First, let me say that I like my All Clad, very much. It's given me 30 years of great service and has stood up well to carelessness and abuse. And while some of the pots look their age, they don't cook their age. However, having recently purchased and looked at some Calphalon, I've begun to think that it's time for AC to modernize, add some features that may make the pots more useful to home cooks.
I've come to appreciate the glass lids on the Calphalon. I like seeing what's going on without having to remove the lid. However, the stainless lids that come with All Clad seem a stronger alternative in the long run. Perhaps All Clad could offer the glass lids as a separately purchased item. If they did, I'd certainly buy one or two.
The All Clad lids have a small design flaw, no big deal, but in some situations it could certainly be annoying if not a problem. The lid actually drops down into the pot a little bit, and if the level of the ingredients is very high, the lid gets in the way of the ingredients. The Calphalon lid is slightly domed, and that's not an issue.
The rolled lip on the Calphalon pots makes pouring easier and more controlable, at least for me. I've noticed the rolled lips on some other professional-grade cookware as well. Perhaps it's time that All Clad offered that feature.
The calphalon pots that I've looked at have greater radius inside the pot where the side meets the bottom, making it easier to scrape out certain ingredienst, such as a thick sauce, some soups, and the morning porridge.
None of these things is of major importance, but they are nice features, and taken together make the Calphalon (and others) a little more user friendly. Not having these features won't prevent me from buying more All Clad when the need arises, but maybe it's time All Clad modernized their design if it could be done without sacrificing quality. What do you think?
Shel
I've come to appreciate the glass lids on the Calphalon. I like seeing what's going on without having to remove the lid. However, the stainless lids that come with All Clad seem a stronger alternative in the long run. Perhaps All Clad could offer the glass lids as a separately purchased item. If they did, I'd certainly buy one or two.
The All Clad lids have a small design flaw, no big deal, but in some situations it could certainly be annoying if not a problem. The lid actually drops down into the pot a little bit, and if the level of the ingredients is very high, the lid gets in the way of the ingredients. The Calphalon lid is slightly domed, and that's not an issue.
The rolled lip on the Calphalon pots makes pouring easier and more controlable, at least for me. I've noticed the rolled lips on some other professional-grade cookware as well. Perhaps it's time that All Clad offered that feature.
The calphalon pots that I've looked at have greater radius inside the pot where the side meets the bottom, making it easier to scrape out certain ingredienst, such as a thick sauce, some soups, and the morning porridge.
None of these things is of major importance, but they are nice features, and taken together make the Calphalon (and others) a little more user friendly. Not having these features won't prevent me from buying more All Clad when the need arises, but maybe it's time All Clad modernized their design if it could be done without sacrificing quality. What do you think?
Shel
