My "must have" items are 2 fairly good non stick skillets....must be aluminum, one 7 inches and another 12 inches. I like to buy them at acommercial cookware place and plan on then lasting 5 or 6 years.

A LeCruset ( or similar) enamelled Dutch oven in a 5 or 6 qt size. I can do anything in one...bacon and eggs, bake bread, stew, roast a chicken, make soup maybe even bake a cake but haven't tried.
And a stock pot....with a clad bottom....not necessary to have clad sides, just the bottom. That gets used for stocks and a big batch of spaghetti sauce, for jams and jellys, boiling a big batch of corn and cooking a couple of pounds of pasta for salad or 5 pounds of potatoes for salad or mashed.
If I didn't have a grill, I would have to have a grill pan....no steaks in the oven for me!
Then I would need 1 and 2 qt sauce pans, for some veggies and smaller amounts of pasta and potatoes.
I need a flat bottomed wok....carbon steel....cookie sheets, muffin tins, pie plates and some pyrex rectangular dishes for lasagna, marinating meats, cakes, sweet rolls etc.
Personally I see no need for All Clad.....certainly not a frying pan.....at least not to begin with. I do have a giant Calphalon fry pan with lid....but very seldom use it.
Linda C

Don't rule out sets, they are usually a very good buy and the pieces aren't exactly singular- like a tangine- and I imagine you would indeed use them all.

The cookware that I love, probably the cast iron pumpkins, apples and garlic cloves. I have pieces from many different lines, however, the cookware I USE most often, is whatever will go in the dishwasher. Which is not the cast iron.

Personally, I say get a great gas grill. And smoker and charcoal grill....

I just recently converted from gas to induction, so the pots I used to love don't always work. The ones I now use most are:

carbon steel flat-bottom woks, 16" and 18" - these replace the 18" and 20" anodized aluminium woks which I used just about every day

stainless and carbon steel skillets, in sizes from 4" to 14" - for eggs, searing (scallops, chops, escalopes)

enamelled cast iron and stainless steel saucepans and Dutch ovens - I have these in many sizes, from 1 qt to 8 qts, use regularly for stews, casseroles, curries, pasta sauces, jams, chutneys

cast iron griddle - use across 2 elements for pancakes

Fagor pressure cooker, 8 qt - use for beans, chickpeas

I have a 16 qt stockpot with aluminium base, and 12 qt anodized aluminium braisier which I haven't replaced yet. I'm trying to see if I can use them on induction if I put a carbon steel plate beneath them.

Personally I don't see the need for All Clad pots which seem overpriced to me, but I know some people swear by them. I have a lot of pots, but I cook a lot and always from scratch. YMMV.

Cheryl

I agree with getting a quality set. We pinched pennies and saved to purchase a set of Saladmaster Stainless Steel Cookware in 1976 and it has served us well ever since. Before that we went through two rather inexpensive sets that were wedding gifts just 5-years before that. My brother is using the same set my parents purchased in 1967.

I've added a couple non-stick stainless steel Farberware fry pans to the mix (purchased those at Wal-Mart). There's a few pieces I don't use all that often these days (empty nesters), but when you need them you are glad they are there. You may not think you will need a double boiler or a steamer, but when you get them in the set you'll find them a valuable addition to the mix. Especially since these pans stack nicely and don't take up a lot of room in my cabinet.

-Grainlady

I love all of my old Griswold cast iron, much of which hubby found at thrift stores and swap meets. We have a vintage gas stove, so cast iron works very well

I bought a set of Cuisanart stainless steel pots and skillets and I use them all. The pasta pot with insert and a steamer were included. The pasta pot is good for cooking a large batch of sauce, etc.

I also have an enamelled cast-iron Dutch oven which I use often. I really like it for making my roast chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. The chicken is browned on the stove top, potatoes, carrots and handfuls of garlic added to it, then it's popped into the oven.

I also have the regular cast-iron which I also used. I do have one non-stick skillet, Kitchen Aid. I use it for delicate things, and for french toast.

Before you invest a lot of $$$ in cookware, take about 15 minutes to read this egullet article. Read it, and even if you only retain a third of it, you'll be far more knowledgeable than any department store cookware salesperson (and most specialty cookware shops salespersons as well).

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php/topic/25717-understanding-stovetop-cookware/

Ask yourself what sort of cooking you plan to do. If you're gonna do a lot of low, slow comfort food cooking, a few Le Creuset items make a lot of sense. If you are going to make some fancy sauces that require precise temperature control, then some $$$ copper Falk Culinair pans make sense. If you don't plan on doing either, then buying either of those big ticket items makes no sense whatsoever.

Now for my personal preferences, or what I wish I had known when I started cooking seriously 4 decades ago: If you're just starting out, consider the pressure cooker set at the link. It has an 8 qt stockpot and a 4 qt saute pan, a pressure lid that fits them both, a steamer insert, and a plain lid that fits them both for non-pressure applications. I've cooked with it, and I know it works fine on any heat source including induction. And the pieces work fine in non-pressure mode; that is, they're fine as a stockpot and a saute pan. So if storage space is an issue, these will do double duty: an excellent buy for the $$. I've seen this set on sale for around $90, but it's a good deal even at full retail.

If you're afraid of pressure cookers, don't be; the new ones nowadays are far safer than Grandma's old jiggle-top contraption. You can get more info on pressure cooking at missvickie.com.

In addition to that set, a couple of inexpensive teflon nonstick aluminum pans ( I use the ones from Sam's-- they seem to me to be the same ones as Bed Bath & Beyond has, but about 1/3 cheaper).

I have some Le Creuset and a few knockoff copycat pieces, and they are nice for low, slow cooking of pot roasts and the like. (Although the pressure cooker will take a 4 pound piece of chuck and make it mouth-wateringly fork tender in about an hour, so I haven't used my LC for that in a while)

If you don't go the pressure cooker route, consider a multicooker that has a 8 or 10 qt stockpot, a pasta insert, and a steamer insert. These are quite useful. Tramontina makes a good one, and I've seen it at WalMart--very good quality for the money.

Dunno if I'd go with All Clad skillets. I'm sure they're fine, but your $$ might be better applied elsewhere. I'm currently experimenting with Paderno and deBuyer carbon steel skillets. Once they are well seasoned, I plan to phase out the teflon pans. They're not quite nonstick yet, but I like them because you can heat them higher than you can a teflon pan. They're a lot like cast iron except that they're a little lighter, and the initial surface is much slicker than most cast iron. (So far I seem to prefer the Paderno to the deBuyer, but I've only played with each of them a little so far.)

One other item you may consider: get a good roasting pan. Yes, you can roast a bird or a roast in a disposable aluminum foil pan, but you can't then drain the fat, put the pan on the stovetop and then scrape up all the good little brown bits in the pan (the 'fond') and make a sauce with it on a stovetop burner.

Now here's my $0.02: I really would advise AGAINST getting a set of cookware. Think of each piece you are considering as a tool, and ask yourself, 'What task do I need to perform in the kitchen, and what would be the best single item to do that, given the constraints of my budget?' Invariably in a set there will be a few items you don't use, taking up space. I was given a nice set of Cuisinart cookware. The saucepans I like a lot; the skillets are awful. I prefer the cheapo nonstick skillets, vintage cast iron, or carbon steel to them. Their only advantage is that they can go in the dishwasher.

Here is a link that might be useful: pressure cooker set

Oh, about the various brands of enameled cast iron (ECI): Le Creuset and Staub are, of course, the top names. I have a Lodge ECI pan and it's pretty good, and I have a Le Creuset piece. I don't know how long either of them will last, but I honestly can't tell any difference in the performance so far.

A good place to check for cookware is TJMaxx. I got a Le Creuset 'second' there; the only problem was a swirl in the enamel finish of the lid, and it didn't affect the cooking properties.

I have a bunch of cast iron items which I have painstakingly seasoned. They work fine, and they're dirt cheap, but I think the Paderno skillet I mentioned in the previous post will eventually supplant the cast iron items. I have the 8" one. Weight is about halfway between a stainless skillet and a cast iron skillet. You'll never wear it out like a teflon skillet. Disadvantage: like cast iron, gotta wash it by hand, no dishwasher.

Here is a link that might be useful: paderno carbon steel pan