Are you looking to purchase a set or individual pieces?

I am in process or replacing old cookware, but am doing it by the piece that I really want/need rather than by buying a set. I'm not sticking to a particular brand, so I'm waiting until the pieces I want are on sale. I've bought, so far, a fairly large All Clad skillet and large stock pot. Also bought a new non-stick everyday pan (with lid) a couple of years ago for a lot of tasks. Am considering a Le Creuset piece but not convinced I really need it yet. I also have 3 cast iron skillets I will never give up.

My favorite most used cookware is my Magnalite set. In Louisiana it's passed down in families it's even in wills! Love my big roasters and my Gumbo pots. I highly recommend it. Here's a Google list for it. Walmart offers a nice set.

I also have a few pieces of ceramic lined pots I like for the no stick. I have a large selection of cast iron and the enamel cast iron in colors.

https://www.google.com/search?q=magnalite+pots&oq=magnal&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l2j5.15930j0j4&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

The HEB grocery stores here sell a line of enamel cast iron pots for very good prices. I have a few of them and like them just as much as my much more expensive Le Creuset. So you might want to try one of those to see if it is something you would like to spend the money on. I have to get my husband to lift it all for me now so I can only use it when he is around.

The magnalite is manageable for me.

This one is from HEB

This next one is the Paula Dean collection cast iron

You can see some of my others in the background. Below are the red orange ones lol. I have them all out on a metal shelving unit.

When they were in storage the knob on the big orange one got broken, I need to order a new one.

This is one of the big magnalite Gumbo pots /stock pots

Another good place for individual quality pieces is Tuesday Morning stores. I have picked up several great bargains there.

Inexpensive and high quality? Tramontina makes a great tri-ply clad product and there is a small set that may suit your needs. Believe it or not, Walmart carries this set at a fantastic price! You have to order online as they don't (often) carry in store . I have many of these pieces and they are fabulous; comparable to All-Clad and other pricey manufacturers. Here is the link to the 8 piece set, currently about $130 at Walmart. You can always add to this as budget allows. I have seen pieces at Tuesday Morning, HomeGoods, TJMaxx and so on.....Tramontina makes many lines and I would highly recommend the Tri-Ply clad.

I have a boat load of pots and pans; LeCrueset, Magnalite, Tramontina, Calphalon (hard anodized), Cuisinart (multiclad). The Tramontina tri-ply clad are pretty much my everyday pans. Clean up is great; handles are comfortable and don't get hot on the stove top; performance on my gas stove is outstanding. Great pans.

Magnalite is not what it used to be. It has changed hands several times and I've read many bad reviews on the new product. I would not recommend buying the new products. I love the old stuff!!!

I love my Cuisinart. I have two different sets so I have a 12", a 10", a 9" and a 8" skillets, a 10" sautee pan, stock pot, an assortment of sauce pans. Everything is over proof with no plastic. Most of them work on my portable induction cooktop that I use often when cooking on the screen porch. They clean easily with a green scratcher pad. I love them. And you can get a decent set at Sam's or Amazon at a very reasonable price. I've slowly gotten rid of my other mismatched set, and have used these for at least 15 years with no problem what so ever.

I've been buying up every classic Faberware pot with aluminum core I can find. A couple came new, but most are from thrift stores as the same style has been made for generations. You can scrub and scrape them if you mess up and burn something! Have 8 and 4 quart stock pots, two 3 quart, 2, 1.5 and 1 quart saucepans, 8, 10 and 12" frying pans plus an electric skillet. The little pans are rarely used and I'd love to find an even larger stock pot or perhaps the 6 quart chef pan. So far one lid knob has come off, I have to tighten handles sometimes and frying pans will warp so I replace them - that's in 40 years of using these pots. The outsides are stained but that's going to happen anyway.

I dislike nonstick pans as they just don't last. If I use cooking spray there's very little sticking on stainless steel. Adore everything about enamelware but the staining. If you go that route then get a black interior.

I have a combination of the old ones and some new ones I have not had any problems with the new. They are performing as well as the old ones. So many people lost theirs in Katrina and Rita.

I have a mixture of Cuisinart and Le Creuset. Just started cooking again after a long time. I bought an electric pressure cooker, and I use that more than anything else. So simple -- everything in one pot.

I have a few All Clad handed down to me..great but expensive. Cast irons I love...a few Tramontina, love them and a lot of the old cookware from the 50's heavy as lead but I love them even with the pitting. I also have a very old soup pot..its huge one day I need to measure how many gallons it holds. I suspect it came from a restaurant as I've never seen one so big..its one of my favorites as I use it to boil wash vintage bed sheets..LOL

Oh I want a pressure cooker..I've never had one.

I LOVE pretty pans, that work well. All Clad is still the industry standard, followed by Le Creuset(enameled cast). After that it's all just a blur. I actually own a set of SS Wedgwood pots & pans(they make them contractually in limited amounts) and black Magnalite.

I googled and found these for $150! They look pretty nice!

Stainless Steel with aluminum bottoms

Another vote for All Clad!

Nicole those look nice. These from the same place are also a nice set.

http://m.macys.com/shop/product/belgique-copper-bottom-10-pc-cookware-set-only-at-macys-?ID=2713906&choiceId=cidM11MAS-8e7ec976-e2b3-4def-8b12-281317b65700%40H5%40you%2Bmight%2Balso%2Blike...%247552%242713906&context=PDP_ZONE_A

I now have to watch for the handles, the long upward ones are difficult to fit in my drawers. I only have drawers now, that was not something I ever thought about before with the cabinets.

Thanks for all the feedback. I sure have alot of research to do. I don't necessarily need a full set-for instance I have two large stock pots and don't need another one. I think the ones I have from my mil are "Flint" brand and the ones from our wedding are stainless with a copper bottom. They might be Revere. Again thanks for all the guidance.

I have a mixture also but my favorite pan is the All Clad 11" square grill for cooking meats without them soaking in grease and getting those appetizing grill marks.

cookwarenmore.com is a great site for all-clad. they are all seconds and most u cannot even tell why they are seconds. they might be 32nd of an inch off on the attachment of the handle, can't even tell. i have bought several pots and pans over the years.

they are close to me, so i drive and look everything over. Most are just fine., minority have scratches. you can talk to them and they will pick out the best of the bunch.

twice a year they have a 35-50% sale. u can get on their mailing/email list to find out when.

i also have LeCreuset, which i love also. to me, AC & LC are the best!! cook evenly, clean up easily!

We bought some All Clad at TJ Maxx for a greatly reduced price. Replaced our old and unsafe non-stick cookware with items bought from Amazon's Kitchen section. Click on "Warehouse Deals".

Marshalls always has a few Calphalon Triply stainless saucepans and skillets. You have to keep checking to get the saucepans in both sizes but they usually have the skillets. They are under $50 a piece. Compared to the Cuisinart Triply that they also sell, they are heavier, have three handle rivets instead of two, and the stainless steel is a better quality. The lids are glass, therefore heavier than a stainless lid, and give a better seal. They sell the same pans elsewhere for more than twice the price. The only thing I don't like is the thinner handles on pans you might want to move into the oven, but All Clad's are even worse.

Whatever pan you use the most, splurge and get the nicest one you can. I would rather have fewer really good pans than many so so ones.

I've always used non stick pans, I recently picked up a stainless sauce pan to replace a non stick sauce pan that I had burnt by letting the water run out when steaming some carrots...so I had to throw away that non stick. Well I did the same thing with the stainless sauce pan while steaming carrots again but I was able to clean the burnt inside with a brillo pad. Like it never even happened :-) My plan is to try a stainless fry pan next.

Use Barkeeper's Friend or Cameo cleaner on stainless. DH cooks an omelet every morning in a stainless pan and there's no sticking. If I use that pan to cook meat, his eggs will stick the next time. But scrubbing it out with BKF or Cameo makes it nonstick again. I also sear steaks in my All Clad skillet and it cleans right up. I stopped buying nonstick pans after seeing the beautiful browning that stainless gives a steak or chop.

I got Farberware cookware for my Bridal shower about 50 yrs ago. Its still in great condition. I would recommend it to anyone

I still use my 50 year old Farberware every day and it looks almost new. I've always liked the way they cook and clean up and I can actually pick them up. I've always admired those beautiful LeCreuset (and other brand) cast iron pots, but then I go to pick one up, and I just can't. They are way too heavy for me to pick up, especially when they're full.

I do have one favorite pot recommendation. I had picked up an Emile Henry stoneware pot on sale which can be used both on the stovetop and in the oven. I use it to make pots of soup and bake no knead breads.

emile Henry pot

I don't think the Farberware today is the same quality of the original. I'm sure it's made in China now, and there's different qualities of steel coming out of China. I had to get rid of my old Farberware when I got a glass cooktop. They didn't sit flat and I think the bottom wasn't perfectly smooth after 30 years. I found scratches on my cooktop and it's the only thing I could think of that may have scratched it.

I said in my post that Calphalon is a better quality steel than Cuisinart because my Cuisinart pans get that blue discoloration. One also has a chip in the stainless on the inside bottom. I didn't know that salt corrodes stainless and you should always bring the water to a boil before adding salt so it dissolves and doesn't sit on the bottom.

Several years ago (like, over a decade, I am sure) Consumer Reports recommended Belgique stainless (from Macy's) as a best buy. I don't subscribe so I don't know if they've done any testing since then. I have had some of the non-stick which only lasted about 10 years (because of owner applied abuse, not that the coating failed). Now I have Calphalon hard anodized and am enjoying the ease of use

I have a giant old Magnalite pot that was my mother's and still is a great pot, although not very pretty at some 60 years old! My dad had a few of the other pieces of the set, but unfortunately I do not know what happened to them after my step-mother passed.

Has anyone had any experience with Ikea cookware?

Cuisinart is what ended up getting. I think for as little as I cook they will be fine for me. I got the non stick sauce pans with glass lids, the deep stainless skillet with two handles and a glass lid and a stainless fry pan which is a grade higher than the other ones. I think that all I need but may pick up a small nonstick fry pan because I like that type of pan for fried eggs.

My Farberware is more than 40 years old...in great condition, and I love it. I have heard that the newer Farberware isn't as good, so I'm sticking with the old stuff forever.

The Kirkland brand stainless steel at Costco is really good and not as expensive as some of the other brands.

I think the main problem here is that she wants nice cookware on a budget - If it were me, I would go with the Cuisinart French Classic - It is very nice looking, easy to clean, dishwasher safe, and you can get an 11 piece set at Bed Bath and Beyond for about $250 with a coupon and it is NOT made in China, but rather in France. The handles are comfortable to hold (I find All Clad handles very uncomfortable), and I feel that it is the best option for quality cookware at a very reasonable price that is not made in China.

Be sure to handle the cookware. I wanted heavier cookware when I got my gas range with open burners. I have small hands and I found many of the "higher end" pieces ergonomically awkward. I ended up with a small starter set of Emeril cookware because it felt right in my hand. I prefer to buy cookware by the piece but the set was pretty basic and had the pieces I needed at the time. I use a combination of stainless, cast iron and the older stove top safe Corningware in my kitchen.

I have a set of Jamie Oliver pots and pans and LOVE them. They still look new today because I take really good care of them. I got them free with my Air Miles.