CarawayNonstick Ceramic Sauce Pan with Lid (3 qt) - Non Toxic, PTFE & PFOA Free - Oven Safe & Compatible with All Stovetops (Gas, Electric & Induction) - Navy

Where do I start, what do I say, what do write in order to assure you that this saucepan is as good as what I write here, and for you, the potential buyer, I hopefully put you at ease as you decide to purchase or not to purchased this saucepan or any other cookware by Caraway Home. And finally, what I have stated in the “Title of my Review” above, did I accurately headline Caraway Home cookware adequately and honestly? Well, I can only state that I hope that I have done just that. That is to say after reading my review, you will know whether to purchase or not purchase this saucepan or any other cookware by Caraway Home.Now, before I get started with the actual overview of this saucepan which also represents all of Caraway Home’s cookware. e.g. skillets, sauciers, petit cookers, rondeaus, stock pots, etc. I also want to tell you that Caraway Home also makes a wide variety of bakeware and storage ware including round and square cake pans, muffin pans, baking sheets in various sizes, roasting pans, and loaf pans as well as lunch kits, storage containers with glass lids and insert dividers and also what Caraway calls dot and dash dividers. These are insert storage containers also with storage containers all of which give you storage containers in round and rectangular shapes that can be placed into the ‘master’ storage container. For best anti-spill protection straps that wrap around the dot and dash inserts are also available for purchase.Additionally, Caraway Home makes available for purchase a beautiful birchwood utility tool set containing one each of kitchen shears and four knives: paring, prep, bread and chef. All knives and the kitchen shears are made of German stainless steel.Finally, Caraway Home makes available a linen set for the kitchen containing tea towels, aprons, pot holders and oven mitts. Also available is a kitchen gadget set which includes a pizza cutter, manual can opener and a garlic press, etc. With all these tools, gadgets, linens and knives in addition to the previously mentioned bakeware and cookware, there is not much else that Caraway Home lacks to make your kitchen a beautiful and and idealized place to work in. In fact, your purchase of many if not all of these selected items would make your or anyone’s kitchen a place of efficiency to work in.The one thing that may home some potential purchaser back is the cost of each of these items. Caraway Home’s items for the brand new kitchen whether in a brand new home or in an older home with a recently upgraded kitchen will brighten and enhance anyone’s kitchen lifestyle—but at a slightly higher cost than other manufacturers/vendors offer. But with that said, these items I have mentioned are of the highest quality and durability. Regarding the cookware and bakeware I can recall only one other manufacturer with higher priced ‘pots and pans’ and that is because of their offering the latest technology of nonstick cookware and as msy parents taught me, one gets what he/she pays for most of the time. And I believe this to be true. Shy of slick, snake-oily salespersons out to make a buck or two, one will get what one pays for.Now, on with the review of Caraway Home’s 3 qt. Saucepan:Starting with the obvious this saucepan is made of very thick, heavy-gauge (5mm) aluminum. However, the baseplate is made of stainless steel thereby making it usable on all cooking surfaces including gas, electric whether directly on the electric coils or on a glass top, and induction. Of course, downdraft cooktops, electric or gas, are included in this list as well.This ceramic cookware, because of its thick, 5mm body, makes cookings, as Caraway Home puts it, is enjoyable. And I have to agree with the adjective ‘enjoyable.’ Cooking with this saucepan with this very slick ceramic nonstick surface is an ‘enjoyable’ and fun experience every time I use it. And that’s quite often—usually twice a day and definitely once daily. Food while cooking doesn’t stick to the pan, and when finished the food literally slides out when I pour it out. At this time, I am cooking macaroni and cheese, steaming vegetables, or even rewarding something from the day before. And because of the truly slick ceramic nonstick quality, the prepared food regardless of what it is literally slides out. There is basically nothing left behind that I need to scrape out with a silicone spatula.And yes, the two types of tools you must use with this ceramic nonstick cookware are wood, silicone and nylon. NEVER use metal utensils at any cost and for any reason. You might believe you are being very careful when you are using a metal spoon or fork but more likely than not you will find that you are not. My advice to you is not to risk it. Once you punch the smallest possible hole in the ceramic surface the likely that the nonstick qualities of the pan will slowly erode the pan’s worth. Why would you pay for this pan with the best ceramic nonstick qualities to date and then turn around that ruin the pan using metal tongs or a fork or spoon?The true beauty of this line of cookware is its highly-regarded nonstick qualities. And no, it’s not the Teflon-type nonstick at all and as a result this Caraway saucepan has no toxic chemicals such as PTFE, PFOA, PFAS, lead, cadmium, or any other similar chemicals. Caraway’s nonstick is a durable ceramic coating ease of cleaning, resistance from burning and easy cleanup. I said that its ceramic coating is durable; yes, it is as long as you do what’s necessary to maintain its nonstick qualities. However, you have to be very careful in maintaining your cookware if you want it to last a long time. The ceramic coating both inside and outside the pan’s surface is easily scratched and to prevent scratching you CANNOT use metal utensils whatsoever.When starting to heat up the saucepan where there is no bringing up water to a rolling boil initially, and before putting in the food item or items to be cooked, add a small amount of butter or oil (canola or olive) first. Ceramic nonstick coatings will perform properly if you allow the butter or oil to get hot. To do this, let skillet remain on the burner for about one to one and one-half minutes. In a fry pan or skillet, you need to do this before cooking an egg. If you don’t the albumin of the egg will stick to the pan leaving you with a feeling of doubt about your purchase of this Caraway skillet. The same can hold true although less likely to occur every time. When poaching an egg or eggs, pour a little oil into the water first. When doing this, the egg will pass through the oil which is floating on top of the water and will not stick to the bottom of the pan. Some professional cooks like to put a little oil in the saucepan first and after a minute or so then add the water. When the water is at a rolling boil add the eggs so that poaching can begin.Speaking of heating the saucepan, the lid handle and the handle attached to the pan are made of stainless steel according to customer service. Both handles are cool to the touch, sorta. The lid handle is as long as you grip it on the edge and not if you grab it in such a way to wrap your thumb and forefinger to the underside of the handle. In that case, you will find two hot spots if the pan has been on the stove top for an extended amount of time. Additionally, you will risk touching the lid itself on the topside of your thumb and forefinger. That would be a BIG OUCH. The handle on the pan is also cool to the touch. There is a raised ‘DOT’ on the bottom of the handle close to the body of the saucepan. This ‘DOT’ is placed there as a warning to the user not to move your hand closer to the saucepan’s body. If you do, you will risk burning your hand. Another BIG OUCH!Other ‘Do(s) & Don’t(s) that will help keep your ceramic surface free of scratches and other ways of preventing the degradation of the long life of the nonssaucepan and other Caraway cookware is NEVER place your saucepan on a burner higher than a MEDIUM setting. Anywhere between just above MEDIUM to HIGH settings will slowly but surely degrade the ceramic nonstick property of the saucepan and other cookware.Another quality of this saucepan is that it comes in two price points. The 3qt saucepan comes in several beautiful colors that as Caraway Home writes, “…(it) adds a spot of color to any home.” Depending on the color, including Cream, Gray, Marigold, Navy, Perracotta (a play on the word ‘Terracotta’ which also looks like terracotta), and Sage. These colors are priced at $120.00. These saucepans come with silver-colored lid handles. The two remaining colors are Black and White which come with a shiny brass color lid handles. I have not been able to determine if the handles are made of solid brass or whether they are brass coated. Whatever they are made of, per Casraway, these two colors have the same features as the other saucepans except for the lid handle and pot handles. These two colors are priced at $165.00. For this $45 increase, I would think that the difference in price is justified by the two handles made of brass? Caraway Home customer service told me that it was their desire to make the Black and White colors of their cookware and bakeware ‘iconic’ pieces for those buyers who appreciate the selectivity of their selection. I have to admit that the brass-colored handles do make the Black and White stand out more than one would have thought. But is it worth a $45.00 increase. Only the persons that purchase these colors will have the answer. Finally, the lid handle is attached by two Phillips screws and the saucepan handle is attached by two rivets making them attached in such a way as to not move or fall off.This nonstick saucepan as well as all the Caraway Home cookware is oven-safe up to 550°F; however, you should never put any of the pans in this collection including this Saucepan, into the dishwasher on any setting. Dishwasher detergents can easily damage the nontoxic ceramic coating used in this saucepan.As a side note, when setting the burner to a MEDIUM setting, getting the water to a rolling boil takes a very long time compared to the amount of time it takes using a stainless steel or copper saucepan with the burner set to HIGH. In my experience with this 3qt saucepan on a glass-top electric burner, it took 32 minutes to bring hot tap water to a full boil. I am a patient person but 32 minutes is, for me at least, a too-long time waiting for water to boil. I use a quick and easy workaround. I boil my water in a teakettle and pour that water into the Caraway saucepan. Because steam comes through the teakettle’s closed spout, when it whistles it is the steam that causes the whistling. The water is only 208°F and by the time I pour the water into the saucepan the water has cooled down to 205°F and still needs to climb up to 212°F or seven degrees (7°) Fahrenheit. But on a burner set to MEDIUM, this still takes an additional 13-15 minutes. This final amount of time then requires one positive trait on my part in order to be successful—PATIENCE. Once the water is boiling, cooking the pasta is the same as would be if cooked in a stainless steel saucepan.Afterwards, when you permanently remove the pan from the burner NEVER immediately put water of any temperature in the pan. Wait until the pan has cooled before doing so and washing it. Also, when washing, I am a firm believer in letting it soak for at least 10 minutes in warm soapy water and then with a soft sponge or a silicone nonstick pan scrubber gently wash the pan until clean and rinse in warm tap water. Rather than letting the saucepan air dry, you might use a soft cotton towel to wipe it dry. Although not necessary, the best and softest cotton towels to use are those that a made from flour sacks which can be purchased on Amazon.com. These towels are highly absorbent, machine washable, and air dry very quickly after each use. If you can, avoid using towels made of or contain any polyester or manmade materials mainly because they don’t do a good job at soaking up water. Hard water if left to dry on the pan will leave calcium deposits and will make the saucepan dirty looking.Another quality point that I truly believe in is that Caraway Home has truly high-quality customer service. I have to date written three or four questions to them on the same number of occasions to which they a responded with their answer in less than eight (8) hours each. Not only did they reply but they also on two occasions followed up on their own to make sure I understood if I had any other concerns or questions that they are there to assist me at any time. Unbelievably they have responded to a couple of my requests at 02:00 a.m. Yes, that two a.m. in the wee hours of the morning. I don’t have any idea why they were able to respond at that time of the morning but only that they did. WOW!As I stated earlier, this really well-built, beautifully crafted ceramic nonstick saucepan as well as all of Caraway cookware as I mentioned is quite costly. There are so many other nonstick cookware on the market that one can purchase on Amazon.com that cost much less. In fact, I found a set containing 3 saucepans and 3 lids in 1-qt, 2-qt and 3-qt sizes all for $60.00 and one (1) 3-qt saucepan for as low as $23.00. So one has to ask the question, “Why would I want to pay $125.00 for this Caraway Home 3-qt. Saucepan when I can also get a nonstick saucepan for as low as $23.00 or a whole 6-piece set of nonstick saucepans with lids for just $60.00”? Well, in my opinion, the answer is both simple and complex. Do you remember what my parents to me? It’s found elsewhere in this review. “You get what you pay for.” This is the very simple answer. And with this Caraway saucepan or the total cookware collection, it’s just that. You/I would be/did pay $125 or up to $165 for one saucepan for all the reason I described in this review. For these reasons, i.e., 5mm high-gauge aluminum body, stainless steel baseplate, ceramic nonstick coating inside and outside the saucepan, high-quality craftsmanship which leads to no slippage in production quality, a nonstick ceramic coating that is of the highest quality that can be found today, the ceramic nonstick coating that is not only nonstick but also very slick which allows cooked food to just slide out of the pot with no or very little need to use a silicone or nylon scraping spatula to get the remaining foods from the saucepan,So I have to ask the big question—is this the perfect saucepan? Of course it is not. I would be a fool to say that it is. I would look foolish to even think that it is. In fact, there is a new set of cookware whose developers/manufacturers/sellers have created a nonstick coating that turns a titanium saucepan into molecular masterpiece. How it is done I can’t tell you because I don’t know. But I can tell you that the result of this nano-infused (my words) nonstick coating on titanium cookware is very beautiful and almost indestructible. It’s 10X stronger than the now hardest nonstick protective coating available today. You can’t purchase it on Amazon.com. And it makes Caraway’s price for this saucepan reasonably inexpensive. The same 3qt saucepan costs a mere $360.00 or about 3X the cost of this fantastic saucepan.So are there any cons re this saucepan/cookware? Yes, but for me, only two real cons:1) The rivets that hold the main handle to the saucepan are not flushed. More and more cookware handles are attachedto the body with flushed rivets which, for the most part, eliminate food buildup, nicer appearance, and a strongerconnection to the body of the pan, etc.; and2). Maximum burner temp of MEDIUM making for slower time to bring water to a full or rolling boil.

I looked at all the higher level brands of cookware and became overwhelmed by the varying reviews from terrible to the best pot / pan ever made. We are worried about products made in China for many reasons but its hard to find things not made in China. This is not the least or most expensive piece of cookware but so far I am pleased to use it because its a good size for boiling water for pasta or making sauces and soups. It cleans up better than any other non-stick piece we have. I am gentle on it because it almost rinses out with no need for much effort, nothing sticks. Its thick and heavy and performs well. I might buy more pieces from this brand later. The lid is to be noted and heavy as well. I might rather have a light glass type lid but overall happy with it and to use it.

I have one of these pans for a long time! The price was too good to pass up and I’m so pleased with them! Foods do not stick in these pans and they’re so easy to clean. They also cook very evenly. I highly recommend them.

Caraway is my favorite cookware brand. After watching the film Dark Waters last year, I ditched all of my old Teflon and upgraded to this safer cookware. It's an expensive upgrade - but worth it! This pan is great because it heats up quickly - but the handle stays cool and it's not heavy to move. It's easy to wipe down and clean with just dish soap and water - even if there is sticky food on the bottom. It's a small size so best to use for sauces. I went with the light gray pan. Do not use any metal on this pan because you don't want to scratch the surface and damage it. I use a silicone spatula only.

Excellent product. Love the color. Expensive, but worth it. I use it regularly and it’s easy to clean and is durable.

I love this brand and it’s so beautiful to the eye. It does take a little more to heat up as one is not suppose to cook on high but the clean up is awesome. Expensive but worth it so far. I haven’t had them too long time will tell if how long the finish lasts. Plus they’re nontoxic.

Great product. Expensive but worth it for health reasons.

Works great. Easy to clean. High quality