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See why.Innovative Saucepans
Can newfangled designs improve on—or even stand up to—the tried-and-true saucepan we’ve used for years?
What You Need To Know
Our favorite saucepan is a kitchen workhorse—its hefty frame, deep bowl, long arm, and tight-fitting lid make it our go-to vessel for rice, soups, sauces, and even pastry cream. What could possibly be improved? Mainly space management, we discovered when we began to peruse cutting-edge options. We tested two saucepans with removable handles, which allow the cook to fit more pans on a small stovetop, in the dishwasher, or in a cupboard. One pan also boasts a lid that doubles as a trivet. And we were hopeful that another pan—which, like the same company’s 5-quart pot, has an integrated strainer and a keep-warm bowl—would work better in saucepan form, so we also took it for a spin. We tested these new models by making pastry cream, sautéed onions, and rice pilaf.
The results? Disappointing. While they did save space, the two pans with removable handles either were out of balance or did not feel secure. One pan's wooden lid/trivet performed its heat-shield function well but prevented us from using the clamp-style handle, since the lid won’t fit when the handle is attached. Another's innovative lid met the same fate as the one for its larger pot: Bulky solids tended to block the opening. The only innovation that held up was the same pan’s nesting bowl: Placing the pan in the bowl let us take it to the table and kept the contents warm. None of the innovators came close to performing as well as our favorite.
Everything We Tested
Recommended with reservations
- Design: 1 stars out of 3.
- Cooking: 2 stars out of 3.
With its white ceramic coating and wooden lid that doubles as a trivet, this pan is designed to go elegantly from stovetop to table. But the removable tonglike handle, the clamp of which is wrapped in rubber to affix to the pan’s walls, required near-constant squeezing to stay secure, which hurt our hands. The pan made great rice pilaf, but the very thin aluminum scorched onions and broke our pastry cream. With vigilance on the part of the cook, this pan does perform, but that makes extra work.
- Design: 1 stars out of 3.
- Cooking: 2 stars out of 3.
With five layers of metal—it’s tri-ply throughout, with two additional layers on the bottom—this pan was heavy and out of balance when lifted by its stumpy, removable handle. The handle also got too hot to hold close to the pan, making it awkward for stirring pastry cream. Though it produced decent rice pilaf, it repeatedly scorched onions since its thick disk bottom heated slowly and then raced. For its price, this pan should have been perfect.
Not Recommended
- Design: 1 stars out of 3.
- Cooking: 1.5 stars out of 3.
This thin, flimsy steel pan bulges out from its aluminum- and steel-clad disk-bottom base, which gave us scorched onions and rice that browned too much along the pan’s sides. It uses a locking lid to allow safe straining, but solids pushed against the narrow opening when we poured, holding back the liquid. The pan fits into a keep-warm melamine bowl that let us bring it to the table, where it successfully kept the contents hot.
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The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing.
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