Just thinking about measuring cups. I have seven. Two are 2-cup glass ones (one Pyrex, and the other some other brand), one is a 1-cup Pyrex one, and four are steel ones that came in a set.
My wife uses one of the 2-cup ones for putting water into her Keurig machine. I use the other one only occasionally for whatever. My go-to measuring cup is the 1-cup Pyrex. I keep the steel ones in bins on the counter: ¼ cup for flour, ⅓ cup for the coffee, ½ cup for rice, and 1 cup for sugar. I don’t actually measure with them; they’re mostly just scoops. (Full disclosure: I used the 1-cup steel ‘scoop’ to measure ¼ cup of sugar today, and a level ⅓ cup ‘scoop’ is perfect for the coffee maker.)
I got the cups. Some off brand set. Rarely can find the correct one. I’m a good eye baller though.
I have a pyrex glass 1cup and a big one for mixing stuff by hand, I may need to pour.
I have one plastic thing. Tall and almost transparent. It was meant for mixing formula for baby goats or something. It has clear, large oz. marks. And on the other side cup measures. It’s my favorite. Luckily it doesn’t fit easily into the dishwasher, so it’s survived many years.
I’m pretty sure there’s a plastic measuring cup around here somewhere, but I don’t know where it is. I ‘own’ it because my friend left it when I bought the house. I’ve never used it because I have my own, better, ones; and because I dislike washing soft plastic.
Ugh. I’m almost embarrassed to answer this one. Every time I think I have enough measuring cups, I find I need another.
Liquid measurers:
2 ea. 8-cup Pampered Chef glass with pour spouts and lids. Great for mixing up things that start small and grow big, like dough.
2 ea. 4-cups, 1 Pampered Chef glass with pour spout and lid and another 4-cup Pyrex with pour spout.
3 ea. 2-cup Pyrex with pour spouts. One is dedicated to just getting water out of the fridge to pour into the Soda Stream bottle.
1 ea. 2-cup plastic liquid measurer, the type that’s slanted so you can read the correct amount without having to bend over so your eyes are level with the lines. This is the favorite for mixing raw eggs before scrambling or adding to recipes.
4 ea. 1-cup Pyrex with pour spouts. Two are for cooking/kitchen use. One is dedicated to measuring the dog’s dry food. (If I left it up to him, he’d eat at least twice as much!) Another is dedicated to receiving bleach to measure before pouring into the washing machine receptacle.
I have one of those push through cylinder types and a 4-cup gravy separator (fat from broth) plastic one, but I rarely use either of them.
Dry measurers:
1 classic set as described by @Johnny_L.A. These are copper coated and hang on the wall when not in use.
1 plastic set of scoops for the same amounts (1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and 1/4 cup). These live in various dry goods containers for flour and sugar.
I am very well measured. A little too well measured, some would say.
I keep being reminded of stuff, like the plastic cup I think I have somewhere. Your post reminded me that I have a hard plastic oil separator cup – the kind with the spout on the bottom. I never use that one anymore.
I currently have three liquid measuring cups, as well as some appliances that have them build in.
The main two are a small clear glass cup and one that looks more like a black coffee mug with the labels on the inside. (I’m not sure I’ve ever actually used it) There’s also a giant one that doubles as a mixing bowel. I’m not sure how big it is off hand.
I have two liquid bottles that have markers, which I use when making drinks. And then the two appliances are a blender and a combination air fryer and pressure cooker. I don’t think I’ve ever actually gone by them, though, since I usually throw in more than a single ingredient, and need to measure all of them.
I have one set of plastic measuring cups that I know where they are–at least, I have the 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 cups. I have two sets of measuring spoons. I also have a small kitchen scale, which actually replaces the dry measures sometimes, like with rice (which I now measure in ounces) and sugar (which I measure in grams). It’s just easier.
I haven’t ever thought about it but I guess I do have a preference. I straight up don’t like the glass cups for measuring. They’re usable for scoops (though heavy and relatively fragile) or keeping an eye on a mixture separating (eg gravy or salad dressing) and I do like something fairly heavy for the inner vessel of a double boiler. But for measuring, I don’t want to have to look at the side of a thing.
I’ve got 1-, 2-, and 4-cup Pyrex ones for liquids, a heavy stainless steel set (1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup), a lighter metal set inherited from my mom that goes from 1/8 cup to 2 cup, the scoops that came with a canister set that claim to be 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup but are not at all accurate (they’re kept in the canisters to scoop coffee beans, sugar, and flour respectively), and two sets of plastic measuring spoons and one of metal.
I’ve certainly managed with far fewer at other times in my life. But now I’ve got a kitchen with too much adequate storage space, so why not? I’m surprised how often they’re all in use when I’m making an elaborate meal.
Me too. I have a very nice, stainless steel set that I never use; and a cheap, thin, stamped-metal set that I do use. The nice ones are round, and the cheap ones are elliptical.
A couple of sets of smaller nesting ones- one Oxo stainless steel, and one some kind of Amazon plastic ones that are literally the fraction of a cup- the full cup is a circle, the half-cup is a semicircle, the quarter cup is a quarter-circle, etc… We got those to teach our kids fractions somewhat, or at least make picking the cup more intuitive.
Then we’ve got the glass Pyrex cups. We inherited a bunch from my wife’s aunt, so we’ve got two four-cups, like 3 or 4 two-cups, and a couple of one-cup ones.
We’ve also got an Oxo four-cup with the nifty slant measuring scale.
We’ve got a couple of Pampered Chef quarter-cup measures that measure oz, tblsp, and ml. And one Oxo that is the same size. Those are the bar measuring devices- far easier than one of those double-ended jiggers, IMO.
Finally, we’ve got a humongous Pampered Chef “batter bowl”, which is in effect, a 8 cup glass measuring cup, with embossed(?) gradations on the sides in half-cups all the way to 1 cup. That one is fantastic for stuff like cornbread, pancakes, etc…
Sorta the same. Cheap plastic(oval), decent metal(round) and a set of mini spoons(tad, dash, pinch, smidgen, drop) which are never used. I bought them simply for the whimsy factor.