Duralex Lys: the rectangular tempered glass bowl made in the Loiret

What it is

The Duralex Lys is a rectangular tempered glass bowl, designed for everyday cooking: preparing a salad, marinating meat, serving a dessert or reheating a dish, all in the same container. Its rectangular shape sets it apart from classic round bowls, which can make it easier to store in a cupboard or on a shelf.

The Lys range comes in several capacities, from 40cl up to 1.7l, so you can choose a size suited to the task: a small portion for one person, or a large dish for a family or guests. The model shown here, reference 5014AF06, has a capacity of 1.1l, an in-between size that suits both a salad for two or three people and a side dish.

This bowl is aimed at anyone looking for a versatile container, one that isn’t limited to serving at the table but also handles preparation and reheating. It fits just as easily into a fully equipped kitchen as into a small flat where every item needs to serve several purposes.

Why it exists

Duralex has been making tempered glass since 1945, and presents itself as the pioneer of this process. The idea behind tempered glass is simple: offer tableware that’s more resistant than ordinary glass, able to withstand daily knocks, temperature swings, and intensive kitchen use without cracking or shattering at the slightest impact.

A classic bowl in non-tempered glass often causes two concrete problems: it’s vulnerable to thermal shock (going straight from the fridge to the oven can make it shatter), and it’s more fragile against mechanical impact, where a simple knock against the edge of the sink can be enough to chip or break it. The Lys, made of tempered glass, aims to address both constraints: withstanding heat and withstanding impact, so it can be used throughout the cooking process without forcing you to switch containers between preparation, cooking and serving.

What matters

Thermal shock resistance, at least 130°C. This figure indicates the glass’s ability to withstand a temperature difference without cracking. In practical terms, it means you can take the bowl straight from the fridge into the oven or microwave, or the other way round, without worrying it will break from the thermal shock. This is what sets kitchen glass apart from purely decorative glass.

Microwave compatibility. The Lys can be used directly in the microwave, which avoids having to transfer a dish into another container before reheating it. For anyone who prepares meals in advance or reheats leftovers, this simplifies the routine and cuts down on washing up.

The material: tempered glass. This isn’t a marketing detail: the tempering process changes the structure of the glass to make it more resistant to impact and temperature variation compared with ordinary glass. It’s this material that lets the bowl handle several stages of preparing a meal, without switching containers.

The 1.1l capacity. At this volume, the Lys is neither too small nor bulky. It’s enough to prepare a salad for several people or marinate a reasonable quantity of meat, without taking up all the space in a fridge or oven.

Made in France, in the Loiret. Duralex designs and manufactures all its products at its factory in the Loiret. For a reader in Switzerland, this means a product made in Europe, with traceability clearly identified by the brand, rather than an item assembled across several continents.

Day to day

The Duralex Lys is used like any other bowl: preparing a salad, marinating an ingredient, or serving a dish at the table. Its microwave compatibility means it can also be used to reheat the contents directly, without an extra step of transferring it elsewhere.

When it comes to storage, the Lys’s rectangular shape can make it easier to stack or store in a cupboard, compared with a round shape that rolls or takes up more shelf space. The range offers several capacities, which means that anyone who already owns other Lys sizes can nest or store them together depending on size.

Technical specifications

Characteristic	Value
Capacity (reference 5014AF06)	1.1l
Product reference	5014AF06
Material	Tempered glass
Thermal shock resistance	At least 130°C
Microwave compatible	Yes
Made in	France (Loiret)
Capacities available in the Lys range	40cl / 80cl / 1.1l / 1.7l

What the brand says

Duralex states that its bowls are up to six times more resistant than classic glass bowls, a claim based on the brand’s own glass tempering process. Duralex presents itself as the pioneer, since 1945, of this tempered glass manufacturing process, which it presents as historical know-how.

The brand also cites the Origine France Garantie label for this product, a certification that, in its own terms, confirms manufacturing takes place on French territory. This is consistent with the company’s general presentation, which states that it designs and manufactures all its products at its factory in the Loiret.