Circulon cookware: A1 ScratchDefense and Ceramic

Which A1 piece

The 10-inch frying pan is the everyday pan, with no lid. The 2- and 3-quart saucepans and the 5-quart sauté pan come with glass lids, as do the 8-quart stockpot and the 5-quart Dutch oven. The Dutch oven is nonstick aluminum, not cast iron: light and quick to heat, but at 400°F it can’t bake a loaf at the 450°F most Dutch-oven bread recipes ask for.

Both saucepans have straining lids, so pasta or vegetables drain without a colander. Circulon’s drawings give each piece’s cooking surface and weight: the 10-inch pan fries on a 7-inch flat floor, and the 5-quart Dutch oven and the 8-quart stockpot are the same 10 inches across, so the stockpot holds its extra 3 quarts in height, for 0.4 lb more.

Circulon Ceramic, the 10-piece set

The Ceramic 10-piece set is six pans and four glass lids: 8- and 10-inch skillets, 1.5- and 3-quart saucepans, a 3-quart sauté pan and a 6-quart stockpot. Its ceramic nonstick, which Circulon calls LaserDefense, goes in the oven to 500°F, higher than the A1 pans, but its glass lids stop at 350°F, as A1’s do, so a covered dish stays at 350°F in either line. Circulon says the set suits every stovetop, induction included, and that its ceramic is made without PFAS, BPA, lead or cadmium, a claim it makes for no A1 piece. Its warranty is limited, where A1’s is a limited lifetime warranty.

Questions before you choose