I'm in the dog house because I bought an induction hob and none of our pans are compatible. Our main set of pans are copper bottomed Prestige set that was a wedding present from 1979. They have been used and misused daily, and have never had as much as a loose handle they will last a further 100 years, no wonder they didn't survive as a UK made brand. But I digress.
I am looking at these two sets
formatting link
[amazon]
formatting link
[currys.co.uk]
Am I better off with the steel pans or the aluminium ones with (presumably) a ferrous base?
Yes, the Prestege ones are ss. They aren't "detected" by my daughters induction hob, I havn't unboxed mine yet. A magnet is not attracted to the body of the pan but that's normal with SS. It is attracted slightly to the rims of the pans, I wonder why?
I'll pop into Currys and look at their set tomorrow.
Only in the dog house! Surprised your not sleeping somehere else...
Where does it say the wedding pressy pans are copper bottomed ali? If these pans have wooden handles they may well be the same as a set we have. And yes they are stainless and they don't work on the induction hob. Stainless isn't magnetic.
Pans are rather personal, I wouldn't touch either of those sets with a barge pole 1st set non stick, well it's OK for 6 months but can't really take daily use and abuse. 2nd set have a glowing red spot gimmick. One set has phenolic (aka plastic) handles.
Lighter than the cast iron. B-)
My favourite pans ATM are Meyer "Bella Classico" but appear to be now made of unobtainium. Unless you are in Thailand:
formatting link
e_set.asp
3490 TBH is about 70 GBP not bad for a set of ten.
I'd go for plain stainless, with a heavyish base(*) and from a maker who will sell individual pans, having two small pans and two medium ones is very useful. Find a decent cookshop but be prepared to spend some money £30 for 5 pans is, IMHO, cheap tat that won't last. If those wedding pressy pans are the same as mine they weren't cheap, £5 to £10/pan 30 years ago (£25 to £50/pan today).
formatting link
(*) Our single ring, portable, induction hob is still "bang bang" control rather than linear. A heavyish base helps to even out the temperature variation.
Bought them 3 or 4 years ago purely because of the steamer pan thing but the rest of the pans are brilliant. Heavy, not covered in toxic teflon and when stuff gets burnt on the bottom which it does, even with an induction hob (don't believe the hype) you can scour 'em proper or super hard burnt stuff just leave it soaking with a crumbled up dishwasher tablet and a jug full of boiled water.
Brilliant pans.... Ha... just noticed this: "Care Instructions: Hand wash recommended" Ours go in the dish washer when there's space. no harm has come to them yet.
We don't have an induction hob, but we do have a set of Costco Kirkland pans, bought at least 20 years ago, and very good they are too, so a +1 from me, too.
TBH, anything sold by Costco under their Kirkland brand is worth looking at, in my experience.
le Creuset make some superb induction pans - all stainless skin so very easy to clean, metal handles, should last forever. Which is just as well given the price. I have 3 (small, medium, big) and they do everything, except for omelettes and other large scale frying.
IMNSHO, vastly preferable. The design of these handles dissipates most of the heat before it reaches the bit you grab, the metal handles are more durable, and don't suffer if a dish is finished off in the oven.
One of these is useful when removing metal-handled pots from the oven -
Hmm. I don't think I'd bother with them - the induction plate heats the disk, which then heats the pan. You might as well be using a standard electric ring. Waste of both energy and time.
And? No wood or plastic to crack of get burnt. Being an induction hob no heat rising around the sides of the pan to heat the handle, the only heat is that conducted through from the top of the pan. As long as they are of sufficient diameter they will dissipate enough heat to the air to keep them at a safe handling temperature.
Possibly. I'd never heard of them before, but someone else said that to get ss pans to work, they just stuck a steel disc on the bottom. So, I was just wondering if someone had invented a converter. I am no longer amazed that no matter what you can think of, someone has already invented it.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.