Breasley, I think you have it backwards. Clad cookware usually means stainless, with a layer of aluminum (or copper, on really high end stuff, or both, sometimes) sandwiched between the SS. This serves several purposes, the most important of which is evening out the heat so there are no hot spots. The better pieces have the nonferrous layer rolled a little up the sides, in a tub-like effect. If you haven't used stainless cookware before, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First and foremost, read, and understand, the manufacturer's instructions for use and cleaning. Never use high heat. It's unnecessary, to begin with, and can cause problems with the finish ranging from staining to separation of the laminates. Do not put stainless in the dishwasher unless the manufacturer specifically says you can. When buying stainless, get items with metal handles, so they can be used on the range or in the oven. But here's a strange thing: Because it's totally made of metal, stainless can be used on top of the range or in the oven. However, some makers caution to _not_ use their products under the broiler. Almost all manufacturers, and certainly all the high-end ones, offer sets. While there may be some cost savings with sets, buying them is usually not a good idea, because they may not have the products that fit your cooking style. It's better to buy the ones you need, from open stock. Keep in mind, too, that you might find Brand A's skillets more to your liking, while Brand B's sauce pans fit you better. Obviously, you cannot mix and match with sets. There are lots of great companies out there, making all sorts of stainless cookware across the full spectrum of prices. I won't make any recomendations except to point out that in my experience All-Clad's customer service ranges from slim to non-existent. As a result, I'll never have another All-Clad product in my house. FWIW, Emerilware is made by All-Clad (in China, though, not domestically), so I'll never buy any of that, either.

Thanks everyone. We started looking and I do see mainly black sides, but as mentioned, some of the manufacturers are now using grey sides. For me, it didn't matter so much if the sides were SS or not, just the colour black doesn't go with the rest of our kitchen. We're actually not shopping to fill out a builder's package. We've bought a place but ripped out the kitchen and are putting in a new one. Our kitchen designer can't finalize the drawings until we pick our fridge as she says (unlike stoves & built-in dishwashers) the size of the fridge can vary a lot so we need to pick that out first. We're going to be having cherry coloured cabinets, and off white polished porcelain floor (looks like marble) and a lighter coloured tan granite countertops, so the black doesn't fit into our kitchen at all with the colours. The grey is a lot better for us. weissman - I did look at your pictures and they look great. I can see how with your colour choices, the black looks good and wouldn't bother me at all. With our colours it sticks out. Thanks everyone!

You need to use a 1 1/4" hole saw. The only trouble is that stainless is difficult to drill because it dulls bits quickly. You'll want to invest in a good quality hole saw (or several cheap ones). Use a center punch to mark your starting point and use the hole saw on a very low speed (maybe 350 rpm). Depending on the hole saw you may not be able to get through 1 3/4". So using the same size drill bit as the pilot bit of the hole saw, drill all the saw through. Then finish the hole from the underside of the counter top.

Our Bosch DW takes 2.5 hrs for the AUTO cycle. That's the only downside. The condensation drying is not a biggie because I never used heated dry in the previous DWs to save that tiny bit of electricity. A little bit of wet plastic and water in the bottom of mugs doesn't bother me when I open the door. Been doing that for decades. This DW saves a lot of water, which is expensive here. I've had GE washers most of my long life, including a TOL model when we bought this house (not impressed) and a high end Kenmore Elite (not impressed). Our current Bosch is the only DW I have ever owned that will clean a casserole dish perfectly with no hand pre-washing. I scrape out the big stuff into the trash can and I'm done. This is heaven for me because less water and soap are going down our sink drain before starting the DW cycle and saves me that time, too. All my other DWs were so awful with casserole dishes that I only hand washed them to ensure they were clean and didn't waste the space in the DW. One of my sisters has a high end KA, with Power scrub feature, and she hand washes everything before she puts them into the DW. I once told her that hand washing before the DW was not necessary, but it makes her happy, so I live and let live. 😊