Stain THIS.

For all the time I spend in the kitchen, I am not one to be precious about my cookware. One of the best frying pans I ever had came from humble thrift-store beginnings to help me create many satisfying meals. (I think my sister has it now, so the cycle continues.) Last year, my mom gave me her cast-iron skillets, and you would have thought the Publisher’s Clearing House people showed up at my door with their balloons and giant check. I’m cool with hand-me-downs, is what I’m saying.

However, even though Red had a very serviceable set of pots and pans when I moved in, they were never meant to last forever. The nonstick stuff is flaking off. They’re all scratched. I was happy cooking with them, but we occasionally talked about what we wanted to replace them with. We ultimately decided that we didn’t want to go the nonstick route, as that leaches Goddess knows what horrendous chemicals into your food, and we didn’t want anything cheap. Whatever we bought would last.

Enter stainless steel.

We decided fairly quickly that we wanted to go stainless, but holy cats, there are a lot of stainless cookware sets out there. Some we could afford; others (I’m lookin’ at you, All-Clad) we most definitely couldn’t. After a few days of researching, we lucked into a gorgeous set of Cuisinart Multi-Clad Pro. The Amazon reviews, plus this in-depth comparison and recommendation, convinced me to whip out the old credit card and take the plunge. And I am so glad we did.

These babies are awesome, y’all. They are most definitely high-quality. They’re nicely weighted—no flimsy pans here. They heat evenly and the few meals we’ve made with them so far have been great. The handles stay cool (lids don’t). Pouring is easy. Cleanup is just as easy as nonstick. They fit in our cabinets. The lids have a mirror finish, so when I peek into a pot of simmering soup, I can smile at my reflection.

I think I’m in love.