Buying guide
The safest cookware, by what’s actually in writing
We do not lab-test, so we will not tell you a pan is “safe”. What we can tell you is which pans are made of bare, inert materials and which makers put the most of it in writing. Those are the same short list.
It is a disclosure score out of 100, not a safety rating: what it is made of, who tested it, where it is made, whether the claim matches the evidence. A product can score 20 and be perfectly fine to cook in. What a low score means is that nobody outside the company can check. The rubric is here.
The short answer
Every pan at the top of our cookware scores has the same thing in common: no coating. Solid ceramic, clad stainless steel, cast iron and carbon steel have nothing applied to the cooking surface that could wear off, so there is less to disclose and less to take on trust. The highest-scoring coated pan we have checked in the US is GreenPan at 57/100.
- Solid ceramic — the Xtrema Classic Skillet, 96/100, the only brand here publishing dated SGS certificates. Brittle and slow to heat.
- Clad stainless steel — Made In and Heritage Steel at 92/100 in the US; Ovela, Essteele and Baccarat at 85/100 in Australia.
- Cast iron and carbon steel — Smithey at 83, Lodge at 78. Lodge loses points because the seasoning oil’s species is not named.
Every pan at the top of our cookware scores is uncoated: solid ceramic, clad stainless, cast iron or carbon steel. The highest-scoring coated pan in the US is GreenPan at 57/100.
Top-scoring cookware, United States
| Product | Score /100 | What touches the food | Our call |
|---|---|---|---|
| 96 | 60/60 | Best material | |
| 92 | 60/60 | Buy it | |
| 92 | 60/60 | Buy it | |
| 83 | 47/60 | Buy it | |
| 83 | 60/60 | Buy it | |
| 78 | 42/60 | Buy it | |
| 77 | 60/60 | Read the caveats | |
| 77 | 60/60 | Buy it | |
| 76 | 53/60 | Fine |
- 96/100
- 92/100
Made In Stainless Clad Frying Pan · US5-ply: 304 18/10 stainless, aluminium, aluminium alloy, 403 ferritic
The full entry → - 92/100
Heritage Steel Titanium 12" Fry Pan · USCooking surface “specialty 316Ti stainless steel”
The full entry → - 83/100
- 83/100
Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad 12" Fry Pan · US“18/10 stainless steel” outer layers with an aluminium core
The full entry → - 78/100
- 77/100
- 77/100
- 76/100
All-Clad D3 Stainless Fry Pan · USTri-ply bonded: aluminium core between stainless layers
The full entry →
Top-scoring cookware, Australia
| Product | Score /100 | What touches the food | Our call |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | 60/60 | Best material | |
| 85 | 60/60 | Buy it | |
| 85 | 60/60 | Buy it | |
| 85 | 60/60 | Buy it | |
| 78 | 42/60 | Buy it | |
| 77 | 60/60 | Fine | |
| 72 | 47/60 | Buy it |
- 85/100
- 85/100
- No maker photo85/100Essteele Per Amore 4 Piece Clad Set (Myer) · AU
Full multi-clad: 18/10 brushed stainless interior, aluminium core, stainless exterior
The full entry → - 85/100
- 78/100
- 77/100
- No maker photo72/100
What the leaders publish
Xtrema Classic Skillet — 96/100 · bare, inert materials
- What touches the food — 60/60. 100% ceramic throughout · no coating, no metal
- The rest of it — 21/25. Lids, seals, handles and the outside.
- Backed up — 15/15. Named testing, published reports, and whether the claim matches the evidence.
- Made in. China (stated)
- They claim. "Tested and certified PFOA free and PTFE free"; "No extractable lead or cadmium"
- Warranty. 10 years, plus replacement promise
- Heat. UNVERIFIED — no figure published
One material from end to end. No coating, no cladding, no metal — so there is nothing applied that could ever come off, which is why it scores highest here.
It is also the only brand publishing dated SGS certificates, going back years. And it is brittle, slow to heat and a specialist thing to own — a great material is not the same as a great pan.
The full entry, with every source · The maker’s own page
Made In Stainless Clad Frying Pan — 92/100 · bare, inert materials
- What touches the food — 60/60. 5-ply: 304 18/10 stainless, aluminium, aluminium alloy, 403 ferritic · 2.7mm
- The rest of it — 21/25. Lids, seals, handles and the outside.
- Backed up — 11/15. Named testing, published reports, and whether the claim matches the evidence.
- Made in. Italy and the US (not broken down)
- They claim. Made without "PFAS PFOA PTFE Lead Cadmium BPA"
- Warranty. Lifetime, defects
- Heat. 800°F
Publishes the actual build — five plies, named alloys, a thickness in millimetres. Almost nobody else does.
Uncoated stainless, so there is no coating to be evasive about. The best everyday pan on this page, and our pick if you want one thing that will outlast you.
The full entry, with every source · The maker’s own page
Heritage Steel Titanium 12" Fry Pan — 92/100 · bare, inert materials
- What touches the food — 60/60. Cooking surface “specialty 316Ti stainless steel” · aluminium core · 400-series ferritic exterior · no coating of any kind
- The rest of it — 21/25. Lids, seals, handles and the outside.
- Backed up — 11/15. Named testing, published reports, and whether the claim matches the evidence.
- Made in. Fabricated in Clarksville, Tennessee from clad plate sourced in South Korea (both stated)
- They claim. "Fully non-toxic & made without any chemical coatings"; "made without PFAS, PFOA, PTFE (Teflon), ceramic silanes, lead, cadmium"
- Warranty. Lifetime — repair or replacement for defects and normal cooking use
- Heat. 800°F, broiler safe; induction; hand wash recommended
The most specific grade disclosure of any pan we have read. Not “stainless”, not “18/10” — 316Ti for the cooking surface and 400-series for the induction exterior, both named outright.
Their own AB 1200 filing corroborates it: the chemical list includes molybdenum, which is the marker of 316-series steel and would not be there otherwise.
The full entry, with every source · The maker’s own page
Ovela 9 Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set (Kogan) — 85/100 · bare, inert materials
- What touches the food — 60/60. 304 stainless steel · tri-ply encapsulated base · stainless riveted handles · tempered glass lids
- The rest of it — 25/25. Lids, seals, handles and the outside.
- Backed up — 0/15. Named testing, published reports, and whether the claim matches the evidence.
- Made in. UNVERIFIED — not published
- They claim. No coating, so no PFAS claim is needed and none is made
- Warranty. 1 year
- Heat. Oven safe (no ceiling stated); dishwasher safe
Names the alloy — “Durable 304 stainless steel” — and there is no coating, so there is nothing applied that can come off. Handles are riveted stainless, lids are tempered glass. No plastic anywhere in the set.
From the same company whose own-brand air fryers disclose almost nothing. Kogan can specify materials properly; on this range it chose to.
The full entry, with every source · The maker’s own page
What we would actually tell a friend
If you want the least to worry about, buy an uncoated pan and learn to cook with it. If you want non-stick, choose one whose maker names the coating and publishes testing, and read the claim wording — “no intentionally added PFAS” is a narrower promise than “PFAS-free”. What to look for in non-toxic cookware.
Questions people ask
What is the safest cookware material?
We score disclosure, not safety. On that measure, uncoated materials — solid ceramic, stainless steel, cast iron and carbon steel — lead every list we publish, because there is no coating whose chemistry has to be taken on trust.
What is the healthiest cookware to use?
The pans we can say the most about are uncoated. The top US scores are Xtrema (96), Made In stainless (92) and Heritage Steel 316Ti (92). In Australia, Ovela, Essteele and Baccarat stainless sets score 85.
Is ceramic non-stick safe?
Ceramic non-stick is a coating, usually a sol-gel, and most makers do not publish the recipe. Our ceramic non-stick explainer covers what is and isn’t known.
Is stainless steel cookware non-toxic?
Uncoated stainless has nothing applied to wear off, which is why it scores well here. Points are lost when the grade is not named — Misen, for example, names no grade anywhere.
Related
Sources
- Xtrema Classic Skillet — maker or retailer page. xtrema.com
- Made In Stainless Clad Frying Pan — maker or retailer page. madeincookware.com
- Heritage Steel Titanium 12" Fry Pan — maker or retailer page. www.heritagesteel.us
- Smithey Ironware No. 12 Skillet — maker or retailer page. smithey.com
- Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad 12" Fry Pan — maker or retailer page. www.tramontina.com
- Lodge Classic Cast Iron Skillet — maker or retailer page. www.lodgecastiron.com
- Ovela 9 Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set (Kogan) — maker or retailer page. www.kogan.com
- Essteele Per Vita 5 Piece Set (Myer) — maker or retailer page. www.essteele.com.au
- Essteele Per Amore 4 Piece Clad Set (Myer) — maker or retailer page. www.cookwarebrands.com.au
- Baccarat iconiX 4 Piece Stainless Steel Set — maker or retailer page. www.baccarat.com.au
- MessyPig materials rubric. MessyPig materials rubric
Related pages
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New scores, brands that finally answered, and any rule change that affects what you can buy. The list is not open yet — email us and we will add you when it is.