Best Cookware Sets of 2024

CR’s take: An internet sensation, this Caraway ceramic-coated cookware set turned out to be a sensation in our tests, too, rising to the top of our nonstick-set ratings. It comes with 14 pieces, but only half of them are pots or lids. The rest are various racks, hooks, trivets, and things you might not want or have space for. But if this is your first cookware set—and you have the storage space—why not? It excels in all four of our key cooking tests (cooking evenness, simmering, nonstick food release, and speed of heating), and its nonstick coating proved durable, though others were more so. We also find that the handles are sturdy and stay cool to the touch while you’re cooking. It comes in six colors, including the Perracotta set shown here.

CR’s take: With its pink blush exterior, white ceramic interior, and gold handles, the GreenPan Reserve pan certainly makes a style statement. But how is it on substance? Not too shabby. In fact, its scores on all our major cooking tasks are top-notch, including an excellent rating for speed of heating. Its handles are sturdy and stay fairly cool to the touch. The nonstick coating is durable, although some other nonstick pans we test perform better on that assessment. This 10-piece set includes two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, a stockpot, and four lids.

CR’s take: The 10-piece Oxo Ceramic Professional nonstick set is all business, with no extras added to the count, just pots and lids. That said, its cooking evenness is top-notch, and it brings water to a boil in no time flat. Plus, it’s very good at simmering sauces and releasing eggs fried in quick succession. Our tests also revealed that the handles are super-sturdy and stay cool to the touch.

CR’s take: The 10-piece Vitale nonstick set from Zwilling is excellent at heating water, cooking evenly, and simmering without scorching. The handles get our top rating for sturdiness and stay cool to the touch as you cook. Additionally, every piece in this set is a pot, pan, or lid, with no extraneous add-ons, and the set comes with a lifetime warranty. The durability of its nonstick surface is also very good. However, it receives only a middling score for nonstick food release, where we cook one egg after another in the frying pan and see how difficult they are to dislodge.

CR’s take: The 10-piece Crate & Barrel set can cover all your cooking needs. It comes with two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan and a stockpot. All but the frying pans have their own lids. These pans aced all our cooking tests, including cooking evenness, sauce simmering, speed of heating, and food release, a test in which we cook four eggs in a row and see how easily they slide out of the pan. These are also very easy to clean; in fact only one stainless set gets higher marks on that test. Like most high-end pans, the handles are sturdy and stay cool to the touch as you cook.

CR’s take: The Cuisinart N91-11 SmartNest stainless steel set has six pans that can be stacked for storage. It’s an 11-piece set, including a lid organizer, which comes in handy for the four lids that fit multiple pans. The pans are consistently strong performers across our tests, earning top marks in cooking evenness and egg release. And its results in our tests for simmering and bringing water to a boil are almost as good. The handles are sturdy and stay cool to the touch.

CR’s take: The eight-piece stainless steel Fissler Original-Profi collection set earns a top mark for cooking evenness and aces our test for heating water quickly. The handles stay cool to the touch and are sturdy, so this set should serve you well for a long time. The pans do very well at releasing food but aren’t as impressive when it comes to sautéing or simmering. The set includes a frying pan, three saucepans, a stockpot, and three lids.

CR’s take: Sur La Table’s 10-piece set is all pans and lids with no extraneous pieces like utensils. It has two frying pans as well as two saucepans, a sauté pan, and a stockpot with dedicated lids. Cooking evenness, speed of heating, and food release (we use eggs) is top-notch. Sauce simmering is very good, but some sets do better. The pans were as easy to clean as most in our stainless tests. The only downside is handle sturdiness: That’s just so-so—not impressive for a high-end brands—but they stay cool to the touch when you’re cooking.

CR’s take: This 11-piece stainless steel cookware set from The Cellar includes two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, a stockpot, a silicone trivet, and four lids. The set, a Macy’s exclusive, aces our cooking evenness, speed of heating, and food release tests. It is also easy to clean. The handles stay safe and cool, but they aren’t so sturdy.