Glass set

The first question is not which set, but for how many people. Six glasses of each type is the standard for a household that has guests at the table now and then. If you regularly set for eight, take two sets of six rather than one set of eight, because that keeps a spare in hand the moment one breaks. An eighteen-piece package usually consists of six wine glasses, six champagne glasses and six tumblers, exactly the basis you need to serve a dinner from beginning to end.

Then look at capacity. Wine glasses in sets run from 35 to 60 cl, tumblers from 24 to 38 cl and long drink glasses from 33 to 44 cl. RCR and Bormioli Rocco generally supply in sixes from a continuing series, while Zwiesel Glas and Schott Zwiesel more often put together complete gift sets with a carafe. If you want to be able to reorder later, choose a series that is also sold individually, because occasional sets in gift packaging often are not.

A laid table follows a fixed order: the water glass above and to the right of the knife, next to it the white wine glass, then the red, and finally the champagne glass set slightly back. If you clear each glass as soon as its course is over, the table stays clear rather than crowded.

With a set built around a single drink, things are different. A whisky set with a carafe and tumblers is meant to stay on the table after the meal: you decant the bottle so the label no longer matters and everyone tops up their own. A mixed tumbler set comes into its own when you serve water, soft drinks and an old fashioned from the same glasses. If you are buying a set to mix with, keep it simple: a 33 cl tumbler carries a negroni just as well as a gin and tonic.

Glasses from a set almost never break all at once. They disappear one by one, and usually in the dishwasher. So never let stems rest against each other, and use the glass programme, which is shorter and runs at a lower temperature. Lead-free crystal glass, which most sets are made of these days, is thinner and clearer than toughened glass, but it does not take a sudden change of temperature: an ice-cold glass under a hot tap is the classic way to lose one.

Store the glasses upright with the bowl uppermost, so the rim rests on nothing and no dust settles inside. Polish limescale streaks away with a lint-free cloth while the glass is still warm, because drying cold is exactly what leaves streaks behind.

If you would rather have individual glasses than a complete package, you can look further by type. The wine glasses sit together, as do the water glasses and the tumbler glasses, which you use for both water and spirits. If you want to extend a whisky set or replace only the carafe, look at the whiskey carafes. And if the set is meant as the basis for a home bar, some tools are still missing: shakers, strainers, jiggers and measuring cups are under cocktail shakers, where complete bar sets can be found as well.