The handles have to be comfortable, sturdy, and easy to grip—the last thing you want to feel is uncertainty as you move a large pot of scalding water off the cooktop or while draining through a strainer. For home use, stockpots come in a range of sizes, usually from 8 to 20 quarts (some commercial kitchens use massive 74-quart versions). For most home kitchen tasks, we think a 12-quart stockpot is an ideal size and large enough for making big batches of stock or sauce. Going with a smaller stockpot, like one that’s eight-quarts, means the pot is very similar in volume to a six- or eight-quart Dutch oven. It pays to get a stockpot that’s bigger than your other pots, yet still fits inside a base cabinet, to cover the biggest cooking tasks while avoiding pot-size overlap.
It provides a barrier, so food doesn’t actually come in contact with the metal. And this means there’s no reactivity with acidic foods, or aluminum leaching into ingredients. Anodized aluminum has all of the same qualities that make aluminum a popular choice for cookware, plus many more that make it a far superior material. Aluminum has outstanding thermal transfer properties, but it’s not a material that we like to recommend for the home cook. Bare aluminum is very reactive with any acidic ingredients, and will impart an unappealing metallic taste to ingredients.
But, the coatings always lack durability and will have to be replaced within a handful of years. This is aluminum that has gone through a chemical process which makes it more durable and also non reactive. The handles are sturdy and easy to hold, but they don’t have the flat design like my top pick.
This product is also extremely easy to clean, as it is washable and also safe to use in a dishwasher. This eight quart is safe to use in an oven and can withstand more than 600 degrees Fahrenheit of heat, and is compatible with all types of ovens and stovetops. However, before you put this cookware in the oven, remove the lids as they are not oven safe. Like all of Cuisinart’s Chef’s Classic cookware, this pot is made of stainless steel that has been polished to a brilliant mirror finish and that won’t react to acidic foods.
Update stockpots are available from a diminutive 8-quart all the way up to a massive 100 quarts, with many sizes in between. These larger sizes are also great for home beer brewing, home canning, steaming crab and lobster, as well as fish frying for larger gatherings. And they work great whenever you need to make copious quantities of anything. Of course, they also get used for making thinner soups, broths, chilies, and so on.
Welds are arguably less BIFL than rivets, but I’ve yet to see one fail. Keep reading to learn more about each option and shop the ten stockpots customers love the most. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team.
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With this stockpot, your family will be complimenting your cooking before your meal is finished. “Love this pot! It’s lightweight, cooks beautifully, and looks good,” one happy customer writes. There were several pots we disqualified based on handle comfort, build quality, and the cuisinart griddler elite lid. These include Farberware’s 12- and 16-quart models, which have welded-on handles. Another 13-quart Cook N Home model had hollow tube handles that stayed cool, but were too narrow to provide a solid grip. The Calphalon has handles that cut into the palms of our bare hands.
They’re also resistant to flaking, and make a tough, scratch-resistant surface – but they’re not impervious to scratching, and still need to be handled with care. A green alternative for healthier cooking, their Ceramica surface proves to be rugged, durable, and efficient. Users report that the nonstick surface holds up well even with frequent use – provided you wash it by hand, don’t use abrasives, and follow Cuisinart’s recommendations for use.