OT-Anyone have a glass kitchen tabletop?

[jrmo]

Looking at a really cute one on Overstock, wondering what others' experiences have been. I have a DD2 and am wondering about safety, upkeep, and durability. TIA!

 

[vcgirl925]

I have two really good friends with glass table tops and they all tell me to never get one. They show every fingerprint, every drip, and you have to clean them over and over again. Plus if you have kids you are afraid they are going to break it. Just them putting their cups down makes me cringe.

 

[disneybridetobe]

My mom has one, and it's been her dinner table for longer than I've been around... and I'm almost 28! It's survived several moved, and I think one move to FL and back.

I'm going to say they're easy to clean since all you need are some paper towels and some Windex.

Come to think of it-- my dining room table top is glass too! (Heh, like you can *see* it under all the stuff on it

 

[all4fun]

My MIL bought glass coffee,end & console tables, and dining room table and then she told me that about this story (in all fairness, she didn't know this until after she had the tables for a while): http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/11/glass_table_dangers.html

Glass tables are stylish and popular, but are they safe? What many people might not know is that some glass tables are safer than others and you can't tell by looking at them.

Inside Edition conducted a demonstration by breaking two types of glass: regular and "safety glass," known as tempered glass in the industry. When regular glass is broken it breaks into very large shards of sharp glass that could very easily cut somebody.

However, according to Consumer Reports product safety director Don Mays who conducted the demonstration with Inside Edition, when tempered glass breaks, it breaks into small pieces that aren't likely to cause serious injury.

Mays says accidents could be dramatically reduced if all glass furniture sold in the U.S. was required to be made of safety glass.

"The European Union requires that glass table tops be made of safety glass. In the United States, no such law exists," Mays said.

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy it but just be aware of the dangers. Personally, I wouldn't want one because of it be impossible to keep little fingerprints off of it.

 

[Alesia]

I have one and I will never buy another one!

They are impossible to keep clean because every tiny speck of dust shows.

They also scratch much easier than you would think.

 

[Tommys Mommy]

Well, my husband bought a glass top table back in '95 before I even knew him. It has survived really well, with one small nick on an edge and maybe two very small scratches. Our kids are now DS7 & DD5 and this is the only table we've ever used.

I wouldn't say that we're extra careful or anything, but we've never had any problems with it or felt that it was too fragile, etc. I windex it after our dinner and just quickly wipe it down after breakfast & lunch to get rid of crumbs. We would definitely buy another glass top table if we had to!!

 

[KEMdisney]

We bought one although my sister told me not to. I should have listened! If you are someone who doesn't want to dust everyday, then maybe you shouldnt get it. Dust shows up I swear in a couple hours! We don't have children, but when children come to visit the table gets very sticky and smeary where the kids were sitting!

 

[disykat]

My husband had a glass table before we married and it was in our kitchen when we had small kids. I always thought we should replace it and he thought I was silly - until his coworker came to work talking about how his toddler had broken theirs!

Anyway, we continued to use ours. It was in an area where the kids weren't likely to hurt it or hurt themselves on it. The fingerprints that drove me crazy were all the fingerprints they left UNDER the table. It was easy to clean the top - the bottom not so much.

 

[barkley]

no way i'de get one with a 2 year old. i worked in a furniture store and one of my jobs was to clean the glass top tables-i had to crawl under them to get the finger prints (and lip prints ) from underneath on a regular basis. these suckers are magnets for toddlers who love to crawl underneath so they can look up at the bottoms of dishes

the good ones are made of fairly durable glass that is'nt easy to chip or break-but there can be issues if the glass is'nt the right type to withstand high heat (had a friend whose table survived everything her kid put it through as a toddler-it's demise came when she made the mistake of putting a very hot item on it without a trivete-the sucker shattered ).

 

[Jenvenza]

I have one that was handed down to me from my grandmother. While, it is beautiful, I would never get another glass table. Shows everything!! You constantly have to clean them. Not worth it.