Can You Put Handmade Ceramic Pottery In The Microwave? Here's What We Know

Nothing beats the charm of handmade ceramic pottery. The more wonky and imperfect the better. However, when it comes to actually using your pottery creations at home, whether you can put them in the microwave to reheat your morning coffee or warm up last night's leftovers can be a bit of a mystery.

And the answer is often you can, but with caveats. While microwave-safe ceramics like mugs are designed for that use, being able to put your own pottery in the microwave will come down to the type of clay, the glaze, and how it was fired. Make sure your pieces have lead-free and non-toxic glazes with no added metallic elements. Forgetting to check for metal is a mistake that too many people make with their microwaves that could end up breaking their appliance. 

Common pottery clays like stoneware and porcelain are vitrified during firing, which means the clay becomes less porous and more heat-resistant, and so these are usually fine to be microwaved. The high temperature in firing makes them more stable and less likely to crack when heated up. If your ceramics were fired on a low temperature then they'll usually be much more porous and risk getting too hot.

Ultimately, handmade ceramic pottery behaves very differently from factory-made ceramics. Because we aren't machines that can make things perfectly, our creations may have thicker or uneven walls, which can make them absorb heat more easily. That doesn't mean they're one of the things to avoid putting in the microwave, though; it just means you should be cautious and aware that the answer may vary from piece to piece.

More often than not, studios will advocate for gentle care, like opting to hand wash when possible. But that's usually coming from a standpoint of protecting your ceramics long-term, not because they pose any threats. So if you're unsure, asking your studio if you can microwave your finished ceramics is usually the smartest option. Or if that's not possible, you can conduct a safe at-home test by placing your pottery in the microwave alongside a cup of cold water and heating it for one minute. If, after a minute, the pottery piece is considerably hotter than the cup, it's absorbing more of the heat and probably isn't safe for microwave use.