Cooking is one of the best ways to save money and develop a top notch self-care routine. There’s something incredibly therapeutic about making yourself a delicious meal (even if you have to follow the TikTok recipe, it still counts!)
Nothing improves the experience and makes you want to keep cooking more than a beautiful set of cookware. It just lights up a kitchen and always makes you seem like a master chef, even if you’re still getting the hang of it.
Many people do a lot of amazing work to decorate their kitchen but still cook out of old or thrown-together sets of random pots and pans. Whether you’re upgrading your patio, or rebuilding your kitchen, quality is what brings the space together. We wanted to find out what the most beautiful, durable, and reliable cookware sets were out there, so we put the top brands to the test.
Here’s what we found.
Caraway Home:
From everything we looked at, Caraway is the runaway favorite. Their 7-piece set has a sleek, minimalist look that is very clean. It features a frying pan, lidded saucepan, saute pan, and dutch oven. It also comes with an incredibly cool magnetic pan rack that can attach inside nearly cabinet and helps keep the kitchen decluttered.
The pans themselves are ceramic, with stainless steel handles, and all of their cookware is non-toxic non-stick, free of heavy metals, PTFE, PFOA and other PFAs.
All of the pans are also oven safe, and they have a ton of cool colors to choose from. The perracotta in the picture above is our favorite, but the silt green and sapphire also feature gold-colored handles that look really sharp.
The cookware itself is durable and cleans extremely easily, especially compared to traditional stainless steel non-stick pans. They are safe up 550 degrees, so you can cook everything from a slow roast, or a beautifully seared steak.
The entire set retails for $395, but you can also mix and match the pieces you need and build the full collection over time!
If you’re looking to class up the kitchen, Caraway is definitely our number 1 pick.
Our Place:
For a more classic look and feel, Our Place’s Always Pan is an excellent choice. It has a more rustic look and feel that almost makes you feel like you’re camping and cooking on the open range.
The pan is multi-purpose and is also non-toxic and non-stick. It lives up to that promise and can handle everything from braising to sautee to popping in the oven for a longer finish. It also includes a custom stainless steel steamer basket and a beechwood spatula with integrated spoon rest. We especially love the spoonrest to keep those countertops clean!
The pan retails for $145, and is well worth it. They even offer free shipping, and 30-day money-back guarantee, and free returns!
If you’re looking for an all-in-one option to keep your kitchen nice and minimalist, we love the Always Pan.
Made In:
Made In’s Copper Cookware Set is a new take on a classic look and feel. Copper cookware offers higher responsiveness than simple ceramic, so you’re able to bring things to a boil and then cool them down much more quickly than traditional cookware.
Made in France, the Made In set is oven safe up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit and has a lifetime guaranteed warranty. It is the main choice of many restaurants around the world.
It’s not cheap, with the full set retailing for $1,100, but the quality, look and feel really seem like they came straight out of a professional kitchen.
They have incredible reviews, and people who invest in the Made In set love it, almost across the board. We found it to be sleek, beautiful cookware that really performed. It’s definitely not in everyone’s budget, but if you’re looking to invest in your kitchen for the long term, we love the Copper Cookware Set.