Corelle Brands review: explosive plates & bowls / injury, blindness, & death 69

I totally agree with how dangerous these plates are. When I dropped a smaller plate on the counter from the cabinet it shattered into a thousand little pieces all over the counter, floor and flew across the room as far as 12 feet away. The broken hards are like little razors and are very difficult to see. It is very likely that these could fly into ones eye and cause serious damage or at least require a trip to the doctor to have it removed from the eyeball - yes, sounds very painful. I think the good Lord Jesus that he protected me from that worst possibility. I am thinking of getting rid of these and replacing them with regular ceramic plates that don't break into so many little pieces and "literally" explode all over the place from impact. I agree their should be a recall or at least a warning on these. The ironic thing is that on the back of the plate it says break and chip resistant, but if anything they break easier than glass or ceramic plates I have had. Even though it might be rare for one to drop or brake a plate, when it does happen it could cause serious injury if toddlers, little children, older people, or the disabled are nearby and step on the pieces. It took me like a whole hour to decontaminate the kitchen and then even later on I found a shard of glass on the rug, leading to the living room even though I made a point of not walking into the other oom until I swept and vacuumed the kitchen. The shards are very scary looking like they could penetrate an artery!

I had the dishes in sinkful of lukewarm water last night, waiting for me to get around to washing them. They had been sitting there for over 1/2 hour. Suddenly there was an extremely loud explosive sound- we thought someone had thrown a rock through our window. It was one of my Corelle dishes spontaneously exploding in the water. Thank goodness the blast was absorbed by the water, but I've never seen a dish break into so many tiny, incredibly sharp slivers. Bought the dish set 11 years ago for "safe" dishes for my son to eat from. They are now in the trash.

I was eating my dinner when suddenly a plate on the counter exploded. I was trying to figure out how this happened as nothing fell on it and it wasn't in contact with any other dishes. Incredible spontaneous explosion. I'm glad I wasn't right next to it when it happened. The dish set is about 10-12 years old.

I have now had 3 corelle plates explode in this manner and I am banning them from my house. The most recent one was my 5 year old son wanted to be helpful and lift a plate from the coffee table up to the kitchen bench, he accidently dropped the plate on the way from a height of 2-3ft I guess. The plate literally went "pop" and exploded into thousands of razor sharp shards, for many feet in all directions. Many of the shards are tiny, only 1/10th of an inch (2.5mm) long virtually invisible unless you have your face against the ground. Much time was then spent cleaning this mess up, checking corners and pretty much everywhere within line-of-sight of the explosion. I previously had a Corelle explode and missed a shard when cleaning up, the shard got me in the foot, and what was most concerning was that every time i'd grip the shard with forceps in an attemp to remove it, it would just crumble and break off, almost like the plate hard gone very hard and brittle, hard enough to piece your flesh with ease, but so brittle any attempt to place any force on the shard and it will just break into even smaller pieces. I had written the previous incident off as some freak occurrence, but judging by repeat incidents and other people's similar experiences, I think these platese are just plain unsafe. I've never put these plates in the oven, they have been used in the microwave, but they state they are microwave safe. I bought these plates because there was an advertising campaign locally with Corelle 'unbreakable' plates rolling back and forth in a window alongside a Bus. Every time the bus would take off from the bus stop, the plates would roll to the back and bang against the one end, then every time the bus break roll forward and bang against the other end, you get the idea. Impressive you would think. The last thing from my mind was the very plates I bought for their supposed impact resistance and safety, was going to literally explode like a fragmentation hand grenade ! The more I read, I feel lucky that my plates haven't just exploded when put into contact with hot liquids or just spontaneously on the bench or dish drawer with no contact as others have !

pic of exploded corelle plate

My husband dropped a saucer and this sucker shattered into millions of pieces! We found pieces from the kitchen into our living room! I thought that Corelle was supposed to be break & shatter-proof. Based on these othe comments, I am glad to know that we are not the only people that have had this problem! Is there anything we can do about this?

Gkenigmatic, We think they are unbreakable because when Corelle first made this product, they advertised it as UNBREAKABLE. They have since changed their marketing campaign and now say they are "break resistant" but there were commercials that had people bouncing the dishes on the floor and the dish would remain in one piece. I have had experiences of dropping the dishes and they don't break and then they just break for no reason at all. Also, if you have never had the experience of them breaking, you don't realize how dangerous it is when it happens. A regular ceramic dish breaks into several large pieces that stay in the area where the dish breaks. Corelle dishes shatter like a bomb and glass flies all over the room, as well as adjoining rooms. As I stated above, I was finding glass shrapnel in my cabinets because it flew up and the cabinet was open.

Sue Falls, I called Corelle and they were rather rude. They said that they never claim to be breakproof, just break resistant (not true, as per my above comment, they most definitely claimed to be breakproof at one time). They also told me that the dishes are DESIGNED to shatter in this matter because they found that smaller (sharper?!) pieces are safer than large pieces. No amount of arguing could change their mind. I told them I was cleaning glass for 2 days and they asked me what pattern I had. I thought I was finally getting through to them, but all she wanted to do was replace the broken bowl. I had already thrown away every Corelle piece I had in my cabinet. I told her nevermind replacing the weapon, how about sending a cleaning service to make sure all the glass is gone and no one in my home gets injured. She stood her ground and stood by her foolish claim that the dishes are designed to break in this shrapnel manner for safety reasons.

We just had a plate explode, my husband had it sitting on the counter and it just exploded for no reason into millions of pieces, very dangerous, he said pieces of glass flew every where...

Have had several explode upon dropping them thru the years. The latest incident & by far worst was taking 5 dishes to feed my dogs & one slipped out of my hand exploding on the ground & about destroyed my dogs. Glass was everywhere as far as 12 feet away on top of a table & microwave. Glass was in my feet. I was yelling at the dogs to stay away cause they wanted to eat the food & didn't know that millions of pieces of sharp glass was all over. Well I had to check their feet for several days. I had to use a needle to get the glass out of my feet & legs. Took me hours to clean up this mess & found glass days later under furniture in a different room. Do not use for dog food. Wow. Scary.

hi, i have the corelle dinner set for few years when we went to Canada.everything has been fine until this morning when i was drying the plate. the plate exploded in my hand and the sharp pieces when every where. i was shocked couldn't understand. i knew that it was unbreakable to make sure i read the correct info. it does say that.it was very dangerous to clean, i was very careful and still had few cuts on my hand. i don't know who i should write and complaint about it. i spent 100s of pounds on to collect on the corelle...not very happy at all.:(

Hi, I had a horrible experience with Corelle. It was a bowl that slipped into my hand while I was drying it. It fell on the floor an splattered into pieces. As a natural response, I leaned over trying to catch it, but unfortunately it went it my left eye and I sustained a FULL THICKNESS CUT on my CORNEA. I had 4 stitches for it and will be having another surgery since I developed a TRAUMATIC CATARACT because it damaged my LENS as well. Thank God My right eye was not affected. Has anyone filed a complaint about this? I don't know if Corelle claims that their product is unbreakable so I'm not sure if I can proceed with anything. Thank you!

I was on the phone and a track type pop rang out & sounded as if one of my windows cracked, but found it to be the plate on the counter cracked right in half.. No slivers just two perfect halves. (Corelle). So very strange... But relieved it wasn't a window. I am wondering if its when they get old ? They are many years old.

Okay; so, new Corelle dishes might indeed shatter under extremes of thermal differential when hit just right. Corelle dishes that are a few years old will indeed shatter more easily than new ones, but seemingly still under the same unusual conditions (uneven heating, or just being hot, and being hit just right). But the alarming thing seems to be that OLD Corelle may be subject to spontaneous shattering! One web site says it's caused by a thing called "bruising" and/or "water impregnation" resulting from the cavitation from boiling water in them (e.g. in the microwave). The "bruising" happens when a plate has been hit or stacked (like I stack mine), and the bruising is not visible to the eye, but it leaves the ceramic crystalline structure of the dish compromised. The water thing, also, can cause a "cascade failure" (I don't think that means dishwasher detergent) inside the structure of the dish. Both of these, the bruising and the water impregnation, happen over time through normal usage, and both can lead to "unpredictable catastrophic failure." Yeah. I just finished a bowl of cereal, had set the bowl down next to me (a little milk left in the bottom and the spoon was resting inside), and about five minutes later there was a "tink" and the bowl was in five pieces! This is the third Corelle dish in as many weeks. Last week a plate exploded in the microwave. The week before a bowl shattered violently when dropped. Is it coincidence that it's happening more frequently?

We bought a whole new set of corelle for our new home last sept. been happily using it till this scary incident in my kitchen yesterday. i was wiping my corelle plate with a paper towel before scooping some rice and suddenly there was a loud explosion! instinctively my hands let go of the plate as i was too shocked and dropped my corelle. it was already shattered into a million shards like a horrible explosion in my kitchen with shrapnel flying into our bathroom and living room. it was not funny as 1/2 more inches nearer to my face, that piece of innocent looking plate-aka- hand grenade could have maimed me for life. i called corelle's World Kitchen Asia Pte Ltd and the cust svc officer sounded shocked that it happened. tried to give reasons why it could have happened and even asked if i dropped my corelle. in my heart, regardless what caused the explosion, plates are not grenades & should not self-explode. she told me to bring it down to the mall where i bought the corelle stuff and they would have it replaced by the corelle promoter. my gripe is, i do not want it replaced (nor do i wish for another corelle) but i needed redress for the whole freaking series which i bought at more than $300 and now will never feel safe to use them anymore. what if it exploded in my dinner guests'face or their children?can corelle assure me that all the rest of their products will not explode for no reason albeit the supposed due care rendered by owners? i don't need exploding plates & bowls but peace of mind. any possibility of a class action suit to be filed against them for no product warning? i will thus stick to porcelain or bone china, heavy ya, will break ya, but i won't get a million shrapnel and they won't self-explode in my face for whatever convenient reason.sheesh. (see photo: sample of original plate before and after self-explosion)

One exploded in my sons hand straight from the cabinet YES it is glass duly noted BUT to actually explode with out any temperature change or any reason AND YES it EXPLODED all over the damn place

I put a Corelle bowl with sliced cukes on the counter. 2 hours later, I was working a couple feet from the bowl, nothing was touching it. I heard a loud pop and the bowl had spontaneously burst into 2 pieces with some shards. Weirdest thing.

Happened all by itself

I have had a small set of patterned corelle dishes for about 4/5 yrs and have never had a problem with them but as per usual circumstances some pieces are missing or lost and my set has dwindled down even more. So I was looking online to replace/buy new set and came across all these horrible stories and am now worried if its even WORTH IT? I have never dropped any, and have used them normally as most people washing in dishwasher, heated dry, let soak in warm water, and microwaved them so I was shocked when I came across these stories. I would like to get some opinions before purchasing another set because it sounds like they are made with different process? or less quality which could cause this. So my questions are as to how this could happen, what were the circumstances leading up to it ( how did you treat/use your plates), is it worth it to get more if you take care of them, and has corelle responded to anyone regarding these instances and how do they intend to fix it? PLEASE RESPOND!

No fluke. No joke. But actually no problem. Had a approximately 25 year old Corelle cereal bowl "explode" after being rinsed and placed on rack in dishwasher. Had been in there 24 hours waiting for full appliance and wash. The dish simply made a sound like a falling, shattering glass and I looked all over the house until the next day when put cereal bowl in back of top tray and noticed the broken bowl and mess. Strange phenomenon. Love the dishes, the pattern and the length of service. Would purchase again and find the occurrence interesting but non threatening.

15 seconds in the microwave, with a few ounces of pasta sauce in it. Picked up the cereal bowl with 2 hands, as it was hot, and the whole bottom of the bowl fell out. HOT sauce splattered on stove, my shirt, arm and landed on the floor. Looking at the bowl, it broke right at/above the sauce line.

While I was sitting on the couch, my Correlle plate spontaneously broke, it had cut up onions on it. The crack was a curvy line straight through the middle, it made a not-so-loud popping sound. I looked around and found a chipped part of the plate on the floor, I started to freak out because I never experienced this with any of my Correlle plates.

I love my Corelle, but I think it's in my interest to get rid of it. I sat on the couch holding a plate when it spontaneously shattered. I have owned Corelle dishes for many years and this is the first time something like this has ever happened.

I bought a bowl because it was supposed to be shatter resistant. In fact, it shattered more than a regular bowl! As other reviewers have stated, it shattered into a million tiny pieces! When a normal bowl breaks, it breaks into a few big pieces that one can easily identify and pick up. With a corelle bowl, the pieces are so small they could easily not be seen and lodge in someone's foot. Animals could lick up the pieces which could cause serious health problems. I contacted the company's customer service and told them this, and I couldn't believe the response I got! 1. first they told me not to throw the bowl away because I might have to return it to them. I told them already that it shattered into a million pieces and I also contacted them days ago. Did they want me to send back abrasive white dust? I'm pretty sure homeland security would be on my ### about that one. 2. they told me to call a customer service number. I already sent them an email, why should I have to take any more extra steps when the problem is 100% with their faulty product? I had never received such inept customer service when filing a product complaint. Do not buy corelle products!

My son was getting a correlle bowl out of an upper cabinet with his shirt off. He bumped the bowl and it fell to the granite counter top. The bowl exploded sending a large shard into his chest. It cut and stuck into his chest. He screamed and pulled it out- there was a good bit of blood! The cut was about a half inch long and the shard probably went in about a quarter of an inch. I'm glad it didn't hit his eye. This is the third correlle item to explode this year.

Read the back of the dishes. Break and Chip RESISTANT. Nowhere does Corelle claim to be unbreakable or shatter proof, or shatter resistant. They are amazingly durable GLASS plates. They are warrantied for three years against scratching, breaking or chipping. The reason they want you to send the bowl back is to discover if it was a simple breakage, or if there is a "lot" that is possibly defective. When a dish breaks around the rim, or the bottom falls out, it is probably a defect that the company needs to be made aware of. If you drop a GLASS plate on a GRANITE countertop, or a STONE or TILE floor it will possibly break and the company still will replace it for you within the three year warranty period.

My 20 month old threw a plate. 7 stiches, emergency room... There should definitely be a warning that they shatter and are dangerous.

PIECE FOUND 17 FEET AWAY! Late last night, I dropped an older Corelle bowl on my tile kitchen floor from a height of less than 3 feet and it literally exploded. After cleaning shards from the kitchen and adjoining living and dining rooms for over an hour, I though everything was up, except for possible slivers in the jute rug which I decided to vacuum carefully in the morning. This morning, I found a piece on the SEAT of an upholstered chair 12 feet away and a larger piece on the floor 17 feet from where the bowl broke. I am now afraid to have my family walk barefoot (or even sit!) in my beach house until every square inch is thoroughly cleaned. The smaller slivers are caught in crevices between wood flooring, and the new vinyl floor has marks that cannot be repaired. This is a nightmare but, luckily, so far, no injuries as some of you have experienced. I have loved the weight of the Corelle dish set and used them for years, even though my daughter thinks they are tacky. I am putting the Corelle in the trash right away, being most careful handling it, and will use my Fiesta dishes for every day. Has Corelle admitted to anything or reimbursed anyone? I agree, there should be a national recall. I'd hate to think what could have happened if a child had been nearby!

Had a very scary experience a few nights ago, Have always been a fan of Corelle dishes since they first came out. My mother always bought them for our kitchen as we had five kids in our home. they had always advertised how unbreakable they were, going so far as to offer replacements on chipped or broken dishes. Over the years and nine kids later I was still a Corelle fan. (only other choice for me was a large supply of paper plates, bowls, etc. After witnessing the the absolute EXPLOSION of a dinner plate the other night I thing Corelle should consider warning customers about this potential hazard before a tragedy occurs. I had to throw out our special family dinner that my daughter spent hours preparing. ; we don't all have these occasions very often since the kids are (almost all grown and are away at school or at work at all different hours.) We are still finding shards of glass in places fifteen feet away. One of our Yorkies was almost severely injured but they got her out in time. Had to throw out ALL THE FOOD because break was so intense it reached all the food on the table. Mashed potato filled with glass shards is hardly an appetizing thought. Threw out four London Broils, countless side dishes, and not one person here would even order out. Believe me, a traumatic experience for all. My son took photos and my daughter took a video of the aftermath because nobody would have believed it. On the positive side, I am just very thankful that there were no major injuries(so far, still finding glass) . Please post a warning!

DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH! Corelle absolutely sucks! Even as a child in the 70's, I too grew up with these mini sharapnel bombs. We had thick linoleum floors, so when they did fall, many times they were left intact, except those special times when they'd hit the tile counters and it was a different story! My brother and I would be picking little razor sharp pieces of glass out of our arms and legs! Fast forward to last night, my husband and I were doing dishes and he dropped my 90 year old aunts decades old small white corelle bowl...BAM! It hit the tile floor and this sucker blew up and he was bleeding from his ankle and I from my foot...like the above post, my disabled sons service dog narrowly escaped serious danger, since the bowl fell almost directly in front of her face, where she was laying on the kitchen floor! She was up and running practically before it the floor, and still manages to get 2 small pieces lodged in her paw and it bleed quite a bit upon removal. I swear, this stuff is obnoxious and I can't believe this company hasn't recalled them, do they still manufacter these unsafe weapons? If you threw a corelle plate at someone, you probably could inflict major damage to your victim upon impact. My sons dog was terrified, and she's trained to be damn near bomb proof...not corelle proof I guess. I HATE CORELLE!

I have stacked my bowls this way for 13 years without a problem. Tonight, I was in the kitchen when I heard a loud POP, and glass fell out of my kitchen cabinet. The door to the cabinet was closed, but the pop pushed it open far enough for glass to fall out. Shocked, I opened the cabinet door, and the bowl had exploded. In the cabinet. Nothing had fallen on it. The bowl hadn't been hot, or fresh out of the dishwasher. No visible cracks or anything when I put it away. What on earth?!

I was eating off of my 4 year old corelle plate and it exploded! I'm lucky it didn't get in my eyes because shards went everywhere. Throwing these in the garbage can.

I've been using Corelle dishes for 30+ years without any issues until the last month when a bowl shattered as I pulled it out of the cupboard cutting my hand. Now, just a couple of weeks later I see that a piece came off the rim of another bowl that I ate from just last night without explanation. Too bad, I always liked Corelle but I'm no longer comfortable using these dishes.

I got a corelle diva set as a wedding gift 3 years ago so my dishes are relatively new. Imagine my horror when I heard loud cracking sounds at 2 am like someone is breaking in through a window. I didn't know whether to be relieved or be scared about a possible haunting when we figured out the source of the heartstopping pops was the shattered corelle plate sitting on the kitchen counter. No dropping no nothing, just spontaneous shattering. How is corelle still allowed to sell these?

I was eating dinner with my grandparents, who have a set estimated to be about 12 years old, when a smaller snack plate exploded in the cabinet. The force of it pushed the 2-3 pieces it broke into to different spots in the cabinet.

CRAZY, WE JUST COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!
NO it hadnt just come out of the dishwasher. It had been sitting in the cabinet unused and untouched for several days. It did not shatter, but broke into about 3 pieces. The whole thing was very scary, I'm glad my grandparents were not hurt.

My story is the same as all the above. Making dinner, no hot or cold exchanges in temperature going on, out of he clear blue a serving bowl exploded all over the counter top, covering the steaks, salad and potatoes being prepared for dinner. Bizarre, without any provocation. I have had Corelle pieces in my life for many years, my parents owned a set when I was growing up. This has never happened before to me. I've dropped them and when they do break it's a rather nasty hail of shards but this was like I said without any provocation. It was also a relatively new piece that I had acquired within the last 5-7 years so it wasn't because it was terribly worn. I have removed all Corelle from my life. Such a shame, I really loved them but not any more.

Hello, I just bought 8 corelle swept mugs brand new (14oz) that were supposed to be porcelain but are so heavy the look and feel like cheap stoneware. They are ugly for sure and look like ones you can buy for a buck at a dollar store. Very upset so I called Work Kitchens and asked for a refund of all monies including shipping and they argued with me and said no. No matter what their policy is no return on shipping and handling. They kept saying you ordered porcelain and you got porcelain. I said yes but cheap heavy porcelain not at all like a good cup that should be light weight. These are heavy and porcelain should not be heavy. I will never buy another corelle product of any kind again or anything from the world kitchen line as they have rude, poor customer service. I tell you this, if a dish explodes and hurts me or my grand kids, I will sue them directly. they know they are making cheap poor products and yet they continue to do so and charge a lot for them and then treat you rudely on the phone and have a scam going in that they will not return you the shipping and handling for any reason. Who needs them? I don't.