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In this guide
The Picardie is the faceted French café glass that has been in production since 1954, and the 25 cl size is the one Duralex USA points to as the everyday choice for water, iced coffee and soft drinks. The set of six clear glasses costs $28. The material is the reason to care: Duralex thermally tempers the glass, and rates it up to 2.5 times stronger than untreated glass, safe across a swing from -4°F to 266°F, and fit for the microwave, freezer and dishwasher.
None of that makes it a special-occasion glass. The walls are thick, the shape is a workhorse, and the same mold has been turned out for more than seventy years. What you are paying for is a glass you can stack in a cabinet, pour boiling tea into, drop occasionally, and replace for under five dollars when one finally goes. Whether that trade is worth it turns on how you break glasses and how you store them.
Our verdict
At $28 for six, the 25 cl Picardie is the default everyday glass for a household that breaks things; buy it for the tempering and the stacking, not for the look.
- A good fit for
- A kitchen that wants one glass for water, juice, iced coffee and hot tea, stored in a stack, run through the dishwasher daily, and topped up with another set of the same size when the first one thins out.
- We would skip it if
- You want a thin-walled glass for wine or spirits, you need something oven-safe, or you cannot live with a 10% restocking fee plus $10 postage on a return.
Reasons to consider it
- Thermally tempered glass rated by Duralex for -4°F to 266°F and for microwave, freezer and dishwasher use
- Nine sizes from 3 oz to 19.5 oz share one shape, so a mixed set stacks and matches
- $4.67 per glass, made in France, with lead- and cadmium-free glass and a nonporous surface
The compromises
- Returns cost a 10% restocking fee and a $10 postage deduction, so a $28 set refunds about $15
- The store sells only in sets of six in clear; single replacements are not offered on duralexusa.com
- Duralex USA publishes no warranty term for glassware, only a damage-on-arrival replacement promise
What we have not verified: The glasses were not handled here. How the tempered rim survives years of dishwasher cycles, how tightly a stack wedges, and whether the 25 cl size feels small for iced drinks were not assessed. The site also publishes no wall thickness or empty weight per glass.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
Le Picardie Clear Glass Tumbler, 8.375 oz / 25 cl, Set of 6
Six tempered 25 cl tumblers at $28, rated for hot and iced drinks, stackable, made in France, and part of a nine-size range so a later 10 oz or 3 oz set matches.
Before you buy: Thick walls and a plain shape; a return refunds only about $15 of the $28 after the restocking and postage deductions.
Price checked September 11, 2026. Retailer prices can change.Tempered glass, and what the 2.5 times figure means in a kitchen
Duralex thermally tempers its glass, and that process is where the strength claim comes from. The company states the result is up to 2.5 times stronger than ordinary glass and more resistant to chipping at the rim. It also describes what happens on impact: under a hard enough knock the glass does not crack into shards but breaks into small blunt pieces. For a glass that lives next to a sink, how it breaks matters as much as the strength.
The thermal rating is the more useful number. Duralex says the tumbler tolerates sudden temperature changes across -4°F to 266°F, so iced water, hot tea and a microwave reheat are all inside the envelope. Duralex's care guidance draws the limit: no sudden change of more than 130°C, no oven (the separate Ovenchef line covers that), no metal scouring pads, and a chipped glass should be thrown out. Nothing about that is unusual for tempered glass, but it is stated plainly, which is more than most glassware makers manage.
The 25 cl size in a nine-size family
The 25 cl glass holds 8.375 oz, measures 3 3/8 inches across the rim and stands 3 1/2 inches tall according to the dimension drawing Duralex publishes for that size. Duralex's own size guide puts 8 to 10 oz in the most-used band, comparable to three quarters of a soda can, and suggests it for water, iced coffee and mixed drinks. For a tall iced drink with a lot of ice, the 31 cl (10.375 oz) set at $32 or the 36 cl at $36 is the better fit; the 25 cl is a water-and-juice glass.
The same clear listing runs nine sizes from a 3 oz espresso glass at $20 for six to a 19.5 oz tumbler at $65 for six, all in the same faceted profile. Because the shape is identical, the glasses nest inside one another for storage, and Duralex claims the Picardie is designed to stack without wedging. A household can buy the 25 cl now and add the 3 oz or 50 cl later and have them look like one set. The shipping weight the store attaches to the 25 cl set is 5.5 lb, which works out to roughly 0.9 lb per glass including packaging; the store does not publish a bare weight.
Twenty-eight dollars for six, and where the colored sets sit
At $28 the clear 25 cl set costs $4.67 a glass. The colored versions of the same size, Marine, Green, Grey and Sapphire, are $32 for six, so the tint adds about 67 cents per glass. An anniversary clear set of four is $25, which is a worse deal per glass and exists for the box. The clear set is the value option, and it is also the one you can top up years later without worrying about a color being retired; the Amber 25 cl set was out of stock on the maker's site.
Shipping is free from Duralex USA only above $120, so a single $28 set pays carriage at checkout, and the store ships to the continental US only, by UPS Ground, with no P.O. boxes. That pushes the practical order toward several sets or a mix of sizes if you want to avoid the shipping line. The glass is made in France at the La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin factory near Orléans, which the company states plainly and which is the reason the price is not lower.
Returns cost money; breakage in transit does not
The return terms are the weakest part of the offer. A return must be requested and received at the warehouse inside 30 days of delivery, the glasses must be unused and in their original packaging, a 10% restocking fee applies, and $10 is deducted to pay for the prepaid return label. On a $28 set that leaves roughly $15.20 coming back. Items marked Final Sale cannot be returned at all, and exchanges are handled by returning and reordering.
Damage in shipping is treated differently. Duralex USA asks you to inspect the box on arrival and contact them; a fully broken set gets a refund, store credit or a replacement set, and a partly broken set gets store credit or replacement glasses, with no requirement to send the pieces back unless asked. Beyond that there is no published warranty term for the glassware, so a glass that cracks in month eight is on you, which is consistent with how most tumbler makers treat everyday glass.
Skip it if you drink from thin glass on purpose
The Picardie is thick-walled by design, because the tempering and the stacking both need mass. If your everyday glass is a thin tumbler you enjoy the feel of, or you want a stemless wine glass that doubles for water, this set will feel like café crockery. It is also not the glass for a bar cart: the 25 cl size is short and wide, with no room for a large ice cube and a stirred drink at the same time.
Also pass if you expect to return it. The 30-day window with the restocking fee and postage deduction turns a change of mind into a $13 loss, so buy one set first if you are unsure about the size. And pass on it for oven use; the standard tumblers are excluded from that, and Duralex points you to the Ovenchef range instead. For everything else a water glass is asked to do, the $28 set is hard to argue against.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- Duralex USA: Le Picardie Clear Glass Tumbler, Set of 6 (opens in a new tab)
- Duralex USA: Benefits of Duralex Glassware (opens in a new tab)
- Duralex USA: Refund policy (opens in a new tab)
- Duralex USA: Glassware comparison (opens in a new tab)
- Duralex USA: Le Picardie Marine Glass Tumbler, Set of 6 (opens in a new tab)
