I was going to title this one ‘Piss Off, Nonstick Pans’, but I thought that may come off a little aggressive. Earlier this year our house made a full switch from nonstick cookware to enameled cast iron pots and pans. Ousting the nonstick has been on the to-do list for years but there always seemed to be more urgent tasks to attend to. The issue finally came to a head when our current nonstick pans started peeling, making them extra extra bad, so I finally got my crap together and researched alternatives. I settled on enameled cast iron, mostly for the easy of cleaning and non-toxicity.

Bonus: it’s P-R-E-T-T-Y! Why shouldn’t everything in our homes, even the stuff hidden behind cabinet doors, be beautiful and colorful and fun? There is a beautiful and awesome version of most every functional object, so that’s the one I think I’d like.
I had a few vintage Dansk Kobenstyle and Descoware pots and pans already that I’ve been lugging around the country for years but never really using because sometimes I have a stupid urge to save things that I think are special instead of using them. One was even my Grandma’s old orange pot that she gave to me when I moved into my first apartment = especially special, even though I think she gave it to me mostly because it was more my style than hers and she rarely used it. But it’s dumb to have stuff you don’t use, so the cast iron enamel conclusion was extra great because I’m finally putting these beauties to work.

I’m slowly filling in the missing pieces with Le Creuset pots, mostly buying used or seconds. The Kobenstyles are lookers, but the quality of Le Creuset is incomparable, so much so that even 70’s Dansk design can’t compete. Used pieces I  bought (ebay) were in good shape inside but cosmetically not perfect on the outside. These seriously last forever so, as far as I can tell, a 40 year old pot works just as well as a brand new one. I still catch myself throwing an enameled cast iron pan on the stove and cranking the heat to high like I used to do for other pans, which is a bad. But once you get the hang of it, they cook so well and are deceptively easy to clean.

(SAD UPDATE: I destroyed that little orange skillet it a few days ago, after I took these! I accidentally turned the wrong burner on high, came back 10 minutes later confused about why my kettle of water wasn’t boiling, but also why my normally orange skillet was bright red and the enamel inside was bubbling. A scary and expensive mistake. Lesson learned, hopefully, but habits are hard to break. So sad.)

MY FAVORITES:There have definitely been stand outs that we use more than others, shown above. For reference, we are a family of 4, we reluctantly cook at home at least once a day, and we rarely cook meat (I’m a vegan, husband is a sad carnivore living with a vegan who does most of the cooking). For our needs, we could get by daily with these 4 (5) pieces:

• Le Creuset 4.25 qt Deep Saute Pan – We use this everyday for everything. Hands down the best pot we’ve got. It does it all and if I could only have one, this would be it. (UPDATE A FEW YEARS LATER: Loved this so much and used this so much that we upgraded to slightly bigger 5 qt Braiser, for more room for stirring up one pot meals. LOVE IT!)
• Le Creuset 5.5 qt Dutch Oven – I wish I could eat soup everyday but my family is not on board with that. Still, we use this a lot.
• Le Creuset 2.75 qt Saucepan – The one I have is vintage, and maybe I’m so into it because I like to grab the wood handle?
• Le Creuset 9″ skillet – Love this for small jobs. ***This is the one I just destroyed, so we are now using a similar vintage Descoware one that does the job but just isn’t the same.
• Dansk Kobenstyle Butter Warmer – Not a necessity but we LOVE this little guy and use it surprisingly regularly (though maybe because we don’t have a microwave so not sure how much other households would use!) We have a slightly larger yellow one too that also sees a ton of use. Mine is vintage but they can still be purchased new. I recommend finding a vintage lidded one on ebay!

Thank you to the industrial designers out there for making life better through design. I can’t lie and say that I now like cooking. But it’s a better experience than it used to be because it looks like a party in my kitchen.