Perfect searing, flavorful sauces, and stove-to-oven versatility make stainless-steel frying pans a hot item. But can you get a great one for less than $100?
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Bottom line: We can’t fully recommend any of the pans that cost less than $100.00. None of the truly cheap pans met our standards. A few of the pans closer to the $100.00 mark were OK, but none was as good as our longtime favorite, which also comes with a useful lid. If you can spend a bit more, we highly recommend the original fully clad skillet, which our tests proved is still the best: the All-Clad d3 Stainless Steel 12″ Fry Pan with Lid ($119.99). It’s an investment, but it will last a lifetime.
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
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