Kitchen cookware

What's behind our kitchen cookware Ratings?

• Overall score
  Overall score is based on evenness of cooking; coating durability (nonstick models); handle safety, comfort, and sturdiness; and ease of cleaning.
• Set
  Each set includes at least a saucepan, a frying pan, and a stockpot. Lids are typically counted as separate components in a set.
• Material
  Material indicates that the tested pots and pans are made of aluminum, stainless steel, or cast iron.
• Cooking evenness
  Cooking evenness reflects the ability of frying pans to turn out evenly browned pancakes on a gas range.
• Nonstick food release-new
  Nonstick food release score reflects the nonstick qualities of a pan's interior by cooking four eggs consecutively. The pan is initially seasoned with vegetable oil prior to cooking the first egg. An Excellent score indicates that all four eggs slid off the pan without assistance; A Poor score indicates that scraping was needed to release any egg from the pan and some egg residue was left on the pan.
• Nonstick durability
  To assess nonstick durability, we intentionally abraded frying-pan surfaces with steel wool until the coating was worn through or up to 2,000 strokes. Scoring for finishes that were still intact at 2,000 strokes reflects reduced nonstick performance.
• Speed of heating
  Speed of heating reflects how quickly a 4-quart pot of water increased from room temperature to a near boil.
• Ease of cleaning
  Ease of cleaning reflects how easy or difficult it was to clean sticky béchamel sauce from a saucepan.
• Handle temperature
  Handle temperature relates to the temperature during heating.
• Handle comfort
  For handle comfort tests, panelists assessed both the size and shape of the handle, as well as the distance between the handle and the pot or pan.
• Handle sturdiness
  Handle sturdiness indicates performance in a test designed to stress the handle and its attachments.