We list five PFAS-free frying pans in order, from bare metal to a ceramic coating. Each slot is a different type of pan. The slot indicates what you cook on, and for each pan we also note who we would advise against it based on our store experience.

In spot 1 is the Beka Koekenpan Maestro RVS ø 24 cm, in which you cook on bare stainless steel. That pan will last a lifetime unless it falls, and it requires patience: you heat it up slowly and cook with plenty of fat. Seasoning isn't necessary, it's dishwasher-safe and it weighs 1.07 kilos. It's less suitable as a first frying pan, and also if you mainly cook eggs and fish, because those stick quickly.

Spot 2 is for the De Buyer Koekenpan Lyonnaise Carbone Plus ø 28 cm, a pan of 2.35 kilos. You cook on carbon steel with a thin layer of oil that you season and maintain yourself, and the product page states "no PFAS". You wash it by hand and dry it on the stove; you don't make acidic dishes in it. If you want to use the dishwasher or don't have a gas burner to season it on, it's less suitable.

In spot 3 you cook on enamel, a glass layer on cast iron, in the Keij Kamado Koekenpan Skillet Blauw ø 25,5 cm. This pan also lasts a lifetime unless it falls, and it doesn't need seasoning. You heat it gently, wash it by hand and it weighs 2 kilos. It's less suitable if you flip your pan with one hand, or if you put everything in the dishwasher.

All frying pans that the Consumentenbond chose for its test had a ceramic coating; a pan without a coating wasn't included. That means the test winner for us falls under spots 4 and 5, the pans with such a coating. Every pan in that test declined over the course of the cooking sessions. For the three spots above, from stainless steel to enamel, our experience-based advice is your anchor.

If you already want a ceramic pan, you look for what such a test measures: which ceramic frying pan we put at the top, with pans from our own range.

What do you do with your current pan, and what do you buy if you spend more?

If you already have a pan without a coating in your cupboard, made of stainless steel, cast iron or carbon steel, then it is PFAS-free. Your old pan with teflon may remain, as long as the coating is intact and you don't overheat it. PFAS contamination comes from the factory and from the waste of such pans. The moment to choose from our five pans comes when you find pieces of the coating in your food or see bare spots.

You can find a pan with a PFAS-free coating in our range for under €50, and up into the mid-range. Among the most expensive coated pans it concerns a standard non-stick layer, without the 'PFAS-free' mention in their features. For PFAS, what matters is what you cook on. How to check yourself which coating a pan has, is easy to learn.

If you spend more within the category of spot 5, you usually cook longer on a thicker coating, until that one wears out too. Without a coating you mainly pay for construction and thickness: a carbon-steel pan under €50 is just as PFAS-free as a five-ply stainless-steel pan.