Blu Skillet Ironware: Blue Steel Skillets Handmade in Seattle

Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold is the Executive Editor of Cubby, and one of Apartment Therapy Media’s first full-time editors from way back when. She was the founding Design and Lifestyle Editor for Kitchn and the Managing Editor for Apartment Therapy’s green living site, Re-Nest (RIP). After a few years offline and then working elsewhere, she’s back to share ideas about design, kids, and family life. It’s helpful that she now has two little kids and lots of thoughts about all those things. She lives with said kids and their father in St. Paul, MN.
updated May 2, 2019
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(Image credit: Kim Doyal for Blu Skillet)

In March of last year Patrick Maher, an artist and blacksmith, and Caryn Badgett, a painter and avid cook, started Blu Skillet Ironware, a gorgeous line of blue steel pans hand-forged in their Seattle studio. Similar to cast iron, blue steel pans are lighter, less porous, and quicker to season. What gives them that inky blue hue, you ask? Here’s what we learned:

(Image credit: Kim Doyal for Blu Skillet)

When the pans undergo a special heat treatment, they form a protective layer of blue iron oxide over the polished steel which, according to Blu Skillet’s website, acts as a “natural rust deterrent, and combined with organic virgin coconut oil, provides an excellent preseasoned surface – making the pans nonstick and ready to use.” They won’t stay blue forever (iron pans are reactive) but instead will darken and take on a patina the longer they’re used.

(Image credit: Kim Doyel for Blu Skillet)

Blu Skillet currently sells fry pans ($75+), French skillets ($135+), Gratin pans ($90+), as well as a few kitchen accessories including iron trivets, pot racks, steel blackboards, even a salt board set — all beautiful and meant to last a lifetime.

Visit the online store → Blu Skillet Ironware

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