Stainless steel pans are a mainstay of professional kitchens, but why are they so favoured? In my time as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, I've interviewed plenty of experts to inform our guides to the best saucepan sets and best non-stick pans. Almost every professional chef I've spoken to swears loyalty to stainless steel pans due to their robust builds.
Stainless steel, like Le Creuset pots and Vitamix blenders, are seemingly ubiquitous in professional kitchens. Though we're all in favour of doing as the pros do, the elephant in the room is that stainless steel doesn't come cheap. So I set out to first establish why chefs love to use stainless steel over cast iron or toughened non-stick alternatives and to find out if we should follow suit in our kitchens at home.
