Cookware

[Sugarandsalt]

We have received some JL vouchers as a Christmas gift. At the moment we have cheap saucepans with loose handles so would like to buy a good set, with guarantee that will last. I love to cook, both on hob and in oven. Ideally dishwasher safe (but not an absolute necessity). I'm not sure whether I should go with cast iron or not?

Does anyone have recommendations? Willing to spend on it as will hopefully be used lots and last!

This is completely personal advice, and someone will probably come along and say I'm wrong but I would go for the following:

Stainless steel pans (18/8 shows good quality)
Heavy bases, preferably with an aluminium sandwich base for good heat conduction and retention. It also means they're induction compatible if you switch.
Welded metal handles, not screwed on, so they don't burn or break off. Also ovenproof.
Steel lids, not glass, without a vent hole.
For a family I'd go for a 20cm 5 litre pan for most jobs and possibly the same diameter 7 litre for stews etc.

You might consider a cast iron frying pan, a pressure cooker and a slow cooker depending on the budget.

I bought a nesting set of 5 pans (including steamer/colander and bain- marie) made by Frabosk as a wedding present a few years ago and very nearly kept it for myself!
John Lewis probably have similar.

Here it is. If you go back to Special Sets you'll see what it's made up of. There's another one with fewer pieces which looks good, too.
www.frabosk.it/eng/prodotto_scheda.jsp?idprodotto=474.61

Sorry, in my first post I should have written 18/10 which is cookware grade stainless steel, not 18/8.

Thank you! I have a slow cooker already which I love so it's everything else I need. Happy to spend £400 or so for good quality.

We have analon non stick which are now 10 years old and still doing well. Not sure if they're ok in the dishwasher... just be wary of the weight with cast iron pans... it is a very personal choice though

I switched to cast iron pans last year and they are amazing. The cook brilliantly, fantastic heat distribution and go in the oven too. They can't be dishwashered (wash them with no soap) but once they are seasoned well, they are totally non stick with no carcinogenic tefal crap. I buy lodge pans, not expensive and from Amazon (although I'm in the USA)

Looking at the John Lewis site out of pure curiosity- it's my guilty timewasting activity I reeeeally like their Classic stainless steel range. Lots of models and good reviews.

I love cast iron but would worry about the weight; especially as I do a lot of large one pot meals. I was looking at the JL ones online and also the le creuset sets- not sure if they are worth the extra money?

Have a look at the stainless steel pans made by le creuset. John Lewis should have them. We had some lovely JL pans when we got married but the base of 1 split apart after 8 years or so. It was covered under the JL 10yr guarantee but as the pan was no longer made, they replaced it with one of a similar quality. so we got given a le creuset one as a replacement. Anyway it is amazing and heats up far quicker than our other ones did. We plan to replace all with le creuset stainless steel ones in the future. And they're not heavy either unlike the cast iron pans.

I have John Lewis stainless steel pans. I bought them over time as I couldn't afford to buy a whole set st once. My mum also has the same set...and they are like new 30 years on.
I did by Le cruddy at one point but the handles got hot much easier so went in to buy more John Lewis ones. I have 13 in total now ( love cooking)

Cast iron is far too heavy for saucepans I think. I have two Le Creuset casseroles which I adore, I use the wide, shallow one several times a week, but for chucking around the hob, no good at all.
My saucepans are JL, a set of three were around £100 a couple of years back and I love them, particularly the lip and the draining lids.