12 '70s Discontinued Pyrex Patterns That Belong Back In Stores

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Can you picture the Brady Bunch kitchen without Googling it? Do a little flashback and mental scan of that quintessentially '70s room. It was aggressively orange, but the set designers managed to throw in a few other uber-trendy touches from the time period, too. The Pyrex patterns from that aesthetically brave decade look like they could've been custom-made for the Brady home. Pyrex's distinctive designs from that time period are discontinued, but wouldn't it be a dream come true to spot beautiful Pyrex patterns in more than antiques shops and on Ebay? Everyone owned it in the '70s, and these outlets and more are now reliable sources of these once ubiquitous containers. Some items are even priced affordably if you can get them on time.

The avocado, tan, harvest gold, and deep brown that made the Brady kitchen so iconically '70s are all present in these glorious Pyrex pieces, but it's the complementary designs overlaid on these colors that are what makes them so craveable. Sometimes folksy, other times delicate and wispy, and often bright and geometric, Pyrex's variety of styles are always instantly recognizable. Among the designs we're wishing for a reissue are botanic elements, arches, ethnic motifs, snowflakes, and scads of flowers. Our selection of 12 desirable Pyrex patterns below will put a name to ones you don't know, kindle a love for ones you've forgotten, or inspire you to write to the company and beg for a reissue.

Flowers will never go out of style. Pyrex's Spring Blossom line — sometimes called "Crazy Daisy" — is decidedly disco-era in its period avocado. The five-petalled flowers are simple enough to be someone's mindless sketches made during a phone call, but that far from diminishes its charm. Spring Blossom was first released in 1972 and was produced until '79. That same year, Pyrex debuted a redesigned version with slightly smaller flowers and a lighter green.

Blue wasn't one of the most sought-after colors in the '70s, and that could be what makes Snowflake Blue look more timeless than other Pyrex patterns. This cornflower-colored line was produced from 1972 until 1975. The warm blue is offset with elongated, fine-line snowflakes beneath a scalloped line and decorative dots. Its snowy theme is subtle enough not to appear out of place once the winter holidays have passed. The layout gives Snowflake Blue pieces more wedding cake than wintertime feels, although it's easy to picture one of the dishes full of Hannukah delicacies on a chilly eve.

Beak to beak birds — red and round — surrounded by crimson and orange flowers, droplets, and more birds make up Friendship's cheerful arrangement. Pyrex produced this warm motif from 1971 to 1974 — not a particularly vast amount of time given its availability and affordability on vintage sites. Its faintly Scandinavian aesthetic and Crayola colors help give this pattern a more enduring appeal than dishware in colors more common to the period, like mustard yellow or split-pea green.

While still in the aster family, the daisies adorning Pyrex's Daisy line are a little closer to the look of a mule ear flower with their feathery-edged petals. Pedantry aside, flowers in this family rarely wear out their welcome when it comes to decorative elements. The Daisy design was available from 1968 until 1973, and despite its orangey-yellow color that was so common at the time, the overall effect is pretty enduring. You may spy orange mixing bowls encircled with lighter-colored flowers or sunshine yellow casserole dishes with glass lids emblazoned with oversized sunflowers.

You aren't alone if this photo of Pyrex's Navajo design is your first glimpse of this appealing object. The pixelated print has a sort of woven rug theme, and its turquoise and terracotta recall the mesas and stones of the Four Corners region. This product was only manufactured from 1971 to '72, and its relative rarity is reflected in resale prices that are significantly higher than more common models from that period.

Butterfly Gold is hardly the rare "Holy Grail" of Pyrex patterns, since it was sold for most of the decade, but it's still undeniably lovely. The mustard yellow or deeper caramel hues beneath more of a floral and foliage print than a butterfly one is another very '70s form. Since it was fabricated from '72 to '78, then reissued in '79, it's one of the more recognizable and iconic Pyrex lines. You can find Butterfly Gold Pyrex bakeware, glasses, teacups, napkin rings, and more.

Pyrex's Woodland line was ample and had all the telltale signs of other popular Pyrex pieces. Thin-line flowers and leaves encircled kitchenware from salt and pepper shakers to gravy boats to chunky nesting mixing bowls painted in classic '70s browns. This line was produced from 1978 until 1983, but Pyrex continued to crank out table settings for a couple more years. Given its long production period, there's still a healthy variety of Woodland items on resale sites for very reasonable prices.

Late '70s Pyrex design leaned away from early '70s mod to a more graceful, wispy botanics. Autumn Harvest Pyrex pieces bridged a style gap between that decade and took it well into the '80s; first released in 1979, the Autumn Harvest line was in production until 1986. Rather than the rings of wide-faced flowers, this line featured minimal sprays of grass heads. In Brady-friendly earth tones and sprigs of white or rust grasses, Autumn Harvest was probably getting a bit tired-looking by '86, but 40 years later, it has reclaimed much of its former charm.

Spanish for "green", it's no surprise that the Pyrex Verde Square Flowers design comes in gradients of green. This variety goes by a mix of names, one being Autumn Floral (Verde), and that causes a bit of confusion between another line from that time period, "Verdé", that involved more solid greens and an olive and berry pattern. The perfectly symmetrical square blossoms are a bit more Mid-Century Modern than later '70s Pyrex. Verde Square Flowers pieces were manufactured from 1969 to 1972. Currently, it's not hard to find pieces for good prices online.

What's more kitchen-appropriate than a silhouetted cluster of fruits on the side of homey mixing bowls? Old Orchard wares were made from 1974 to 1978, and their ombre browns were about as mid-'70s as Pyrex got. The chocolate brown line drawings of grapes, pears, apples, and stonefruit also embellished solid caramel casserole dishes with darker brown or clear glass lids and Pyrex's so-called "refrigerator dish" sets, pleasantly plastic-free precursors to Tupperware.

We've recently fallen back in love with all things scalloped and arched, and Pyrex's Arches dishware are prime examples of this once outdated feature. Only produced in 1971 and limited to just a few pieces, Arches had more monikers than items in the line which consisted of little more than a few straight-sided bowls. Arches pieces are also known as "fish scales", "Eames", "Retro", and "Mod", and all are apt descriptors of this very mid-century design. Consisting of blaze orange and harvest gold on white, Arches would look stunning on the Brady's fiery orange counter.

Let's give our retinas a break with this last design. Horizon Blue is a refreshing change from the late '70s earth tones and starkly contrasting colors. Horizon Blue shows off the cornflower blue hue so favored by mid-century Pyrex (that's also trendy now). The color coats the sides of containers, and blue-painted almost Art Deco images decorate the sides of casserole dishes and lids. Pyrex debuted the line in 1969 in honor of the Apollo 11 visit to the moon, and it was in production until 1972. The line was varied, including bowls, bakeware, serving dishes, and refrigerator dish sets.