I have a mixture of pans. 2 different brands of stainless, cast iron, farberware non-stick aluminum, old aluminum pans from my mom, and a very small teflon pan that is only used to fry eggs. The ones I prefer to use are the stainless. The revere with copper clad bottoms are my favorite. They are the easiest to cook with and clean up. They can be washed by hand or in the dishwasher.

I have porcelain coated cast iron and they are the best. They are very easy to clean just by soaking, you can bake with them in the oven, they work on all stoves including smooth surfaces, you don't have to worry about any issues with chemicals emanating from the coating, they hold heat well, and you cook with them at medium heat. Food doesn't stick to them unless you cook at too high a heat. I have had stainless steel, and to me, they require more cleaning and an occasional brush-up with a brill pad to look good. Plus, I tend to scorch things on the bottom with stainless steel and things stick more easily -- at least in my experience. I have had my porcelain coated cast iron for more than 15 years and they look just as good as they did when I bought them. The only downside is that they are heavy, but that also helps in durability.

If you have a flat top (ceramic) stove top, be sure to get pots with flat bottom edges rather than rounded ones. The heat is more evenly distributed with the flat bottoms.

I hope you understand what I mean by this - I just read what I wrote and it sounds confusing, even to me.

Stainless. Calphlon is a really good heavy one..

I have T Fal, not sure that I would purchase them again. QVC seems to have a nice line, I do prefer non stick.

Revere Ware is my choice for pots.I am still using some that are 50 yrs. old. For skillets, I buy mid priced coated ones and assume that I'll replace them in a couple of years so no sweat on how they're treated. true, not very thrifty, but we all know how skillets get.

I have used my stainless steel pans for years and love them. They are 18/10 stainless.

You've got me...Don't even know what kinds are available these days. I'm still using the Farberware set I got in 1986 for a wedding gift. That husband is history, but the pots & pans have withstood the years.

I had Revere Ware copper bottoms for about 30 years and got tired of cleaning the bottoms. About 12 years ago, I bought the Costco stainless steel and LOVE them. I bought a couple of extra pieces -- including a double boiler. I do have teflon frying pans for eggs -- when they scratch they are gone -- for everything else I use the stainless.

Thanks for all of the advice.
I ended up getting a 10 piece set of Stainless Steel Kitchen-Aid pans. Someone must have had them before because all of the inside packaging was missing. That ended in a $50 discount for me. That coupled with another in-store discount resulted in $100 price tag. They have nice silicone handles and are oven and dishwasher safe.
I also picked up a 12 inch covered skillet by T-Fal that is hard-anodized as well as dishwasher safe. I got a deal on that one too! I think I ended up paying $30 for it (orig. $70).
Off to figure out where I'm going to store all these new pans....