So a saucepan’s a saucepan?

Well no, true they all hold liquid, but that’s about as far as it goes I guess.

My partner and I love cooking and I write this blog after having gone to a lot of trouble to choose some lovely saucepans, which we thought would last us many years (they had a lifetime guarantee) Regrettably we were wrong and needed to get the lovely people at John Lewis to change them (which to be fair, they did after  using them for about 18 months without trouble).

I don’t think I’m going to give the name of the make as it’s not entirely relevant to the story, but we did learn a few good lessons. Indeed the pans were just wonderful to cook with, completely non-stick and to a degree we were sad to have to change them, however the range was discontinued.

The problems we had with these particular saucepans helped us make a more informed decision on the next set.

  • Firstly the aluminium anodised pans were anodised to be non-stick which worked fantastically, but also anodised on the outside, I guess for appearance, but that anodising continued on the base and wore away up the sides, becoming very, very noticeable on the more commonly used sizes until the pans looked old and unsightly. The manufacturers said they were surprised and had not had such problems although one has to wonder why the range was discontinued. I personally would now  avoid anodised pans that do not have a separate bonded base.
  •  All in all though, our replacement pans now have a bonded stainless steel base, which should prevent scratching up the sides as you move the saucepans around whilst cooking.
  • The second thing we learned is that even if the manufacturer says it is dishwasher safe, I wouldn’t risk it as there was a question whether that had contributed to their damage. and staining. The anodized sets are so easy to clean and rinse off under the sink in fact there is little need to put them in the dishwasher.
  • Not so much a problem as a choice, there were some wonderful saucepans with not only a bonded stainless steel base but copper strips for greater conductivity even though more expensive, but they did not have glass lids. It would have been great to have the choice ( manufacturers please take note) as our preference is a glass lid so you can see what is happening with your cooking creations.

So… the new set that John Lewis exchanged for us was the Le Creuset range pictured below from their website and we look forward to the joy of cooking with it whilst keeping its appearance for years to come.

 

We have since bought a set of Circulon Symmetry for our holiday home in the States and this set has also been a joy to cook with.

Circulon Symmetry Hard Anodized Range

 

avatar Name: Alexandra Eager
About: Formerly Finance and Operations Director of anmarketing agency. Now luckily semi-retired. Amateur interior design buff, constantly experimenting on my own home (much to the chargrins of hubby) and passionate about anything to do with home interiors and improvements. Wish my house was bigger!

Follow Alex on G+ and Twitter
Posts by Alexandra Eager (49)