Take the pan from the stovetop to the oven easily too, since they’re oven-safe up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. They’re nonstick coating also makes cleanup a breeze just by using warm water and soap. While the Tramontina actually edges out the All-Clad as far as heat retention goes, the All-Clad is an all-around better performer.
On the other hand, the 14 piece set has some really nice pieces, including a chef’s pan, a 12-inch skillet, and a 6-quart deep sauté pan (yes–the one we mentioned above as one of our favorites). This more than makes up for this set’s lack of a larger sauce pan. It’s actually a very nice set, and the only filler-ish piece is the 2-quart sauce pan (though most people wouldn’t consider that a filler piece). Here are the most popular All-Clad tri-ply sets–but we’re not necessarily recommending that you buy a set.
Of course, if you don’t mind the 8″/10″ skillets, you can go with any set. We like Cuisinart Multiclad Pro, but it’s not as high quality as the All-Clad brand. While good quality cookware is apparent by its design, we also tested each tramontina cookware set brand to make sure it would be a good purchase. Our testing has shown that both the Cuisinart MC-Pro and the Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad behave similarly to All-Clad D3 in daily cooking tasks, with slightly less evenness in heating.
Tramontina has specialty cookware and accessories that are made in Brazil, China, and Italy. All Tramontinas cast iron cookware and accessories are made in China. 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 reflects the durability of the frying-pan’s coating and it’s nonstick quality after being abraded.
For example, recycled iron is cheaper to use in stainless steel production, but can also be more prone to rusting. How do you choose a top cookware brand of stainless steel cookware? How do you buy with confidence that you’re getting a good brand for a good price? The market is huge, and the differences between brands can be impossible to see without an expert knowledge of metal, cladding, heating performance, and more.
Both the chromium and nickel help to retard corrosion–so it follows that the higher the percentage of chromium and/or nickel, the more corrosion resistant the steel will be. All Tramontina’s cast iron cookware and accessories are made in China. Along with some selected stainless steel, ceramic, and specialty pieces.
You can read more about possibly dangerous chemicals in nonstick cookware in this article on PFOA. (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. They’ve been championed by home users and professionals alike as offering performance just as good as All-Clad, at a fraction of the price.
Cast iron has better heat retention, but stainless steel is more responsive. Each piece has a flared rim for drip free pouring, and the larger pieces have helper handles, including the 3.5 quart sauté pan (which is about the equivalent of a 10-inch skillet). Cuisinart makes several lines of cookware, including several lines of clad stainless cookware. Their French Classic cookware is of similar quality, made in France and more expensive (but very pretty!).