Turns Out, There Is A Right And A Wrong Way To Store Your Glasses
Peeking inside a friend or acquaintance's cabinet where they keep their glassware can be quite enlightening. There are two schools of thought regarding how you store the glasses you use for your morning O.J. as well as the cocktail glasses for your favorite gin and tonic or cosmopolitan. You either place your glasses on the shelves bottoms up, where the rim is touching the shelf, or bottoms down, where the rim is not. Either way seems appropriate, but when Martha Stewart's website took a poll on Instagram, they found approximately 53% of people store their glasses bottoms down, while about 47% have their cups bottoms up.
While it might seem like a case of "potato, potahto," as it turns out, there is a right and wrong way to store glasses and surprisingly, 47% of people aren't lining them up in their cabinets properly. The fact of the matter is your glasses should be stored with the base setting against the hard surface, also known as bottoms down. Why does it matter?
You risk chipping and cracking
It seems natural to store those glasses with the bottoms up to keep them free of dust and bugs; however, if you do, you are also putting your glasses at risk. Like any structure, there is a point of vulnerability in glassware, and the most likely point of weakness is usually the thinnest part of a glass which is generally the rim. If you keep your glasses with the rims down, you may find your glassware is chipping or cracking more readily. This is especially true of delicate champagne flutes.
This is also why it is recommended you keep your glasses on your shelves with the big thick base setting against the shelf. But if you choose to store your glasses with the rim up instead of down, you should remember to dry them off so you don't end up with a little puddle of water trapped at the bottom of your glass.