Hellobee Boards

I prefer stainless for health reasons. Granted it's what I'm used to but I find them easy to use and clean. I definitely like stainless steel better for browning and I like that I don't have to worry about what utensils I'm using that might scratch a nonstick.

I say both. Our cooking set is all stainless, but we have 4 non stick skillets for things like eggs, and other stuff that would be really hard to cook in stainless

I prefer stainless. Our full set is stainless. But we have two calphalon non stick frying pans for making certain things.

we use cast iron and stainless steel. mostly cast iron for pan cooking.

We got a non-stick set as a wedding gift, so we've been using that for 4 years. Recently started using a couple cast iron pans and LOVE them. We're planning to phase out the non-stick and get a few more cast iron pieces.

Is there anything that DOESN'T cook well in cast iron?

We have all three (cast iron, non stick and stainless) and I like them all for different reasons. Non stick is good for eggs and pancakes, stuff I'm in a hurry to flip and don't want to fiddle with being sticky. Cast iron is awesome for meats, and stuff I want to sear then put in the oven, or dishes that benefit from a jus made by deglazing the pan. Stainless I love for sauces and stuff like that. It just depends on what I'm making I guess.

I thought eggs would be hard to cook in the cast iron, but we do it every morning and it works great! I think the key is to make sure it's seasoned well. Which we don't really do anything to it regularly. Just don't use soap and let fat build up (sausage and bacon work great). We have put some coconut oil on it once, too.

I think cast iron doesn't heat up or cool down as fast as others, so it's not great if you're making something that requires a lot of temp. changes. We typically cook more rustically, I guess, so it's not an issue for us.

I like stainless steel for searing. Also my pan has a lid, which is handy. I have a heavy bottom porcelain nonstick pan which is new fav. Safer than teflon but easy to clean!

Depends on what I'm cooking, but since I often boil, it doesn't really matter that often.

we have a stainless set, one cast iron that i love and a cuisinart green gourmet nonstick. we try to avoid using nonstick for health reasons.

@JerricaBenton: same.

I have non stick but I wish I had known about the health issues with them when we registered - I would have gotten the stainless steel.

We have both, but more stainless pieces. I like both kinds for different things, but I definitely use the stainless more.

@Bao: the non stick element, some chemical compound, seeps into your food over time! It can be dangerous if its a continual consumption I don't know the specifics, I'd have to look it up. We have non stick- wish we could afford some new pans!

Here is an interesting article http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/14/business/14shortcuts.html?pagewanted=all

Just look up Teflon relating to health and you'll be able to find some more info

We used to be non stick owners until the health scares emerged, so we registered for all stainless steel and enameled cast iron and made the switch.

We have non-stick, but need to replace almost all of them because they are peeling. We've decided to do it before our baby would start eating things made from them (though I guess she kind of is right now, since we're pregnant).

I really love the look of copper pots/pans. Does anyone have experience with them?

@Mrs. Lovejoy: We have a couple small copper pots and a copper roasting pan that we don't use all that often, but I haven't found them any harder to clean than stainless steel - which I think is easy to clean. I'm surprised so many people think they are a pain to clean!

I used to use non stick because ohow easy they are to clean but lately with all the bad rep that non stick has been getting and its links to cancer, we threw out all our non stick and are back to stainless only. Good quality heavy stainless pans are easy to clean too.