Jay,
I’m doing the same for my beach house. I landed on Sitram cookware. What I’ve found is if I buy great pots they will outlive me.
I bought the black anodized exterior All-Clad twenty years ago-pretty much one of everything. They have never let me down. They get banged around and abused. They go off the six burner Thermador range and into the oven often. There may be better-haven’t tried them all-but they are well designed. Most times I can handle the hot handle without a towel. I have never noticed any uneven cooking. If there is one draw-back, it might be getting a good sear on fish and meat.
I’ve got de Buyer for carbon pans, Demeyere for stainless, Staub / Creuset for enameled cast iron. I use carbon steel pans for most skillet tasks, stainless when I’m cooking reactive foods. enameled cast iron for dutch oven, etc.
De buyer makes (made?) a carbon steel roasting pan, which is hard to find, but cleans up so much easier than a stainless roasting pan.
Misen non-stick pans are awesome. I haven’t tried any of their other stuff.
I have a few All-Clad pots which I like.
You might be covered if you have cast iron already, but my Turk forged iron fry pans were game changers.
Gave away my Made-In too.
I love my Hexclad.
Hestan Nanobond’s are pretty impressive. Very hard to scratch and very even heating, flat rivets. Trading up for my all-clads which too much sticks to.
Count me as a big fan of Made In. Have some Misen too, but really prefer the Made in. I can see why how you use them (hot handles above) could be an issue. But, I really love mine. My favorite is the saucier but the 2QT sauce pan (which wasn’t available for sale recently?) is a go to pot/pan for me. And I think Made In’s Teflon is better than Misen and Misen was miles ahead of what I’ve had before which included All Clad.
Oh, and I assume you have some enameled cast iron already (Le Creuset, etc.) but if not then you need at least one dutch oven.
I own a set of all-clad d5 that I have been very happy with.
That said after reading this thread I would purchase the Hestan set now if I was in the market.
I suggest Gotham Steel or Red Copper https://blades.guru/gotham-steel-pan-vs-red-copper-pan. Both pans claim to deliver excellent non-stick performance, and part of their approach for achieving this is the inclusion of ceramic materials in their coatings. Both are oven and dishwasher safe as well.
After agonizing over this for too long, I got the Misen full set. We had gone to BB&Beyond and my wife hated all the pots I liked because they were too heavy. She couldn’t test the Misen pots in advance. She said they are just as heavy as the others. I paid $1,000 less for the Misen set than for the copper All Clad and I told my wife to go and buy a set for herself. The only problem is where do we put them all. The Misen seem pretty good but I have never used the All Clad d5 or copper.
I love my All-Clad steel and aluminum sauce pans. My fry pans (non-stick and other) are regular quality restaurant stock. They take a ton of abuse. Just replaced an 8” nonstick frypan for $30 after 7 or 8 years of use. Love my cast iron as well
The $20 Tramontina commercial nonstick is best non stick I have had. Otherwise cannot go wrong with all clad and a good cast iron or two.
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We’ve used All Clad for years and have been very happy.
I got the Tramontina regular non stick at Costco on sale for $20 for three skillets. Can’t beat it, and if they don’t last, would you pay $1 each for 20 good omelets? If so, they’ve already paid for themselves and look brand new.
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We have a complete set of Smithey cast iron which are fantastic. The 14" Smithey cast iron skillet is probably our most used pan. We also have stainless clad Cuisinart stockpots and sauté pans which have served us well for many years plus a Staub enameled cast iron braiser which is very nice.
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I was at Costco 1-2 years ago and someone was selling this at an end cap as a weekend special for a 3 piece set. She convinced me it was the best nonstick pans at Costco so I tried them. They are much better than the Costco $20-50 sets.
I also use 50 year old Farberware stainless for daily use plus a 22 year old set of All Clad copper. Both are great.
I killed my Hestan when I left it on the range and enjoyed a long dinner. I have migrated to Hexclad; very happy with them. Non stick and brown beautifully.
Huge Creuset fan, and took advantage of sales to buy a couple more.