Hey guys, I'm a 24-year-old who loves to get cooking as often as possible, making a wide variety of food types, entertaining guests, and just enjoying using my kitchen. I am looking for some advice in building my cookware (and perhaps my bakeware as well) collection up. Essentially, where I stand now, I have the same cheap cheap cookware set I got as a freshman in college. While it gets the job done fairly well, I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck not quite getting things right cooking due to hotspots in my pots and pans and uneven cooking, among other things... and aside from that, the stuff I'm using isn't exactly the most attracive looking stuff. I've finally decided that it's time to get rid of my old cookware and get some QUALITY items.
I will also be upgrading to good knives over the next couple of months, and while I will be spending a lot of money (relatively) on the knives, I am aware that getting basic cookware can set you out a LOT more money than will getting 3 or 4 good knives, due to the need for at least 8 pieces and also due to more expensive materials when you're talking about quality pots, skillets, and pans. I certainly have no qualms with putting up a decent chunk of money on my cookware, but I don't wont to spend All-clad levels of money on what I buy.
So I basically have two questions. First, I know when buying knives (which I'm more experienced with), it's always better to build up piece by piece, getting 1 quality item at a time. Is this the same with cookware? Should I be getting things pot by pot and pan by pan, or would I get equal quality and save money by getting an 8-piece or 10-piece set all at once? As for my second question - keeping in mind that a) I do want seriously good-quality cookware that will serve me well, b) looks do matter somewhat, since I do a lot of entertaining guests, and c) I can spend a good bit of money, but not allclad levels of $, what are some good brand choices?
Also, considering I'm essentially starting my collection up from scratch, if you have any other pointes, it would be greatly appreciated. Hope to hear from y'all soon, and thanks in advance for your responses!
- Rossodio
I will also be upgrading to good knives over the next couple of months, and while I will be spending a lot of money (relatively) on the knives, I am aware that getting basic cookware can set you out a LOT more money than will getting 3 or 4 good knives, due to the need for at least 8 pieces and also due to more expensive materials when you're talking about quality pots, skillets, and pans. I certainly have no qualms with putting up a decent chunk of money on my cookware, but I don't wont to spend All-clad levels of money on what I buy.
So I basically have two questions. First, I know when buying knives (which I'm more experienced with), it's always better to build up piece by piece, getting 1 quality item at a time. Is this the same with cookware? Should I be getting things pot by pot and pan by pan, or would I get equal quality and save money by getting an 8-piece or 10-piece set all at once? As for my second question - keeping in mind that a) I do want seriously good-quality cookware that will serve me well, b) looks do matter somewhat, since I do a lot of entertaining guests, and c) I can spend a good bit of money, but not allclad levels of $, what are some good brand choices?
Also, considering I'm essentially starting my collection up from scratch, if you have any other pointes, it would be greatly appreciated. Hope to hear from y'all soon, and thanks in advance for your responses!
- Rossodio