Care and longevity

Cookware rarely wears out. It gets damaged, usually in one of six ways, and every one of them is avoidable without any effort once you know about it.

Nonstick dies from heat, not from use

Empty pans on a high flame are what kills a coating. Preheat on medium, add fat before it smokes, and a set lasts years rather than one winter.

Metal on coating is a one-way trip

Wood, silicone or nylon on anything nonstick. One steel whisk taken to the bottom of a pan leaves a scratch that spreads every time you cook.

Stainless discolours before it fails

Rainbow tinting and white spots are minerals and heat, not damage. A splash of vinegar clears both. The pan underneath is untouched.

Cast iron enamel chips on shock

Not on heat, but on cold water hitting a hot pot and on hard knocks. Let it cool before it meets the sink, and it stays intact for decades.

Thermal shock breaks plates too

Stoneware straight from a fridge into a hot oven is the usual way a plate cracks. Let it reach room temperature first.

Stack with something between

Plates chip at the rim where they meet each other. A sheet of paper or a felt pad between them costs nothing and prevents most of it.

When a coating is finished

Once food catches in the same spot every time and oil beads unevenly, the layer has gone and no amount of careful cooking brings it back. That is the point to replace the pan rather than fight it. A well-treated nonstick set gets there in perhaps five years; an abused one in one.