Stockpot is nonstick and both pot and cover are dishwasher safe for easy cleanup. Inspired by the kitchens of France, our elegant Cuisinart® Chef’s Classic™ Stainless Cookware Collection features stainless steel and pure aluminum encapsulated in the base for fast and even heating. We guarantee the 12 Quart Stockpot with Cover with a lifetime warranty and include measurement markings inside the stockpot for easier cooking.
The Cooks Standard, Tramontina, and Berghoff all have comfortable handles and boiled water in an acceptable amount of time, but they all burned fond during the mirepoix testing. We picked our winners based on handle comfort, boiling, and cooking performance. The Cuisinart set itself apart here, gently and evenly browning the vegetables and creating a good, even cuisinart clermont cover fond, without any worrying signs of burning on the bottom or corners of the pot. Other pots were more prone to scorching and charring, both on the vegetables themselves and the fond on the pots’ bottoms. Our budget pick, Cook N Home, didn’t manage the heat as evenly as the Cuisinart, but with some careful attention, you can still easily avoid burning the fond.
From personal experience, I can say that frequent discoloration can be a nuisance to deal with if you’re persistent in managing it after every couple of uses. The tall sidewalls are made from a single layer of non-reactive stainless steel. The single-ply design is still very sturdy and you get a lot of weight and cost savings.
With its Ceramica interior coating, Cuisinart’s GreenGourmet stockpot offers the real deal in nonstick performance. And the anodized aluminum provides a light material with outstanding heat transfer for consistent, even cooking and energy savings. Very popular with online shoppers, they give the Update stainless steel stockpots top marks for their sturdy, well-made construction, and the even heat cuisinart griddler elite distribution of the clad bottom. The top eight-quart stockpot is slightly tapered, allowing for easy filling and pouring. This eight-quart stockpot is safe to use in a dishwasher, and the cooking ability of this cookware is really impressive, as it equally distributes the heat and does develop hot spots. This Cuisinart eight-quart stockpot is impressive and is surely worth your investment.
If you have a little extra room in your budget, the Viking stockpot is a bargain for a fully clad option. A large amount of water is key to properly cooking pasta, crab and lobster, or blanching vegetables. Having enough water so that you don’t lose the boil as ingredients are added will ensure consistent and even cooking.
This Cook N Home eight quart stockpot is compatible with various gas and electric powered stovetops and has a good heat-resisting ability. When it comes to stainless the brand is less important than how it’s constructed. Sometimes higher end pans have 5 or 7 layers or even more, but I’m unconvinced you need more than three based on all the tests I’ve seen. Our test field included both fully clad pots, like the All-Clad cgwm-081 and our winning Cuisinart, as well as pots that have cladding only on the bottom. Full cladding adds weight and cost, but helps manage heat better and reduces the risk of scorching, especially in the corners where the pot wall meets the base. Lids are either tempered glass or stainless steel, and while we didn’t find the material of the lids to affect performance, we generally prefer metal lids since glass can break.
A few multi-ply models, such as All-Clad’s D5 line, contain extra layers of steel rather than copper, in order to maximize performance on induction. However, many of these extra layers are too thin to make much of a difference, and most of the core material is still composed of aluminum. Although aluminum is a much, much better conductor of heat than steel or iron, copper and silver are better still. Cookware of this size can vary in weight, depending on the dimensions of the pot and the materials used. Look for one you can handle comfortably, with a nice balance and a slightly heavier bottom for stability.
The kitchens of France were the inspiration behind the elegant Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Stainless Cookware Collection and our 12-quart Stockpot with Cover is no exception. Boasting induction ready stainless steel construction with pure aluminum encapsulated in the base for fast and even heating, this is one smart stockpot. It also offers quick and efficient heating and is light weight, which is always appreciated in the larger sizes. Large loop handles made of sturdy cast stainless steel are welded to the walls and lid, for a safe and secure grip when moving this large cauldron. Resulting from the poor heat transfer of the cast stainless, they’ll remain cool to the touch even after being on a hot stove. Nonetheless, despite the spotty heating, plain stainless steel is a more than adequate material for very large stockpots that are used primarily to boil water or other liquids.