Caraway is best known for their chic ceramic nonstick cookware, but they now have a line of clad stainless steel cookware. They also make bakeware, cutlery, storage containers, and utensils. Here we take a detailed look at Caraway's clad stainless steel line of cookware so you can understand the performance, features, design, pros and cons, and how it compares to other top quality brands. It's not cheap, but is it worth it? Read on to find out.
Caraway Stainless Steel Cookware at a Glance
Here are the basic features of the clad stainless steel cookware from Carawat.
Feature | Description |
---|---|
Basic Construction and Design: | -5-ply cladding -0.5mm 304 grade (18/10) cooking surface -0.5mm 430 grade brushed steel exterior (for induction compatibility) -Heating core has two layers of 0.5mm pure aluminum and one 0.5mm core aluminum alloy (total core thickness 1.5mm) -Straight sides with rounded bottoms -Skillet has good amount of flat cooking surface. |
Lid Construction and Design: | -Stainless steel -Vent hole to release steam -Flat (not domed) -Heavy -Swooped, riveted lid pulls. |
Handles: | -Straight, solid handles -Riveted to pan -Forked at pot to stay cooler -Thumb stop on bottom to improve grip -Helper handle on sauté pan. |
Induction Compatibility: | All pieces are induction compatible. |
Oven Safe to: | 550F |
Dishwasher Safe? | Yes, but hand washing is recommended. |
Warranty: | Lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects. |
Made In: | China. |
Caraway Clad Stainless Buying Options
Caraway makes six pieces of stainless steel cookware (including lids, which are usually counted as separate pieces by other cookware makers). These are all Caraway's stainless steel buying options.
Open Stock
You can buy Caraway's stainless pieces in sets or individually. Here are all the individual pieces. Sets are listed below.
Skillets
Features:
-2.5 lbs (10")/1.7 lbs (8")
-No lid (Dutch oven lid should fit large skillet; sauce pan lid may fit small skillet)
-Straight handle with thumb stop on bottom
-Fairly straight sides with a lot of flat cooking surface
-Riveted handles
Sauce Pans
Features:
-2.8 lb/4.2 lb with lid (3 qt)
--2 lb/3 lb with lid (1.75 qt)
-Flat, vented lid included
-Straight handle with thumb stop on bottom.
Sauté Pan
About $235
-12 inch diameter
-4.5 quarts
-Vented lid included
-Straight handle with thumb stop on bottom
-Helper handle (nice feature on a heavy pan)
-4 lb/6.9 lb with lid.
Dutch Oven
About $215
-10.5 inch diameter (lid will fit large skillet)
-6.5 quart capacity
-Vented lid included
-4.3 lb/6.6 lb with lid.
Steamer
About $65 for large size (3 qt sauce pan) /$55 small size (1.75 qt sauce pan)
A steamer is a great piece that makes it easy to steam veggies and other foods. It's not included in the sets so if you want one you have to buy it separately. You may be able to find a cheaper steamer insert that fits the 3-quart sauce pan.
Sets
These are the Caraway stainless steel set options.
4 Piece Set
About $695
Includes 3 qt sauce pan with lid, 10.5 in. skillet, 6.5 qt Dutch oven with lid, 4.5 qt. sauté pan with lid, storage rack, and hanging lid rack (shown below):
Minis Duo Set
About $310
Includes 1.75 qt. sauce pan with lid, 8 inch skillet, and mini storage rack.
Cookware and Minis Duo Set
About $1000
-Includes 3 qt/1.75 qt sauce pans with lids, 10.5 in. skillet, 6.5 qt Dutch oven with lid, 4.5 qt sauté pan with lid, 8 in. skillet, storage rack, and hanging lid rack.
About Caraway
Caraway was founded in 2018 by CEO Jordan Nathan after he accidentally left a Teflon pan on a hot burner and got sick as a result (the "Teflon flu" can occur when PTFE pans are heated above 500F). The first Caraway product was ceramic nonstick cookware, which doesn't release fumes like PTFE when heated (though may have other potential health issues). Today, Caraway has expanded from ceramic nonstick cookware to selling stainless steel cookware, utensils, knives, bakeware, food storage solutions, tea kettles, and more.
Caraway began as a direct-to-consumer brand (DTC), sold solely on the Caraway Home website. Today Caraway sells through several retailers, including Crate and Barrel, West Elm, Food 52, Macy's, Target, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and most other major retailers.
Caraway products tend to have great design that's sleek, minimal, colorful, and just all-around beautiful. Their products look great in social media feeds, so they've become a darling of influencers. However, it's important to think about how the design affects usability, because what looks great isn't always great to use. We'll discuss design in more detail in the Important Features section and in the detailed review.
How We Tested
For this review we tested the 10.5 inch frying pan. We weighed it, measured the wall thickness, and tested the heating evenness and heat retention by boiling water in the pan and measuring how long it took to cool to 100F. Then we put it to use in the kitchen as any cook would, using it for searing meats, cooking veggies, frying eggs, making omelets, and other things a cook would use a skillet for.
Overall, the pan was well liked by our testers, and was close in performance to other clad stainless brands we like and recommend.
Using High Heat with Stainless Steel Cookware
Caraway mentions in several places on their website and in their marketing literature that their stainless steel pans are great for "high heat cooking." This is true, especially if compared to nonstick cookware, which should never be used with high heat because it destroys the nonstick properties. You can heat a stainless pan as hot as you want to and it won't get damaged or be unsafe. This is true of all stainless cookware, so it doesn't set Caraway stainless steel apart.
On the other hand, most clad stainless makers tell buyers that their pans are so heat efficient that you don't need to use high heat, and that medium is as high as you'll need to go and will produce the best results. This is true for all good quality clad stainless steel cookware. You can use high heat, but it can cause cooking oils to polymerize and stain the pan, which looks like this:
You can scrub these stains off a pan, but it can take a lot of elbow grease.
Too-high heat can also cause cooking oils to break down, which can be hazardous to your health. If the cooking oil begins to smoke, it's too hot (and you should avoid breathing those fumes).
So though you can use high heat with Caraway steel pans, you only need it for a few applications, such as searing steaks or making stir fries. If you want to keep your pans looking their best--and easier to clean as well--don't use high heat.
Thus, we did not do a lot of high heat cooking during testing, even though Caraway encourages it.
See below for our detailed review of the Caraway stainless steel skillet.
About Clad Stainless Steel Cookware
This section covers the basics about what clad stainless steel cookware is. This info will help when you're ready to buy.
About Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of carbon, iron, and chromium, and can also contain nickel, titanium, molybdenum, vanadium, and other metals that provide various improvements in strength or corrosion resistance. There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of different stainless steel alloys.
The two most common alloys used in cookware are 300 grade for the cooking surface and 400 grade for the exterior. 300 grade steel contains nickel and is very corrosion resistant. The most popular grades seen in cookware are 304, which can be 18/8 or 18/10; these numbers indicate 18% chromium and either 8% or 10% nickel.
400 grade steel contains no nickel. This makes it magnetic, which is necessary for induction compatibility. However, being nickel-free also means it is less corrosion resistant than 300 grade steel, so it is only used on the exterior. (You might see inexpensive clad cookware made entirely of "nickel free" steel, but you should avoid this unless you have a nickel sensitivity because it's not as durable as 300 grade steels.)
About Cladding
Clad stainless steel cookware is composed of layers of steel bonded to a heating core that's usually aluminum but may also contain copper. This design offers cooks the best of both worlds: the durability of steel and the excellent heating of aluminum (or copper).
You can see the layers above in the diagram of Caraway 5-ply clad stainless cookware. Clad cookware can have as few as three layers (steel-aluminum-steel) and as many as seven. 5-ply cladding has become popular, but the number of plies isn't as important as other considerations, which you can read more about in our article about 3-ply vs. 5-ply clad stainless cookware.
About Disc Cladding
Some stainless cookware has cladding only on the bottom, with sides that are a single layer of stainless steel. This is called disc clad, bottom clad, or impact-bonded cookware. You can tell disc clad cookware by the seam around the bottom:
Caraway stainless steel cookware is fully clad, so we won't talk any more about disc cladding in this article.
Is Clad Stainless Cookware a Good Choice?
Clad stainless steel makes excellent cookware for many reasons (we talk more about features below).
Stainless steel cookware is a smart move for Caraway because just as people turned from PTFE to ceramic nonstick cookware for safety and environmental reasons, people are starting to turn away from ceramic nonstick because of its short life span and potential for releasing unsafe chemicals into your food. More and more people are choosing clad stainless steel for their cookware because it's safe, durable, non-reactive, and doesn't require seasoning (more on this in a minute).
On the other hand, there are soooo many brands of stainless cookware on the market today, it's hard to make the case that we need yet another one. Caraway makes good quality cookware, and overall we liked it in our testing, but it's not any better than time-tested brands like All-Clad, Demeyere, and Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad. Furthermore, it costs as much as some of these brands and more than others without offering any distinguishing characteristics other than Caraway design (and includes storage with sets, although this isn't a plus for everyone--more on that below, too).
Fans of Caraway will buy this cookware and love it, but if you're looking for something unique in the market or decidedly better than other good brands, Caraway stainless steel is not it.
Does Clad Stainless Steel Cookware Need to Be Seasoned?
Until recently, cookware seasoning was restricted to cast iron and carbon steel because they rust easily, and seasoning creates a barrier that prevents rusting. It also provides a smooth, near-nonstick cooking surface that's appealing to cooks who want nonstick cooking without the potential health hazards of actual nonstick cookware.
Seasoning cookware has now moved beyond cast iron and carbon steel to stainless steel and even nonstick pans, with both manufacturers and cooking sites telling people to "season" their pans by applying a thin coating of oil, heating the pan to a moderate temperature for a short time--usually just a few minutes--then wiping out the excess oil, and voila! You have a "seasoned" stainless steel or nonstick pan.
This is not really seasoning. When you season cast iron and carbon steel, you "bake" the lightly oiled pan at high heat for a long time. This process actually changes the molecular structure of the oil as it reacts with the cast iron or carbon steel. The oil turns into a polymer that creates a smooth, nearly impenetrable barrier that prevents rust and is also very slippery. (Note: this polymer does not contain any of the potentially hazardous materials that PTFE contains.)
When you "season" a steel or nonstick pan at low temperatures for a short time, you're not changing molecular structures or creating polymers. Instead, you're just coating the pan with oil, warming it up, and wiping the excess oil out of the pan. This procedure can result in a more slippery cooking surface, but it's really just because of the oil residue.
Theoretically, you could season a steel pan the same way you season cast iron, and you would get a polymerized surface like the one shown above, although ideally the polymer would be an even coating over the entire cooking surface. But as you can see from the image above, polymerized oil looks terrible on a stainless steel pan, and it doesn't seem to create a nonstick cooking surface like it does with cast iron and carbon steel; it just looks terrible.
So the answer is that no, you do not have to--nor can you--season a stainless steel pan. However, wiping the cooking surface with a thin layer of oil before use may help keep food from sticking.
For more information, see our article Can You Really Season a Nonstick Pan?
Caraway doesn't mention seasoning their clad stainless cookware, which we consider a good thing.
Important Features of Clad Stainless Steel Caraway Cookware (What to Think About Before Buying)
When we review cookware, we look at specific features that determine overall quality and satisfaction for users. They are: heating, durability, safety, design, ease of cleaning, and value. We will look at each of these and how the Caraway pan measures up in each category.
We give Caraway stainless cookware a rating in each category so if you don't want to read the whole section you can still get an idea of our testing results by looking at the star rating.
Heating
Assuming cookware is safe to use--and we only review safe cookware--good heating performance is the most important aspect. Good heating means a pan heats evenly and holds heat well.
For clad stainless steel cookware, this means that you want a thick heating core, which is the internal layer(s) of aluminum and/or copper: the thicker, the better. (Stainless steel does not transfer heat well; it's there for its durability.)
For fully clad pieces, you want a heating core at least 1.5mm thick; this is the minimum we recommend.
The thickness of the stainless steel layers is less important, but they do contribute to heat retention, so they make a small difference in heating performance (sort of). When considering heating properties, the heating core is the most important aspect.
Notice that we don't talk about the number of plies. This is because overall thickness of the heating core is the important feature, regardless of the number of plies. For example, a tri-ply pan with a 1.7mm aluminum heating core is going to heat more evenly and hold heat better than a 5-ply pan with a 1.5mm aluminum heating core. These numbers change if the heating core contains copper--or another layer of steel, like All-Clad D5--but the Caraway stainless heating core is aluminum, as is most of its competitors, so we won't discuss other configurations in this review. (Check out our All-Clad review if you want to read more about Copper Core or D5.)
It can be frustrating trying to find heating core specifications because not all brands supply them. Caraway did not supply them on their website (that we could find), but when we requested the information, they sent it within a day--an example of Caraway's excellent customer service.
If you can't find the heating core specs on a brand you're interested in, you may want to consider buying a different brand. Or, you can look at weight: in general, the heavier the cookware, the more likely it has a substantial heating core (although there are sometimes exceptions to this, and Caraway is one of them--more on that in the actual performance review below).
For the best heating performance, you should buy the heaviest cookware that you can comfortably handle.
At 1.5mm, Caraway clad stainless cookware has a thinner heating core than other brands we like, including All-Clad D3, Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad, Demeyere Industry, and Cuisinart Multiclad Pro. The heating was pretty good, but not quite as good as these other brands. The difference may not be noticeable to cooks in daily use, so if you really like the design, Caraway is a good choice--but it's only slightly above average in terms of heating performance.
For the best heating performance, you should buy the heaviest cookware that you can comfortably handle.
Durability
Durability determines how much abuse cookware can take and how long it will last. It also means you can use high heat, metal utensils, and abrasive scrubby pads to clean it. These are desirable traits in any cookware, as it is a pain to work with delicate cookware and always be worried about if the heat is too high or if you've somehow damaged it (nonstick, we're looking at you).
If you're a fan of nonstick cookware, then durability probably isn't an important feature to you. But once you get used to using durable cookware--like clad stainless or cast iron--it's hard to go back to the delicate stuff.
Durable cookware also has a much longer life span: clad stainless steel and cast iron will last for decades, while nonstick cookware (both PTFE and ceramic) have a life span of just a few years. This means you spend less on durable cookware in the long run, and it means fewer pans ending up in landfills. So durability not only means cookware is more enjoyable to use, it also means it's better for the planet.
Stainless steel is a very durable material that will last for decades, take high heat, metal utensils, and just about anything else you can throw at it. It can go in the oven and (in most cases) the dishwasher. The only thing you have to be careful about is abrupt temperature changes, which can warp a stainless pan if it's on the thin side. So always let a hot pan cool before you wash it.
Caraway stainless cookware is heavy enough and thick enough to be resistant to warping. The 304 cooking surface is standard for stainless cookware, and it should last a lifetime (as will all good brands of stainless cookware). For these reasons, we give it 5 stars for durability.
Safety
Safety is of course the most important feature of any cookware. But we don't review or recommend any unsafe cookware, so you can assume that all the cookware we review is safe--or, that if there are potential safety issues, such as with both types of nonstick cookware, we address them so you have all the information you need to make up your mind.
"Safe" means that cookware won't transfer unsafe chemicals into your food, that it won't react with food or the environment in an unsafe way, and that it won't break down into toxic substances.
Stainless steel cookware is one of the safest cookware choices you can make because it's a stable, non-reactive material that's safe for all types of foods and liquids and won't break down or even rust (at least, not with proper care).
New stainless steel pans can leach very tiny amounts of nickel and chromium into your food, but your body needs both of these elements in small amounts, so unless you have a nickel sensitivity, these are harmless. Leaching stops after several uses, or if you want to try to remove as much as possible before use, simmer acidified water in the pan for a few hours (to acidify, add a small amount of plain white vinegar to the water). This will remove much of the chromium and nickel that would otherwise leach into food.
Caraway clad stainless cookware is made with 18/10 stainless steel, so it will behave like most other clad stainless brands including All-Clad and Demeyere. That is, it will leach small amounts of chromium and nickel when new, but this stops after a few uses. Caraway clad stainless is one of the safest cookware choices you can make, so we give it 5 stars.
Design
Design is a fairly subjective category, meaning that what you like may not be what somebody else likes. Design can include pan shape, handle design, lid design, color, material, and more. We think the most important design features are pan shape, handle design, and lid design because these are the features that can make using cookware a great experience or a terrible one.
Caraway design overall is good: the pans are beautiful, the pan shapes are functional, the matte exterior is quite fashionable now, and the lid pulls and handles look great.
The pan shape is excellent: The skillets have fairly straight sides and a good amount of flat cooking surface, and the rest of the pans have straight sides that make for easy use and cleaning; straight-sided skillets can slow down evaporation of liquids, which is not what you want in a pan used primarily to brown food, but the sides are shallow enough to allow for good evaporation.
The pans are curved where the bottom meets the sides, which is great because there aren't any corners for foods to get caught in. Overall, we love the pan shape.
The handles look great, but they aren't the most functional we've used. They're on the thin side, with no groove to help with grip and only a small thumb stop on the underside. They're also fairly heavy; so much so that they feel like they're solid rather than hollow which most steel handles are on cookware. (We're not sure they're solid, but they fell like they are.) Hollowness helps keep handles cool and also reduces weight and keep the weight where it should be, which is in the pan itself. Some reviewers complained about the weight of the Caraway steel pans, and we suspect a fair percentage of that weight comes from the handle.
The lids are flat and quite heavy, which is what most people want in a pot lid: the weight helps keep in steam to keep food moist and also build pressure, which helps food cook a little faster. However, Caraway lids have a tiny vent hole, which is not typical for high end stainless cookware. Some people love a vent hole because it helps prevent boil-overs. But it also lets steam escape, so you can't build up as much pressure or keep steam (thus moisture) inside the pan as well as you can with a non-vented lid. We're not fans of vented lids, but if you are you can bump up our rating--and if you hate vented lids, you can bump it down.
Our least favorite feature of these pans is the lid pulls: the flattish, swooping design looks great, almost organic, but it's not the best shape for gripping and handling. There's nowhere for your fingers to grasp the handle comfortably, and if you have large hands, you might have difficulty fitting your fingers under the handle at all, especially if it's hot and you need to use a towel or pot holder.
Overall, Caraway stainless cookware has beautiful design, but because we believe they went with design over functionality in a few crucial instances, we give Caraway just 4 stars in this category.
Ease of Cleaning
If easy cleaning is important to you, then stainless cookware might not be the right choice. However, it has so many other great qualities--durability, even heating, long life--that cleanup is just something you accept and live with if you want all the other features. We give all clad stainless cookware a 3-star rating for ease of cleaning: it's not nonstick, but it's also not awful to clean, most of the time.
In fact, stainless cookware actually cleans up pretty easily if you use the right temperature and cooking techniques. What's more, you can make a pan sauce with all those bits that stick to the pan, which kills two birds at once: it gives you a delicious pan sauce, and the deglazing loosens the stuck-on gunk that you would otherwise have to scrub.
People who've used stainless cookware for a long time don't understand objections to it because it's really not that hard to clean. Even if you do get a stuck on or burnt on mess, soaking in hot soapy water usually takes care of it. If it doesn't, then you can break out the Barkeeper's Friend and scrubby pads and go to work on it (but if you know the right cooking techniques, this is rarely necessary).
We talk about stainless cooking techniques below.
Value
When we consider value, we look at more than just price. We look at cost-per-year-of-use, which is a more accurate way to think about how much you should spend on cookware. For example, though most Teflon nonstick pans are cheap, they last only a few years and need to be replaced. Clad stainless cookware is more expensive, but it lasts for decades (and most of it comes with a lifetime warranty), so its cost-per-year-of-use is actually lower than cheap pans you have to replace every few years.
A lot of cooking sites recommend nonstick cookware for beginner/novice cooks, but we think it's a better idea to buy good quality cookware that's going to last for decades rather than a "starter" set of nonstick that you'll have to toss in a few years. Thus, clad stainless, cast iron, and carbon steel are all good choices for all cooks. (Copper is a good choice too, but it has some drawbacks: see our article on copper cookware if you want to learn more.)
There's no getting around the fact that Caraway stainless cookware is expensive. In fact, we think it's too expensive for a few reasons:
- It's too new to the market to know if it will last
- The heating core is on the thin side, so it won't heat as evenly as some other tested brands
- It's made in China.
We don't mind paying more for top quality cookware, and we actually recommend it. But there are many time-tested brands to choose from, and though Caraway is likely to last for many decades and have a low cost-per-year-of-use, it can't compete with high-end brands like All-Clad or Demeyere, or even bargain brands like Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad or Cuisinart Multiclad Pro, which cost much less than Caraway.
And though Caraway can probably compete on longevity (though it's too new to the market to say for sure), more importantly, the heating core is thinner than that of the other brands mentioned. With a 4 piece set going for almost $700, you really have to love Caraway to choose it over a more established brand. Yes, the 4 piece set includes lids (so it's really what most makers would call a 7-piece set), and it also includes storage pieces, but it's debatable whether this is a good thing or not. (We talk more about the Caraway storage pieces below.)
Caraway is also made in China, so the high price probably means a huge percentage is profit for the seller (though we are just speculating).
For these reasons, we're giving Caraway a lower than average rating for value.
Our Overall Rating of Caraway Clad Stainless Cookware
Our overall rating, which is the average of all the categories (heating, durability, safety, design, ease of cleaning, and value) is 3.8. It gets high marks for heating, safety, durability, and design, a low marks for value, and an average rating for ease of cleaning, which is what we give all clad stainless cookware.
So our overall rating for Caraway stainless steel is above average. But we do think the price is high for an untested brand, especially when there are so many time-tested, reliable brands to choose from.
How to Cook on Stainless Steel Cookware (With Little to No Sticking)
Here's the basic technique for cooking with stainless steel cookware:
This works especially well for proteins, but will also work with most other foods; eggs can be sticky so be sure to use plenty of healthy cooking fat with them.
You can also try "seasoning" to get easier release (see above), or the Leidenfrost effect, which is tricky to get the hang of but works like a charm once you do.
Caraway Stainless Cookware Claims (True or False?)
Here, we look at some of Caraway's marketing to see how it stands up to the scrutiny of our testing.
Passivation Provides a More Durable, Corrosion-Resistant and Chemical Free Cooking Surface
True. Passivation is a common finishing treatment used on stainless steel to remove surface iron and give it a protective layer that helps prevent rust and corrosion. Caraway's passivation is probably similar to Demeyere's patented Silvinox™ treatment, and does result in a more durable cooking surface that will resist corrosion better than non-treated stainless steel. It may also make the cookware easier to clean.
What we don't know is if other brands also treat their stainless cookware. Most probably do not, because passivation is a costly process that is also not environmentally friendly.
5-Ply Construction Maximizes Durability
False--sort of. As we said above, the number plies has little to do with durability. The overall thickness is the most important factor--and some tri-ply brands are thicker than some 5-ply brands, so the number of plies is not the best way to determine durability (or pan thickness). For example, with a total heating core thickness of 1.5mm, Caraway stainless cookware is thinner than the All-Clad D3 (tri-ply) heating core, which is 1.7mm. This may seem like a small difference, but the thicker heating core is going to outperform and outlast the thinner one every time.
Naturally Non-Toxic
True. Stainless steel is a safe, non-toxic material and one of the best choices for safe cookware. This is true for all brands of stainless steel cookware, not just Caraway.
And, even though there are different types of stainless steels used in cookware--such as 304 and 316Ti--they all perform about the same and offer the same amount of safety and stability.
Usable for High Heat
True, with a caveat. Caraway makes this claim in several places on their website. And when compared to nonstick cookware (the original Caraway cookware), this is certainly true. You can use high heat on stainless steel and it won't harm it or cause it to break down (again, true for all stainless cookware, not just Caraway). You only need high heat for a few applications such as searing and stir frying, but it's nice to know you can use it safely when you need it.
Interestingly, although Caraway markets their stainless line as great for high heat cooking, the instruction manual suggests that you use medium heat to "maintain longevity." This isn't really why you use medium heat because high heat won't harm the cookware like it will nonstick, but the pans heat quickly and evenly, so you can often get all the sear you want with medium heat, and using medium or lower heat settings tends to keep the cookware easier to clean (fewer polymerized oil stains to deal with, as we talked about above).
Easier to Clean than Other Stainless Steel Cookware
Possibly true. Like Demeyere's Silvinox treatment, Caraway's passivation process may make their cookware slightly easier to clean than other clad stainless cookware brands. We didn't notice a huge difference in cleaning during testing, but we didn't have any problems cleaning it, either.
If you are new to stainless steel cookware, you may appreciate a brand that offers slightly easier cleaning, which seems to be the biggest reason people use nonstick cookware--although cleaning stainless steel cookware is not difficult when you use the correct cooking technique, outlined above.
About the Storage Pieces (Are They Really Useful?)
When you buy a set, Caraway includes storage pieces. You get a magnetic rack for the pans, which you can pull apart or keep together as a set:
You also get a canvas bag for the lids which you can hang on the inside of your cupboard door:
If you have a cupboard large enough or a spot on the counter to put it, then you may appreciate Caraway's pot storage solution. It's magnetic, so you can take it apart and use the storage slots separately. But either way, the Caraway rack(s) take up more room than simply stacking the pans, so our testers had mixed feelings: some loved the racks and thought they looked great, while others hated them and thought they took up too much space and weren't a good solution at all (why not just stack them in a cupboard, which is more space efficient?).
The lid rack is a canvas bag meant to attach to the inside of a cupboard door. If you don't mind it hanging on a door, it's a good solution. Too bad it's only big enough for the Caraway lids, as it would be great if you could store other lids in it, too. The one drawback of the lid storage is that it can bang and clang if you open the door too fast or too hard, but you'll learn quickly to not do that.
Our overall opinion of the Caraway storage is that it's okay: some people will love it and others will find it a waste of space and an added expense that they would have preferred to not pay for. We recommend pot racks you can hang from ceilings or walls because they make the most efficient use of your kitchen space, and they're available in so many different shapes and sizes that they're an option for almost any layout. In most cases, you can slide the lid over the pot handle so extra lid storage isn't needed, though sellers tend to not show this in pictures (see below). Short handled pots can sit on top of the rack with their lids (as there is no long handle to store the lid on):
If the rack is large enough, you can add hooks for utensils, strainers, colanders, and more, which can save a ton of drawer and cupboard space.
We wish Caraway offered sets with or without storage, so buyers could decide if they wanted it and could pay less if they didn't. But if you buy a set, you get the storage. If you don't want the storage, it's the same price--actually slightly less--to buy the 4 set pieces individually (about $790). However, if you want the mini pans as well, you'll pay about $100 more by buying individually rather than in a set.
Review: Caraway Clad Stainless Steel Skillet
We tested the Caraway large (10.5 inch) frying pan, but this review applies to all the Caraway stainless pans.
Features
Here are the basic features of the Caraway stainless pans:
Performance and Handling
The skillet is heavy, weighing 2.5 lbs without a lid (compare this to the All-Clad D3 10-inch skillet, which weighs 2 pounds without a lid). This was surprising, given that the heating core and overall thickness is less than that of an All-Clad D3 skillet, which is closest in configuration to this pan (because the All-Clad D5 has an extra layer of steel rather than an all aluminum heating core). It feels like much of the weight is in the handle, though the pan is well balanced and doesn't tip when empty.
The handle, though solid, is a little on the thin side, so it doesn't provide the best grip we've seen, but the thumb stop on the underside helps with stabilizing the pan. If the pan is full and hot, we recommend using both hands with pot holders or towels to move it.
Water test: To measure thermal conductivity, we added 2 cups of room temperature water to the pan and heated it on high to see how quickly it would bring the water to a boil. It took 1 minute, 44 seconds for the water to reach a rapid boil.
This isn't a scientific test, so the result isn't all that significant, but it does show that the pan heats similarly to most other clad stainless pans we've tested, all of which take between 1:30-2 minutes to reach a boil. What it does show is that the heat is even throughout the pan, as you can see from the bubbles:
To measure heat retention, we removed the pan from the heat and measured the water temperature. After 5 minutes, it was 121F. This compares favorably with most other clad stainless steel brands.
The upshot: the Caraway steel frying pan heats evenly and holds heat as well as most other clad stainless pans on the market.
Food: We cooked eggs, steaks, hamburgers, chicken breasts, fresh spinach, caramelized onions, and more to test the cooking performance. Over about a month of use by different testers, we concluded that the Caraway stainless pan performs as well as most other brands in its price range, and no better than some cheaper ones. This actually surprised us a bit because the heating core is thinner than All-Clad D3 and Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad. The millimeter of difference does matter, but in daily cooking, it's unlikely to be noticeable in most applications.
The pan handled like all stainless steel cookware, meaning you need to use enough cooking fat to keep food from sticking. It cleaned up well and we had very few complaints about this pan.
What we didn't like: Some testers thought the handle was too thin, which made it harder to stabilize the pan. We didn't like that the pan itself felt heavy in an unbalanced way: as we said earlier, the pan seems to have a higher amount of weight in the handle than other pans we've tested. If the weight was because of a thicker heating core, that would be great, but with the performance as good as it was--even browning, good heat retention--this is a small complaint.
And though we didn't test the lids, we don't like the steam vent. It's there to help prevent boil overs, which seems smart, but it also prevents a pan from building up pressure as well as a non-vented lid can, which is often what you want because pressure helps food to cook slightly faster, and a non-vented lid holds in moisture better, too.
If you like a vented lid, you'll love this cookware, but if you don't, you may want to look at All-Clad D3 for about the same price, or Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad for considerably less.
Another tiny complaint is that the pans don't have grooved lips. The non-grooved lips have a minimalist design that looks great, but it can make pouring messy. We didn't find it too bad, but some liquid did drip down the sides--if this happens, be sure to wipe it off before placing the pan back on the heat, or you migh get a big ugly stain on the exterior.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
Recommendation
The Caraway stainless steel cookware line has beautiful design that you could easily fall in love with. It performed well and cleaned up well, but other than looks it didn't really distinguish itself in any way from other clad stainless brands that have been around a lot longer, and the Caraway is almost as expensive as All-Clad even though it's made in China. If you love the design, it's a good choice, but you can get other, more time-tested brands for the same or less.
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What Users Are Saying about Clad Stainless Caraway Cookware
Overall, these pans get excellent reviews. People love how they look and how they cook. The few complaints were about weight (they're heavy, but that's actually a good thing) and cleaning, which are both standard complaints for stainless cookware.
How Caraway Clad Stainless Compares to Other Popular Clad Stainless Brands
Here's a table comparing basic features of Caraway, All-Clad D3 (which, again, is closer in configuration to Caraway than D5 even though Caraway has 5 plies), and our bargain brand of choice, Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad.
Caraway/All-Clad D3/Made In Comparison Table | |||
---|---|---|---|
Feature: | Caraway | All-Clad D3 | Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad |
Price: 10" Skillet: Basic Cookware Set: | |||
Body Construction | 2.5mm thick body with 1.5mm heating core (3 aluminum layers) | 2.6mm thick body with 1.7mm heating core (1 aluminum layer) | 2.6mm thick body with 1.7mm heating core (1 aluminum layer) |
Finish | Brushed stainless | Polished stainless | Polished stainless |
Country of Origin | China | USA | China or Brazil |
Induction Compatibility | Induction compatible. | Induction compatible. | Induction compatible. |
Oven Safe Temp | 550F | 500F | 500F |
Dishwasher Safe* | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Metal Utensil Use | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Warranty | Limited lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. | Limited lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. | Limited lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. |
*Hand washing recommended for all stainless cookware.
FAQs About Caraway Stainless Cookware
Here are some commonly asked questions about the stainless Caraway cookware.
Is Caraway Clad Stainless Cookware Good Quality?
Yes, Caraway clad stainless cookware is good quality. It's well made, has great design, and a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects.
Where Is Caraway Stainless Cookware Made?
All Caraway cookware is made in China.
What Is the Warranty on Caraway Clad Stainless Steel Cookware?
Caraway stainless cookware has a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects.
Is Caraway Stainless Cookware Oven Safe?
Yes, it is oven safe to 550F.
Is Caraway Stainless Cookware Induction Compatible?
Yes, all Caraway stainless cookware is induction compatible.
Can You Use Metal Utensils with Caraway Stainless Cookware?
Yes, you can use metal utensils with Caraway stainless cookware. However, you may not want to as some metal utensils may scratch the pans.
Is Caraway Stainless Cookware as Good as All-Clad?
When we compare clad stainless cookware, we look at the quality of the steel and the thickness of the heating core, which determines how evenly the cookware heats and how well it will retain heat. The stainless steel of Caraway is as good as All-Clad stainless steel. However, Caraway's heating core is slightly thinner than All-Clad D3 by about 1 millimeter. This isn't a lot, so the performance is very similar, but technically, All-Clad D3's heating core is superior to Caraway's heating core.
Can You Really Use Caraway Stainless Cookware with High Heat?
Yes, absolutely. High heat won't harm stainless steel or cause it to release any toxic fumes, as with some nonstick cookware. However, high heat can cause worse stains, and isn't necessary for most cooking. Other than high heat searing, you probably won't need to use high heat (but it's nice to know that you can if you want to).
Where Is the Best Place to Buy Caraway Stainless Cookware?
Caraway began as a direct-to-customer brand, available only on their website. But today, you can buy Caraway stainless cookware in several retail outlets including Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart, and many more. The prices seem to be the same everywhere, but comparing a few different outlets is always a good idea because you may run into a sale at one of them.
Final Thoughts
Caraway clad stainless steel cookware is beautiful, with striking design that turns people's heads. It's solid and well made and has a lifetime warranty. However, it's expensive, and it's too new to know for sure how it will hold up to other time-tested brands. The heating core is also on the thin side, though in testing it compared favorably to other stainless cookware brands. If you love the Caraway design, you'll love this cookware. But other than the gorgeous design, it doesn't really offer buyers anything new or unique in the clad stainless cookware market.
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