Tools of the Trade Stainless Steel 12-Piece

• Handle temperature: This set's handles were very good at keeping temperatures low enough to touch without a potholder when used on the stovetop. You'll definitely need a potholder for sets scoring Fair or Poor. We also consider the size and shape of the handle when scoring.
• Handle comfort: Panelists judged this set good for handle comfort. They looked at size, shape, and balance of multiple pieces. Panelists were chosen to include a range of different hand sizes.
• Handle sturdiness: This set scored poor for handle sturdiness, which gauges its resistance to bending or breaking under increasing force.
• Ease of cleaning: This set was fair in cleaning, which gauges the amount of scrubbing needed to remove baked-on béchamel sauce from a saucepan. Those scoring Excellent require minimal effort; those scoring Poor require lots of scrubbing.
   
  
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The Tools of the Trade Stainless Steel 12-Piece is part of the Cookware test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Cookware Sets (Stainless Steel) models like the Stainless Steel 12-Piece are rated on multiple criteria, such as those listed below.

Set: Each set includes at least a saucepan, a frying pan, and a stockpot. Lids are typically counted as separate components in a set.

Cooking evenness: A thermal imaging camera is used to evaluate the heating evenness of the frying pan

Food release: Food release score reflects the qualities of a pan's interior by cooking four eggs consecutively with oil. An Excellent score indicates that all four eggs slid off the pan without assistance; A Poor score indicates that scraping was needed to release any egg from the pan and some egg residue was left on the pan.