Best Nonstick Cookware

I've been using the Williams Sonoma brand (made by Scanpan) 9" & 11" ceramic coated skillets for a little over 5 years now.  I think the sales lady over sold the pans' abilities when I bought them, she touted their resiliency and being able to use metal utensils on them.  While I have always hand washed, never used abrasive pads to clean, and never used a utensil that wasn't wood, plastic, or silicone my most frequently used, 11" pan isn't so much nonstick anymore.

So who makes the best oven safe nonstick cookware?

I've got a stainless 3-ply All-Clad set that I like, and I've got my mom's cast iron.  I'm well aware of properly seasoned cast iron's abilities, but that's not germane to the subject of this thread, so save the cast iron veneration for another thread please.

I'd like to replace my 11" pan, but add something a little larger too, maybe a 13" pan, I'd like a flat griddle too, and maybe a deeper wok style pan, so I should probably be looking at cookware sets, instead of piecemeal.

I really like my aluminum core stainless All-Clad, but I don't see myself spending copper core or 5-ply prices.  I'm currently cooking on an electric range, will be on a gas range at our new place, so no need for induction pans.

I don't know if it's Zuckerberg's mind reading AI, or just web tracking cookies feeding my targeted ads on social media, but I've been seeing a lot of ads for Hexclad pans, their ads make them appear pretty tough.  Anyone use Hexclad?

So what do ya got?

I'd head to the nearest restaurant supply and tell them what size you want and what you're willing to spend.

I've just been getting the cheapest ceramic or copper coated stuff I can, abusing it to death, then buying more, if I'm being honest though. Handful of $5 pans that last a year is easier for my budget to swallow than a $40-50 pan that needs replaced every 3 to 5 years. 

It doesn't seem to matter how much I spend.  After a few years, the magic goes away.

The last nonstick skillets I bought were from Bezos.  Light-gage stainless steel, but decent.  MomsCook brand. 

I try to avoid aluminum cookware in general--coated or not.

For the one pan where I really want nonstick behavior (where I do eggs, fried, scrambled, omelet, whatever) I use an uncoated carbon steel skillet pretty much like  this (the one I actually got is no longer available).

As long as you treat it well (basically, use with oil, don't leave anything sitting in it when done, just rinse/scrubby it with no soap), it just gets nonstickier with time, and works pretty well right off the bat.

I hope that's not too close to going cast-iron in this thread, but it's genuinely nonstick in a way that I've never experienced with cast iron, and it lasts (and isn't full of vaguely worrying substances) in a way traditional nonstick stuff can't match.

Now, I don't demand nonstick for anything but my eggs. I use a combination of cast iron and mostly-Cuisinart stainless with heavy multilayer base for the rest of my cooking. I assume you could use the carbon steel for anything where you're sauteeing/frying/generally have a moderate amount of oil in the mix, and keep the nonstickiness, but I haven't played with that as much.

When I was cooking professionally, that's pretty much all that was in the kitchens (but these were not high-end kitchens, nor was the cooking I was doing, lest I give the wrong impression...)

I think it was Christopher Kimball of America's Test Kitchen/Milk Street fame who got me to revisit carbon steel at home years and years after cooking for money. Here's an article about them and notes on care: https://www.177milkstreet.com/2016/11/toss-out-your-nonstick-skillet

RevRico said:

I'd head to the nearest restaurant supply and tell them what size you want and what you're willing to spend.

I've just been getting the cheapest ceramic or copper coated stuff I can, abusing it to death, then buying more, if I'm being honest though. Handful of $5 pans that last a year is easier for my budget to swallow than a $40-50 pan that needs replaced every 3 to 5 years. 

This. I survived on tramontina pro for a long time. 

Tough to argue with cast iron.  A little oil or grease and there isnt much that is more non-stick.  And it lasts a lifetime.  Buy once cry once.  

check out the "Made In" brand.  direct-to-consumer clad and carbon steel pans.  not as $$ as All-Clad but judging by reviews they're a better product. 

our old teflon Calphalon and Circulon stuff is coming apart so I'm shopping those to replace my stock pots, skillets, and sauce pans.

I felt like I needed to make clear the nonstick thing with carbon steel. Pardon the craptactular portrait-mode video and the slightly too-hot pan and resultant crispy edges.

In reply to Jesse Ransom :

I wish I still had a gas range.  Even so, my next skillet purchase will be a carbon steel one.  I'm gonna give it a try!

Just tuned in to read all the lies about cast iron...

Also, non stick pans are a wear item.  They do not last forever. I need a new big one.  14"?  Its got to be ten years, though.  I have five or six kinda non stick 10 inchers under the stove.  My brother raves about one he got fron Costco, but I forget the brand.

Re reading this, it seems like I might as well not bothered typing...No useful information at all.  I will try to find out the brand of the Costco one.  I know it was in no way cheap.

I've been switching to stainless and carbon and cast.  Those forever chemicals in non stick give me the willies.  Ask Woodbury mn what 3m did to their water. 
 

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/01/10/woodbury-takes-emergency-action-to-tackle-water-contamination

Cast iron is great. It is not the same as a nonstick pan, sorry, and yes, mine is second-generation, well-seasoned happiness.

I, too, have decided forever nonstick is a contradiction in terms, and consider these pans consumables. These ceramic pans are current faves. So slippery it's hard to flip an egg--you just chase it around the pan with the less-slippery spatula.

Margie

Non-stick pans are like race car wheels, you use them up. :)  I use Tramontina.

Marjorie Suddard said:

Cast iron is great. It is not the same as a nonstick pan, sorry, and yes, mine is second-generation, well-seasoned happiness.

I, too, have decided forever nonstick is a contradiction in terms, and consider these pans consumables. These ceramic pans are current faves. So slippery it's hard to flip an egg--you just chase it around the pan with the less-slippery spatula.

Margie

Gotta learn to flip! No spatula.

I'm going to deep-fake a sketch with Rodney Dangerfield playing the part of carbon steel pan salesman in a room with folks just discussing how nonstick is disposable and possibly toxic but cast iron isn't slippery and how they wish there was a third option...

We just replaced most of our worn non-stick pans with GreenPans. Sur La Table just had a big sale.

I've sometimes pondered sending a cheap cast iron pan out to an industrial coating place and having them apply a coating. I don't like how thin a lot of the off the shelf nonstick pans are since this makes for uneven heat distribution, but I haven't tried pricing this out either.

I still don't know why they have to have the little handle buttons on the inside of the skillet.  Every time I wash one that has been left out with scrambled egg residue inside I cuss as I have to scrape the crap off around the little silver buttons.

Placemotorsports said:

I still don't know why they have to have the little handle buttons on the inside of the skillet.  Every time I wash one that has been left out with scrambled egg residue inside I cuss as I have to scrape the crap off around the little silver buttons.

Ah!  Have you seen the Matfer skillet?  They use a nice weld to attach the handle instead of those annoying rivets.

https://www.restaurantsupply.com/matfer-062002-black-steel-9-1-2-heavy-duty-round-frying-pan?msclkid=826ba281a330142d1c74fdb341a6a6b1&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%5BADL%5D%20%5BPLA%5D%20%5BShopping%5D%20-%20%7BGQ%7D&utm_term=4576029962605073&utm_content=PLA%20-%20%7BGQ%7D&adlclid=ADL-9ced7d5c-427c-4d7f-b2c5-bfb856b33773

1988RedT2 said:

Placemotorsports said:

I still don't know why they have to have the little handle buttons on the inside of the skillet.  Every time I wash one that has been left out with scrambled egg residue inside I cuss as I have to scrape the crap off around the little silver buttons.

Ah!  Have you seen the Matfer skillet?  They use a nice weld to attach the handle instead of those annoying rivets.

https://www.restaurantsupply.com/matfer-062002-black-steel-9-1-2-heavy-duty-round-frying-pan?msclkid=826ba281a330142d1c74fdb341a6a6b1&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%5BADL%5D%20%5BPLA%5D%20%5BShopping%5D%20-%20%7BGQ%7D&utm_term=4576029962605073&utm_content=PLA%20-%20%7BGQ%7D&adlclid=ADL-9ced7d5c-427c-4d7f-b2c5-bfb856b33773

F'n genius

I know the OP mentioned a Scanpan-made variant, I'd still speak up for Scanpan's other products. I bought one of their 10" skillets almost a decade ago, and it still works very well. It needs a little oil now, but it's the first pan I've owned that was truly nonstick and continues to be after years of use. I bought a larger size a few years ago, based on my satisfaction with the first one. 

My kitchen has a combination of stainless steel (All Clad), enameled cast iron (Cuisinart dutch oven and Bruntmore saute pan), carbon steel fry pan (Matfer Bourgeat  12 5/8" - I picked it because of lack of rivets), and cast iron (Lodge 12"  - my ex-wife broke my Fine-X 12" !! )

The ones I use the most are the 13" All Clad Rondeaux, 4qt All Clad, Bruntmore enameled cast iron, and Matfer Bourgeat carbon steel.  

I use the enameled cast iron pan a lot for things like spaghetti sauce that are acidic and would strip the seasoning off the cast iron and carbon steel.

We picked up a couple of Cooks Essentials brand and have been decent so far.  You don't know how bad your old skillets and pans are until you buy new ones.  Told the wife that we should probably just get new every 6 months since that's about how long they seem to last