I purchased a set of try-ply Calphalon Contemporary cookware. Then, I purchased separate pieces of various brands depended on my needs. For non-stick, I have some Calphalon hard anodized and Lodge cast iron cookwares. Except for cast irons, most, if not all, non-stick cookwares have teflon or similar substance which is harmful when cook at high temperature. The fume is invisible and is known to kill indoor bird pets. Unlike other cookware, you should not preheat non-stick cookwares. It will make the cookware hotter than it should. If you want to be on the safe side, cast irons are best for non-stick and healthy to use too. Most come pre-seasoned and ready to use. Beside giving you some needed irons, cast iron cookware will give you some muscle too =o) If you're a serious cook, it's hard to stick with just 1 brand or 1 type of cookware. Nevertheless, chose the types that would best fit your cooking methods. ie: I like to brown meat or fish before putting it in the oven. I chose the Calphalon tri-ply stainless and cast irons so I could move from the cooktop straight to the oven and cook in high heat.

Among your options, I would far prefer to cook with the Tramontina tri-ply, and their 10-piece set contains no extraneous pieces. What you are paying for in cookware is a vessel that distributes heat evenly whether on a cooktop or in an oven. In order for heat to be distributed evenly, you need thick layers of metal. Pick up the Tramintina - it is much heavier than the other two options. It is also going to provide the most even heat distribution. It's a good pan. You're also going to need a cast iron skillett and a non-stick omelette pan that you can replace regularly as it fails. You could buy a Circulon pan for that, but note that the Circulon set you're considering is all non-stick. You'll be replacing them all in a year, two at the most. FYI for cast iron you would look to Lodge. My honest opinion is that having spent a fair amount of money on the cooktop, there is little logic in skimping on the cookware that makes it work so well. Why not buy the All-Clad at this point? The 10-piece Tri-ply Stainless set is on sale now and will cost you $400 more that the ones you're looking at (vs. $800 normally), and you will have them and love them for a lifetime. I guarantee that if you buy a set of anything else and a single AC sautee pan, you'll reach for the AC every time.

First, read the article at the link. You'll spend maybe 20 minutes doing so, but even if you only retain twenty percent of the data you'll still know more than the vast majority of store clerks trying to convince you that their article is the best. You need to ask yourself what cooking techniques will you be doing. If you're making a lot of temperature sensitive sauces, it might be worth it to get some high end Falk Culinair copper stuff; if you're not anything that fancy, that sort of expense would be a waste of money. I personally advise against a set. Invariably there is some article you'll never use. (I was given a Cuisinart stainless set; I like the saucepans and saute pan, but don't like the skillets. However, if you do want a set, Consumer Reports recently raved about Costco's 'Kirkland' stainless pots.) Go in to the purchase of each item by asking, 'What can this tool do that I need to have done, and does it do it better than other stuff out there?' If I were outfitting a kitchen today, here's what I'd get. Just my opinion, but I've used every one of these items and I like them a lot: A few heavy aluminum nonstick skillets. I got the ones at Sams Club. You can get whatever sizes you need. They'll wear out after a few years, but they're cheap. A couple of enameled cast iron Dutch ovens. Le Creuset and Staub are the high end lines, but I don't know if the premium price is justified compared with their competitors like Lodge enameled. Not knocking LC or Staub--they're great-- it's just that you do pay a fair amount for that label. A good stovetop pressure cooker. I like the Kuhn Rikon line, but it's pricey; something nearly as good is the Fagor brand. (Fagor, in it s 'Splendid' line, makes a multipot set for around $100 which includes an 8 qt stockpot, a 4 qt saute pan, a pressure lid that fits both and a non-pressure lid that fits them both--a bargain.) I never got a pressure cooker till I was in my fifties, and now I couldn't see ever having a kitchen without one. Do a Cooking Forum search on the topic--you'll find a lot of PC enthusiasts here. Some iron skillets for searing steaks. Once seasoned, it's nearly as nonstick as teflon. You can buy a new Lodge cast iron skillet and season it, but for not much more money (and sometimes even less) you can buy a vintage Wagner or Griswold. The older stuff has a smoother finish and takes a seasoning well. An alternative is to buy a carbon steel frypan. I have a couple by deBuyer, and they're good, but I personally prefer a carbon steel pan by Paderno World Cuisine. They come from the factory slick as a whistle and once seasoned, they are nicely nonstick. You'll need a few saucpans for heating stuff up. The Cuisinart ones I have do okay; if you wanted the heat to go up the sides of the pan you'd need to spring for something like All Clad. I have a Tramontina stockpot from Walmart. Works fine. And one item I don't have, but maybe Santa might get for me: a saucier with rounded corners on the bottom so you can get a whisk into the corners. Here is a link that might be useful: stovetop cookware

I think the takeaway here is to not put all your eggs in one basket. Each material has it's pluses and minuses. I like a variety of materials and the following is a quick rundown of what I use and a brief observation of them. SS for induction is great because it's reasonably responsive with an aluminum or copper core. Getting as much of that core material as possible will make the induction really shine when a recipe calls for rapid temp changes. One of my favorite things is that they can go in the dishwasher and you can use some heavy duty cleaners in case of an oops. I've had one warp on me, but the others are nice and flat. You'll also be looking at clad base vs fully clad. What and how you're cooking will enter into the decision making. Skillets and sauciers really use the heat that radiates up the sides. A stock pot doesn't, and the big ones are usually clad-base, only, anyway. Cast iron is great for maintaining a temperature. Braising, frying in oil, and such. Wonderful for stovetop to oven cooking and searing. It doesn't heat evenly and is not responsive at all. Whether enameled or seasoned metal, it's a good tool. Carbon steel needs seasoning and reapplying it is a given. Metal tools will scrape it off. Great for high heat cooking. You'll find very reasonably priced woks at an Asian market. Lots of cooks will use this material in place of non-stick. They do warp, and that can be a pain on glass when they start spinning. Cast iron and carbon steel are at their best when they're used regularly to maintain their seasoning. Acid in food will wear on seasoning, so simmering something like tomato based dishes isn't advised. They are hand wash only. Non-stick is awesome for scrambled eggs, fish, and other delicate preparations. It's best for low to med-low cooking. The coating will wear over time and the dishwasher speeds that up. I would get an inexpensive one.