The testers also found this set very easy to clean, and the deep pans are perfect for cooking larger batches for a family or crowd. The sizes of the pans are good, and given the price point, this cookware set offers affordable and exceptional value with good performance. We like the angle of the stick handle, and the rounded bottom fits nicely in your hand, even when you’re holding a dish towel or pot holder. That said, some people may find the concave handle uncomfortable to hold. We also found the handles on the All-Clad lids easy to grab, unlike the tiny ones on the Mauviel M’cook pieces .
The rims on these pots are specially tapered to allow for drip-free pouring. Armed with a passion for French cuisine, he went to France in the early 1970s to seek inspiration. He came up with an idea for a cookware business and named it Cuisinart. I’ve already discussed why I believe higher prices are often worth it. To elaborate on the sharpness of the tapered rims, it’s not like they’ll cut you like a knife.
Cuisinart hit the American market in 1973 when its founder, Carl Sontheimer, introduced one of the first residential food processors to the American market. I conducted the same test with GreenPan, HexClad, All-Clad, Calphalon, and Misen pans. Want to know when brands like All-Clad, Made In, HexClad, and KitchenAid go on sale? Join our free newsletter to get deal alerts, giveaways, and exclusive content. For example, the Cuisinart Chef’s Classic comes with a dark hard-anodized aluminum exterior.
And while this set doesn’t have fancy carbon steel or hard-anodized aluminum, it is nontoxic and has a built-in spoon rest. The seared scallops did leave a mark however it was easy to remove with the help of Bar Keepers Friend. The Open Kitchen by Williams-Sonoma cuisinart soup maker Stainless-Steel 10-Piece Cookware Set has a small, 6-quart stockpot (we recommend at least an 8-quart stockpot), so we opted not to test. But if you want to prolong the life of your pans, avoid using sharp utensils whenever possible.
We also found that the stick handles were comfortable to hold and the appropriate length, unlike the Anolon Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel 12-Piece Cookware Set’s handles, which were too short. In 2022, Tramontina redesigned its 8- and 10-inch skillets so they have a slightly larger cooking surface with steeper sides, which we prefer. The pans are still nicely sloped to fit the curves of a whisk, and their lips are flared enough to allow moisture to evaporate when you are searing meat or sautéing vegetables. The handle shape remains the same, but it’s angled just a bit higher. We found the higher angle provided more leverage when tossing vegetables, and it made the skillets easier to maneuver around the stovetop.
While cooking a frittata, the eggs took a bit of coaxing with the spatula to get them out of the pan without sticking. Overall, the handle stayed cool to the touch during the cooking process and there was no warping when the pan cooled off in the ice bath afterward. During testing, testers found that the pan heated evenly at all points, with the average temperature being around 325 degrees. For information on how to prevent food from sticking to your stainless steel cookware, check out our blog post on the subject.
For each set, we started by testing how well the large skillets retained heat. We did this by using an infrared thermometer to make a heat map of their cooking surface. We also sprinkled the surface of each large skillet with a dusting of flour and placed the pan over a medium-high flame to see how evenly the flour browned. Then, to evaluate how uniformly the skin browned, we sautéed chicken pieces in the skillets. Using the large saucepan from each set, we prepared small batches of caramel to check for hot spots; then we simmered a large batch of tomato sauce in each stockpot to test for scorching.
During each test, we evaluated the design, durability, heating capabilities, versatility, and ease of cleaning for every pot. We also sent some of the most popular sets to our experienced team of writers and editors forhome testing. When you set out on a cookware set shopping expedition, it’s all but expected that you’ll be looking at higher price tags. That cuisinart pots and pans set was certainly the case with most of the pan sets we tested in our larger review of stainless steel cookware. After all, finding an entire family of high-quality pots and pans without shelling out top dollar can be tricky indeed. That said, it’s not impossible—a fact we happily confirmed when we got our hands on Cuisinart’s Chef’s Classic Stainless Steel Set.