Cookware & Bakeware

Cookware and bakeware are items that you use to cook or bake food, whether it's for indoor or outdoor dining. These products include cookware, bakeware, and pots and pans as well as individual items such as a Dutch oven, cast iron skillet, stock pot, casserole pot or clay cooking pot, stand mixer, bakers rack, cooling rack, measuring cups and oven mitts. Cookware and bakeware come in many brands, styles and varieties. The Le Creuset Dutch oven and Le Creuset saucepan are eternally popular. So is ethically sourced start-up Our Place cookware, known for its Always Pan, which is an entire cookware set in one ceramic pot.

This category also includes cooking, baking and serving utensils ranging from a whisk to a pair of tongs to a spatula. You generally find and buy cookware and bakeware in a home store or a department store's home store section.

FAQ's:

What is ceramic cookware?
Ceramic cookware is coated, non-toxic metal pots and pans. These pan sets are naturally slick and nonstick, and also easy to clean.

What is stainless steel cookware?
Stainless steel cookware is some of the most common pots and pans sets. Stainless steel is not non-stick, but some of the best cookware sets are made from heavy-gauge, indestructible stainless steel. Many chefs and professional-level home cooks prefer a stainless steel pan.

What is a non-stick pan?
A non-stick pan is any pan or pot to which food will not stick. If you need to use oil or butter, it's not a non-stick pan. Most people think of Teflon, the first specially coated pan, when they hear non-stick pan. However, there are many kinds of non-stick pans now, including ceramic and anodized metal.

What is copper cookware?
Copper cookware is some of the most cherished and beautiful in the industry. The best pots and pans sets are copper because they conduct heat very effectively and cool down quickly so that you don't ruin delicate dishes. Copper pots and pans are also some of the most expensive, making them a once-in-a-lifetime investment.

What is cast iron cookware?
Cast iron cookware is a different kind of holy grail for home cooks. Cast iron heats up slowly and then holds onto the heat, which makes it great for searing and going from grill or stovetop to oven for finishing. Cast iron is very heavy and requires special care in cleaning.

What is glass cookware?
Glass cookware and bakeware is made from treated glass so that it doesn't explode from high temperatures. Glass makes for pretty presentations but it sometimes cooks unevenly as glass conducts heat poorly.

What is ceramic bakeware?
Ceramic bakeware is coated, non-toxic metal that's oven-save. This bakeware is naturally non-stick, come sin fun colors, and is also easy to clean. Some people consider ceramic the best bakeware.

What is silicone bakeware?
Silicone bakeware is flexible, rubbery bakeware made of silicon and carbon or oxygen. Naturally non-stick and easy to clean, it comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. It can be used for molds and freezing as well as baking.

Are non-stick pans safe?
Non-stick pans are also generally safe to use with the exception of Teflon pans made before 2013, which contain the compound PFOA. However, if a newer model non-stick pan is scratched or chipped, it may leak metals or toxins and should be replaced.

Can you put a pan in the oven?
Stainless steel, copper, cast iron, and adonized pans are almost always oven-safe. For ceramic and newer non-stick pans, they are usually oven-safe but they might have temperature limits. It depends on how they're made.

Older non-stick pans are generally not oven-safe. Wooden handles and non-tempered glass lids should not go in the oven. For all pans, always check the manufacturer's instructions or look on the bottom for the oven-safe symbol.