Stainless steel pans are all the rage right now thanks to their non-toxic, high-quality nature, but in terms of adding design points to your kitchen, they can be seriously lacking. Unless you're into an industrial look, a stainless steel pan isn't the kind you leave on your hob as a status symbol.
That's why I was so happy to finally see someone combining the aesthetically pleasing all-in-one pan pastel look with this material type. Enter Prestige's Stainless Steel Edition cookware line, which features a Deep Frying Pan for just £45.
Oven and dishwasher safe as well as made without PFAS and PFOA, this pan should provide you with excellent heat distribution for everyday cooking as well as the perfect vessel for all-in-one meals. Here's how the specs compare to the best cookware I've tried in the past few years.
This set gives you the full breadth of options for catering to a lot of people. Each of the saucepans (16,18,20cm) offer a different opportunity for sides and come with individual lids.
This is the cheapest pan in this range but that doesn't mean a dip in quality. It's the perfect size for cooking tasks for one person and like the rest of the range, is suitable for all hob types including induction.
The trend toward stainless steel cookware goes hand in hand with a consumer desire to get rid of plastic sources within the kitchen – especially with the items we use to cook our food. It's also long been the material that trained chefs rely on in order to provide precise temperature control and caramelisation for dishes with sauce.
There are other benefits to this material too, including the longevity that comes with using such a hard-wearing metal. If looked after well, stainless steel pans can last a lifetime.
The ability to use metal utensils with stainless steel is also a huge draw. In the past year our expert reviewer and home economist Helen McCue has reviewed a selection of highly-rated pan sets in this material. The highlights include her EverClad range from Ninja review, Le Creuset's 3-Ply range review and Made In (which is a brand that originated in the UK).
Though Helen was won over by this material (she actually ended up replacing her older pans with a stainless steel set), it can be a steep learning curve if you're used to non-stick cooking surfaces. This metal isn't naturally non-stick, so you have to use some kind of oil or fat to begin cooking and getting the heat control just right to avoid burning can take some practice.
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Once you've managed it however, you'll have a pan for life that yields results that totally won over our resident home economist. And with this range from Prestige, you don't have to pick between that kind of quality and pretty pastel colours – you can bring the two together.
The colour range includes a dark green (Urban Olive), a dark blue (French Navy) and a dusky pink shade (Earth Rose). On each pan you get the splash of colour on the exterior as well as on the handle and the knob of the lid.
So if it's chef-worthy quality you're looking for in your pans that also double as decor, then Prestige's new range might just be the way to go. They certainly offer a great price considering the quality.