The carafe that keeps water on the table.

Hario is a Japanese heatproof-glass maker best known for coffee equipment, and the Slim jug is its everyday water bottle. It holds 1.4 liters in heatproof borosilicate glass with a polypropylene lid, and it is shaped to fit in a refrigerator door. Hario lists it as dishwasher safe.

The wide opening takes ice and a sponge, and borosilicate glass does not mind going from the fridge to a hot dishwasher. It is a plain, useful object: fill it in the morning, and there is cold water on the table at dinner. At under $20 there is nothing to lose if it gets knocked over.

Skip it if you want a formal table. The plastic lid reads as kitchen, not dining room, and a carafe will look better with good glasses.

If you have eaten in an Italian trattoria, you have probably poured from something like this. The Ypsilon is Bormioli Rocco's tapered carafe, made in Italy from Star Glass, the maker's lead-free glass with crystal-like clarity. This size holds about a liter; the listing gives 33.75 ounces in the details and 36.5 in the title, which is likely the difference between the fill line and the brim.

The mouth is wide enough for ice cubes and fruit, the neck is easy to grip, and the whole thing goes in the dishwasher. It does double duty for house wine, juice at breakfast and water at dinner. It also fits a refrigerator door, according to the listing.

Skip it if you want a lid. It is an open carafe; there is a cork-top version sold separately if you plan to store water in it overnight.

When a liter is not enough, you want a pitcher. Libbey's Atlantis is handblown in Mexico from lead-free glass, holds 73 ounces, and stands a little over 11 inches tall, with a defined pour spout and a strong handle. It is large enough to fill eight glasses without a trip to the tap.

The wide opening takes ice, citrus and herbs, which makes it the pitcher for iced tea, lemonade and water with a lot of ice on a hot afternoon. The handblown glass has slight irregularities that give it more life than a molded pitcher.

Skip it if you want dishwasher-safe glass. Libbey says hand wash only and cold drinks only; it is not for hot liquids. It is also too tall for most refrigerator doors.

Zwiesel Glas sells the Sensa as a red wine decanter, and it is one: a broad base for air contact and a narrow neck for a controlled pour. Put water in it and it becomes the carafe for a formal dinner, matching crystal stemware in a way that kitchen glass cannot.

It is made in Germany from Tritan crystal glass, Zwiesel's lead-free, break-resistant material, and it is rated dishwasher safe, which is not true of most crystal decanters. It holds 25.3 ounces, about three-quarters of a liter, which is enough for four glasses of water.

Skip it if you want a working carafe for every night. It is small for water, costs six times the Bormioli, and the narrow neck will not take ice. It earns its place only if it will also decant wine.