When it comes to deciding between stainless steel cookware and nonstick ceramic cookware, it can be challenging to know which type to invest in. To make your decision easier, the BestReviews Testing Lab researched and prepared food in cookware sets from Caraway, Viking and Our Place, including the Our Place Ultimate Cookware Set, the Caraway Cookware Set and the Viking 3-Ply Stainless Steel Cookware Set.
The first thing to consider is the type of foods you frequently cook or plan to cook. This can be helpful when deciding the type of material that best suits your cooking needs. We learned through testing that nonstick pans are great for frying eggs or searing delicate fish, while stainless steel pans are ideal for sautéing, searing or whipping up a flavorful sauce. Nonstick pans prevented sticking when cooking and cleaning. Stainless steel pans are known for enhancing the flavor of food if they’re used correctly, as well as durability and good heat conduction.
In the end, we concluded that each material provides unique applications in the kitchen and neither one is better than the other.
We compared stainless and nonstick ceramic cookware sets from Viking, Caraway and Our Place. Despite their differences, each set ranked high in every category we tested for, including cooking performance, durability and ease of cleaning.
Nobody’s perfect. Both stainless steel cookware and nonstick ceramic cookware have some drawbacks.
We tested the Viking 3-Ply Stainless Steel Cookware Set and researched the Caraway Stainless Steel Cookware Set, both known for their durability.
Material: 3-ply stainless steel | Number of Pieces: 5 | Oven-Safe Temperature: Up to 600 degrees | Induction Compatibility: Yes | Dishwasher Safe: Yes, but hand-washing is recommended
The Viking 3-Ply Stainless Steel Cookware Set includes five pieces: a 10-inch frying pan, 3-quart saucepan with lid, and 5.25-quart sauté pan with lid. It works on all cooktops, including induction, stovetop, oven, broiler and grill. Despite the general assumption that stainless steel is heavy, we found this set to be quite light. The frying pan weighs 2.8 pounds, the sauté pan weighs 5.2 pounds and the saucepan weighs 3.4 pounds.
The Viking saucepan heated up in an impressively short time. That and the heat retention earned it a perfect score in our tests. The set is oven safe up to 600 degrees, the highest heat limit of all our tested cookware.
The Viking doesn’t have any standout design features, but we were impressed that the handles remained at room temperature even while cooking. In terms of nonstick ability, some food did cling to the pan, but this is to be expected given the material.
Cleaning was a decent experience. Viking recommends hand-washing the set, although it claims to be dishwasher safe. Neither cleaning method completely removed all the food residue, and the pans still acquired stains. Its limited lifetime warranty does not cover issues such as stains or scratches from regular wear and tear.
Material: Nontoxic 5-ply steel | Number of Pieces: 12 | Oven-Safe Temperature: Up to 550 degrees | Induction Compatibility: Yes | Dishwasher Safe: No
Caraway’s five-ply stainless steel pans were designed with higher-heat cooking in mind. Home chefs can cook using medium heat without damaging the surface of the pans, while the nonstick ceramic set should only be used on low to medium heat to ensure its longevity.
The set, which includes a 10.5-inch fry pan, 3-quart sauce pan, 4.5-quart sauté pan and 6.5-quart Dutch oven, is crafted from durable five-ply steel. The material evenly distributes heat so all your recipes are cooked to perfection. Caraway is so confident that this set is made to last that it’s backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
Caraway recommends adding one tablespoon of oil or butter to your stainless steel pan to coat the surface each time you cook, allowing one minute to preheat before adding food. To clean, all that’s needed is a gentle scrub with water to keep your pans in optimal condition, according to Caraway.
Nonstick ceramic is truly the most effortless way to cook. Not a speck of food stuck to the base layer of the Caraway and Our Place nonstick ceramic pans.
Material: Nontoxic ceramic coating | Number of Pieces: 17 | Oven-Safe Temperature: Up to 450 degrees | Induction Compatibility: Yes | Dishwasher Safe: No
The Our Place Ultimate Cookware Set includes an Always Pan 2.0, mini Always Pan 2.0, Perfect Pot and mini Perfect Pot 2.0, all with their own lids, spouts and nesting spatula rests. You also get Our Place’s five-piece bakeware set, which comes with a large Griddle Pan, Main Bake, Side Bake and Loaf Pan, plus a large silicone oven mat. There are six stunning colors to choose from, including blue salt and lavender.
Our Place cookware really impressed us with its quick and consistent heating, earning a perfect score in our tests. We were also very impressed by the ease of hand-cleaning the Our Place cookware. The nonstick material makes this process quick and easy, and we found the cleaning took just seconds.
Material: Nontoxic ceramic coating | Number of Pieces: 12 | Oven-Safe Temperature: Up to 550 degrees | Induction Compatibility: Yes | Dishwasher Safe: No
The Caraway 12-piece cookware set includes a 10.5-inch frying pan, 3-quart saucepan, 4.5-quart sauté pan, 6.5-quart Dutch oven and three lids. It also comes with four magnetic pan racks and a lid holder for organization, allowing you to put the set on display, though it takes up quite a bit of counter or cabinet space.
We found that Caraway pans took longer than expected to heat up. Making bread took about nine minutes to brown, while other sets, such as the Viking, heated up instantly. However, once the pan was hot, heat consistency and heat distribution were not issues.
In our tests, Caraway received a perfect score for its effective ceramic nonstick coating; however, we noticed a very small amount of residue left in the corners. We were a bit disappointed that Caraway’s handles became too hot to touch during use, and the lids were a little heavier than other lids we tested; for instance, the 12-inch pan weighs nearly 7 pounds with the lid on.
Our testing helped us determine how sets made of each material hold up in different scenarios.
We quickly learned that nonstick pans don’t have the same temperature flexibility as stainless steel. Caraway cookware took a while to heat up. Prior to cooking a turkey burger, the Caraway pan took about five minutes to warm up versus other leading brands like the Viking stainless steel, which heated up almost instantly.
Testers also noticed the Caraway handles became noticeably hot while cooking on medium heat after about 10 minutes, but Viking’s stainless steel handles remained at room temperature.
Stainless steel cookware typically outlasts nonstick ceramic sets in durability and longevity, but it depends on the brand. If cared for properly, high-quality products like Caraway and Our Place should last up to five years.
If your goal is to add a pop of color to your kitchen, Our Place and Caraway sets come in several eye-catching options. Alternatively, stainless steel cookware sets offer a sleek and timeless aesthetic that will have home chefs feeling like professionals in the kitchen.
Cooking with stainless steel can feel inconsistent. For instance, when we tested the Viking set, we noted issues while stir-frying. Veggies started to stick to the bottom of the pan, and they weren’t easy to clean off.
The slick coating on nonstick cookware pans helped keep food from sticking, so they were easier to use and clean. Cleaning the Viking set was a little more challenging, but it is dishwasher safe, which is helpful if you don’t like hand-washing.
The Viking 3-Ply Stainless Steel Cookware Set is available for $300 to $355 and can be purchased on the company’s website. The Caraway Stainless Steel Cookware Set costs $695 to $845 and can be purchased on the Caraway website.
The Our Place Ultimate Cookware Set can be purchased on the company website. With its $760 price point, it’s one of the more expensive sets on the market. However, if you can catch a major sale, we've seen it as low as $466.
At $395 to $545, the Caraway Cookware Set can be purchased on the Caraway website or Amazon. Our Place has a 100-day trial option, while Caraway has a 30-day return policy.
Choosing between a stainless steel set and a nonstick ceramic set comes down to how you cook and your budget. In a perfect world, everyone would have both nonstick ceramic cookware and stainless steel cookware.
If we really had to choose only one, we definitely preferred using the nonstick ceramic cookware over the stainless steel. Most daily meals don’t require high heat, and cooking on a nonstick ceramic surface, especially with the Our Place and Caraway cookware sets, was dreamy. Plus cleanup is quick and easy.
If you prefer cookware that can withstand higher heat, however, we encourage you to get a stainless steel option. Durable stainless steel cookware will also last longer than nonstick ceramic cookware.
Prices listed reflect time and date of publication and are subject to change.
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