Circulon Contempo Hard Anodized Nonstick Skillets

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I'm a very visual person and 1st impressions do last for me. A bit of pre-history: I looked for 2 10" quality pans for quite some time and found Circulon® Elite 8" & 10" Open Deep Skillet Set Reg. $80.00 Sale $39.99 on macys.com Thanks to my insightful husband who asked me to look the set up on amazon, I found out from the amazon reviews that the pans' weight was not centered and shifted toward the handle, which made them very unstable. Macys.com had glowing reviews for the set and noone mentioned such a major drawback. I really wanted to buy circulon pans, because according to reviews the quality was exceptional and they were on sale. I finally came across this set (Circulon Contempo Hard Anodized Nonstick 8-Inch and 10-Inch Skillets Twin Pack) and made up my mind to get 2 sets since I needed 2 10" pans and didn't mind to get extra 2 8" ones. The deal was really sweet: 4 pans for $60, no tax, prime free shipping and in 2 days I'm opening the box. The design is very sleek, the pans look sturdy and well-made, they are not light, but aren't heavy either - quality stuff. I do not believe the pictures do them justice. I have not tested the pans in action yet, so there will be an update, but they look solid and stand flat on my crooked electric stove. When I placed the order, I felt like I was gambling, because you can't really see the quality from the images provided. Because of that, I decided to give circulon some free advertising for the sweet deal and attached several photos to make the decision easier for you.

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4.5 months later.....



These pans are very different from the ones I used in the past.

(1) The major thing that needed some getting accustomed to was the fact that you'd hardly hear any "cooking" sounds unless your stove is on fire. I mean, on temps under med-high (electric stove)...almost nothing. Then you flip your food over and it's burnt.

(2) I learned fast that these pans heat up way more than regular ones, so if I used to cook something on 4, I'll go down to 2.5-3 for the same results here.

(3) It's not unquestionably non-stick. I fried an egg without adding any oil and it didn't really slide around. I cook eggs over easy and the egg york tore while being flipped over. No bueno! BUT a single drop of oil makes it truly non-stick. Besides, food does taste better this way!

(4) Absolutely true that cleaning is a breeze. I kind of even like doing it :-)

(5) A few times accidentally touched the metal part of the handle, where it attaches to the pan. It was H.O.T.!! My older pans have non-metallic handles all the way, so I don't know what's up with this design glitch.



Overall, after a week or so of adjusting my cooking techniques to this new purchase, I'm truly happy. The food cooks faster and crisper due to grill-like wavy surface of the pan. I would buy the pans again and highly recommend them, especially when they are on sale - you won't find such great price/quality ratio. Subtracting one star, though, because there's room for improvement.



P.S. I'm glad you found my pictures helpful in making a decision. Enjoy new recipes and easy clean-up!