Stainless steel.

I find that the best for me are heavy aluminum with a non stick coating the light weight ones are just junk....
Frankly I much prefer aluminum over stainless for heat distribution....or cast iron.

There's certainly a place for non-stick cookware, I just avoid uber premium brands. Sooner or later the finish will go. A good set of stainless pans is a lifetime purchase.

I have a mix, and I like each for certain things.

My favorite dutch oven is just cast iron, but I have a couple of Le Creuset skillets that get very occasional use, I avoid them because of their weight more than anything, but they're pretty. I do have an enameled cast iron dutch oven that I use for things like beef stew because it holds a lot but it weighs a ton, more when full of food.

I don't have any traditional non-stick/teflon type pans, but Elery has a favorite pan he uses for his morning eggs, it's an Aeternum that's got a nonstick enamel type coating.

My favorite pan is an old Griswold cast iron skillet, closely followed by my big AllClad aluminum skillet.

My brother still has all of Grandma's old Club Aluminum, and he's been using those for years, he likes them. I think it makes his chili taste funny, but he says it doesn't taste right with any other pan, probably because that's how it tasted when Grandma made it in the Club Aluminum, LOL.

Annie

<Cranky hat on>

With the amount of plastic pollution in the world, and my general distrust of any marketing that insists some new miracle product is safe (see: original nonstick issues, lead paint, asbestos, vermiculite, various pesticides, ...) I stick with stainless and cast iron. Carbon steel seems like another good option for some uses.

Non stick? No thanks.

The house here came with some T-Fal non-stick pans that I love. I also have some small "green" pans that I like for cooking small omelets. I have one All-Clad stainless steel 12" frying pan, but I do not use it very often. When I make a frittata, I have to use a non-stick pan or else it will not come out properly. The same is try for German apple pancakes, which have butter, sugar, and apples on the bottom until they are unmolded. I used to use cast iron for these, but then I bought some non-stick pans with proper handles for fitting inside my oven. I prefer pans that can go from the stovetop to the oven.

I use cast iron when cooking fish - mostly out of habit, but I don't have a problem with that sticking, especially blackened fish.

Cast iron works just fine, can last a century, and you can bake in it.

Like otheres here, I have several different kinds I use for different foods, for pretty much the same reasons: Green pans for non-stick for things like eggs, cast iron for frying, and stainless steel for everything else.

Try baking caramel (as in German apple pancakes) in seasoned cast iron and see how non-stick it is then. I've had my cast iron for decades, and it is well seasoned and smooth, but bits of caramel still get stuck to it, as do bits of potato when I make a fritatta. What I like about it is that I can use metal utensils.

The once or twice a year I make caramel I use stainless steel.

The only nonstick I have left is an old electric skillet that I use in the camper to make pancakes. That is it's only use and I have a plastic turner to flip the pancakes.

I’ve only ever used non-stick for eggs and I am hesitant to do even that. Now I just use stainless steel, carbon steel, cast iron, or enameled cast iron for everything. I make caramel in my stainless steel sauce pan.

Have you seen the film Dark Waters? It makes you never want to use a non-stick pan regardless of the coating, ever again.

I use stainless steel and Pam for my eggs. My husband's fried eggs just slide all over the pan and never stick.

My multi-cooker has non-stick. I don't like it, but that's the way it came. I like the device enough to use it sometimes even so. My bundt pans are non-stick. I really don't like it, but I like making bundt cakes. The big one was my mother's so probably has the dire kind of coating. My muffin top pan and popover pan both have coatings. And my old, old stuffed omelette flip pan. I don't even know where the last one is. I use carbon steel to make folded omelettes. It's plenty slidey. The others I do use, but not very often.

My cooking pots and pans are a combination of enamelled cast iron, seasoned cast iron, carbon steel, enamelled steel and multi-layer stainless clad. The bakeware I prefer is aluminum, tinned, pyrex/pyroceram, or ceramic/stoneware.

I have no need for non-stick coatings except for those pieces that just come that way.

I make caramel in stainless steel also, but I do not bake it. At the end, I soak the pan in hot water to get it clean. I don't like non-stick saucepans because with all the stirring I do (even with wooden or silicon spoons), the non-stick surface eventually comes off where the spoon hits it. I don't like all stainless steel saucepans either because they get hot spots, and so the best for me is to have a clad bottom, like All-Clad. I do like anodized aluminum saucepans as well.

For baking, I use aluminum or vintage Corningware, or else Pyrex. My favorite use for cast iron is making cornbread that I make without flour or sugar, which is the way I learned in Texas.

I have mostly stainless steel pans, several cast iron skillets and several ceramic non-stick saute pans. I got the non-stick ceramic ones for eggs, mostly.

I would never cook a steak on non stick. Mostly I use cast iron for everything, though I do have some heavy bottomed stainless steel saucepans I use for boiling potatoes and pasta. I have a non-stick omelette pan (which does make life easier but when I am staying at our city flat I have successfully made omelettes in a lightweight cast iron pan) and a deeper skillet which I have in theory for eggs but in practice usually use the cast iron skillet because it lives on the stove top while the non stick pan is in the drawer.

You know you could write a book about cookware.

“ The heat distribution of these pans is also unmatched. ”

Stainless by itself isn’t that great. Some have different layers of heat conductive materials but they vary a lot.

This is a oldie but goodie about heat distribution.

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/120/Common-Materials-of-Cookware

This is part of a guide to buying cookware. He also rates cookware on gas and electric burners.

https://www.centurylife.org/a-no-nonsense-guide-to-cookware-materials/

I love cookware, especially vintage and luckily I have room to store it at present. For skillets and frying pans when I need even heat, I have a heavy copper/aluminum stainless lined pan, a magnalite chicken fryer, a heavy anodized aluminum pan and some Tramontina Pro pans that are nonstick. I use these for eggs mainly. I had a 10” one for at least 15 years and it was abused at the time with my kids. Other brands in other sizes would come and go and it dawned on me that the 10” skillet kept on going. I have All-Clad which is middle of the road as far as heat distribution. Some lines are better than others. I also have some vintage machined cast iron and enameled cast iron but they do not heat as evenly. The bare CI is nonstick and also great for baking.

Saucepans I have are tin lined copper, stainless lined heavy aluminum and some of the oldest Revereware which has the most copper on the bottom. I use the heavy copper for any kind of candy making. The Revereware is very comfortable to hold though and lighter weight which might be more of an issue as I get older.

Also have some vintage enameled cast iron. Some of my favorites are Prizer-Ware made by the company that makes BlueStar ranges. It comes in patterns.

For baking I use bare aluminum which can season over time becoming nonstick. I use some pyroceram and a few pieces of vintage borosilicate PYREX.

As far as cleaning pans many are guaranteed when used in the dishwasher now.

You might also look on YouTube for a technique for making stainless temporarily nonstick.

I like to use a variety of pans according to what I am going to cook.

IMO those 14 piece sets of pans offered for sale are something of a waste of money—far better to pick and choose a few good pans according to the cook’s needs. We use ss, copper, cast iron, coated cast iron, and two non stick pans for eggs. One pan material I haven’t seen mentioned here is the carbon steel sauté pans—very popular in Europe but not seen much Stateside. I have one for crepes that works well and wasn’t too expensive.

For those who are skeptical or want more info on the story of Teflon and its checkered history, you might want to watch “Dark Waters” starring Mark Ruffalo, available on Amazon Prime and/or Netflix. Quite a story.

I bought a set of Calphalon nonstick like 18 years ago before I knew better, some pieces were replaced at some point under warranty, but overall the set is a total mess. Well past where I should have stopped using it. I’ve had the thought to box it all up and send it to Calphalon and see if/what they send back. If nothing I wouldn’t be too sad. I do like nonstick pans for certain applications but the pots, no reason for them.

I wouldn’t want to be without nonstick pans but find I‘ve been using stainless and cast iron a lot more in recent years.

I’ve got some rusty carbon steel somewhere that I never had much luck with. Maybe it’s time to try that again.

Did I answer the question? Was there question?

Lars I also have a favorite T-Fall non-stick frying pan which I love. It's the perfect weight & size for just the two of us. I bought it dirt cheap many years ago to use in our camper when we were doing a big reno on the house we are now living in. I could buy 3 of them new for the price of the fancy expensive stainless steel one I have. Still have it & still use it almost everyday.

I use a combination of stainless steel clad, copper (ss lined and tin-lined), vintage cast iron and some enameled cast iron. The ceramic nonstick comes out for eggs. I tried carbon steel and don't like it.

If you heat your stainless lined pans before adding oil, meat will only stick lightly and produce a good fond, which you can deglaze to make a pan sauce.

I used stainless and enamel coated cast iron exclusively until a friend gave me a Scan Pan for some occasion. I fell in love with that pan for eggs and used it a lot. On vacation last year the nonstick pans in the rental looked icky, so back I went to stainless and I realized non stick is not necessary, even with eggs. Get the pan hot, add butter, and eggs don't stick. Bye bye Scan Pan.

I have both rolled carbon steel skillets and enameled cast iron Dutch ovens that both get used for frying foods. Neither material is a great heat conductor, which works just fine for me, but if your stove tends to have hot and cold spots, you probably want something else. I can use my cookware on our Bluestar range, I can't use it on the Viking in the in-law kitchen. The big cold spot in the center gets in the way.

I learned the important difference between carbon steel (and uncoated cast iron) vs. enamel or stainless steel. The former is non-stick if treated correctly and pretty much eliminates the need for non-stick coated cookware. The latter is actually intentionally more sticky. And that can be a good thing. If you want to develop a fond for a nice gravy or stew, you must use cookware that sticks a little.

So, use the proper tool for the job. And learn how to use it correctly. For non-stick properties to work, you must heat the cookware before you use it, and you have to add a small amount of fat. But that's a good idea anyway, as foods will cook more evenly than if you tried cooking without any fat at all.

You cannot make caramel in a non-stick pan. You can easily burn vegetables in a cast iron pan. Stir frying in more than a smidgen of oil in an un-seasoned carbon steel wok will kill it forever. Omelettes work well in either non-stick or SS, but not at all in cast iron but it is good for fried or scrambled eggs. You can make cornbread in a cast iron pan in the oven but not very well in a SS pan. Sauces are best in SS, sauteed food using either cast iron or SS, fried food and browning meat is best in cast iron especially if you want fond. Enameled pots/pans are for soups and chili, anything that takes a long time to cook otherwise they are anchors.

My favorites: 4", 8", 12" cast iron, "Green Life" 6", 12" and a square 11" griddle, 2qt, 6qt, and 10qt SS pots. And, a SS double boiler with a steamer insert and lid. Plus a giant 9qt English Maslin SS pan from Lee Valley Tools for canning and a huge 33 qt spatter-ware boiling water bath pot with SS bottom rack.

Stir frying in more than a smidgen of oil in an un-seasoned carbon steel wok will kill it forever.

How do you "kill" carbon steel? Worst case, you remove the seasoning and reapply it.

Having said that, why would you want carbon steel to be un-seasoned? Seasoning is the whole point of using carbon steel or cast iron. That's also what prevents it from rusting, and what happens naturally unless you clean it too aggressively.

I gave my grand a fresh new wok, told her how to do the seasoning. She ignored my "advice" said she would season it when as the oil went in. The bottom of the pan almost had a hole in it, it was so thin. The gas stove heat concentrated the oil. Result = ruined it.

nancyofnc, we must cook differently on some of those things.

I can’t say that I have ever Had an unseasoned wok for more than a few minutes. What do you cook in an unseasoned wok and how do you keep it from rusting?

I have a 70 year old cast iron skillet that has some serious pitting on the underside. And my 10 year old carbon steel wok shows some signs of deterioration, where the flames touch the metal. But overall, steel and iron are very sturdy. It takes an insane amount of abuse to destroy them.

The boiling point of cooking oil is somewhere around 550°F, give or take. There is no way you can heat up an oil-filled pot above this temperature until all of the oil has evaporated. But that temperature is way above the smoke point, and you'd almost certainly set your kitchen on fire before you got anywhere close to boiling that oil. In other words, it is unlikely that an oil-filled wok would ever have been heated much above 400°F. And that's so far below the temperature when steel starts softening, it's not even in the same ballpark.

So, no, I don't buy the story that the wok got damaged because it was heated with too much oil in it. And if this wasn't an old wok that had gradually worn out over time (hot flames do slowly oxidize the outside, after all) then the only explanation that I am willing to believe is a manufacturing fault. Of course, that can happen at any time. You don't really have much control over it. Just buy a different brand next time. I hear great things about the woks sold by http://www.wokshop.com/

I've had a lot of different pans( all sizes) over the years although no carbon steel and have made caramel in non stick along with seared steaks, browned meats with fond and so on. Healthiest choice, no. But it works fine. I've has the cheapest Teflon pans, ceramic green pans, middle range (calphlon non stick) and for awhile the preferred non stick is Tramontina non stick although they do warp eventually. But they are heavy and nice, a 12" is $36 on amazon.

I also have an abundance of stainless, calphlon hard anodized, seasoned plain cast iron and enameled. In stainless I like the Brazilian made Tramontina.

I recently had power off for 5 days, and cooked on a camp stove with stainless and non stick.

I can't use it on the Viking in the in-law kitchen. The big cold spot in the center gets in the way.

Interesting comment, M. I’m for the first time living in a house with gas cooking, going on a year now, and I fight the uneven cooking on my Viking all the time. Regardless of cookware but I imagine CS would be particularly bad.

I see this post is on Appliances, too, all ears if anyone has suggestions for a significantly better 30” drop-in. I’d have bought the Bluestar months ago if it weren’t for the unfortunate layout. Not interested in the cost (both appliance and retrofitting) of switching to rangetop at this point. Yes, induction is a thought.

If you want powerful burners, great precision, even heating, and a built-in wok-ring, then nothing really comes close to Bluestar's open burner design. And yes, you are correct, the drop-in cooktop that they make doesn't have quite the same burners. The rangetop would certainly be more to your liking.

A skilled contractor can convert the countertop and cabinets so that you can go from cooktop to rangetop. And I personally feel the front-mounted controls are so much nicer than top-mounted ones. But I have no idea how much this type of work would cost where you live. There is huge variability in price.

If this is not the route you want to go, then induction certainly sounds promising. But if you thought your Viking was picky about which pots work well on it, then think twice about induction. You will likely need to upgrade some of your cookware. On the other hand, that's much cheaper than some of the other alternatives.