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At the Test Kitchen, we've always said that it's better to skip sets and buy pans one by one as you need them. You save money and space and only get the pans you need most.
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America's Test Kitchen · 2026
Made In vs All-Clad: Which Cookware Set is Best? | Gear Heads
Watch or listen to Made In vs All-Clad: Which Cookware Set is Best? | Gear Heads in full , 22 minutes , published by America's Test Kitchen.
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The first six pieces are utensils. This is not cookware, people.
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And every single piece is coated with non-stick. And what we know about non-stick is its lifespan is, you know, a couple of years.
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Don't buy pans with what are called encapsulated or clad bottoms. The layers are only on the bottom of these cheaper, thinner pans.
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After many years of testing cookware, we decided to focus only on sets made of fully clad stainless steel.
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What happens is those heat up very slowly because they're really thick and so then you turn up the heat and then they acquire heat and they hang onto it and everything's burning
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And this is also really prone to falling off with thermal shock and impact.
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In our experience, more layers, more ply, it's not great because sometimes that either means the pan is very heavy and really heavy cookware is kind of discouraging to use
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From our years of testing, we also know that fully clad cookware construction is tough, it's durable, and it cooks more evenly without hotspots.
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Now, because stainless steel is on the surface layers, these pens won't rust or react with acidic food and there's no coating to wear away. There's almost no maintenance and they can last a lifetime.
what we're looking for is a nice broad cooking surface right here. This flat part is what's contacting the heat and it's browning your food. If your pan is too much like a bowl, everything is crowded to the middle.
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First of all, we wanted steel handles, all-steel handles, because steel does not conduct heat quickly.
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Something like this handle, this is an All-Clad, they have sort of a famously uncomfortable handle.
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one of the pans sadly warped by the end of testing, and just a little bit.
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Both of these sets performed beautifully, aced all our tests.
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Both of them have fully stainless steel handles, which means that on the stove top at least, they will not heat up while you're cooking.
This is restaurant performance gear right here.
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'Cause I got a similar All-Clad set for my wedding 13 years ago and I have to say, it looks brand new and I've used it for all those 13 years.
Owned 13 years
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we actually have co-winners from All-Clad, a 10-piece set, and from Made In, another 10-piece set.
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we actually have co-winners from All-Clad, a 10-piece set, and from Made In, another 10-piece set.
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Honestly, a lot of those All-Clad pieces are some of our favorites in their categories.
They're not as comfy but they don't rotate in your hands dangerously. They stay anchored.
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Although we love a 12-inch skillet, neither of these sets have a 12 inch. They have an eight and 10. So you may wanna add that on if you have these sets.
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So although All-Clad's four-quart is our winner, they didn't put one in this set.
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The All-Clad 10 piece set, it is about $700 for the 10 pieces. The Made In, for the 10 pieces, about $800.
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if you add up each piece bought a la carte, the All-Clad represents a 29% savings. This was 16% savings for Made In.
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So cookware sets are a good deal only if you need a full set and you want the exact pieces they come with. Otherwise we recommend shopping a la carte for what you really need, right?
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Yes, and it's also fully clad, well constructed, really beautiful pieces. In fact, closer to our ideal sizes.
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So the Goldilocks set may a slight bit less durable, but it is a beautiful set, it's well made, and it's a real bargain.
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