World Kitchen, LLC is a kitchenware products maker and distributor based in Rosemont, Illinois. The company began as the Corning Consumer Products division of glassmaker Corning.
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The division was spun off from Corning in 1998 and purchased by Borden. It acquired General Housewares and Ekco in 1999.
As part of the sale to Borden, the company was required to shed the Corning name within three years. The World Kitchen name was adopted in 2000. In 2002 the company filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and underwent financial reorganization.
As of 2004[update], it has been privately held. Since 2006, Joseph T. Mallof is President and CEO. The company's website states it employs approximately 2,800 people, and has major manufacturing and distribution operations in the United States, Canada, and Asia-Pacific regions.
World Kitchen owns/licenses such brands as:
On June 1, 2004, WKI Holding Company, Inc., which operates principally through its subsidiary World Kitchen, Inc., announced that it had completed the sale of OXO International to Helen of Troy Limited for over $273 million in cash.[1]
Visions by Corning was a glass cookware line introduced in 1982 and widely popular Visions was a ceramic cookware line, with glass (Pyrex type) lids. It is available again through World Kitchen, including their outlet stores and through the web. In Europe it is made in its French factory and sold under the name Pyroflam.