Gone induction - need pans!

[Flibble]

motco said:

Absolutely. My point was that stainless steel per se doesn't work unless its ferritic (aka cheap) stainless, and even then might not. The Judge set above is common-or-garden mild steel with an enamel finish and Teflon interior. They do offer a higher quality model called 'Vista'.

All my cheap stainless pans didn't work. All my expensive stainless pans do. Go figure.

Carbon steel definitely works, but most carbon steel pans are terrible, and aside from magnetism it has no redeeming qualities as a cookware material.

If you want cheap and guaranteed to work, I'd suggest cast iron, it's much nicer to cook with.

[motco]

Flibble, I would assume that your expensive ones have a ferrous insert in the base then.

[Simpo Two]

Flibble said:

motco said:

Absolutely. My point was that stainless steel per se doesn't work unless its ferritic (aka cheap) stainless, and even then might not. The Judge set above is common-or-garden mild steel with an enamel finish and Teflon interior. They do offer a higher quality model called 'Vista'.

All my cheap stainless pans didn't work. All my expensive stainless pans do. Go figure.

And my cheap stainless pans from Homebase work perfectly...

[motco]

Simpo Two said:

Flibble said:

motco said:

Absolutely. My point was that stainless steel per se doesn't work unless its ferritic (aka cheap) stainless, and even then might not. The Judge set above is common-or-garden mild steel with an enamel finish and Teflon interior. They do offer a higher quality model called 'Vista'.

All my cheap stainless pans didn't work. All my expensive stainless pans do. Go figure.

And my cheap stainless pans from Homebase work perfectly...

That's odd because I have a large cheapish own brand stainless pan that I use for beer brewing, bought from John Lewis years ago, and it doesn't work!

[Matt Harper]

A lot of what is touted as stainless steel is in reality nickel-plated alloy. If a magnet won't stick to it, it won't work on induction.
A note about Circulon, (which I use myself) is that they are alloy pans with a steel base, so are kind of cheating in a way - in that only the base gets hot by induction (the body of the cookware heats by convection) and is not as efficient as an entirely ferrous vessel.
LC induction cookware is a lot better than Circulon, because its more thermally efficient - but, as others have said, it's pricey and heavy.