The pots and pans in the Tramontina Gourmet 12-Piece Tri-Ply Clad Cookware Set heat evenly and are a comfortable weight, so they aren’t cumbersome to lift. Their rounded, ergonomically shaped handles are also comfortable to hold. We’ve long-term tested an older (now-discontinued) version of this set for two years, and we’re confident that this durable cookware set will provide tramontina cookware you with many years of use. (And we agree, which is why Made In’s stainless-steel skillet beat out All-Clad’s D3 skillet for our top recommendation in our stainless-steel skillet testing). At the time of writing this, the classic series run around $100 per pan. Figure you need at least five pots and pans, and you’re looking at almost $500 just to get your kitchen on its feet.
We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since 2016. Previously, he was an editor at the International Culinary Center in New York.
We were impressed by the quality of the Goldilocks Cookware Set Plus, especially for its low price. Its fully clad tri-ply stainless steel heats evenly across the surface of the pans. This set also includes almost all of the pot and pan sizes we prefer, including a 12-inch skillet—a rarity in most sets.
This set includes 8½- and 10½-inch skillets, 1½- and 3½-quart sauce pans with lids, a 4-quart sauté pan with a lid, and a 6-quart stockpot with a lid. This may have been a one-off manufacturing error, but we’ll keep an eye on customer reviews to see if others experience a similar problem with the handle. The All-Clad D3 Stainless 10-Piece Set includes 8- and 10-inch skillets, 2- and 3-quart saucepans with lids, a 3-quart sauté pan with a lid, and an 8-quart stockpot with a lid. The only drawback to this set is that it doesn’t include a 12-inch skillet.
For difficult-to-remove items like burnt-on oil or lime deposits, a sponge and some Bar Keepers Friend usually do the trick. In the Wirecutter test kitchen, to remove burnt-on oil or discoloration we often use a slurry of tramontina cookware baking soda and warm water, along with a sponge and a little elbow grease. For other cleaning options, refer to our blog post and video on the subject. All-Clad no longer recommends washing its cookware in the dishwasher.
Rice didn’t stick to the bottom of the saucepans, and there was no scorching in the stockpot while we were cooking tomato sauce. We had to swirl the 3-quart saucepan a bit more when making caramel, but overall we still found it distributed heat evenly. That said, the Goldilocks skillet did a slightly better job at retaining heat than our other picks.
Featuring six pots and pans including sauté pans and sauce pans as well as a sturdy stockpot, this set includes the essential cookware every kitchen should have. Four of the six pots and pans include lids, and a steamer basket is also included for steaming veggies, meat, eggs, seafood and much more. We like the angle of the stick handle, and the rounded bottom fits nicely in your hand, even when you’re holding a dish towel or pot holder. That said, some people may find the concave handle uncomfortable to hold.
Now when you add cold food to this hot pan, the food saps energy from the pan. If, on the other hand, your pan is able to retain lots of energy (it has a high specific heat and a high mass), the temperature will remain high enough to sear. A more affordable option, this comes with large-sized pots and pans, perfect for when you need to feed a crowd. We especially like the flared edge for pouring and the riveted cast handles for holding. A core of heavy-gauge aluminum makes this cookware ideal for all stoves except induction burners.