Duralex

The Picardie comes in eight sizes, and that is exactly what makes it so practical. The 9 cl is an espresso glass or a glass for children, 16 and 20 cl are the classic water glasses, 22 and 25 cl are for juice and soft drinks, 31 cl for a generous glass of water or a café-style glass of wine, and 36 and 50 cl are long-drink sizes for iced tea, lemonade or a cocktail with plenty of ice. Buy two or three sizes from the same series and the cupboard looks tidy straight away, with everything stacking into itself.

The other series each solve something specific. Versailles and Empilable are designed to stack and save cupboard space, which makes the difference in a canteen or a holiday house. Gigogne has a heavy base and is therefore less likely to tip over, handy with children at the table. Prisme and Manhattan are the more modern shapes, with facets or clean walls, in sizes around 22 to 33 cl. For hot drinks the thin Versailles and Gigogne work best, because tempered glass can handle the change in temperature.

A Picardie is deliberately a glass without a speciality. That same 25 cl serves water at dinner, orange juice at breakfast, a café-style glass of wine and yoghurt with muesli. That is not a shortcoming but the whole idea: a shape that can go anywhere and that you reorder without thinking when one gets broken.

For tea and coffee, reach for the Versailles or Gigogne, and they really can be filled with boiling water as long as the glass has not just come out of the freezer. For something with plenty of ice, take the Picardie at 36 or 50 cl: tall enough for a mojito with crushed ice and mint, or for a cuba libre with the cola poured down the side. The ridge halfway up the glass gives grip, even when the outside has misted over.

Tempered glass behaves differently from ordinary glass. It stands up far better to knocks and to a tap from a fork, but if it does give way it shatters into small blunt granules rather than shards. That is safer, but it also means you should not ignore a chipped rim: damage at the rim releases the tension in the glass and can lead to sudden breakage later. So throw away glasses with a damaged rim.

Beyond that, the care is simple. Everything can go in the dishwasher, even on a normal cycle, and the glasses are thick enough to put up with each other in the basket. Place stackable models apart, because two wet glasses can suck themselves together; if that does happen, hold the bottom one in warm water and fill the top one with cold water. Limescale comes off with a splash of vinegar.

If you are after the best-known series in particular, it sits separately under Duralex Picardie, with all the sizes side by side. If you would rather compare every brand by shape, look at the water glasses for the smaller sizes and at the tumblers for the low, heavy models. The Versailles and Gigogne also turn up among the tea glasses. And if cupboard space is your main concern, every stackable model from every brand is gathered in the stacking glasses. If you are still not sure which size you need, the questions below set it out.