I don’t know a whole lot about the brands you mention, but if you can, go with the brand that uses a steel base. Don’t get aluminium, it tends to bend slightly more and cause bubbling of the non-stick surface, my skillet is now only half non-stick…you should see it. My newer steal based pan has already lasted 3 times longer.

If I were you, I would check Consumer Reports and see if they have ratings for pans. They probably do because I know I’ve seen them rate cookware.

You have to suscribe to get the ratings, @jca. I checked there first to try and help @JilltheTooth. There is a free discription of various cookware, but to get the ratings you must be a paid subscriber.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/kitchen-cookware/buying-guide.htm

I would look for enamelled cast iron cookware. If you take care of it, it will last your family several lifetimes and I just prefer the way cast iron cooks over the other options.

Staub, Lodge, and Le Crueset are some of the more popular brands.

I’ll see if my library has Consumer Reports, that may help. I’ll also look into the steel thing, I hadn’t heard that about aluminum based stuff. And, @WestRiverrat , the enamel over cast-iron isn’t non-stick. It’s lower on the friction scale, but not non-stick. (I have a bunch of lovely dansk I’ve used for other stuff for decades.)

I am not a paid subscriber to Consumer Reports, but if you know someone who is, you can use their password.

I did look up the Consumer Reports ratings. Their top 5 were (in descending order):

Earth Pan
Swiss Diamond
Scanpan (Classic)
Emerilware
Anolon (Advanced)

T-fal and Farberware weren’t rated. Various Calphalon lines placed 9,11, and 12.

Earth Pan has a coating that doesn’t use the more controversial chemicals in most non-stick coatings but, for what it’s worth, CR also published their tests looking for traces of these chemicals released by conventional coatings during use and found no cause for concern.

Steel and cast iron have the disadvantage of being lousy heat conductors, which means they have to be massively heavy to get an even heat distribution. Aluminum is a much better conductor but, as @Keep_on_running says, a thinner or broader aluminum pan may tend to buckle. That’s more of a problem if you cook on an electric stove, since you then lose some contact with the element.

I look for the heaviest aluminum I can find. I cook on gas, so moderate buckling of the pan bottom makes no difference. An omelet-size pan is too small to see much buckling anyway.

@thorninmud : I haven’t heard of Earth Pan, thanks, I will check that out.

@thorninmud Neither had I, but they’re also among the least expensive.

I see Target sells Earth Pan. I had never heard of it till now. I just buy my non-stick skillets at Costco. They only seem to last a few years, anyway, before getting scratched up. My mom swears by her cast iron pans, from my grandmother. She says they make the food tastier. I think they’re a lot of maintenance or they rust.

I know a guy who refuses to use non-stick pans, on account of the coating that slowly gets scraped into your food over the years. He thinks it might cause Alzheimer’s, and since he’s a neurologist researching Alzheimer’s, I suspect that he’s probably got better motive than paranoia.

I might be more sensitive to the murmurs about health risks if I saw any indications that the stuff is ending up in my food, but I don’t. The beauty of quality non-stick coatings is that you don’t have to scrape the pan. I can either toss the food to turn it, or use a silicon spatula to move the food around, neither of which could possibly scrape coating into the food. In washing, I only have to use a sponge (never Scotch-brite) or dishrag to clean the pan which, again, isn’t degrading the coating at all.

If I were ever to see signs of flaking, I’d ditch the pan. That used to happen a lot 15–20 years ago, but technologies have improved tremendously, and I never see any flaking on newer generation pans anymore.

And as long as you’re careful not to use metal utensils on pan, it should be ok.

@thorninmud : Yeah, I have noticed any kind of flaking only on the older very cheap pans. The ones I have now aren’t flaking, they’re just sticking a bit. I’m going to look into the EarthPan idea, as soon as I dig out from the snow…

Somewhere, I read that Teflon-coated skillets are about to be taken off the market, because of the health conditions they present to humans.

NOW they make this move after all of us have used Teflon-coated cookware for years!

We have five black skillets and they work wonderfully, after being first sprayed with Canola Oil.

@john65pennington I’m not sure what you may have seen, but it almost certainly wasn’t an impending ban on teflon. There is an agreement between the EPA and DuPont to phase out the ingredient PFOA from Teflon by 2015, but that’ doesn’t at all mean the demise of either Teflon or non-stick skillets.

Thank you all. This is something I’ve been wondering about too. We know so much much collectively, don’t we.

Thorninmud, thanks for correcting me. I just forgot what the entire article stated. I knew it had something to do with Teflon.

In addition to all of the other good advice from above, it’s a good idea if you can handle the pans before you purchase, to see if they have a good feel for you.

We have 2 sets of non-stick pans and one of the sets has very heavy handles, so if you don’t get your pan right smack in the middle of the burner it tends to tip (something I had never even considered until I got it home and it tipped). Another factor is the overall weight of the pans. The set with the tippy handles is also considerably heavier overall than the other and sometimes it hurts my arms and wrists to lift them.

I’m not sure what brands we have, but I don’t think any of them are on your list of consideration, I got ours at Target about 8 years ago.

Also, if you don’t already have a set of silicone tools for your skillet, get some. Spatulas, tongs etc. then you won’t be tempted to use your metal tools.

And, last, but not least, make sure you hand wash your non-stick pans. The dishwasher gets too hot (according to the cooking show host that I listen to) and can compromise the non-stick surface. I usually just fill the pan with warm water and dish soap immediately after I’ve emptied the pan of it’s contents, then I let it soak while we’re having dinner. Easy Squeezy : )

By the way, do you have any dishes you are planning to cook with your nifty new pans???

@Kardamom : While I appreciate your advice, these are A) not my first non-stick pans and B) not my first pans. Just a couple non-stick replacement skillets for basic skillet stuff.

OMG if you have not heard of these non stick skillets I highly recommend them. I ordered them and now I cook everything in them. I have seen them also sold at CVS here in California. Please do yourself a favor and not only check them out .Get one you will not regret it .https://www.orgreenicskillet.com/?tid=4263. Greatest Non Stick skillets I have ever in my 40 odd years of cooking really try to insist people get one .

@EverRose11 : Thanks, I’ll check them out!

You are going to love them, also they are not Teflon, they were created out of porcelain it is safe and healthier to cook in ABSOLUTELY NOTHING will stick in them not even if you burn something, Your Going to LOVE it.