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Stainless Steel Cookware: The Measured Guide

Stainless steel cookware is sold on brand and on handles, but it is bought on four numbers: the alloy, the layer structure, the gauge and the base diameter. Everything else — the rivets, the finish, the marketing name for the surface — is downstream of those.

This page is the index for everything measured on this site about stainless pans, and the short version of each answer.

The four numbers

Alloy. 18/8 (304) and 18/10 (316-class) are both austenitic stainless steels. The second number is nickel; 316 adds molybdenum for chloride resistance. For a pan, 18/10 is the common cooking surface and 18/0 magnetic steel is used on induction bases.

Layer structure. Full-clad means the aluminium or copper core runs up the walls; a disc bottom means the core exists only in a plate brazed to the base. Full-clad heats more evenly up the sides and costs more to make. A disc-bottom pan is not a bad pan, but the transition between base and wall is a cool ring.

Gauge. The thickness of the core, usually quoted in millimetres, decides how much heat the pan can hold and how fast it recovers when cold food lands. Thin cores recover slowly and hotspot near the flame.

Base diameter. A pan whose base is smaller than the burner concentrates heat in the middle. A pan much larger than the burner has a cool perimeter. Matching base to burner is free and changes results more than most upgrades.

The questions this matrix answers

  • Why does food stick? Temperature, not seasoning. The full sequence is in the sticking guide.
  • Why does salt pit the surface? Chloride attacks the passive layer where it sits wet. Covered in the salt and pitting piece.
  • Why does cheap cookware weigh less? Gauge and cladding. Covered in the core and conductivity piece.
  • How many pieces do you actually need? An audit of a 16-piece set against real jobs.
  • Can it go on induction? Only with a magnetic base layer. Check with a magnet before buying.
  • Will the dishwasher ruin it? Detergent plus heat dulls the surface and attacks rivets; the pan survives, the finish does not.
  • Will it warp? Empty pans on high heat and thermal shock are the two causes. Heavy bases resist both.

What to check in a listing, in order

  1. Core thickness in mm, or total base thickness. If neither is stated, the maker is not selling on construction.
  2. Clad or disc base. The phrase “tri-ply” without “fully clad” usually means a disc.
  3. Alloy of the cooking surface, not just “stainless steel”.
  4. Base diameter against your largest burner.
  5. Weight. A 28 cm frying pan under about a kilogram is thin.

The rest of this matrix builds on those five checks. Each piece below takes one question and answers it with a number or a test you can repeat in your own kitchen.

Read the pieces in this matrix