Creuset 6.75 quart on sale

Long time fan, when I saw this on sale bought, plus a few mugs, and a free salt and pepper mill

https://www.lecreuset.com/round-wide-dutch-oven-6-3-4-qt-sea-salt/LS2552-30717SS.html

I’ve got this one and love it

SO, is there stuff SO much better than non-brand name Dutch ovens to justify the expense? That, even at the sales price, is about 4X more than mine.

Can’t comment on yours but Le Creuset has the best lifetime warranty in the business. I messed mine up allowing sugar syrup to boil away and completely fried the bottom and they replaced it for free even though it was many years old. Not to mention I had purchased it at a scratch and dent warehouse the first time. Would never pay retail but I think it’s worth it when you can get a good price.

I use my first pot at least twice a week. After twenty five years, it is still pristine, it cooks beautifully, and its limits would test far better cooks than me.

Thanks. Free shipping to the outer galaxies! Deal.

This is the wide version, it is stamped 30cm? We have the 7.25qt regular version that’s 28. I didn’t get one until I was getting old and didn’t understand how essential having one is. I like the taller sides; stews in the oven will caramelize along the sides and add flavor.

Can’t recommend a product/company more. The lifetime warranty is incredible. Accidentally left some baked beans on the burner for about 30 minutes too long and it really scorched the bottom. Shipped my 15 year old 6.75 to them along with a letter and a month later a brand new 6.75 arrived! Actually recently purchased a 13 liter and my only complaint is how heavy the damn thing is! Le Creuset rocks!

Yes the weight is a problem, especially when full. But I would not dream of braising in anything else.

I can’t comment on some of the other brands, but I also love my le Creuset. I have a smaller Staub that I like as well, but I’ve had the LC for ages and use it several times a week. Beautiful, top quality. Fully recommend. I’ve had friends buy seconds at very good prices from HomeGoods or TJ Maxx and they are also very happy with them. Williams Sonoma will sometimes run very good sales as well. I bought the Staub 4 QT last year for $99 from W-S. Between the two I still prefer the le Creuset, but both are very good.

I don’t know for sure, as I only have LC at the moment. But I just purchased 2 Tramontina Dutch Ovens (4 qt and 7 qt) for $70 total at Costco, and I am going to try the 7 qt this weekend.

I am also a Le Creuset owner and new fan. I own one dutch oven.
Your post got my attention and I checked the Costco web site for the Tramontina(sold out right now btw). Note the Tramontina is hand wash only and oven safe to 450 degrees. Le Creuset is dishwasher safe and oven safe to 500 degrees. Le Creuset also states that it is lightest per quart cast iron on the market.

Do these little details with a lifetime guarantee justify the huge price differential?
Probably not. That said I signed up with Le Creuset to receive their sales. Lastly you get an amazing number of color selections with Le Creuset.

I really struggle with dutch ovens. I have 3 of them (2 no-name brands from when I was a poor college student, and 1 Le Creuset). The no namers have been in service weekly for the last 15 years while the Creuset has seen only monthly use for a little over 3 years. The reason the no namers see so much more use is their size: 4qt and 5.5qt while the Creuset is 6.75qt. All three perform every single time I ask them to.

I’ve threatened to replace the no namers for the past decade, but I can’t bring myself to spend a couple hundred dollars to replace something that is still serviceable. I’ve been waiting and waiting for them to chip, crack, break the handles, etc… But they keep on trucking on. Sure, they are stained on the inside, but that doesn’t justify retirement, it just adds character.

So while I want to try and justify the high end name brand models, the sample set i’m working with doesn’t justify it.

TW

Funny you mention the 450 degrees - I had that in my post but decided to delete it. I may have used my current LC at that temp to make bread, but not even sure about that. I didn’t notice the dishwasher detail, but I have never put my LC in the dishwasher.

We have a few dutch ovens from various brands, and throughout the cooler months, we tend to use one or the other maybe twice a week.

My go-to has actually been a 5 1/2 quart Cuisinart oval casserole that I picked up on sale for <$70 about 9 years ago. It has one small chip on the rim and some interior staining at this point, but it does the job. The other that get regular use are a ~$50 Crock-Pot brand braiser of similar capacity and (most recently) a 3.75 quart Staub that I found for $89 at HomeGoods earlier this year. All work quite well - for the basic-to-intermediate level of cooking we do, anyway.

The Tramontina (red) 7 qt is 2.5 lbs heavier than the LC (orange) 6.75 qt. They look to be about the same size.
First use, noticed no difference from the cheaper dutch oven. Can’t judge life time performance, but no reason to expect it won’t last 20+ years as well.
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My LC had a plastic handle that eventually cracked due to high temps for bread baking. Replaced it with the metal one.

EBAY, people!! I really like both Le Creuset and Staub, but it’s much easier finding very good condition used LC on the Bay than Staub which is decades newer to our market.

I used a couple of different sized LC for years, until more recently switching to All Clad, and lately even lighter anodized aluminum. I haven’t found an ounce of difference in how they cook, and love trimming the weight by 10 lbs.

Big LC fan. We’ve got multiple round and oval dutch ovens and braisers. Best feature is how easy it is to clean the enameled interior. Probably not absolutely necessary, but I love them and I like the idea of passing them on to the children.