Best-Value Pots and Pans

Like a sharp knife and a good cutting board, a decent set of pots and pans is absolutely essential for any home cook.

But the variety of pots and pans out there–non-stick! cast iron! stainless steel! colors! celebrity-chef-approved!–is overwhelming. Faced with so many options, my focus group (read: my friends) tells me they did one of two things: splurged on ultra-expensive All-Clad, or bought the very cheapest set they could find.

All-Clad is great, but too expensive: at roughly $200 a pan (!), you could easily drop a grand on just the basics. (And really, at that point, wouldn’t you rather just go to Paris?)

And cheap pans are, well, cheap: they will warp, they will cook your food unevenly, they will lose heat quickly, they will fall apart, and they won’t clean well.

My recommendation for the best-value pots and pans

Instead, get this: the Tramontina 10-Piece Stainless Steel Tri-Ply Clad Cookware Set. At the time of writing, the set costs $139.99 (which includes six pots and pans and four lids)

Here’s why these are the best-value pots and pans

Cooks food evenly
“Tri-ply clad stainless steel” simply means that there are three layers to the pan: stainless steel on top, aluminum in the middle, and stainless steel on the bottom. Stainless steel alone is durable, non-reactive, and heats evenly, but it doesn’t heat quickly. Aluminum heats quickly, but is soft and can leech into food. Sandwiching a layer of aluminum between two layers of steel gives you a durable pan that heats quickly and evenly. This means that one part of your steak won’t cook faster than another.

Fully-clad
Cheaper pans will just clad the bottom of the pan. The set I’m recommending is tri-ply all the way up, which means the sides of the pan heat as evenly as the bottom.

Good heat retention
You know when you preheat a pan, drop a steak in, and then watch it steam halfheartedly rather than sizzling to form a nice crust? That’s because your pan isn’t retaining heat well: your cold steak reduced the heat of the pan and therefore its ability to sear the meat. Tri-ply stainless steel retains heat exceptionally well, so you get a nice sear, every time.

Easy to clean
Stainless steel can stand up to heavy-duty scrubbing. For normal jobs, I wash with a Dobie scrubber sponge and dish soap; when I burn sugar onto the bottom of the pan making truffled kettle corn, I add a little Barkeeper’s Friend. My pans look almost as good today as when I got them 6.5 years ago.

Stove-to-oven
The all-metal construction allows you to move the pan from the stove to the oven (up to 500F) without worrying about any part of your pan melting. This is useful for everything from steaks to whole chickens to frittatas.

Non-toxic/ can be used over high heat
Non-stick cookware may leech toxic substances when used over high heat. This limits their use to low- and medium-heat projects, like omelets and pancakes. (I keep one non-stick pan for these purposes.)

Stainless steel, on the other hand, can be used safely over very low to very high heats. This makes the pan more versatile: you can simmer a soup on low, and you can sear a steak on high.

Induction-ready
Induction cooking may be the way of the future. These pots are compatible with both traditional gas/electric stoves and with induction cooktops.

Good pan sizes
I use all of the pans, all of the time.

Budget-friendly
The whole set costs $139.99– less than the cost of one All-Clad pan.

Recommended by me, and other people
I–and housemates with various levels of cooking and cleaning know-how–have used these pots for 6.5 years. They perform and have held up extremely well. But don’t take my word for it: Serious Eats and Cooks Illustrated also recommend them.

Looking for other kitchen tool recommendations?

Right this way…
Dutch Oven on a Budget
Five-Dollar Knife Sharpener
Epicurean Cutting Boards