Le creuset?

[Lhastingsmua]

Currently debating on whether to spend £50 on an oven dish or not.

The price is more than I wanted to spend on an oven dish and if I’m being honest, I’m just drawn to this one because the grey (or coastal blue) would look stunning in my kitchen!

What’s the verdict on le creuset - worth the cost? I’m worried I’ll end up eventually spending lots of money buying matching items! Or does anyone know where I could buy something cheaper and similar looking?

TK Maxx have lots of very similar looking things for less money that'll will last as long.

i have the sainsburys copies. £35 full price but very, very often on half price or better.

I adore le creuset and would kit my whole kitchen out if I could but we have some very similar John Lewis own brand dishes like that that we got over 11 years ago as a wedding present that are still in excellent condition.

However I do have 2 huge le creuset casserole dishes and several mugs. Their mugs are the best.

We have a Le Creuset casserole dish that we were given, we've had it best part of 20 years and use it all the time, and it's as good as the day we got it. I don't know that you'd get that with a copy.

I bought a £130 cast iron dish that can go on hob or in oven. Lasts for life. You can ask for the stoneware and accessories as xmas presents, you can get those from about £15-£50 in lots of TK Max's.

I buy cooking pots etc based on practicality, not because they'd look stunning in my kitchen 😀
£50 for an oven dish is a lot.

You can get lots of Le Creuset in TK Maxx for really cheap, just make sure you get a colour that they will have in there, or Homesense.

FYI - they do NOT ever sell the Volcanic colour I discovered after becoming obsessed and practically remortgaging my house to purchase way too much of it!

I love my Le Creuset, and use it several times a week. We got it twenty years ago, and it's still going strong. Fantastic for making roux sauces, and casseroles in.

Super heavy, but looks fab. great to cook with. I dont think it works on induction hobs which are the new big thing. Sort of heirloom thing poss.

Mugs are v good.

I find stonewear dishes too heavy to use.

I bought a Le Creuset casserole dish more than 20 years ago. It cost £50 but has been and still is the most used item in our kitchen. Goes from hob to oven and has def been worth the money

I have a set of the stone ware dishes I got in t k max a few years ago and they always have them, just depends on the colour they have or an outlet is a good choice. I found they even had stuff in stock that my local store had, just 20-30% cheaper. I have recently been bought one of their casserole dishes. It was £180 so much more than I would normally spend but it really is brilliant. Cooks so much better and I can take it from induction to oven and cleans so easily. I will definitely be replacing my own dishes with theirs over time

Sainsbury's and Dunelm do good copies!

I have le creuset - casserole dishes, lasagne dishes and saucepans (the stainless steel ones rather than ceramic). I use almost daily and they are as good as the day I bought them. Weirdly I had house sitters in once to look after my pets when I was away and the one thing they commented on was how fantastic the saucepans were and how much better at cooking stuff they were!

Several outlet centres have Le Crueset shops might be worth checking. MacArthur Glen at Bridgend, Gunwharf Quay at Portsmouth are two that I know of.

I love my Le Crueset but it is very heavy

I have loads of it, I collect it.
It's not necessarily better for cooking, but I love it.
It's beeyootiful

I love my Le Creuset pots. I’ve got mine from charity shops and TKMaxx. They last forever.

It's the best, but you do pay for it. I've had mine for years but now find them a bit heavy to lift.

They do work on induction.

Plus when I had an issue with the non stick coating on my frying pan, they just sent me out a brand new one without proof or purchase or me even asking!! Amazing customer service.

The knock off version I got from House of Fraser only lasted a couple of years - the enamel cracked so I upgraded to a proper one and love it.

I've nearly killed it several times after forgetting about it on the hob to burn the bottom of all manner of casseroles and it comes up a treat every time!

Have you got a stash of Nectar points? Sainsburys have a double up promotion in November, I've bought some of their copycat stuff that way in the past and its very good.

The Sainsbury's stuff isn't as good.

It's good but I utterly love my le creuset cast iron pots.

15 years in they still look new. Make hob to oven easy and are really good at even heat transfer.

The Sainsbury's stuff is great for the price, mind you.

I don't believe that dish can be used on the hob so what's the point?

I have lots of LeC but I use it on the hob before transferring it to the oven

Another vote here for Le Creuset customer service. We had one of the stoneware dishes crack in the oven on us a year or so back and they replaced it free of charge.

And yes yes to looking out for them in TK Maxx - you can pick up the stoneware stuff from there pretty cheaply, but you will probably have to compromise on the colours. We got Granite cast iron on our wedding list as I thought that was a colour that would last... and they discontinued it, d'oh! So we now have a bit of a mix of different coloured dishes.

We did have a large Sainsburys dish but it chipped - from my experience, Le Creuset stuff is a bit more hardy than cheaper imitations.