LC finally answered the message on my call to their customer service line. The new sauce pans are different sizes than my old ones, even short of significantly in one case. They told me that they will replace anything that looks like defective workmanship. After 20+ years I think that's asking a bit much. However - if not defective workmanship - they supposedly still offer you a replacement at 75% reduced price. My question - reduced from what price? Is this one of those deals where its still cheaper to buy from an online vendor? And I just now realized they don't say whether they will send them back or not. If I get around to sending them in (I still use two of the pans a lot, don't know what I'll cook with?) I will let you know. Mary

Here I am putting on my kitchen detective forensic hat :-) What determines water evaporation rate for a cookware? Assuming identical food is being cooked, and there is a cover: 1. The BTU output of the stove fire. 2. The thermal conductivity of the bottom of the cookware. 3. The thermal conductivity of the side wall of the cookware. 4. The thermal conductivity of the cover. 5. The size of the cookware. 6. The temperature of the room when the food is being cooked. 7. The leakage of the cover. ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. There is no way to make sure that you are getting the same BTUs with gas or electric stoves. The controls for both are highly inaccurate. The only way to compare is to use an induction cook top. You can get the same BTUs from the induction cook top using the dial or push button control. For low temperature cooking, a small amount of BTU difference renders the cookware comparison meaningless. 2 & 3. How thick, what kind of cast iron and enamel, and the shape will make a big difference on how many BTUs the cookware can capture from the stove heat. 4. Likewise, the cover determines the rate of BTUs escaping and ability to condense water vapor back to water into food again and again. 5. The larger the size, the more BTU escaping by conduction and radiation to outside. 6. Of course, the room temperature should be the same for the comparison. 7. The leakage - I believe the leakage of the cover has very little effect, almost zero, to the evaporation rate of the food being cooked. If the total BTUs supplied by the stove are less than the BTUs lost by the cookware, the food will be simmering without ever reaching 212 F boiling. There will be no steam pressure building up. In this case, any small leak by the cover will have no effect because there is no pressure to push water vapor out. If not, the BTU build up will cause the food to boil, and steam will cause the pressure to build up inside the vessel. How will a little leak affect the rate of evaporation? A10 inch cast iron cover is about 78 sq. in. and weighs about 3 to 4 lbs. Atmospheric pressure is at 14 lbs/ sq. in. Over a 10 inch cover that comes to 1099 lbs. A pressure cooker to effectively change the boiling point works at 15 lbs / sq. in. and that comes to 1177 lbs. So how much pressures/temperature change can happen by a cover weighing only 3 to 4 lb against 1099 lbs? I say not much at all. It is interesting for some recipes the time and food wasted in forming dough around a cover to prevent steam from escaping. I believe a well designed cookware cover should allow a small amount of steam to escape. A perfectly fitting cover will cause the cover to rhythmically open and close, making non-stop banging noise during the whole cooking time. dcarch

I agree with magothyrivergirl; look over the product well. Check for interior pits, ill-fitting lids, really rough uneven rims, tap the bottom and listen for variances in sound (might indicate a weak spot). Most of the "seconds" are mostly cosmetic issues that don't impact performance. I got my 6-3/4 qt red oval dutch oven at HGs for $60 (best deal EVER!). I got a 2 qt in granite black (all over) for $20. Deals are out there!

Put your Lodge pan on to boil an inch or two of water. It should boil before the pan is fully heated, so you can see the shape of the inductors. My Gaggenau has wide rings. Donuts. When the pan is fully heated, the bubbles should be distributed. I always had more of a heat ring issue with gas than I have with induction. That's one of the knocks people used to have--there isn't a cold outside of the pot to shove more done bits into. Lodge is heavier than Le Creuset. Thicker. I don't know if that means it suits you better. You don't have to love cast iron! Using the Lodge regularly will put enough iron into your food that you shouldn't get anemic. :) NOTHING is going to top Demeyere for evenness of heat distribution. I'd believe that another very fine multiply could equal it, but not surpass. :) OTOH, thin carbon steel will heat up a lot faster. Comparing Le Creuset to Demeyere, I'm not surprised that Demeyere wins. :) It's okay. I love my Le Creuset, but wouldn't kick John Pawson out of my kitchen. :) I don't know about the different DeBuyer lines. Mine were described as "carbon steel" only, and the pans themselves just say the name/date/France. I'm guessing that was the same as "Carbonne", but can't say for sure. I found a Chowhound thread on the topic, which isn't all that clear. Scroll down to the middle where there's a big graphic for the post about what De Buyer said. Mine are about 1.5 mm thick at the edge (just under 1/16" by my Stanley tape). I wouldn't go much thinner! Do be sure that you're looking at the crepe pans in both. There are thicker frying pans. I have three and the blini pan. I call them small, two egg, and three egg. That's omelette size. For a taller omelette, I actually will do three eggs in the two egg size, but it's a bit too small for comfort for three sunnyside up. OTOH, if you want an egg for a sandwich on bun or muffin the blini pan is perfect. :) The low sides make turning very easy. :) These do need seasoning. I've done cast iron with oil, but I really recommend butter for these. One of the science wonks here years ago described why butter polymerizes better, but it's a bit over my head. In experience, I can say that it does a better job on my carbon steel. There are all kinds of different ways to make crepes, so it's kind of hard to make recommendations. I think it's the shape of the pan that I like, but I grew up making poured ones. The mode, nowadays, is to use a slightly convex pan and a pusher to spread the batter. The reason the thin steel is so good for crepes, I'm guessing, is that it has such good recovery time. The same is true for carbon steel woks. Short and the long of it: Cast iron is great because, while it's slow to heat, it retains its heat very well. Thin carbon steel is great because, while it's not as great a conductor as copper, the thinness allows it to fully heat very fast, and after cooling from the ingredients, it heats back up fast.