Thanks, grainlady! I've never heard of Saladmaster. I'll have to go look that brand up.

I had a set of Farberware from about that same time. Couldn't afford to buy more than that at the time and then never got around to buying better pans when I could. Now I need to - and I'm okay with that!

I bought a Fagor pressure cooker to go with a portable induction burner, and I got an especially good deal - I got the 4 quart and 6 quart pans together (only one lid) for about $50 (can't remember the exact amount), but you will not be able to find that deal any more, I think. I am very happy with that pressure cooker, and that is the only use I have for the induction burner, as I do all of the rest of my cooking with gas. However, if you want a PC for induction, the Fagor works fine. I mostly use the 4 quart pan, but that because I do not usually cook huge quantities. I use an All-Clad skillet on my regular range, however, and so I cannot help you there. I am not a fan of induction except for pressure cooking, and I love it for that.

Thank you, Lars/J. Robert Scott! I was always leery of pressure cookers but I hear today's versions aren't temperamental like they used to be so I will be in the market for one. I'll keep Fagor in mind when I shop.

In addition to Fagor PCs, the Kuhn Rikon PCs work fine on induction as well.

Make sure the Calphalon is magnetic if you go that route. I've got some of their tri ply pieces that definitely are not. They're a few years old and they could very well have changed their product, but I thought I'd warn you just in case.

I LOVE my Berghoff Virgo on my new induction! I was helped with the price because I have the only North America Berghoff outlet store near me.
http://www.allmodern.com/BergHOFF-Virgo-6-Piece-Cookware-Set-2211260-L749-K~BGI2979.html?refid=MX2648047597-BPA81-BGI2979&device=c&ptid=efc513e68950f378

I was kind of obsessed with induction cookware for the last 5 years. My fave is from Costco, 13 pc hard anodized Circulon with the steel slab on the bottom. It is dishwasher safe, metal utensil safe, oven safe to 500 degrees, cleans like a breeze, has a nice heft but is easily manageable for this aged lady and about 200 for the set. I love it. I bought it for our new house in Tucson.

In Chicagoland for my Bosch 30" induction cooktop, I love my Circulon Infinite. Circulon makes many lines and not all are induction capable.

Order them from potsandpans.com or farberwarecookware.com, which are sister sites. This site tells you which cookware are induction capable, dishwasher safe, oven temp capacity, etc. Has circulon, analon, farberware, etc. I also love my induction cap farberware-great stuff, great prices.

According to an old reading of the Demeyere site, it is not necessary or even advisable to get tri ply for stock pots, or soup pots. It attacks the myth that heat transfers better for stock pots in tri ply. It may do so on gas but matters not on ind. I have the old well reviewed tri ply tramontina and it is very nice but when I last checked, Tramontina changed the old quality to one of lesser heft. As said, I do have the good old stuff, but I really prefer my Circulon Infinite and Circulon Costco (taupey? bronzey?) and my Farberware.

Also like Macys Tools of the Trade for stock and soup pots-get them on sale. Fortunately, for my mental health I have moved on from being obsessed with knowing all about induction cookware. They all work so well and you will love it too. The only underwhelming stuff was a piece from tjmarshallls and that can vary with the item.

I bought a single portable induction burner. My cookware is a set of Cuisinart which I love. I also picked up a cheapie set of cookware for $50. I don't even know the name.

Prior to buying the burner I used a frig magnet and it stuck on everything. Lo and behold my Cuisinart set doesn't work. I stuck the magnet on the side and not the bottom! Duh. So the el cheapo set works like a charm as do my cast iron skillets with induction.

I went with Emeril pots and I'm delighted with them....love the see-thru lids which are esp important as water boils so quickly on the cooktop that you do have to watch them carefully. They also have spouts and drain holes which is great for cooking pasta and such that needs draining. I do have a Martha Stewart dutch oven that works well. I also use cast iron, but DH went ahead and ground the bottoms absolutely smooth so they wouldn't scratch the glass. I have a lodge cast iron dutch oven that is heavy as the dickens, but is my work horse for soups and such.

Thanks, everyone!

I've never heard of Kuhn Rikon, arley. Thanks for the tip.

I'm checking all pans for the induction symbol, foodonastump, and MOL, steering clear of any lines that don't have that symbol. I know I can check the pans with a magnet but with my luck, I'd do what you did, Jasdip, and not test the right part.

Mustangs, that cookware is gorgeous! Love the red.

lol, westsider, I can totally understand the obsession part. Thanks for the websites; I'll check them out. I had heard that new Tramontina pans aren't the same quality anymore. Think I read that on Cooks Illustrated website. Pity.

BBB carries Emeril's induction pots, Annie, but for some reason I forgot to look at them. I will now, though. Thanks for the recommendation.

Good tip about sanding cast iron bottoms smooth. I was steering clear of them because I was afraid to scratch my cook top. Then again, like westsider, I'm trying to get pans with good heft but not too heavy so that I can continue to use them as I age.

I stopped at Marshall's, Tuesday Morning and Home Goods yesterday and
scored Calphalon Contemporary Tri-ply 8" and 12" fry pans, a Tramontina 3
qt sauce pan and a Tramontina 5 qt braiser for really good prices
(less than they'd be from BBB with a 20% off coupon). I haven't decided
if I'll keep these items or return them in favor of the 8-piece
Tramontina set but at least I now know that I like the Tramontina
handles and pans. And I may like them better than the handles on the
Calphalon Contemporary pans. DH doesn't have a preference so he'll go
along with whatever I choose.

Anyone own or use Zwilling Energy
Ceraforce non-stick fry pans? The guy at BBB recommended these pans (I
don't want Teflon) for induction cooking. I'd like at least one non-stick for cooking eggs.

I invested in a small All Clad non stick or eggs and love it. The finish is far heavier than the inexpensive pans fro Costco I was using before. This one never scratches so I feel more confident I am not releasing chemicals into the air.

I did try one of the Green pans, the one made for induction, and had to return it. It caused the cooktop to hum, it drive me crazy and cooked unevenly.

I have one of the green pans (small) made for induction, but I have only used it with gas. I especially like it for making a one-egg omelet for putting inside a breakfast burrito. When making an omelet, I move the pan constantly, and so induction would not be practical for that, I think. I've never seen a chef on TV use an induction burner, and so I have the idea that they are not as versatile as I would like. If I saw a good demonstration, I might change my mind. I also do not like the look of a glass cook top - I want to see iron grates, but I do like my portable burner. Glass cook tops scare me - I'm too afraid of scratching or breaking them. I also cook with a wok frequently, and that sort of is a deal-breaker for me. For me, it is better to have both, but I have a hard time switching to my induction burner other than when using the pressure cooker. I should try using it to boil water, but I keep forgetting. I have a 6-quart Fagor pan I could use for that. In fact, I made a garbanzo/potato fresh herb stew yesterday in my larger pressure cooker. I precook the garbanzos in the pressure cooker (on the induction burner) to get them started, and I can get the whole stew cooked fairly quickly using this method, even starting from dried beans.

Roger Mooking of foodnetwork used an induction cooktop on an old series and Hubert Keller has used a portable induction single hob. Re Lars comment.

Also, Wolfgang Puck uses and sells a portable induction hob on one of the shopping channels. He does a lot of demos. There may be induction demos of pan shaking on YouTube.

As I previously stated, I love my Bodeux set, but it does NOT include a roasting pan. I have found I can use my Copco enamel pans for roasts, but I'd really like a roaster. Why? You are roasting in the oven. True. But I love to make gravy from the pan drippings on top of the cook top. I need a really good induction roaster that will fit a 20 lb turkey. Haven't found one yet.

suzi AKA, how about this one from Le creuset??was $350, now $199... on the le creuset website...

suzi AKA, sorry, forgot i couldn't copy and paste, duh!! how about this one?

Thanks, everyone!

Suzi, I haven't heard of Bodeux. Sears carries it but on-line only and I'd rather the chance to try heft and handles before buying it. Glad you're so happy with your pans!

Good to know about Green Pan humming, dataw. That would drive me nuts! I'm not crazy about AC handles but I'll definitely purchase fry pans with a similar heft to them.

Thanks for the additional info, Lars, but given that my induction cook top is already installed and powered, I'm sticking with induction. ;-) I had gas; hated cleaning it and didn't like the heat it put off in summer. I'm looking forward to using my induction cook top.

btw, our old gas cook top had glass below the burners. 21 yrs old, never chipped or scratched. It still worked great and was in such good shape, we donated it to Habitat Restore. A poster on another forum shared the tip of filing the bottoms of her cast iron pans to avoid scratching her cook top: good tip!

I forget the brand of most of my pots, but I have two small non-stick omelet pans that I use frequently.
One is Cuisinart the other is ScanPan (CTX) and one odd thing I've noticed is that the Cuisinart pan requires a higher setting on the induction cooktop to cook at the same speed. For instance I usually cook a fried egg in the ScanPan pan at a setting of 5 1/2 whereas the Cuisinart pan needs to be set to 7 to cook a fried egg in the same amount of time.

The Cuisinart pan is plainly labeled induction-ready, but perhaps it is just barely induction capable.

IIRC the Saladmaster brand cookware that grainlady mentions is usually sold via a "Multi-Level-Marketing" scheme and they make some dubious claims about their cookware to hard-sell the cookware and justify its exorbitant price. Its best feature, in my opinion, is if you look at their price for a set of pots a few times, it will make getting a set of AllClad pots seem like a wise, money-saving purchase.

Thanks, Bob, for the info.

I also noticed that the Saladmaster cookware isn't sold in stores. That rules it out right off the bat for me. If I'm going to buy cookware from a home party type set-up, I'll buy Pampered Chef from one of my cousins.

An often-overlooked resource worth exploring is commercial restaurant-supply stores, of which there are probably one or more within convenient distance in any urban or suburban area. It is a common belief that restaurant-grade cookware must be more expensive than "ordinary" cookware, but that is often not at all the case. The fact is that cookware, even of good quality, gets hammered (sometimes more or less literally) in a commercial work environment, and so typically has to be replaced fairly often, whereas good "residential" cookware can get passed down through generations. Because restaurants need to be almost constantly restocking, the equipment costs have to be, and are, reasonable.

It's well worth one's while to visit a shop or two, trusty little magnet in hand for checking suitability for induction. Some quite good gear can often be had at quite reasonable prices (and you aren't having to deal with "sets").