In the store, people often take the longest to decide between a pan with a coating and a pan without. What you read below comes from the questions we receive there, from our own experience, and from what is offered here.

Why did your previous frying pan wear out so quickly?

A non-stick coating wears off, even if you follow all the guidelines. How many years you get depends on what kind of pan you have. An aluminum pan with a coating lasts a few years, and in a cheaper pan, that coating is thinner, so it wears out faster. A pan without a non-stick coating has no layer that can wear off; stainless steel and cast iron remain usable as long as you don't drop them and maintain them well.

We know it doesn't have to be your fault not only from our own store: the Consumers' Association tested 13 PFAS-free frying pans of 28 cm, with 106 baking sessions per pan. At the beginning, they all performed well, but in the end, none of them did. With each pan, the bottom permanently bulged, even with a thick bottom. That doesn't mean that what you do doesn't matter.

You can save the coating by:

Not cutting in the pan and using wooden or plastic utensils.
Not putting it directly on the heat.
Preferably washing a coated pan by hand.

If you can see through the coating or see that pieces are coming off, you should no longer cook in it; this also applies to a ceramic coating. How to clean the pan without damaging the coating is explained in our article on cleaning your frying pan.

What should a frying pan cost?

You don't have to end up with the most expensive brand to cook well. An aluminum pan with a ceramic coating from the lower end of the mid-range does exactly what it needs to do for many people. You cook in it for a few years and then buy a new one.

Calculate the cost of a pan in terms of what it costs you per year. A more expensive pan that you don't have to replace often turns out differently than it seems in the store. If you prefer to buy a cheap pan every few years and that works for you, there's nothing wrong with that. You're paying for convenience, not for longevity.

If you're buying it as a gift and don't know how the other person cooks, stick to the mid-range. Choose a coated pan in a common size; this minimizes the chance of hassle.

One frying pan or two?

At home, two pans usually work better side by side than one large one: a small one for an egg or a piece of fish, and a large one for meat or a whole meal. No pan cooks everything equally well, as what is ideal for steak is not for an egg. The other combination we often recommend is a coated pan for eggs and fish alongside a stainless steel or steel pan for meat.

If you need more than one individual frying pan, you have three options:

If you want both at once, the frying pan sets are also included in this overview. A significant portion of the offerings above consists of such sets.
If you're missing more than just a frying pan, for example, because you're setting up a kitchen from scratch, then complete cookware sets are a better choice.
If you're making a sauce or a one-pot dish in that second pan, you'll need a high rim and will end up with the sauté pans.

How much work do you want to put into your pan?

Whether a pan can go in the dishwasher depends on the material:

Stainless steel can go in without concern.
A non-stick pan can also go in, although it will deteriorate faster because dishwasher tablets have to clean everything and are therefore aggressive.
Sheet steel and untreated cast iron should never go in: the seasoned layer will disappear, and the pan will rust.

Sheet steel and untreated cast iron need to be seasoned first, and you do that over gas: on induction, the pan doesn't get hot enough. Expect quite a bit of smoke in the house. How that works is explained in our article on how to season a sheet steel pan. For stainless steel, that doesn't apply: you use the pan as it comes out of the box.

A seasoned pan should be washed by hand and then briefly placed on the heat so that the last moisture evaporates. If you don't do that, you'll quickly see rust formation. A tomato sauce will break down the seasoned layer again. The fact that such a pan changes color in use is normal: it is still clean.

A bare pan scares many people, and we notice that in the store. If this is your first frying pan, don't immediately choose stainless steel or sheet steel. If you're done with coatings that wear out, then that route is your final destination and not a stepping stone; the extra work is part of it.

Why you find both the coated pan and the uncoated pan here

Because we sell both, we have no reason to push you in one direction. We can also indicate which route does not suit you. That's why you read above that a pan from the mid-range is sufficient for many people, and that you better not start with stainless steel or sheet steel if this is your first pan.

A new line of pans first goes into our showroom, and only after we have cooked with them ourselves do we tell customers what it does.

If you don't choose either side above, there is still a middle ground. In the hybrid HexaCook pans, there is a honeycomb pattern of stainless steel that slightly protrudes above the non-stick coating, so your food makes partial contact with both. When frying, you notice this with your steak: it browns more than in a regular coated pan.