All-Clad --worth every penny. Go get a part time job at Williams-Sonoma--they have great discounts for employees. Most of their other stuff is way over priced (food items, linens, etc.).

Stainless steel has different gauges????? Oh no, something else I'll need to learn about, though I appreciate knowing, because that will help.

To the cast iron fans, no, I cook too many acidic dishes, and I tend to keep the flame high, meaning soaks and scrubbing. I'd need an in-house tutor to stay with me for months on end to show me how to work with iron. Won't happen.

I've seen Cuisinart cookware, but those handles are downright uncomfortable to hold.

I was going to call about the Revereware and forgot. I guess it'll be a New Year's resolution. But I'd really like a complete set. What I actually have is a mishmash, because Revereware (the copper bottom line) didn't have a small skillet, and I never liked their stockpots, so I have others (made from I don't know what, but they work).

I love the suggestion to check out restaurant cookware. There's an area in Old City Philly (or there was, a couple decades ago) where they wholesale restaurant equipment. So maybe I'll go wander around there soon. At the very least, they can explain stainless steel gauge to me and answer other questions.

check out All Clad, its rated high and its made in America.

my pots and pans have been called heavyweight gauge and i never saw anything else. i just know that you should look for 18/10. that has to do with the proportion of steel to iron, i think. if the bottom is steel, then an inner core of something that gets very hot, then an outer shell of steel again, i THINK that's what you're supposed to be looking for. that core gets hot and the steel radiates the heat evenly for even cooking, or something. i think that's the only part that really needs to be heavy. all i know is that my mil cooked in junk and was a great cook and my mom cooked in better stuff and stunk as a cook. btw, you can cook acidic food in cast iron once it's seasoned well. as long as you never scrub the seasoning off the posts and pans you can cook anything in them. i always made spaghetti sauce in mine. just use hot, soapy water and a non-scratchy pad to clean the pots out right after you use them. don't let them soak in water or they'll rust. and dry them immediately. that way they last for generations. but your shoulders won't.

Pampered Chef has some excellent all stainless steel cookware with glass lids that I have been coveting. Pricey but worth it. I have sent Farberware some pans that they have replaced on their lifetime guarantee. I would avoid non stick except for one good skillet.

Wow! I never heard of having the copper come through. I've had my Revereware pots since the late 60's and they are still going strong. Still have and use my mother's and my grandmother's cast iron skillets, too and would not trade them for anything (one is over 100 yrs old!). Keep that non-stick stuff out of my kitchen! I would worry more about leaching chemicals from those.

Google, Revere Ware Cookware. I am replacing some of my pots and pans, one pan/pot at a time.

I have some revere ware my mom had. Over 65 years old and still great. I have wolfgang Pucks stainless steel, small set, and love it. So easy to clean and cook with.

Consumer Reports rated Emeril Lagasee's (sp) cookware as one of the better ones. They said it performed as well as the high end cookware. I think All Clad and Calphalon is awesome cookware.

i have been using my grandmothers revereware for 44 years EVERY DAY,she had them for at least 20 years before me,and they still look great.stainless steel can't wear off ...can it?why not ask(maybe a chemistry teacher?) if it really has,or perhaps is discolored.