This is long and interesting. We have Hexclad, but half the pans are losing its surface, so I will be replacing them.
Interesting if not surprising. This is the way of private equity.
Most of my cookware was purchased before things moved to private equity owners. I have bought a few Vollrath pots in the timeline of concern but while not listed in the article, a quick Google search shows they are still family owned and mostly US made. They even moved some manufacturing from China to the Wisconsin due to rising cost and quality concerns but do appear to still maintain some Chinese and Spanish manufacturing.
Ditto. Most of my cookware is antique cast iron, Le Creuset, vintage borosilicate glass, and a Korean-made stainless steel set that I bought at Nordstrom when I was a budget-constrained graduate student which has turned out to be absolutely bombproof quality. I have a couple of Chinese-made carbon steel woks of indeterminate age (at least 30 years old) and a couple of Emile Henry glazed stoneware pots/casseroles. My knives are Wuesthof, another set I scrimped and saved up to buy when I was a post doc. I don’t abuse my cookware and expect what I have to last my lifetime and probably longer.
We have several All Clad pans. The oldest is pushing is pushing 40 years. Never occurred to me to put any of them in the dishwasher.
I put all clad lids in the dishwasher. Early on would occasionally put a pot in the dishwasher if in a rush- As the article eludes to the dishwasher eats the bonding layer between the steel plys resulting in a very sharp rim. Learned my lesson, pots are still 100% functional
All Clad pans have a thick outer or middle layer of aluminum (hence the name, Al-clad = stainless steel clad in aluminum). That’s not a mere bonding agent, it’s the crux of the pan–aluminum conducts heat a lot better than steel, so the thick layer of aluminum allows more even heating of the pan surface.
The original All Clad pans (Master Chef) were simply a thick layer of aluminum with an inner layer of SS for the cooking surface. The LTD line had a thin layer of anodized aluminum on the outer surface (cf. Calphalon, thick aluminum with both the outer and cooking surfaces anodized). The stainless steel All Clad line came later; these have a conductive layer of aluminum sandwiched between two layers off SS (the outer of which is highly polished to make it nice and shiny). AC also makes/made a line of cookware with copper as the conductive layer.
I splurged and bought the All Clad made from Costco with the 5-ply copper a while ago. Then I have a bunch of lodge cast iron and LC enameled steel too.
Cookware has always seemed to me that “you get what you pay for”. Pairing great cookware with big multi-burner gas stove makes a huge difference when my chef friends show up over here mix in as much wine as they can consume and it’s a delicious combo
All my cookware is All-Clad, maybe 10 D5 and rest (10-15) Copper Core.
They go to the dishwasher after every use. Been fine for the 10+ years Ive had them.
Never considered using my dishwasher for my pots and pans
Pretty good book about the PE playbook for American tableware. Mentioned midway in the piece.
Also, this was a bit too on the nose:
https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/1q5sn3a/i_seriously_wish_for_paris_to_make_these/
treat every nonstick pan from anyone, at any price, as a consumable
I’ve been doing that for decades. Buy the cheapest one you can find because you’re going to need to replace it every year or more regardless.
I assembled a custom set of All Clad LTD in the 80s after college and have run them in the dishwasher for 40 years with zero functional issues. (The anodized outside surface discolors, so what.) Bulletproof other than the 12” skillet that finally warped from abuse.
If you have a mind to, I bet All Clad would replace this under their lifetime warranty.
Pretty impressive to warp a 12" LTD. I have one that’s at least 35 years old. The outside is ugly from burnt on crud, but it’s still flat and gets used a couple times a week.
Yeah, buy all disposable shit. Fill the landfills. Rejoice in the ultimate in consumerism.
While I agree there is a shelf life for nonstick pans, A good $20 tramontina can last 10 years if you take a little care
Cook constantly for the past 35 years. I also have never considered putting a pan in a dishwasher. Who does that?
BTW, we keep Kosher so have two kitchens in one. And have a mix of AllClad, Calphalon and HexClad. They are all tanks. Tens of thousands of uses. They never wear down.
I mean, putting cast iron or carbon steel in the dishwasher is clearly a chump move, but what’s the issue with putting a (non-brushed finish) All Clad in the dishwasher?
I would never put a pot or pan in the dishwasher….. Now my wife and kids that’s a whole other story…….
My wife doesn’t fit in the dishwasher.
Dishwasher detergents can corrode/erode aluminum. Even the stainless-clad All-Clad has exposed aluminum at the rim of the pan (the issue in the linked story in OP).
I do have some all-stainless stock pots that occasionally go in the dishwasher.
LTDs apparently don’t delaminate after 40 years of the dishwasher, as long as you don’t mind the backs looking all beat to hell, which to me shows they’ve been well-loved and well-used
. I can imagine that 3 and 5-ply construction could behave differently. No idea what All-Clad would want to replace this with or why they’d want to replace something this beat up!
