Best Cookware Sets, Based on Years of Testing (2025)

At Bon Appétit, we’re a staff full of people with strong cookware opinions. Our editors have spent years building their own ideal pots-and-pans lineups piece by piece, so the concept of a preassembled cookware set has always sparked debate. Our usual advice? The best cookware set is the one you assemble yourself, over the years, that includes the cookware you use and love the most.

But that’s not realistic for everyone. Plenty of home cooks don’t have the time, experience, or opportunity to test-drive five different pans before committing. That’s why a premade cookware set can be a smart starting point, giving you enough essential pieces to cook most recipes confidently while leaving room to expand your collection later (say, with a Le Creuset Dutch Oven or a cast-iron pan). That’s why we like streamlined 7-piece sets: they focus on the core pots and pans (and lids) you’ll reach for daily, without loading you up with specialty items you don’t need. And within those options, stainless steel—not nonstick—consistently proves the most versatile, durable, and reliable material for everyday cooking.

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Our top picks

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To come up with this list, we analyzed the most common cookware sets on the market, and determined which collections offered the most utility. Then, we cross-referenced those sets with our extensive testing of individual pieces and chose sets that included those lines. Check out our curated list of the best cookware sets below, all of which make excellent starter kits for any home kitchen.

New in this update: After a few additional months of testing, we replaced our previous budget winner, the Ninja EverClad 7-Piece Set, with one from the DTC brand Goldilocks.

Why the best cookware set is a 7-piece cookware set

In the grand scheme of cookware sets, a 7-piece set is relatively small. But after much conversation and debate, we think it will cover all the most common cooking tasks. The specific pieces that make up a cookware set vary slightly from brand to brand—some include a steamer insert, while others have a second saucepan instead—but 7-piece cookware sets are generally consistent in what they offer. Most have a stockpot, a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, a medium- to large-size skillet (between 10″ and 12″ in diameter), and a sauté pan. The other three pieces are actually just the lids.

With these four tools, a home cook is able to accomplish a large swath of stovetop tasks in the kitchen: pan-frying, deep-frying, sautéing, boiling, braising, searing, stewing, saucing, melting, tempering, steaming, and the list goes on. As for specific cookware sets to buy, we picked out a few below. Two are top choices from our product tests and the third comes as a recommendation from deputy food editor Hana Asbrink.

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The best cookware set overall: All-Clad D3 or D5 7-Piece Cookware sets

All-Clad has long been an industry standard for professional restaurant kitchens in the United States. Their brand has a strong and well-regarded reputation that stands up to scrutiny, as we’ve found year after year in our product tests for the best stainless-steel skillets, saucepans, and stockpots. The D3 line is a tri-ply clad stainless steel that boasts excellent heat distribution across the cooking surface with no cold or hot spots. The D5 set is more expensive but adds two additional layers of cladding for improved heat retention. We recommend them both here. The pieces are sturdy and comfortable to handle, making them easy to maneuver across a cooktop. All-Clad cookware is expensive, but it is high-quality cookware that will last you a lifetime with good care, which is why we feel confident in recommending it to people.

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The best budget cookware set: Goldilocks Cookware Set

As far as best value goes, the Goldilocks cookware set impressed us quite a bit in recent tests, and we now consider it a favorite to recommend as a budget alternative. In terms of the shape and design of each piece, the cookware strongly resembles products made by All-Clad. Are the pans a little thinner and a little more volatile and scorchy in comparison to All-Clad? Sure, but for the price they’re about as good as you can get. The set comes with two different saucepans and doesn’t include its sauté pan—the budget pick in our product test. Unfortunate, but we still think it’s worth recommending this set due to the quality it offers, and if you really want the sauté pan, you should just add it to your cart when purchasing the set.

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A pricey (but worth it) upgrade: Fissler M5 Pro-Ply 5-Ply Cookware set

Deputy food editor Hana Asbrink has an affinity for German-made cookware brand Fissler, which has become more readily available in the US in recent years. The brand’s pans can go toe-to-toe with All-Clad in terms of quality, design, and reputation. Like All-Clad, these are multi-clad stainless-steel pans with an aluminum core (this particular set is 5-ply, which means it has two additional layers of metal on top of the three the All-Clad D3 has). They heat evenly and are lightweight and comfortable in the hand. Unlike All-Clad, Fissler cookware has a welded construction instead of riveted handles, which makes it easier to clean up. It’s also got cool to the touch handles and sealed edges. This is definitely a premium cookware set, but it’s one that will stick with you for life.

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A small cookware set for tiny kitchens: All-Clad 5-Piece Cookware Set

Living spaces are getting smaller, meaning that more people are using kitchenettes or similar reduced set-ups to prepare their meals at home. I’m talking efficiency apartment renters, van life people, tiny home dwellers, and steadfast minimalists. The question is then, what is the smallest arrangement of pans that allows for the greatest variety of meal preparations? Or in other words, what’s a set that takes up little space, but is versatile enough that you never feel like you’re missing a tool when cooking a typical meal?