Others say...

"Passes the Grilled Cheese Sandwich Test, and My Genius Cook of Wife Likes Them Too"
Since I married someone who chose to be a full-time housewife, I no longer cook except for my own lunch on the weekends and the occassional lucky day when I have the house all to myself. Gone are the days when I would clean my home thoroughly 'once per girlfriend,' and woo women and impress friends with any one of the few dishes I was really good at. (Tip for you bachelor's: you should be able to make three fairly complex dishes really well; this is more important than having a nice car).

But I never had frying pans which functioned so well as these. I would guess that to get pans that work as well--durability, craftspersonship, and overall impress-factor aside--I would have to pay at least three times what I paid for these T-Fal Initiatives pans.

MADE IN ?????: Big issue with most people on T-Fal is where their made: Made in France vs. Made in China is a significant difference. The Initiatives line with the red dot in the middle seems to be entirely made in France. The base of the pan is Made in France, the handle is Made in France. If any part of these pans is made in China, I would have to guess it were the connecting hardware such as the rivets. Other T-Fal pans may be mostly made in China, but the Initiatives are not. This is quality cookware, nothing coming loose from the get-go and the coatings are perfectly done.

The RED DOT: This makes the pans idiot proof. I used to heat up a pan a bit and spatter some water on it to see if it was thoroughly heated--and it never really would be on the first item I put in there, which for today's review will be two sides of a grilled cheese sandwich. The red dot works exactly as advertised--once the lines disappear, you're ready to cook, and it gets to this even heated state quickly regardless of how low a flame you're using. So when I cook the first side of the sandwich in X amount of time, I don't end up burning the other side because the pan has gotten much hotter in the meantime.

BUTTER OR OIL FOR FLAVOR, NOT TO PREVENT STICKING: I no longer have to use more butter or oil than I would like for flavor just to keep whatever I'm cooking from burning. I'll give this the no-butter fried egg test next, but so far even the cheese from my sacred sandwiches which may have gone overboard doesn't burn or stick to the pan, its edges, or the outside. Even after heavy initial use, the pan also does not show any signs of charring on the outside.

OVERALL QUALITY: These are not heavy pans, as more expensive ones are bound to be, yet the material is fairly thick and durable. The coatings inside and out will also withstand scratching better than anything else you've likely used. Even just looking these pans over gives you the impression of a quality item that you might have spent much more on.

The only parts that I would say was where they must have saved some coin on production is the handles, but these are quite adaquate--and at this price they certainly will last long enough to be worth it to go out and pay about the same for replacements if they ever due suffer from too much wear and tear.

PRICE: What a deal! I paid $20 something dollars for these but wouldn't have been suprised to see them go for twice that or more had the handles been better, and even then it seems like they really adhere to a high production standard. I can only guess that they're able to sell cookware of this quality at this price due to volume of sales.

BOTTOM LINE: While I'm happy with the purchase I made without consulting my wife, who does 99% of the cooking, she only complained about me buying them until she actually used them. After that, not another peep about it except to ask for more Initiatives cookware of other types. She's really picky about this sort of thing, so I have to say these have met a very high standard and at an increadibly low price for quality.

My grilled cheese sandwiches have never been more evenly cooked, and my wife seems to be happy with the purchase--though good luck getting her to admit it.

"Really Non-Stick & Idiot Proof"
I have used the same T-Fal starter set since 1992. When my big covered pot was destroyed, I went shopping for another one. Got this set of pans, together with a replacement for my big pot, the T-Fal 5 Quart, 12 Inch Total Non-Stick Jumbo Cooker, Black for less than the cost of a three-pan set. The tell-tale hot spot (thermo-whatever) works great for my lower temp ceramic top stove, and the Jumbo Cooker has a greater capacity, and is easier to clean, than the pot I was replacing. It has a helper handle, glass lid, and built in vent. I cooked a pork loin in very thick gravy, splashed a lot of it, and cleaned up this huge pan inside and out with one-third of a Bounty towel.

"pans are worth the money"
I would highly reccommend this product very easy to clean and I love the preheat circle in the middle