Stuck Glasses

How annoying is it when you get two glasses out of your cabinet and they're stuck together? After getting the dishwasher that happens more often than before because I sometimes stack the glasses before they've cooled down completely. Trying to pry them apart used to freak me out because I was worried they'd shatter in my hands.

 

Then I remembered this trick. Pour hot water in a bowl, put the bottom glass in the hot water. Pour cold water in the top glass. 

 

The hot water will expand the bottom glass while the cold water will shrink the top glass leaving a tiny bit of space so you can easily take them apart. Works every time!

Comments

[elisa]

smart! x

[Jennifer in France]

cool with such a hot idea!

[Tag für Tag]

Cool thing! Love those glasses,, wheee are they from? looks like iitala?!

[Carlos]

They are cheap glasses called "Bodega". I've seen them in several different stores here in Sweden. They come in three sizes, this is the middle size. The great thing is that they can go in the oven so one can make individual hot dessert portions in them.

[Monnah]

Härlig NO-lektion. Det blir den andra för mig den här morgonen! :)

[Berglind Á]

When this happens I put my glasses on the site og roll them a round.. that usually does the trick :)

[Kristina]

I have some glasses shaped just like these pictured - and that happens to me more than I'd like! I will have to remember this trick next time, thank you!

[Helen Fröderberg]

Härligt med lite Fysik på morgonen. Bästa tipset! Stort tack!

[ami]

Thank you so much for posting this! This happens to me all the time and it drives me crazy!!

[Helene @ Homebound]

very good trick! comes handy ;-)

[Britta]

Jag har också Bodegaglas hemma och dom fastnar hela tiden. Jag brukar lösa det med att lägga dom ner på sida och försiktigt rullar glasen fram å tillbaka så lossnar dom för det mesta ... men jag antar att du prövar det också innan vattentricket. :D

[Erica @ twosistersandatoolbox]

i love this sort of tip. I am still super grateful for when you pointed out that you saw is also a set square, so handy!

[Carlos]

Great tip, will try that next time!

[Carlos]

Kände inte till det tricket men det testar jag nästa gång!

[Martha]

Aha!! Great tip!!

[mary s.]

great trick! i've broken so many glasses at work from stacked glasses being stuck together! thanks!

[Alecia]

THANK YOU for posting this! I have a little bowl stuck inside of a large mug for the past week and I have tried to get them apart with no luck. I was thinking I was just going to have to throw them away. Perfect!!!!!

[Hxx]

Bingo!

[Lisa Flaherty]

Great tip, because the "shattering in my hands" feeling freaks me out, too!

[Karen J]

Cool! I'll make it into a science lesson for my kids at the same time. No more frustrated mommy.

[Oana]

Your posts never cease to amaze me :-)
Great tip!

[rae]

awesome! i do that all the time too and am always scared to pull them apart!

[brianne]

wonderful tip! I did have a glass shatter in my hand once so now I will pretty much just leave stuck glasses in the cabinet until new ones are clean. This one is getting saved for sure :)

[Blogg by Maliin Stoor]

Tackar för tipset!
Har haft samma problem!! Jag har lärt mig att ha tålamod och låta disken kallna innan jag staplar i varandra!

Detta var toppen!!!

Må gott

Maliin

[Diane]

When I worked in a pub, quite often glasses would be stacked when they were hot out of the washer. Like someone else mentioned in the comments, if you lay them down on the counter, just rolling them around might help, but you can also press the lip of the bottom glass gently against the edge of the counter and that normally does the trick. Didn't know about the water of different temperatures, but it's filed away for future reference for sure! Thanks!

[MelD]

I usually just give the glasses a tap against the work surface edge where they're stuck together, which is a bit quicker. Obviously your method addresses the reason for the problem in the first place!

[the spectator]

Nifty

[April]

Very warm and rather cool water should be used, not hot (boiling) and cold (ice water). Otherwise your glasses might crack, or worse, shatter. Be careful!

Otherwise this is a good tip.

[Zosia]

...or just wait until the glasses cool down before stacking them together :-). The tip IS great though, in case one needs to take stacked glasses apart.

[Corina]

It's a great tip but I'm thinking that you are not actually changing the SIZE of the glasses doing this, you are heating the air trapped between them. Especially since you say these glasses can go in the oven...imagine how "big" the glass would get if this was the case. The air expands helping to force out the trapped glass. When stacking the glasses whilst warm from the dishwasher you are trapping warm air between the glasses. When this air cools it "shrinks' thus causing a seal between the glasses. As Zosia said, let the glasses cool before stacking and this shouldn't be such an issue.

[mjbute@gmail.com]

Eight years ago my husband shattered two glasses at a restaurant once by "tapping" them on the side of the table. He got two apart this way 10 minutes earlier but he was way too confident the second time. It was a big party, and we all saw it coming. Glass went everywhere. We had to stand up shake off, get knew chips and salsa and drinks and appetizers. That group will still make fun of him every now and then. "Oh, Walt can get those apart for you, but you might want him to stand outside away from everyone else."