Pattern Profile: Winter Frost White (1970)

Available since 1970, Winter Frost White still has timeless elegance today.  Perhaps it has not been immensely popular at any given moment, but there is always steady demand for crisp clean white dinnerware which never falls out of fashion.  There are other ‘patterns’ of undecorated Corelle with different rim shapes.  But a Winter Frost White plate can be identified by its coupe shape which rises smoothly from centre to edge with no step-up to a flat rim. 

As the most basic design in the Livingware line, the largest selection of Vitrelle is available in this pattern.  Generally the more unusual Corelle shapes are more easily found in Winter Frost White than other patterns.  Some of these are the 9½” oval plate, 6 oz deep bowl, divided plates, 6¾” & 7¼” shallow bowls.  The latter two pieces, plus the odd-sized 7¼” coupe bread & butter plate are from the mid-1990s.

There is some confusion regarding the correct pattern name since there are certain 34 piece sets on the market with the name ‘Just White’ on the box.  The reason for this anomaly is not clear, but it is certain that the majority of the sets and all open-stock pieces are still sold as Winter Frost White as they have done for decades.

Suprema Mug (flared), Corelle Hook Handle Cup with Saucer.

The Pyrex Compatibles range for Winter Frost White is limited to a few Tabletop Ware accessories only.  There has never been ovenware or nesting bowls produced for Winter Frost White, strictly speaking, but since the 1950s various opal Pyrex items have been produced without decoration.  Some examples are round 400 series nesting bowls, various baking pans, 022/023 round casseroles, 1063 divided dish, and 501/502 refrigerator dishes. 

On the Corning Ware side, there is a wide selection of basic white cookware from the 1960s through to the 1980s, some of these were identified as White or Just White.  There are many newer stoneware products available in the Corelle Coordinates line intended to complement Winter Frost White, but this page does not encompass those items.

Corelle 6 oz Deep Bowl, Pyrex round-bottom Cup with Saucer. 

Corelle Dinnerware:

Dinner Plate (10¼”)
Luncheon Plate (8½”)
Bread & Butter Plate (6¾”)
Bread & Butter Plate (7¼”)
Saucer (6¼”)
Divided Dinner Plate (10¼”)
Divided Luncheon Plate (8½”)
Pie Plate, Multi-Dish (10¼”)
Oval Plate (rimmed, 9½”)

Livingware Centura Cup (8 oz)
Open Handle Cup (6-7 oz)
Pyrex Cup (round-bottom, 8 oz)
Suprema Mug (flared, 9 oz) * 

Dessert Bowl (10 oz 5 3/8”)
Soup/Cereal Bowl (18 oz 6¼”)
Soup Bowl (8½”, coupe, shallow)
Soup Bowl (7¼”, coupe, shallow)
Soup Bowl (6¾”, coupe, shallow)
Flat Rim Soup Plate (8½”)
4 oz Rimmed Bowl (4 5/8”)
6 oz Deep Bowl (3¾”)
12 oz Deep Bowl (5”)   
28 oz Deep Bowl (6¼”) 

1 Qt Serving Bowl (8½”)
2 Qt Serving Bowl (10¼”)
Oval Platter (12½”)
Open Handle Cream & Sugar

(Photos above right:  Corning Ware 6 cup teapot, Just White (top); Shallow bowls, 6¾ inch (bottom))

* This mug shape, with a slightly different handle, has been used more recently for plain white stoneware mugs.  These have been sold in open stock, but don’t seem to be included in new boxed sets.  The new large stoneware mugs are found in the sets instead.

Open Handle Cream & Sugar, 1 Qt Serving Bowl in Winter Frost White.

Pyrex Compatibles Tabletop Ware:

Cream & Sugar (new style - large)
Napkin Rings (clear undecorated, not labelled as Winter Frost White)
Margarine Dish

Pyrex Pitchers:  Certain pitchers were available undecorated with white plastic lids.  The Pyrex name and product warnings are printed in white on, or near, the bottom.  There may be other styles and sizes not included in this list. 

Juice Pitcher:  1 Qt & 1½ Qt (open handle)
Beverage Jug:  '1½ Qt' 56 oz (no handle, rippled neck)

Notable Absences:

1410 Mug
Cream & Sugar (old style - small) **
Salt & Pepper
Gravy Server
Butter Dish ‡ 

** Although the original small Pyrex cream & sugar set was not packaged and sold as Winter Frost White, it is theoretically possible to assemble an appropriate set.  Both pieces are restaurant ware shapes and these were very occasionally available without decoration.  The bowl's original purpose was as a bouillon cup (no lid), so a cream & sugar set could be completed with a spare sugar bowl lid. 

‡  The existence of an opal Pyrex Butter Dish may be only a rumour.  Advertisements from about 1980 for the margarine dish & butter dish promotion indicate both styles were available in Winter Frost White, but was it a typo?  Undecorated opal butter dishes do not appear in catalogues, and neither do they appear on the market with any regularity.  The very few that have been seen could easily be Butterprint with the turquoise pattern worn away, it happens.  A new in box Winter Frost White Pyrex Butter Dish would prove its existence conclusively, and it is odd that one has not been observed, because patterned ones in original boxes do appear quite frequently.  This topic is still under scrutiny.
 

Others:

Usually in this paragraph, the products of other manufacturers are discussed.  This doesn’t seem applicable in the case of Winter Frost White, because with no pattern there is nothing to prompt an association with Corelle. 

However, some Gemco pieces have been seen in plain white opal glass, and they could have been made in response to Winter Frost White since their style and shape place them in the correct time frame of early to mid 1970s.  

Please see the ‘Other Manufacturers’ menu at the left side of this page.

Related Articles:

Centura Cup (1970)
Open-Handle Cup (1972)
Pyrex Cup (1981)
Suprema Mug (1986)
Plate Styles: Coupe
Soup Plate Pattern List
Pie Plate Pattern List
Pyrex Juice Pitchers & Jugs
1972 Catalogue
1974 Advertisement

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