Two pots of ø 24 cm differ here by more than 2 liters, so when looking for a cooking pot, you first look at the liters. Furthermore, it’s about the lid and the handles, as the material of most cooking pots here is stainless steel.

How many cooking pots do you actually need?

Less than many people think. Also, those who have more mainly cook at home with the same two; that’s what we know from our store.

The small one is ø 16 to ø 20 cm, for rice or a sauce. For the cooking pots that you buy separately here, the capacity in those sizes ranges from 1.1 to 3.7 liters. In the large one, an ø 24 cm, which usually has 5.1 to 5.5 liters here, you cook pasta, vegetables, or soup.

A third cooking pot is especially handy in a family, and then a taller one for soup.

The BK Pannenset Conical Cool 5-delig gives you the small and the large at once, plus an ø 18, an ø 20 cm, and a saucepan. For those who don’t have any cooking pots yet, such a set is handy, although you might use those intermediate sizes less often.

BK Pannenset Conical Cool 5-delig

Do you already have a large cooking pot for pasta and soup?

If your largest cooking pot is ø 20 cm or smaller, then you are missing the large one. In a set of four parts, that chance is high: in that set, the cooking pots are usually ø 16, 18, and 20 cm.

If you are afraid of burning your fingers while draining, cold handles help, and the Beka Kookpan Maestro ø 24 cm has them. Its capacity is 5.1 liters, and from the same line, there are also an ø 16 and an ø 20 cm available here.

Beka Kookpan Maestro ø 24 cm

The Sola Kookpan Ruby ø 24 cm fits a smaller budget than the Maestro and has 5.5 liters, but it does not have cold handles.

Sola Kookpan Ruby ø 24 cm

Glass lid, stainless steel lid, or a draining lid?

With a glass lid, you can see the potatoes coming to a boil, and in the meantime, the pot stays closed. A stainless steel lid, like on the Maestro cooking pots, is chosen for how it looks: many people find stainless steel more beautiful, but you can't see through it. The Beka Kookpan Cicla ø 20 cm is a small pot of 2.8 liters with a glass lid, for rice or sauce that you want to keep an eye on. Cold handles are also one of its features.

Beka Kookpan Cicla ø 20 cm

The lid of the Sola Soeppan Diamond ø 24 cm has a draining system, so draining can be done without a colander. This soup pot of 5.5 liters, according to its features, does not have cold handles. For all your cooking pots at once, there are pot sets with a draining lid.

Sola Soeppan Diamond ø 24 cm

What is the best material for a cooking pot?

For a cooking pot, our advice is stainless steel without a non-stick coating, and most cooking pots here are made of that. The dishwasher is generally not a problem for stainless steel, and the product page indicates that for most stainless steel cooking pots as well. The description of the Sola Soeppan Juvia ø 24 cm still recommends hand washing.

With proper maintenance, a stainless steel cooking pot rarely needs to be replaced, while a cooking pot with a coating does need to be replaced sooner. With stainless steel, the risk is in the bottom: it can warp if you heat the pot empty, especially at full power. So first put water in it and only then turn on the cooking zone or flame.

A cooking pot made of stainless steel without a coating is PFAS-free. For a pot with a coating, it’s different, and for those pots, we have our explanation about pans without Teflon and PFAS.

If you are looking for a black cooking pot, check out the Cookinglife Kookpan Black Speckle ø 20 cm: it is made of aluminum with a standard non-stick coating.

Cookinglife Kookpan Black Speckle ø 20 cm

Which cooking pots work on induction?

For the cooking pots that you buy separately here, induction is indicated with all the heat sources. This also applies to the Black Speckle and the Alessi, which are made of aluminum with a coating. The pot sets with cooking pots that are currently in stock also have induction indicated with their heat sources. Our first choice for a cooking pot on induction and the reason for that is discussed in our article about pots for induction.