However, judging from our years of experience, as long as you reduce the heat after preheating your pan on medium or medium-high heat, you won’t damage your pans. The Goldilocks Cookware Set Plus is the best budget cookware we’ve tested, and it performed almost as well as our other picks. It heats evenly, cleans up well, and costs under $250 at the time of publishing. Cast iron is heavy, reactive to acidic food, and more difficult to maintain. But we recommend that you have at least one cast-iron skillet in your kitchen because it’s such a versatile pan.
The set is oven-safe to 500 degrees and can be used on any cooking surface, including induction. The only piece you might want to add to this collection is a nonstick skillet for your morning eggs. This six piece cookware set from Cuisinart includes a stockpot, two saucepans, two fry pans and a sauté pan.
According to Mary Rodgers, head of marketing communications at Cuisinart, 7-11 pieces is an ideal range to start with but you’ll want to keep in mind that lids count in that number. In general, she recommends looking for a combination of saucepans, sautés pans, skillets, and stock pots. Explore the complete kitchen essentials range with attractive cookware sets available at Target. Whether you’re moving to a new dorm or a new house, our versatile cookware sets will make your kitchen chores a breeze. We have everything from nonstick frying pans and saucepans to hard-anodized cookware sets that fit right in with your kitchenware.
Cuisinart® bakeware, baking tools and equipment allows you to bring the bakery home. Try your hand at homemade cupcakes, bundt cakes, mini pies, or mini loafs. Our bakeware is perfect for pleasing a crowd or spending quality time with your own little sous chef.
However, unlike the All-Clad and Tramontina sets, the Goldilocks set doesn’t include a 3- or 4-quart sauté pan with a lid (though a cast-iron skillet would work in lieu of it). Some of the pieces in this set are slightly heavier than the All-Clad and Tramontina pieces, so keep that in mind if you’re partial to cookware with less heft. We also experienced some minor sticking while sautéing cuisinart pots and pans set chicken in the skillets, but it was minimal. Overall, the Goldilocks set performed better than any other set we’ve tested in this price range. The handles are riveted onto the base which is a guarantee that they’ll never fall off. D3 can be used in the oven up to 600 degrees F, so you can finish off a piece of salmon in the oven or crisp up a skillet mac ‘n cheese under the broiler.