Why bother with more $$ brands
I have a 300 calphalon tri-ply stainless set, and I love it. Its high quality, cooks nice, cleans nice, and looks nice. I recently got this 14 inch Cuisinart skillet and wow! This thing is awesome. Price I dont know if calphalon even has a 14" pan, but I know that their 5qt chefs pan is 149.99. The cuisinart's 5qt chefs pan runs for 49.99 on amazon. So thats a good price difference example. Combine this with the ability to cheaply build your own pot/pan set (instead of making my mistake and getting a complete set), and youve got a good value. Build Quality I'll compare this 14" to my 10" calphalon. The one thing i immediately notice is that the calpalon pan bottom is smooth and seamless. Meaning you can't tell that there is an aluminum layer sandwiched between the two stainless layers. This makes it beautiful, and leaves no places hard to clean, however it must be hard to manufacture and probably helps explain the price difference. Beyond this, I can't see much a difference. They both have nice heavy solid handles that are riveted on. They both have a nice finish. I can't comment on weight comparison because the cuisinart is 14" and naturally heavier then my 10" calphalon. Size Nothing to compare it to. I have pretty much every kitchen thing id ever need, but I didn't have a 14" skillet. Ive seen this online several times and actually never thought anything of it. Then my roommate needed a new and ended up getting this pan (not knowing how big it would be). As soon as I saw it I couldn't believe it. It will dwarf practically any pan you have. Maybe not useful for all culinary adventures, but when cooking for a group or family, this thing is perfect. Plus being oven safe, you could easily cook up things like stuffed pepper filling, then load this pan up with probably close to 20 stuffed peppers depending on size. Cleaning Any and all stainless pans will not clean as quickly as your non-sticks, but they also won't leech out tephlonny yum yums or non-stick coating flakes into your meal. Burning anything, but especially oil can create "permanent" brown stains on your pan. Several of my pans have had nice evidence of prior kitchen distasters for some time, and I thought this was the price you pay for using stainless (and not paying attention in the kitchen). Then I found Bar keepers friend. they make a stainless steel cleaning powder (on amazon, but i got it at target). All of my pans look brand new (minus scratches). But any brown oil spots, heat discoloration etc, GONE! This is a must for anyone with stainless cookware, that wants to enjoy how nice they look too. Overall Love this pan, and plan on buying one for my mom, and probably another one or two from this cuisinart line of cookware to add to my own. Read more