On the other hand, cast iron skillets with wooden handles offer a traditional and rustic aesthetic.  The wooden handle is cool to the touch and provides a comfortable grip while cooking.  Cast Iron Skillet With Wooden Handle also adds a touch of elegance to the frying pan, making it a stylish addition to any kitchen.

Cast Iron

 On the other hand, if you need a large enameled pot to cater to larger groups or to cook more food, there are many options to choose from.  The large enamel pot is perfect for making stews, casseroles, and one-pot meals for the whole family.  They're also great for boiling pasta, making stock, or preparing large batches of soup.

This pan has a flat bottom and flared edges that may be slightly curved. It is often used for cooking. Some skillets, such as copper, cast iron, or aluminum, are coated with a nonstick coating to make cleanup easier.

Best for: Almost any food that needs frying, browning, or searing. Because it’s ovenproof, stainless is also a good choice for foods that you start on the stovetop and then move to the oven to finish, like thick pork chops.

The details: Nitahara says that 95 percent of the pans used in the CIA’s teaching kitchens are stainless steel because they can take a lot of punishment. “The only time we don’t use them is on egg day, when we use nonstick,” he says. He adds that the shiny surface of a stainless pan makes it easy to see whether your food is browning.

In CR’s tests of stainless steel pans, we measure heating evenness by cooking pancakes, and we gauge how evenly a pan sautés by cooking potatoes until they’re tender. We also conduct a cleaning test to see how easy it is to remove cooked-on food. You’d think that all stainless pans would be about the same to clean, but our tests show that some require a lot more scrubbing than others.

Here are two recommended stainless steel pans from CR’s tests.

For those who'd prefer the frypan, non-stick fry pans are also a fantastic choice if you're seeking to cook healthy dishes with little to no oil. Not forgetting certain frypans that are oven-safe with non stick coating like the Cosmo Fry for baking enthusiasts out there. And all this comes at an often more affordable price than that of skillets.