Cookware - need advice-UPDATE

I am looking into buying new cookware. I primarily need a skillet (maybe both 8 and 10 inch), a stock pot, a pasta insert, 2ish qt saucepan and a 6 quart pot w/ lid. I've been researching various brands (low end is Sur La Table's line, middle is All Clad MC2 and highest end is Mauviel (however, I would probably only buy 2 or 3 pieces if I bought Mauviel) I have read about Dr. Weil's line and am intrigued by it as well. I can get a very complete set of that for around $599 -- I haven't looked at it in person.
Also, I want a skillet that keeps that nice "slip" without being non-stick (think eggs over easy).

Any advice? I am a relatively serious home cook, but that is it.
Any thoughts/suggestions? Any restaurant supply stores that I should look into for open stock no-name items? Am I insane and should just buy a $199 set at Target or some Martha Stewart from Macy's?

These are some of the things that I've being looking at:
http://www.surlatable.com/product/collections/
http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/i ... ryID=33968
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=480&f=14618

$600 is the most I would spend and the lower end I've seen is around $299.

Thanks in advance for any/all advice that you are willing to give.

Buy Calphanon. They are great, non-stick anodized aluminum, that is easy to clean, durable, and visually appealing. That's my two cents.

Thanks! I had a set of Caphalon from our wedding (10 yrs ago) -- the non-stick surfaces scratched and I'm concerned about non-stick cookware now. That's the only reason that I didn't consider Caphalon. Our set only lasted about 7 years.

Nicole,

You may want to look at the (I almost hate to say it) "WolfGang Puck" line of clad pans. They are available thru Macy's and probably others. Usually I would never seriously consider a department store celebrity line for "good pans" , but my understanding is they are made by AllClad, not quite the same weight, but much cheaper. We bought a small set of them for our cooking classes and all the chefs liked them: I personally love my 12" covered saute. I use Calphalon non-stick for big stock and pasta pots, but for what you are describing this might.

Also, check Fine Cooking and Cook's Illustrated magazines: they regularly run tests of various pans/skillets.

Deb

The Dine Company on Preston sells to the food service industry. However they welcome walk ins from the public.

Also TJ MAXX on Taylorsville Rd at Hikes Point often has excellent prices on good cookware. Being a close out store, the selection varies, but the prices are great.

I second Deb's recommendation (and with the same sort of "please don't shoot me" sensibility). I bought a set 5 years ago from hsn, and they still run regular deals on them (better prices and slightly better quality than the same line at Sam's Club), including paying for them over something like three months. I've added to the set I bought since then, and I keep going back to them.

You may want to check out Ebay. I sold a number of Mauviel items on Ebay a few months back. They sold for about half of retail and were in almost new condition. It was strange I bought a huge lot of them from a farm auction, nobody there could believe that I would want to use such "heavy" pans, I got quite a deal.

Thanks! I had a set of Caphalon from our wedding (10 yrs ago) -- the non-stick surfaces scratched and I'm concerned about non-stick cookware now. That's the only reason that I didn't consider Caphalon. Our set only lasted about 7 years.

I had the same experience with Calphalon One. I have never tried the non-stick variety. The sauce pans went into the recycle bin years ago.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts! When I was looking into the WP set, I noticed some reviews for Tramontina's higher-end line -- The Tri-ply clad, which seems very similar to All-Clad. (As a side note, if anyone is looking for a deal on a huge WP set, they are one clearance here:
Wolfgang Puck 18-piece Cookware Set

Upon further research, one reviewer mentioned that you could get the higher end Tramontina set online from WalMart for over $100 less than she'd seen anywhere else.

Sure enough, sure was right! It didn't have the pasta pot, so I ordered that separately, since they were so affordable. If I'm not happy when they show up, I can just take them back to the store. I'll keep you posted on how I like them.
Here is the set. I got them for $136.
http://www.amazon.com/Tramontina-Tri-pl ... B000LMJLWA

ETA: Since the Tramontina Enameled Dutch Oven received accolades in the most recent Cooks Illustrated, I wanted to pick one up at WalMart, too, but they were sold out right now. (My Martha Stewart one cracked and I don't want to spend the $ on a Le Crueset.)

We've had problems from our calphalon non-stick as well, and they are only just over two years old. I like them in general, I've just fallen completely out of love with non-stick pans. The next skillet we get is likely to still be Calphalon, but will instead be from the Calphalon One Infused Anodized line, which is stick resistant.

We've had problems from our calphalon non-stick as well, and they are only just over two years old. I like them in general, I've just fallen completely out of love with non-stick pans. The next skillet we get is likely to still be Calphalon, but will instead be from the Calphalon One Infused Anodized line, which is stick resistant.

I absolutely agree- I really wish I had bought the anodized line too. I do like the feel of the Calphalon better than most other manufacturers I tried.

I know this will seem stupid and old fashioned, but my mom passed down some Revere Ware and I am using it to this very day. She told me she received her set in the 50's as a wedding gift. It does have some wear and tear but is intact and I can cook the shit out of anything in it. So, what do you say? All you folks paying those big dollars. Is the new stuff really better than the old stuff? Oh, and I have 2 old cast iron skillets. That's the real way to cook, y'all hear.

The Dine Company on Preston sells to the food service industry. However they welcome walk ins from the public.

Also TJ MAXX on Taylorsville Rd at Hikes Point often has excellent prices on good cookware. Being a close out store, the selection varies, but the prices are great.

I second Dine. We have gotten several excellent deals there, and their prices are really hard to beat.

If you check in the "used" section in the back, sometimes you'll get lucky. We got a really nice Calphalon non-stick skillet, that was practically brand new for $5.

My previous comment on Calphalon still stands, you have to, as with all non-stick cookware, take care of them by not using metal utensils, harsh detergents, or scrubbers. I have had a set that I use in my kitchen at work and have used them for 8 years now at every place I work. All my dishwashers love them, because they know not to scrub them, nor do they ever need to. On the other hand, their bakeware line is total crap in my opinion. The non-stick flakes off in high tempuratures on their baking sheets.

I second Steve's idea of TJ Maxx or Dine Company, I once got a sterling silver plated chafer at TJ Maxx for $100 when they are normally $600. It had a scratch on the indentation where you put the sterno where no one sees it.

I had a set of revere ware a million years ago from the same era. My mother gave me hers when I went away to college, and I used them for years not thinking twice about the quality because that's pretty much all there was for the general consumer.

Sure, you can cook in just about anything, even a hole in the ground, or heck just buy a cheap grill and set it out on your back porch. But for me, once I decided to invest a little more in better cookware, I was surprised by how much better the stuff really was and how much easier to cook with. I didn't spend a fortune, and I was able to buy the stuff over three months. That was about 6 years ago, and it's one of the best things I've ever done for my kitchen and cooking. I figure if it's my money and I have it to spend, and if something is demonstrably better, then why not.

I went back to the hsn site on the heels of this discussion to look at what they have now and was surprised by some of the customer reviews until I realized it meant they didn't know what they were doing and had become so used to non-stick cooking they didn't know anything else. I've never really understood the aversion we all have to cleaning a thing. And if you use the stuff correctly, generally it's as easy to clean as non-stick anyway. And one woman said she was so disappointed she wanted to send the stuff back because once she'd used it it didn't look the same as when she pulled it out of the box. It wasn't pretty anymore, which made me laugh. If you want your cookware to look pretty, hang it up and leave it there and cook with something else.