which saucepans to buy?

november

WestonDave wrote:

Stellar and Judge are actually made by the same company - Horwood I beleive. Stellar are their premium brand but from looking at both in store here, the difference in quality mainly relates to the degree of polish on the outside.

Correct, Stellar and Judge come from Horwood.

I guess I'm lucky in that the above mentioned store sells showroom samples off cheaper a couple of times a year

Are they still based at Avonmouth? Didn't know they did this. How do I find out more?

Can't beieve I'm on here extolling saucepans - where's that car site!

Not only that but knows where the brand comes from. Impressive (I hear Nissans are very reliable )

WestonDave

Apologies - wasn't clear - its not Horwood that sell off the samples but the shop near my work where I originally bought my set. The shop is Knees in Trowbridge (now there's an Old Style shop if ever there was one!) - usually as part of their January and summer sale they have a big rack near the door with all the samples they get sent. The prices aren't silly cheap but if you just want an odd pan then it seems good although I've not benchmarked them with internet sites. Occasionally they have sets but its mainly individual items.

(Nissan - pah - Bowler Wildcat now that's a real driving machine! - now where's the DIY board I need to talk power tools!)

november

WestonDave wrote:

Apologies - wasn't clear - its not Horwood that sell off the samples but the shop near my work where I originally bought my set. The shop is Knees in Trowbridge

Rats. Not that I need any more though so probably just as well as I might have thought of something else I 'really needed honestly' which isn't very MS.

(Nissan - pah - Bowler Wildcat now that's a real driving machine! - now where's the DIY board I need to talk power tools!)

(Haha. My DH would love me to drive one of those but unfortunately a little OTT for work & carting kids in surburbia as well as being far beyond my budget )

hex2

lynz, if your heart is set on cast iron then Amazon do chassuer (?sp) ones for half the price of le crueset, I have one of each as casseroles (courtesy of my kind mother) and love them both.

I had a try of the pans but simply couldnt cope with the weight. Instead I waited for a debenhams Blue Cross sale, and bought some Prestige stainless steels reduced from £140 to £42 last August. They are great, and even with the benefit of hindsight I wouldnt buy differently.

Bargainloverbec

We have Anolon and I can't recommend them highly enough.

THey aren't cheap but they last for ever.

Gaia

GoldenEye wrote:

For someone that loves cooking I highly recommend Anolon and Circulon pans. They may be expensive but they cook food very well. They are also easy to clean and are very durable. I bought my pans from this company:

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Anolon.html

The prices are an absolute bargain and they offer free delivery! I ordered the 4 piece set complete with free sauteuse.

Both my friend and I bought Circulon and neither of us would do so again. The non-stick scratches very easily and peels off.

I've got some old enalelled pans (originally from East Germany!) and they're absolutely fantastic. Even if you so get something burnt/stuck you can use scourer with impunity and they always come up 'good as new'!

dannahaz

DawnW wrote:

I have just bought a Woll pan. They are German, supplied from a firm in Nottingham, come with safety glass lids, are completely non stick (you can cook with very little or no fat), and have removable handles so you can use them on the hob or in the oven. They are not cheap, but not so much as Le Creuset. What is more, they arrive two days after ordering and if you have any questions, you can email and they email back straight away! Their web address is http://www.directcookware.com/html/submenu_wollpans.html/ see what you think - and no, I don't work for them! I hadn't even heard of them till recently, but saw a demo at some event, and followed up via their website. Just very impressed by excellent customer service (they don't charge p&p either) and I LOVE my new pan!

I would also recommend Woll. We bought one of their saute pans at the BBC Good Food show, having ignored them at the Ideal Home for years. I was very dubious, as I often find the things that seem great at the shows somehow don't live up to expectation when you get them home. But, we needed a big saute pan, we watched the guy use it and clean it, it was a good show price...... and it's been bluddy brilliant.

We only bought the one, its 28cm and very deep, and we use it for so many things, it's hasn't been off the hob since we bought it. We fry in it - without fat, as mentioned by Dawn; I cook casseroles in it...it really is fab.

And it is SO easy to clean.

It's quite heavy, but less heavy than a Le Creuset pan of the same size would be (I think from the demo, it's about half the weight of an equivalent sized pan).

dounome

http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=311&storeId=91&productId=24051&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=13551&parents_parent_category_rn=10356&top_category_rn=&showSubCategory=yes&top=Y&cache_entry=-1
Think someone else on this site recommended these but as i'm a man what do i know. Heres the link and you can decide yourself

jessicamb

I wanted Le Creuset when I bought my house - but they are so heavy I decided against it. I went for Stellar ones with a lifetime guarantee (about £100 for the set in Debenhams sale) and they are worth every penny.

I've avoided cheap pans as far as possible since I had a cheap pan when I was a student and picked it up - when the handle came away and I dropped a pan of boiling gravy over my foot - riveted handles all the way for me now my foot was ok btw)

susank

I bought Hackman pans years ago when a local shop was closing down and they were quite cheap and now I looked for them and they are extortionate prices! They are very good and stainless steel - I burnt cabbage in one tonight (dont ask - I went to look on here and left it up high) It was black and put in water and some soda crystals and back on the stove and spotless now