Pans! Which one's are essential for you?

[aPixie]

We need new one's. At the moment we have a multitude of different pans, casserole dishes, different shapes and sizes etc etc and I'm fed up of them cluttering up my kitchen.

I'm thinking of investing in Le Creuset but as they are quite expensive I don't want to be buying one's I won't use.

My starting point is a casserole dish as this is what we use the most.

What pans/dishes do you use regularly?

Riess pans - i obsess about them

R e iss

I have aluminum ones from wmf (wedding gift) and they are great. they are non stick but can be used with metal spoons (I think they are called nanodur). unfortunately price wise they are above le creuset level (about 100L per pan).
I have:
a large pan (4liter)
2 small pans (1liter and 2liter)
2 frying pans (20cm and 26cm)
they are more or less constantly in use.
for oven dishes I have a few pyrex dishes with lid.

A large round frying type pan with a glass lid for making pasta sauces, stir frys, meat balls, stops the sauces etc going dry and you can see it all bubbling away and keep it all warm whilst you shout the kids for the billionth time that food is ready!

I bought a Le Cresuet casserole from a kitchen factory shop place, Cheshire Oaks, 40% off, and a dish to make lasagne/fish pie in. Those are worth the cost.

And finally a griddle pan for chargrilling chicken and vege, oblong one from M&S

i have this aga pan which i paid full price for and has been worth every penny and am not a lavish person!

This is a bargain

Le Creuset all the way.

PS Don't try the IKEA version of Le Creuset - horrid, food burns on it. Waste of money.

I have quite a lot of Le Creuset and do love it, but it is very heavy and I find it quite hard to (for example) tip a full pan in a controlled manner to drain pasta. My parents have some lightweight but great Aga pans - the lids double as frying pans which is useful. They are also non-stick. If I were to buy again, I would be temptd by those - think they are a similar price to Le Creuset.

OTOH, the Le Creuset looks lovely (I have it in duck egg blue and turquoise) and I am more than happy to have it on the table, whereas the Aga pans are dark grey and not nearly as nice to look at if you sometime like to bring the food to the table in the pan.

TK Maxx do cut price Le Creuset.

Very interested if anyone has any recommendations for pans suitable for conductor hobs?

Rindercella - I am informed that one can buy some sort of device to put under pans so you can keep using your old ones with a conductor hob. Don't know where you can get one, though, sorry.

Tefal stainless steel / copper bottom casserole pot - brilliant on the hob or in the oven. Nice thick base, but not as heavy as Le Crueset.

Tefal casserole

Also have a fabulous wok-shaped non-stick frying pan which I use just about every day, for any sauce-based cooking, or stir-frying. It's a bit like this one:

wok shaped frying pan

Though actually it would be even better if it had a lid.

my best pan is a suate pan or deep sided frying pan i use it for everything except soup! best £40 i ever spent. not sure what brand it is though sorry.

le creuset are fab i have several pans and casseroles that we have had for years, i also have denby cast iron casserole dishes (two 20cm and one 32cm shallow casserole) which were half price. i also bought a fantastic 34cm 'linear' shallow casserole from house of frazer for £32 before xmas and its almost identical to le creuset in quality, i use it at least 4 times a week and it hasnt marked and washes well. its fab for cooking on the hob, then popping in the oven (umm nigella's tarragon chicken) i do use the smaller casseroles like pans on the hob as there are alot of us the small pans with handles are not big enough.
also my five tier (but i usually only use four)20ishcm StainlessSteel stamer is used almost every day, it was £25 from tkmaxx. i even steam puddings in it.
there are 6 of us and i cook from scratch every night as i am a bored stay at home mum who loves cooking.