How the Five Compare on the Numbers
A small stove means a small counter beside it, and the bowl you actually reach for there is the little one: a beaten egg, a dressing, a cup of flour. The big bowl in a nesting set is a storage problem rather than a daily tool. So the specification this page ranks by is the smallest bowl each purchase includes, which is the figure the marketing never leads with.
P&P CHEF goes down to 0.7 quarts across six bowls. Hybemmy starts at 1 quart across six. Glad starts at 1.2 quarts across four. The OXO batter bowl is a single 2 quart bowl with nothing smaller in the box. Koocovel starts at 2.3 quarts across three, which is more bowl than a two egg job needs.
Only one of these five publishes a bowl measurement at all. OXO gives 7 by 5.5 by 7.75 inches because it is a single bowl, and every other figure on this page describes a carton holding a nested stack. So the counter space a small bowl takes beside a small stove cannot be read from any of these listings except that one, and no listing publishes a rim diameter for any individual bowl.
The Small End of the Set
Where the sets actually start
P&P CHEF publishes all six of its capacities and the first of them is 0.7 quarts, which is a prep bowl rather than a mixing bowl. Then 1, 1.5, 2, 2.6 and 4.6 quarts. For a stove with two burners that is a usable ladder: the 0.7 holds a beaten egg, the 1.5 takes a dressing and the 4.6 is the once a week bowl that lives in the cupboard.
Hybemmy publishes a range rather than each size, stating six bowls from 1 to 5 quarts. Glad publishes all four, at 1.2, 1.9, 2.8 and 3 quarts, which is the tightest ladder here and also the shortest: nothing in that set is large. Koocovel publishes all three, at 2.3, 2.9 and 4.75 quarts, which is a set with no small bowl in it at all by the standard of this page.
The single bowl case
OXO is the odd one out and deliberately so. It is one 2 quart batter bowl, published at 7 by 5.5 by 7.75 inches and 0.98 pounds, with bright red measurement markings, a non skid base, a soft non slip handle and sidewalls described as high enough to stop splatter from an electric mixer. There is no nesting stack to store.
Beside a small stove that is a real argument. One bowl that measures, mixes and pours takes one piece of counter and one place in a cupboard, and the markings mean a measuring cup stays in the drawer. The cost is that there is nothing smaller for an egg and nothing bigger for a salad, so it works alongside bowls you already own rather than replacing them.
What the Non Slip Base Actually Is
Five descriptions, five different words
Every pick here has a non slip base and every maker describes it differently. P&P CHEF names a silicone base combined with a flat bowl bottom, which is the only listing that mentions the shape of the bottom as well as the material. Hybemmy names non slip silicone bottoms and says they hold during vigorous mixing.
Koocovel is the most confusing, calling it a thick non slip rubber base and then adding silicone material in brackets. Glad calls it a rubber layer at the base and a bottom ring, which is the only listing to describe the shape as a ring rather than a full pad. OXO calls it a non skid base and names no material at all.
Why that matters on a small counter
A ring grips less area than a full pad, and a full pad on a flat bottom grips more than one on a curved bottom. None of these listings publishes a contact area, a thickness or a material hardness, so the differences can only be read from the words. What the words do tell you is that two of the five are silicone, one is rubber, one is both at once and one is unnamed.
On a cramped counter the base is doing more work than in a big kitchen, because there is nowhere to brace the bowl with your hip and often nothing to put behind it. That is the reason this page weights the base description at all rather than treating every non slip claim as equivalent.
Lids, Spouts and the Sink
Which sets close
Two of the five give every bowl a lid. P&P CHEF supplies six colored plastic lids and says they fit tightly for airtight storage. Hybemmy supplies airtight BPA free food grade lids and three grater attachments for slicing, shredding and grating straight into the bowl, making it a nine piece purchase.
Glad, OXO and Koocovel publish no lids at all. Glad answers the same problem differently with pour spouts on all four bowls, handle lips on three of them and a full handle on the largest, so the bowl pours into a pan rather than being covered and put away. OXO has one handle and high sidewalls.
Cleaning, where it is stated
Four of the five give an instruction and two of them separate the bowls from the lids. P&P CHEF says the bowls are dishwasher safe and the lids are hand wash recommended, to preserve the seal. Hybemmy says the bowls are dishwasher safe and then strongly advises hand washing the lids, because dishwasher heat can cause warping, which is the only listing here to give a reason. Koocovel says a damp cloth or the dishwasher with the top rack recommended, and OXO says dishwasher safe and BPA free.
Glad is the one that publishes nothing about washing in either direction, on four plastic bowls with pour spouts and handles. Nothing in this pool publishes a cleaning route for a silicone base, and no listing says anything about washing a grater attachment, which on the Hybemmy set is three more objects than the bowls and lids it does address.
Which One Fits Your Kitchen
You want a bowl for one egg. P&P CHEF publishes all six capacities starting at 0.7 quarts, with six airtight lids, a silicone base on a flat bottom, a wide gripping rim, and the only split cleaning instruction here: bowls in the machine, lids by hand.
You grate into the bowl. Hybemmy gives six stainless bowls from 1 to 5 quarts with airtight lids and three grater attachments for slicing, shredding and grating, nine pieces in all. The bowls are dishwasher safe and it advises hand washing the lids. It publishes no weight.
You pour straight into the pan. Glad gives four plastic bowls at 1.2, 1.9, 2.8 and 3 quarts with pour spouts on every one, handle lips on three and a full handle on the largest, on a rubber bottom ring. No lids and no cleaning instruction.
You have room for one bowl. OXO is a single 2 quart batter bowl at 7 by 5.5 by 7.75 inches and 0.98 pounds, with red measurement markings, a non skid base, a soft handle and high sidewalls for an electric mixer.
You already own the small bowls. Koocovel gives three stainless bowls at 2.3, 2.9 and 4.75 quarts on a thick rubber base it also calls silicone, cleaned with a damp cloth or on the top rack. Nothing here is smaller than 2.3 quarts.
What We Could Not Verify
These are the figures a small counter would want and the listings do not give.
- Any rim diameter for any individual bowl, on any of the five.
- Any weight for the Glad, Hybemmy, P&P CHEF or Koocovel sets, since only the single OXO bowl publishes one.
- Each individual Hybemmy capacity, since it publishes a range of 1 to 5 quarts rather than six figures.
- Any contact area, thickness or hardness for a non slip base, so the five descriptions cannot be compared.
- Any cleaning instruction from Glad, and any instruction for the Hybemmy grater attachments.
- Any published weight except for the single OXO bowl.
