Cookware Set with Straining System

On our product pages, such a draining lid is also called a "draining aid", "strainer lid", "strainer" or "draining function". Behind those names are now two types of lids, and with each type, you drain in a different way. At least as important when draining are the pot under the lid and the handle by which you lift it.

What do you hold when draining with the lid on the pot?

Draining lids come in these types:

• A lid with openings or a strainer edge you hold on the pot while you tilt it, and the cooking water runs away through the openings. This works with the Sola Diamond and Pearl sets and with the BerlingerHaus sets.

• A lid with draining positions you first turn to one of the four positions, and then you drain without removing the lid. In this offer, only the WMF Function 4 has such a lid.

• A lid that you secure with a quarter turn under the edge, so that you hold both handles while draining, is currently not available from us.

According to Sola, the Sola Cookware Set Juvia 4-Piece Stainless Steel and the Sola Cookware Set Juvia 5-Piece Stainless Steel also have a glass lid with draining openings. Sola places silicone pads on it, which are meant to protect your hands from the hot lid.

Does the draining lid also fit on the saucepan and frying pan?

Especially the cooking pots of a set receive a draining lid. The saucepan and frying pans do not have one in every set.

In the Sola Cookware Set Diamond 4-Piece Stainless Steel there are cooking pots of ø 16, 18 and 20 cm and a saucepan of ø 16 cm, all made of stainless steel without a coating. Here, each pot has a draining lid, including the saucepan. The Sola Cookware Set Diamond 5-Piece Stainless Steel has the same pots plus a cooking pot of ø 24 cm. It does not specify which of these has the draining lid.

Sola Cookware Set Diamond 4-Piece Stainless Steel

The Sola Cookware Set Pearl 4-Piece Stainless Steel has the same four stainless steel pots without a coating as the Diamond 4-Piece. In the Sola Cookware Set Pearl 5-Piece Stainless Steel, there is a sauté pan of ø 28 cm with a standard non-stick coating. The Sola Cookware Set Pearl 6-Piece Stainless Steel has instead of that sauté pan two frying pans of ø 24 and 28 cm with a ceramic coating. The Pearl sets also do not specify per pot where the draining lid fits, and none of these Sola sets have cool handles according to the product page.

Sola Cookware Set Pearl 6-Piece Stainless Steel

Sola Cookware Set Pearl 5-Piece Stainless Steel

In the BerlingerHaus Cookware Set Click-it Matte Anthracite 6-Piece, there are cooking pots of ø 16 and 20 cm and frying pans of ø 20 and 24 cm. All four are made of aluminium with a standard non-stick coating, which is not PFAS-free. There are two strainer lids of ø 20 and ø 24 cm included, but it does not specify which pots they fit. The product page says nothing about cool handles.

The BerlingerHaus Cookware Set Matte Anthracite 7-Piece consists of cooking pots of ø 20, 24 and 28 cm. It includes a frying pan of ø 20 cm and a deep one of ø 24 cm; the same set is also available in matte cream, as the BerlingerHaus Cookware Set Matte Cream 7-Piece. In the BerlingerHaus Cookware Set Matte Cream 11-Piece, there are the same three cooking pots, frying pans of ø 24 and 28 cm and a saucepan of ø 16 cm. The BerlingerHaus Cookware Set Taupe 11-Piece has the same cooking pots and saucepan, with a deep frying pan of ø 24 cm and a frying pan of ø 28 cm.

BerlingerHaus Cookware Set Matte Cream 11-Piece

BerlingerHaus Cookware Set Matte Anthracite 7-Piece

These four sets are also made of aluminium with a standard non-stick coating that is not PFAS-free. The draining lid fits on the three cooking pots, and in the 11-piece sets also on the saucepan. The frying pans do not have a lid. According to the product pages, these sets have cool handles.

The WMF Cookware Set Function 4 5-Piece has four cooking pots of ø 16, 20, 20 and 24 cm and a saucepan of ø 16 cm. They are stainless steel pots without a coating. The draining lid fits on the four cooking pots, and the saucepan does not have a lid. This set also has cool handles according to the product page.

WMF Cookware Set Function 4 5-Piece

If you drain a small portion from the saucepan, it also has a draining lid in the Diamond 4-Piece and the BerlingerHaus 11-piece sets.

Those who also want to fry with the same set receive two ceramic frying pans in the Pearl 6-Piece, and in the Pearl 5-Piece a sauté pan. The Click-it and the BerlingerHaus sets of 7 and 11 pieces also have frying pans.

With the diameters per set, you can check for how many persons a set is large enough in the stainless steel cookware sets.

How do you drain safely with a cookware set with a draining system?

For draining with a set from Sola or with the Click-it, prepare a pot holder, as their product pages do not promise cool handles. A review on our Pearl sets mentions less risk of burns when draining, and another mentions the warm handles as a disadvantage.

The WMF Function 4 and the BerlingerHaus sets of 7 and 11 pieces have handles that, according to their product pages, become less warm than the pot itself. For the cool handles of the Function 4, WMF makes two exceptions: on gas and in the oven, they can become warm. Such handles are also found on other WMF cookware sets, but then without a draining lid.

The lid does not take over the tilting. With water and pasta in it, you lift the largest cooking pot of the BerlingerHaus Matte Anthracite 7-Piece or the Taupe 11-Piece, which holds 6.1 litres, yourself above the sink. You can move such a heavy pot more safely by two handles than by one handle, and we point this out to customers in our store.

If you have less strength in your hands, a pasta pot with insert saves you the tilting: you only lift the insert with the pasta out.