Our Place vs HexClad: titanium, ceramic or hybrid

Our Place sells two lines people weigh against HexClad. The ceramic Always Pan has a slick ceramic nonstick coating over aluminum. The Titanium Always Pan Pro has no coating at all: a titanium cooking surface pressed with a fine pattern, over an aluminum core and a stainless outside. HexClad's hybrid pans sit between the two: raised stainless steel hexagons over its TerraBond ceramic nonstick, on a three-layer body.

All three are made without PFAS, their makers say, and all work on induction.

Our Place says food on the Titanium Pro has to cook through and release on its own before you flip it; the pan allows metal tools and the dishwasher, and goes in the oven to 1000°F (750°F for the gold-colored version). The ceramic Always Pan is the slickest of the three for eggs, but it asks for hand washing, wood or silicone tools, low to medium heat, and stops at 450°F in the oven.

HexClad allows metal tools and the dishwasher, rates its pans to 900°F and its glass lids to 400°F, and asks you to season a new pan with a teaspoon of oil. Its coating between the hexagons helps food release more easily than from bare steel.

Our Place builds around a few pieces that each do several jobs; its Titanium Always Pan Pro weighs 3.4 lb and the ceramic Always Pan 2.8 lb. HexClad's 12-piece set is six pans, each with a lid: 8-, 10- and 12-inch frying pans, 2- and 3-quart saucepans and an 8-quart stockpot. Our Place gives a limited lifetime warranty on its titanium cookware and three years on its ceramic. HexClad covers manufacturing defects for life, but not damage from too much heat or skipped seasoning.

Choose Our Place's Titanium Pro if you want a pan with no coating to wear out that still releases food once it's seared. Choose its ceramic Always Pan for easy eggs and gentle cooking, washed by hand. Choose HexClad for a full set of frying pans and pots that take metal tools and the dishwasher, with a coating that helps food release.