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I love picking up pots & pans used. You can find good bargins at garage sales & thrift stores. If you're worried about germs or the like, just throw it in the oven for 30 minutes & it's sterilized.

I paid $35, but mine was actually a stockpot rather than a saucepan though. I needed something bigger for stews and chili. My pots and skillets range greatly in price and quality. For the most part though, you can always find some really great sales on expensive cookware pieces. Unless you have to have a specific piece in a specific brand without time to find it on sale.

I am dying for some cooper cookware. I have dreams of it hanging around on display in my beautiful kitchen.

Unfortunately, I don't have the beautiful kitchen yet, and my mix-and-match pots and pans from Homegoods are tucked away out of sight.

copper.

I didn't spend anything - I got mine with Amazon VISA rewards. All-Clad. Too pricey otherwise (well worth it, but too much).

I bought two beautiful cast iron skillets (8" and 10") from a thrift shop. They were both almost new (but seasoned) and cost about 25 dollars each. Wouldn't exchange them for anything.

Thank you Mark Bittman. Some of the best meals I've had were cooked on the most basic equipment, including one cooked over a fire in a mud hut in Morocco.

Great article - I agree with it all. My family is in the food service business and my dad is a CIA trained chef - you should see how he's equiped his home kitchen - its not much different than Mark Bittman's. Heavy gauge but inexpensive, scorched and dented cast aluminum (and in some cases, heavy stainless steel) pots and pans, dirt cheap pearing knives, basic hot dog tongs, etc. and a noticeable lack of single-use equipment. I don't even think he owns a food processor. And this is a guy who can make 5 pie crusts while roasting a turkey in the time it would take me to find the recipe.

As for copper, he doesn't own a single piece. It tarnishes too quickly even just hanging there and unless you are planning on becoming a fine chocolatier, its a waste of money.

Less than $30 for a large Anolon Titanium saucepan from Marshall's. I get all of my kitchen equipment from there.

I've been wondering about aluminum cookware. I've been tempted to buy cheap aluminum pots and pans at restaurant supply stores, but I have this memory of my mom getting rid of all our aluminum. (We also weren't allowed to have a microwave.) Was she being overzealous?

My last saucepan was a hand-me-down, but relatively new and I think not cheap. I thought this article was such a breath of fresh air, though! You hear so much about how fabulous and important the $200 knife is, or how it makes so much difference to have all-clad pots, etc, and I always felt a little bit inadequate. My policy has been to splurge on great ingredients, because I can actually taste the difference in my cooking when I buy those high-end or super-fresh.

When I got married my mom got us this set of clad cookware, which I suspect will last just short of forever.

Chiffonade,
I use the cheap(ish) steel pans and a cast iron thrown in. Like your mom, I'm worried about the dangers of aluminum, and also of non-stick coatings like teflon. By the way, traditional copper pots were tin-lined or aluminum-lined, I believe.

Aluminum has been linked to alzheimers I think.

I love this pan so much. We got a duplicate of it as a wedding present, and kept both with no regrets at all.

I'm so glad that Bittman mentions using plates for lids! I feel vindicated! :)

Although my town's restaurant supply store is small, I'm glad I've discovered it. The next time someone in my social circle marries, I know where to buy her kitchen gifts...for cheap!

I picked up a Le Creuset cast iron sauce pan (2 qt) on sale for $50. I do a fair amount of caribbean cooking which requires caramelization and a heavy pot is really appreciated.

I only buy them on sale and I don't care about the color(s).