a pair, they’re definitely out of our price range.

Is there such a thing as an affordable “everything” glass?Something we can use for warm and cold beverages, as well as wine? Can you help us find a space-saving solution?

Amy, the Bodum glasses are indeed lovely, but we know from experience how fragile they are. Here are a few more options for you. None of them are quite as delicate and lovely as the double-walled tumblers you like, but most of them are able to stand up to a little heavier handling.

• Duos Collection, $24.99 for a set of 4 – Target has these knock-offs at about half the price of Bodum. They are also made out of borosilicate glass, so they will be just as delicate, and it is not clear whether they stack. But if you want the double-walled look, these are a good bet.

• Cue Barware, $2.95 to $3.95 at Crate & Barrel – Other glass options include these stacking tempered glass tumblers from Crate & Barrel. We use tempered glass cups (the Duralex Picardie glasses, which are becoming hard to find again) to drink some of our teas. But we don’t use them for hot coffee; mugs are still more manageable than tempered glass.

• Working Glasses, $1.50 to $1.95 at Crate & Barrel – One more tempered glass option. We offer these too because they are really multi-purpose: you can buy plastic lids for these glasses, which makes them good for small storage. You could use them for serving almost anything: soup, yogurt, ice cream, pasta.

• Square Cup, $3 at AsianIdeas.com – Overall, though, we think that ceramic or porcelain is a better choice than glass. You can’t see wine through it, which is the one drawback, but it’s more reliable when drinking hot beverages.

• ÄLMHULT, $.29 and POKAL, $ 1.99 – And here is the truly inexpensive option: from IKEA, of course! These two tumblers are both able to hold both hot and cold drinks, and they stack very well.

Any more ideas for Amy?

Related: Good Question: Looking for Bright and Colorful Tea Towels

(Images: Amazon.com, Target, Crate & Barrel; Asian Ideas, IKEA-USA)