If you want to invest in some pieces and save on others, we recommend a Proline or D3 skillet and sauté pan, and Multiclad Pro for sauce pans, sauciers, stock pots, and roasting pans. The clad stainless steel cookware market is huge, and with most of it made in China, the quality often just isn’t there. These 5 top brands tramontina pans offer the best options at several price points. In fact, if you can’t afford even our budget picks (the Tramontina or Multiclad Pro), we suggest you forego a set and just buy two or three essential pieces, and add to them as you can. Clad stainless cookware at a lower price point is probably not worth the investment.
But if flared rims/lips are important to you, All-Clad D3 is not the set for you. If the choice is between a handle that digs into your hand a little or one that’s going to slip out of it more easily, we’ll pick the one that digs in every time. In fact, the All-Clad D3 handle is our favorite of all the cookware brands in this review. One of the best things about All-Clad is how many buying options you have.
The more important measure is the actual thickness of the heating core. Cladding comes in many forms and many levels of quality and heating performance. If cookware is “nickel-free,” it’s probably 400-grade stainless throughout, which is not as corrosion resistant. Tramontina sells many products, including cookware, bakeware, tramontina cookware set outdoor collections, kitchen accessories, and flatware in over 120 countries. Learn more about Tramontina Cast Iron Cookware in my article reviewing Tramontina cast iron Dutch ovens. Nonstick food release score reflects the nonstick qualities of a pan’s interior by cooking four eggs consecutively without oil.
Or maybe there’s a valid reason that Americans dislike bottom-clad pieces. As great as the Atlantis cookware is, the heavy bottoms can make it feel a little “unbalanced” when you’re accustomed to fully clad pieces. In the US, these are thought of as mostly interchangeable pans. The different design of the Atlantis cookware makes this a less straightforward option.
So go ahead and get a nonstick skillet, but get a cast aluminum one. It’s not only cheaper, but it will heat just as well, probably better, and you’ll be happy that you got tramontina cookware 2-3 years of use out of a $30 pan (rather than 2-3 years of use out of a $100+ pan). The more expensive brands in our top 5 have a thicker layer (or layers) of aluminum.
Contact customer service, and they should happily send you a replacement for free. Remember, this brand of cookware has a lifetime warranty, and it definitely covers warping. In fact, we think the handles on All-Clad tri-ply are excellent. They provide a terrific amount of grip and traction, with the U-shape making it almost impossible for the handle to slip out of your grip no matter how you grab it. So if a set has larger pieces–which, incidentally, are going to be more expensive when purchased separately–it gets bonus points. Whether or not to buy your pots and pans in sets or individually is really a personal preference, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.