I’d like to get to the bottom of this, once and for all:
A) In the refrigerator, or
B) In the cupboard
(I find option “B” appalling, by the way.)
Not even in the cupboard. On a saucer on the counter.
You do mean the stuff currently being used, right? Because we get it in bulk from our creamery, store the majority in the freezer, and rotate it to the fridge before it ends up in the saucer.
On the counter, in small quantities. I hate hard butter. It does fine on the counter for a day or two. It lasts even longer if you put it in one of these.
I have a CD carrying case with a false bottom that can hold almost half an ounce of…wait a minute, we’re actually talking about butter here, oops.
Mine’s in a covered dish on the stove.
Yup, in a covered dish on the counter. Hard butter is very annoying.
We put ours in a butter dish with a lid sitting atop the counter. Why would you find leaving butter out appalling?
It looks like iIm the first to say I store it in the refrigerator. I don’t use it enough to justify leaving it out. if I need softer butter, I just put the amount I need in the mcirowave for a few seconds.
I like to add warm milk to my oatmeal, but that doesn’t mean I keep the milk on the counter. Butter’s a dairy product, right?
Butter does not spoil nearly as quickly as milk. Ours doesn’t spoil if left there for 2-3 days. I should add that it is only 1/4 of a pound at a time so it is gone in 2-3 days.
In the refrigerator, like all good Americans.
If you store your butter on the counter, the terrorists have already won.
My arteries.
In a covered dish on the counter, There is no other way! Butter is supposed to be soft.
And it gets soft really quick.
How much fucking butter do you people eat anyway, that it’s got to be ready to eat RIGHT THIS SECOND? I keep mine in the fridge, for sure, but use so little that it’s often gone bad when my daughter visits (I keep it mostly for her, though she doesn’t live here but a weekend or two per month). Other than for my kids, I don’t use but three sticks a year. If I didn’t have kids, I’m sure I’d store it in the freezer.
I use it to clean my teeth, so the bathroom.
Fridge till we need it, counter till we eat it. It’s in a covered dish because once upon a time, one of our doggies decided she needed a butter snack. She had her paws on the edge of the counter and snarfed down half a stick before I caught her.
This is a constant source of debate in our household - I prefer the cupboard/counter option (since I like to be able to actually spread my butter), whereas my wife (who prefers to rip her bread to shreds) goes for the fridge.
I can’t see the marriage lasting!! 
Grim
We store the Benecol in the refrigerator. The only time we buy or use butter is for a few baking recipes.
In a covered dish on the counter (top of the fridge, actually, since it’s cooler there). It keeps just fine. pseudotriton, I’m not sure why it gets you so worked up, but some of us like to have the butter ready to spread without having to wait 15-20 minutes for it to be soft enough.
Have you all gone mad? In the fridge – then nuke it for a second when I need to spread it.
The nuker tends to warm it unevenly, leaving it partly melted and thus unsuitable for spreading.