Good for: Eggs, fish, pancakes, and other delicate items.

Why it’s great:

• It heats fast and evenly. The Tramontina Tri-Ply Base 10-Inch Nonstick Fry Pan has a layer of magnetic steel on its bottom that allows it to work on induction. It heated faster and more evenly than other similar induction-compatible skillets we tested.
• Its surface and shape are ideal. The nonstick surface of this Tramontina pan is especially slick. The pan’s shape is ideal, too, as the flared sides make it easy for you to maneuver a spatula or flip an egg, and the bent lip allows you to pour out oil or other liquids without dribbling. The comfortable, hollow stainless steel handle stays cool.
• It comes in three sizes. The 10-inch size is perfect for the types of tasks that a nonstick pan is best at (omelets, fried eggs), but Tramontina also sells an 8-inch version and a 12-inch size.

Flaws but not dealbreakers:

• You have to use soft utensils (wood, silicone, heat-safe plastic) and avoid using high heat on nonstick pans to avoid damaging the nonstick coating. And we don’t recommend putting this pan in the dishwasher.
• Even with the best care, nonstick pans usually last only from three to five years.
• Some people have expressed concerns about the health and environmental impacts of nonstick pans’ PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) coating.

Read our full review of the best nonstick pans.

Good for: Searing, sautéing, pan-frying, roasting, and baking.

Why it’s great:

• It’s versatile. Cast iron holds a lot of heat, so the Lodge Chef Collection 12 Inch Cast Iron Skillet works well for searing meats, caramelizing vegetables, or holding a steady oil temperature for frying. It has excellent seasoning straight out of the box, so it’s nonstick enough for frying eggs or making pancakes. (This is a good nonstick option if you’re avoiding nonstick cookware.)
• It’s comfortable to cook with. This skillet has an ergonomically curved handle, as well as sloping sides that make maneuvering a spatula easy. It’s also the lightest of all the inexpensive cast-iron skillets we’ve tested.
• It’s durable. With just a bit of care, this skillet could last you a lifetime. Maintaining the seasoning takes some special care, though the task is not as difficult as you might think. (Yes, you can clean it with soap.)

Flaws but not dealbreakers:

• At 6.5 pounds, our pick is lighter than other cast-iron skillets we’ve tested, but it’s still too weighty for anyone to comfortably move around much with one hand.
• Because cast iron holds heat so well, this skillet responds more slowly to temperature adjustments.

Read our full review of the best cast-iron skillets.

Good for: Stews, soups, sauces, and braises.

Why it’s great:

• It holds heat well. The Lodge 6 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven is great for getting a good sear or for maintaining a steady temperature (such as when you’re braising or frying).
• It’s well designed. Its wider base and shorter sides allow steam to escape easily, which helps develop a crisp, golden sear or a flavorful, concentrated braise.
• It’s easy to care for. An enamel coating isn’t quite as nonstick as a good layer of seasoning on a bare cast-iron skillet, but it does make this Dutch oven a bit more foolproof to use and care for. You don’t need to season it, and it won’t rust if it sits in a wet sink.
• It’s affordable. This inexpensive Lodge model performed about as well as much pricier Dutch ovens in our tests.

Flaws but not dealbreakers:

• Like a cast-iron skillet, a Dutch oven is heavy and responds slowly to temperature adjustments.
• The enamel coating picks up stains easily (though usually you can clean it) and requires you to exercise some care to avoid scratches or chips. Use wood, silicone, or heat-safe plastic utensils rather than metal.

Read our full review of the best Dutch ovens.

Good for: Searing, sautéing, shallow braising, and cooking one-pan meals.

Why it’s great:

• It’s excellent to cook with. The All-Clad D3 Stainless Fry Pan with Lid 12 Inch heats exceptionally evenly. Lightweight and ideally shaped, it has flared sides that make tossing or stirring ingredients easy, and it comes with a lid, which is handy for shallow braises and the like.
• It’s durable and easy to clean. The tri-ply All-Clad D3 is a longtime pick—and the kind of pan that will last a lifetime. It doesn’t take on the slightly brassy hue that other pans get when heated on high (the color change doesn’t affect a pan’s performance, but it bothers some people), and we’ve found it easier to clean than other tri-ply skillets.

Flaws but not dealbreakers:

• Tri-ply cookware tends to click and whine when used on induction, which irritates some people.
• The All-Clad D3 is expensive. If you don’t want to spend quite so much on a tri-ply stainless steel sauté pan that might annoy you, consider our runner-up pick, the Tramontina Gourmet Tri-Ply Clad 12-Inch Fry Pan, which typically costs nearly a third less.

Read our full review of the best skillet.

Good for: Sauces, as well as smaller tasks like reheating leftovers or cooking oatmeal, custard, boiled eggs, or instant noodles.

Why it’s great:

• It’s affordable and well made. Much of what we like about the Tramontina Tri-Ply Base 10-Inch Nonstick Fry Pan also applies to the Tramontina Gourmet Tri-Ply Clad 2-Quart Covered Saucepan. (Tramontina’s 12-piece cookware set is our favorite set, too.)
• It heats evenly and is comfortable to use. The saucepan has a comfortable handle and heats evenly, and in our tests we had no trouble reaching into the bottom corners with a spoon or whisk.

Flaws but not dealbreakers:

• Tri-ply cookware tends to click or whine when used on induction. If you’re sensitive to sounds, this saucepan might not be for you.

Read our full review of the best saucepans.

Good for: Stovetop cooking, including searing, sautéing, pan-frying, roasting, baking, simmering stock, and making sauces.

Why it’s great:

• It offers quality and convenience at an affordable price. If you want to buy a new set of cookware for your new induction cooktop or range in one fell swoop but don’t want to spend a lot, we recommend the fully clad tri-ply stainless steel Goldilocks Cookware Set Plus. The quality of the set impressed us; it performed better than any other set we tested in this price range, and the pans heated evenly.
• It has a good range of types and sizes. This set covers almost all of the pot and pan sizes we prefer, including a 12-inch skillet—a rarity in most sets.

Flaws but not dealbreakers:

• Unlike our other cookware set picks, the Goldilocks set doesn’t include a 3- or 4-quart sauté pan with a lid (though a cast-iron skillet would work in lieu of that piece).
• Some of the pieces in this set are slightly heavier than the All-Clad and Tramontina pieces we recommend, so keep that in mind if you’re partial to lighter cookware.
• We experienced some minor sticking while sautéing chicken in the skillets.
• As with any type of tri-ply cookware, the pieces in this set could click or whine when used on induction.

Read our full review of the best cookware set.

Good for: Quick-cooking beans and grains, tenderizing tough cuts of meat, and cooking one-pot meals.

Why it’s great:

• It’s the best-quality pressure cooker you can buy. Yes, the Fissler Vitaquick 8.5-Quart Pressure Cooker is expensive. But if you plan on cooking under pressure often, it’s worth the investment. Among the models in our test group, its pressure settings were the most intuitive to read, and the lid slid onto the pot the most smoothly. Plus, without its lid, it can double as a regular stockpot. Fissler offers four sizes.
• Its tri-ply bottom should work well on induction. Of all the pressure cookers we tested, this Fissler model distributed heat the most evenly for sautéing and searing.

Flaws but not dealbreakers:

• There’s a (short and easy) learning curve to working with a pressure cooker on induction. For starters, induction will heat the pot much faster than a gas stove or radiant-electric stove will, so don’t use it on the highest heat setting.

Read our full review of the best stovetop pressure cooker.

On most new cookware pieces, labeling clearly states whether they are induction-ready; some are imprinted with the international symbol for induction cookware.

If you’re unsure whether a pot or pan you already own will work, hold a magnet to its bottom: If the attraction is strong, cook away.

Generally speaking, induction-compatible cookware is made in one of three ways:

• The entire pan is made of a magnetic metal. A pan made of cast iron, enameled cast iron (which has a protective enamel coating on its cooking surface), carbon steel, or many (but not all) kinds of stainless steel will work great with induction.
• The pan has a magnetic bottom. Manufacturers can weld or attach a disk of magnetic metal to the bottom of cookware made of non-magnetic metals (including ceramic-coated versions) for compatibility with induction. More expensive cookware pieces often have a disk made of several layers of metal bonded together, which is sturdier and often referred to as a “clad” or “cladded” bottom.
• The pan is fully clad. A fully clad pot or pan is made entirely of metal layers, not just at the bottom. One layer is often a highly conductive metal like copper or aluminum; the other layers make the pot both sturdy and magnetic. One common type is fully clad tri-ply, in which the pot has three layers of metal. In our testing, we’ve found that fully clad pans—and especially fully clad tri-ply pans—are great for cooking but prone to clicking or whining when used with induction. Some people don’t mind the noise, but others find it intolerable. (The atomic agitation that generates heat also generates sounds as the metals expand and contract at different rates, said Brenden Duncombe, a former hardware engineer at Hestan Cue.) This sound is particularly noticeable when the cookware is covered with a lid or initially heating up, or when it is old and slightly warped.

Pots made of clay, glass, 100% aluminum, copper, and 18/10 and 18/8 non-magnetic stainless steel will not work on induction. You can, however, use such pieces on top of an induction-compatible metal diffuser.

This article was edited by Ingrid Skjong, Marguerite Preston, and Courtney Schley.