Talk to me about saucepans!

[Geocentric]

I need to throw away my horrid old aluminium pans and get some new cookware... I don't want anything iron, copper or glass, so that leaves me with stainless steel and enamel, plus the do-I-go-for-non-stick dilemma.

I'm not a very serious cook, btw (as in I only cook so my family won't starve).

What do you have/love/hate?

And how much stuff do I really need? Thinking:
3 saucepans with lids (smalll, mid and large)
1 regular non-stick frying pan
1 large, deep frying pan
(which is pretty much what I have right now, besides the wok, which I rarely use, and a fab flat grill-type pan, which I'm keeping)

I have circulon. They were a wedding present 11 years ago and they still look pretty good. You can buy sets of them which work out a lot cheaper and they are often discounted in JL and Debenhams sales.

sixpines, unfortunately I am overseas...
What sort of thing is circulon?

Ok, I have the site open - looks nice!
Is yours the hard-anodized stuff?

Yes. Mine have black handles but the newer ones are metal I think. Analon is v similar, I think they are made by the same people but I'm not sure what the difference is.

I have circulon too. Had them about 4 years now and still fab. Brilliant non stick, and even heat distribution.

I have a wonderful set of saucepans. The frying pan was bought for me by my dad and he has died in 1988, so I've had it a while

It's really big and deep, so brill for risotto, pasta sauce etc. I also have a big pan (for big loads of pasta); a medium pan (used most, for veg, cheese sauce etc) and a small milk pan (use it surprisingly often, for small helping of veg eg peas just for the kids, milk for hot choc, bake beans etc).

They are all Cuisinox Elysee see here and the only quibble is that the handle on the small one can get hot but that's because it is over the heat too IYSWIM. I see they now do non-stick, none of mine are as I like to use metal spoons/fish slice etc so can't comment on that.

They are £££ as you can see but so fab, easy to clean, conduct heat well, very solid and strong and also look lovely

Some great ideas, here. Thanks everyone. Keep the inspiration coming!