Letting go of Mom's calphalon 5 qt sauté pan

Was afraid to try anything other than anodized aluminum but sadly, after almost 30 years, and 2 moves, my Mom's 5 qt sauté pan got warped, it was time. Very pleased with the new pan - dishwasher safe and all the great features of the old pan.

Initial usage and reaction is favorable. Time will tell how it holds up with use. So far, it works well and suits my needs. One possible improvement would be a wider/easier to grip handle as it is a fairly large pan and when I want to pour from it, it wants to spin in my hand.

Exceeded my expectations

I love to cook but I'm a novice. However after recently subscribing to a bit more of a technical cooking periodical than I'm used to, I decided to treat myself to both a 3 and 5 qt saute pan. Both were specially priced and I was so surprised and pleased when I opened the boxes and inspected the pans. This pan was the larger yet lower priced item, but in side by side inspection and in side by side cooking comparisons the pans performed identically.

good pan, hard to handle

The pan is great to cook with. Lid fits tightly, even heating. My one complaint is the narrow handle. The pan is heavy. When you hold the handle with one hand and dispense food into another dish, the hard to grip handle allows the pan to roll out of position. I came very close to dumping all the food out on the counter: very awkward.

I guess you get what you pay for?

We bought a frypan and this sauté pan to replace aging non-stick cookware. As a non-stick replacement we are thrilled BUT the pan is very unstable. We have a ceramic cook top and when you set the cold pan on the top it rocks and no little bit! The pan flattens out once it heats up and we put oil in it but feel quite dissatisfied that the pan changes shape between hot and cold. We have not abused and have followed directions for use and maintenance to the letter. Thinking twice about buying another large pan. The 8" fry pan is great. We guess that 12" is too large to be stable for the design.