Le Creuset

[Pumpkittenspice]

Is Le Creuset cookware worth the price tag?

I’ve got the Le Creuset salt and pepper mills and a utensil jar (in the shell pink colourway, if anyone was wondering) which I love. I’d love to have a casserole dish and a baking dish too!

I think Le Creuset is stupidly overpriced. I have a similar casserole dish from John Lewis bought 20 years ago, does exactly the same job. I'd never buy similar hob saucepans, much too heavy.

I've got a much less expensive Italian brand that is excellent. Amazon has several brands with excellent reviews.

Not a pretensious wanker, don't care about labels in the slightest. Was bought a set 30yrs ago as a wedding present and still use it. It's a deep blue, which could only be bought at House of Fraser - it was the colour I loved, I had no idea about pans. I'm menopausal with arthritis, but still manage it fine. Apart from the frying pan which was replaced with carbon steel.
No Aga, No kitchen aid mixer - no idea what I'd use it for! Yes to Denby plates as they can be used in the oven, we buy seconds from Boundary Mill.

Having said all that, I'm sure Le Creuset wasn't that expensive years ago. It was on my modest wedding list and picked by quite a few relatives - one or two joined forces. Now the price is mind blowing, I couldn't buy it today.

Nightmarish things! Far too heavy.

I got rid of all mine after trying to drain some par-boiled potatoes and scalding my legs and feet with very hot water. They are just too heavy to lift when full.

I have a medium and a large casserole dishes that I use all the time. I bought them in a French supermarket on a day trip to Calais in 1985 for about £20 & £25 - still going strong and I have no trouble lifting them despite being in my early 60s...

I don't have a Kitchen Aid, but I do have a Cuisinart. And an appliance cupboard.

I have a novy induction cooker and le crueset’s stainless steel range came recommended. It is absolutely fantastic and they will replace for no extra charge if it stains (only happened once).

I’m not as keen on their casserole range as I prefer steel over iron/ceramic. Dunelm’s on brand stainless steel range does very good cooker to oven dishes.

I have a "Cooking for Blokes" cook book which recommends them but suggests getting them from car boot sales. You'll get them almost new at fraction of cost as females don't like the weight "but it won't be an issue 'cause your a bloke"

Keep an eye on the second hand market

So have I, but I was cheeky & rang Le Creuset & told them the knobs had broken on mine, they sent me a set of replacement knobs.

Love it and would not be without the pieces I have. Especially the casseroles which make me happy every time I use them. But I cook a lot and I do wait for the sales before buying.
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As for not being able to lift it pass the age of 40 … - ridiculous.

Go for it, OP.
My LC is ancient (many +30 years), unmatchy and all acquired from charity shops and boot sales (also great value on eBay where my sister who likes matchy picks hers up). Environmentally, it makes total sense to acquire 'forever' items like these second hand.
They have worked well on all the different kinds of hobs I've used over the years and inside both gas and electric cookers:

• 5 cast iron casserole dishes of different shapes and sizes which are used all the time for everything: rice dishes, sauces, bolognese, stews, boiling vegetables etc. Really recommend the shallow casseroles!
• 2 cast iron frying pans which are brilliantly non-stick without any chemical treatment.
• a cast iron tagine.
• stoneware dishes which both slowroast and bake.

They're workhorse items which can take fairly rough treatment looking at you, DP and still work brilliantly. The enamel occasionally stains temporarily (dark compotes, beetroot dishes, turmeric), but it washes out. I don't find them heavy at all and easily lift them into both under and over counter storage. I don't have any of their ceramic general kitchenware stuff as I find it too clunky, and when on display on counters etc looks a bit conspicuous.

I was given a set as a wedding present. Hated them. Far too heavy and hard to wash up. (Don’t have and never wanted a dish washer).
Hyped by pretensions of grandeur.

We bought a casserole, frying pan and saucepan. I like them aesthetically and cooking-wise they work well. But I wouldn't buy them again as they're just too heavy. We ended up selling ours because they were just too much hassle.

We have some of their smaller items (oven dishes, ramekins, salt grinder) because we like the look, I doubt they're any better than anything else.

Not to me - just too heavy.

I did actually inherit a large LC casserole from MiL, but never used it (weight) - ended up giving it to a charity shop.

What?! I'm decades older than 40 and have lots of Le Creuset given to me nearly 40 years ago, in fact I used the griddle pan for steak last night and it was delicious!
Yes. it's heavy but quite manageable!

Love the buffet pans, have two of different sizes and just recently have got a terrine which I've used a couple of times.

My mum gave me hers when she no longer needed to cook for a family. They are over thirty years old and we both used/use them a couple of times a week. I'm 57 and I can still manage them with ease!

My mum still uses her griddle pan. I'm hoping she leaves it to me eventually!

If you want a stoneware baking dish they sell them at TK Maxx for a pretty reasonable price. I have a le creuset casserole (£10 from a car boot sale) and a pretend Aldi le creuset. Both totally fine and I wouldn't pay the extra £250 required for a le creuset one!

I think if I were buying again I would go for the orange Sainsbury's ones as they're really close to identical to a branded le creuset.

On the "too heavy" front, I do agree they're pretty heavy and I wouldn't use them for cooking things I need to drain, but for e.g. Bolognese or pot roasting a chicken (what i use mine most for, shove chicken in with lid on til there's an hour left, take lid off. Means it streams itself well so not dry but the lid off gets the skin crispy they are great. I have normal saucepans for cooking vegetables or pasta in.

Had full saucepan set as Wedding present. Used for years, in the end gave them aways, far to heavy.
I do still have the casserole's which we bought in France - (at the time very good value) including the very large one, which I still use, that's fantastic if you are cooking a large group.

I love the cast iron things! My mum always cooked with their stuff so I suppose it’s ‘normal’ to me, sure it’s heavy but in no way a problem. The shallow casserole (braiser) is absolutely the most useful thing ever, if I could only have one cooking pot this would be it. I also recently acquired a balti and that’s very useful too. They also have a lifetime guarantee and good customer service.
I don’t have any of their steel pans or stoneware though, there are other brands I prefer for those.

I have a casserole pot and the shallower one. The smaller one live on the stove and is used almost every day. The only thing is that twenty years of being put in the dishwasher means it's lost its gloss but there's nothing I can do about that sadly. I have just bought a new knob/handle for it as the original was cracking. If I was buying new now, I'd go for a cheaper version though as they are rather expensive! But I love mine, they're purple!

We got a shallow one, a skillet and an oval one a few years ago when we got married. We weren’t sure it was worth it but my family INSISTED.

We love them so much we went and got the grill pan. They recently stopped production of our colour and my husband ordered the large and small round casserole dishes to “complete the set” as they’re used all the time. I use them instead of the normal stainless steel pans for a lot of things and have them on the hob and in the oven without a second thought. The large is mostly used for baking bread and I’ll make some soups in the winter but the rest aren’t terribly heavy. We have an Aldi rectangular roasting one and I think that’s probably heavier even though it doesn’t have a lid. I will admit we have more than we need - husband just didn’t want me to wish we’d had a different size / option at a later point in time!

And no we don’t have a kitchen-aid (although I do fancy one the cupboards are full of casserole dishes 😂) but we do have Denby plates - another wedding present “suggested” by family but we do love them! Normally by now we’ve smashed our way through cheap crockery but they’re still going strong!

We live near the outlet store and have a traditional farmhouse kitchen, so own an indecent amount of Le Creuset.

I love cooking for people, and do it most days. Our casseroles get used daily, and have made countless dishes for countless people in the places we’ve lived. All the casseroles, large and small are still going strong. I love the idea that they will be with us forever, with all their memories. Last week we took a shall casserole camping wit h us, and the campfire blackened its sides when we were heating the chilli con carne, it’s all part of its story.

We’ve also got their non stick saucepan set which was very expensive, but they are excellent. The ovenware is also really reliable and washes up brilliantly.

The rainbow crockery I’ve mostly been bought as gifts as people know I like it, and it is really pretty when the table is made up. I especially love the eggcups.

I’m very happy to own my Le Creuset pretentious wankery ( we also have a kitchen aid on the counter, an Aga, a Smeg coffee machine and a banging collection of Bridgewater mugs.)

And am also thrilled that I can, at 46, still lift even the largest casserole from the Aga. I didn’t realise until this thread that this was such an unusual feat of strength at my great age!

Only the stuff made in France, a lot of it is made in china which to me is a bit of a swizz given the price tag.

The salt and pepper grinders to me seem cheap and won't last (made out of plastic), we went for a different brand when shopping for them in the end. Coloured like LC but made from wood and far better quality.

The cast iron offerings are mostly made in France (they are stamped with this) and will last a lifetime.