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List Price: $570.00
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We have now been using this set for 6 months. When we first received and began using them, the pans were perfectly nonstick so that food including eggs could be cooked without any oil, and cleaning was fast and easy. Unfortunately this is no longer true -the pan we've used most often now requires oil in order than food doesn't stick, despite hand-washing and following the manufacturer's other directions. If no oil is used, the pan is like a traditional pan and not only does food stick, but the pan requires prolonged soaking and scrubbing to get it clean. You must also be careful not to stack the pans (chipping and scratching).
The pan handles do not get hot, but the lid handles do, so be prepared to use a potholder to move the lids.
The set must be hand-washed and handled carefully to avoid chipping, but this is not a problem for us.
I would have rated the set 5 stars had it retained its nonstick performance. The loss of the nonstick capacity and the subsequent difficulty with cleaning the pans drops my rating to two stars.
1/3/10 Edited to add: We've now been using this set for a year and I've noticed several minute to small chips out of the cooking surfaces of more that half the pieces. We do not use metal utensils (silicon only) and are careful with cleaning and storing. One piece has also absorbed the smell of the food that was cooked in it. I am now looking for a different set of cookware, and regret buying this one. While I prefer a "green," eco-friendly product, I think this one needs some improvements in quality and design.
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My wife recently began researching possible harmful items in our home, and asked me to get cookware without Teflon. Having grown up with non-stick pans, and having had a bad encounter with stainless steel, I was expecting this change to be a nightmare. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised.
I researched healthy alternatives to non-stick and came up with ionized aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron and ceramic coated cast iron. None of these seemed like a great choice. I then went to Bed Bath and Beyond to look at pans and discovered the Cuisinart Green line. After seeing the cast iron, I realized we probably would somehow damage our new glasstop stove as it was so heavy, so ceramic coated aluminum sounded great.
I settled on either Calphalon One infused ionized aluminum or the Cuisinart line. However, Bed Bath and Beyond is a bit confusing with the Cuisinart line. They sell Cuisinart "Greenware" as a set and Green "Gourmet" as individual pieces. The Green Gourmet set is a bit more expensive, and I was advised by the salesperson not to buy GreenWare as it has a rough bottom that may scratch a glass top stove. He offerred to order a Green Gourmet set, but I decided to buy one Caphalon and one GreenGourmet frying pan and test them before investing in a set. I honestly didn't expect either to work as well as my non-stick pans.
I generally only cook breakfast on the weekends, so I cooked what I know how to cook. I took both pans and set the burner at the same setting (6 on my stove which is the setting I used for the non-stick pans). I made pancake batter and used an organic olive oil cooking spray. Interestingly, the Cuisinart pan was too hot at 6 so the pancakes burned and I had to set the stove at 4 to get the same results as the 6 on the Calphalon pan. Both pans were great with the pancakes--better than my non-stick pan and probably the prettiest looking pancakes I have ever made. The Cuisinart pan was very easy to clean, but the Calphalon took a bit more effort. On another day, I cooked eggs. Again using the same Olive Oil spray. The eggs immediately stuck to the Calphalon pan. Having read instructions on using cast iron and waiting for the eggs to "release", I waited, and waited and waited. What a mess! I couln't get the burnt eggs off the pan. Of course as soon as I put the pan in the sink with water, they popped right off so clean up was easy. I'm sure there is a correct way to cook eggs on this pan, but I couldn't do it after 4 tries. On the Cuisinart Pan, I had no problem, and surprisingly, the eggs seemed to be easier to turn over than on our old Farberware non-stick.
So after this, I decided to get the Cuisinart and ordered from Amazon which was $50 cheaper than the price quoted by the Bed Bath and Beyond salesperson who offerred to order it for me.
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I agree with those who said that this cookware worked well only in the beginning. After only five months of regular use and following all manufacturer's instructions when caring for the set, the coating began to chip off. I sent one of the pots back to Cuisinart, but still haven't received a replacement. Whenever I call I am told that this item is currently not available and they don't know when I will get a new pot. I've been waiting for over five months already. For this amount of money I would expect the set to last more than half a year. If you need a "disposable" set, then I guess Cuisinart is a good idea. Also, do not expect Cuisinart to rush with the replacement. As for nonstick surface, well it's no longer so. Even though the idea of creating a green line cookware is something lots of us had been waiting for, the quality of this set is very poor.
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We've had this pan now for over a year. We bought it because we were trying to be environmentally and health conscious. Over that time, the pan turned from somewhat disappointingly sticky to a tragic mess. We seasoned it repeatedly, we never used harsh abrasives on it, but every time we use it, it gets worse. Grease sticks to it and the "safe" sponges and brushes do nothing to remove the residue. We simply can't get it clean. Food sticks to it like crazy --pancakes, eggs, potstickers, whatever I happen to be cooking.
It's come to the point where we're using as much or more oil than we would on a regular skillet, only we can't get this one clean. Avoid it unless you want to be buying another skillet in a year or two, like us. I really was hoping for a sustainable alternative to teflon, but this one just makes me angry.
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The Cuisinart Green Gourmet Eco-Friendly cookware is great! Heats evenly, does not need heavy oils, butter, or sprays to cook in (once seasoned). Cleans very easily also with little effort. I would have given these products a 5 star rating, but 2 of the pans I bought from Bed, Bath and Beyond had to be return/replaced because they had some strange shading in the coating. I was unsure if that would affect the life or use of the product and returned for replacement. I have had no problems with any other of these pans that I have bought elsewhere, it may have just been the batch sent to that store, so I can definitely say I recommend this cookware. One note, if you are a "put everything in your dishwasher" kind of person, you will not like how these look or wear if you do that. I use to be that way and have now gotten use to hand washing these wonderful pans and my new set of knives to extend their life and use. Go green!
