Non-Stick Pans: Lifetime Guarantee

Non-Stick Pans: Lifetime Guarantee

Being on a plane sure can be a great time to catch up on old posts.

In answer to the perennial “Which cookware?” questions, non-stick is usually not the answer. And yet, there is a place for non-stick in every collection.

When I wed, some eight years ago, we were fools. Calphalon? Bah. All-Clad? Please. We weren’t about to be suckered in by some marketing flunkies. My wife’s grandmother had promised as our gift the cookware set of our choice. A blank slate! The cookware world our oyster! We chose a line of non-stick.

One upside of marrying young is that your wedding registry can actually furnish your kitchen, since you haven’t already furnished it yourself. A downside, in our case, was that we really didn’t know how to cook, or understand the utility of a great many kitchen tools. And so I rue the day I didn’t sign on for the Bloomingdale’s All-Clad deal and get that coveted sauté pan.

But the point. We requested for a set of Berndes non-stick (along with a separate 8-qt stainless steel stock pot). And truth-be-told, it’s served us quite well. But here’s the kicker.

About 5-6 years in, we notice the normal wear and tear that takes its toll on non-stick. Nicks and scratches. The non-stick surface is starting to peel. It’s a bad situation.

I look through the brochure I saved, I send an email, and lo, Berndes offers a lifetime guarantee. Lifetime guarantee! I’m a total sucker for lifetime guarantees. We packed up our cookware set (10-inch skillet, 12-inch sauté, 2-qt sauce, 4-qt dutch oven, 2.5 quart dutch oven/sauté/don’t know quite what it is.) We go on vacation. We bake. We roast. We fall back on the cast iron, the Revereware, a couple stray pieces of All-Clad. And a couple weeks later, brand new non-stick cookware. New lids too.

If you want non-stick, I highly recommend Berndes. And of course, it cooks well too.

How did you go about setting this all up? First contact the manufacturer via e-mail, or just sent them the whole crate & caboodle with a letter?

Contacted the manufacturer first by email. The woman was very nice and made the whole process quite easy. I can probably find the contact info if you have Berndes, but if not I believe I got a customer service number or email address on their website.