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Plus, how to choose the best stainless steel cookware. Tasty Cookware

This article was updated in November 2022 to ensure all product picks tested and vetted by the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab were up-to-date and in stock. We trimmed our list to the top five picks.

High-quality stainless steel cookware can handle high temperatures and last for years, unlike its nonstick cookware counterparts that can wear over time. It's often the material of choice for experienced cooks who want to manipulate temperature to get the results they want for a juicy steak or a pasta dish. The one downside is it can be hard to clean if food or oil sticks to it.

In the Good Housekeeping Institute, we've tested more than 100 cookware sets, including stainless steel and nonstick pans, in addition to other materials like cast-iron and carbon steel, and more specific types of cookware like Dutch ovens and grill pans. When we evaluate cookware in our Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we assess factors like how evenly they heat, how well they brown a steak and how they clean up. The best stainless steel cookware heats evenly, can handle high-heat jobs and isn't a burden to clean. Here are some of the best stainless steel cookware sets you can buy, according to testing.

Read on after our picks for more info on how we tested stainless steel cookware sets and what you should look for when shopping for them.

This cookware set excelled in our tests. The pots and pans are infused with titanium, which makes them strong and practically nonstick, which can be one of the biggest pain points of stainless steel cookware, especially when it comes to cleaning. In our Lab tests, they barely required any elbow grease, and, in our home tests, testers found that soaking them for a bit makes them even easier to clean. Plus, they have flush rivets so food has even fewer areas to get stuck in. Their color deepens over time but can be brought back to like-new condition with the included Hestan cleaner.

The 11-inch fry pan is our go-to for almost every meal. (We've been using it at home almost daily for the past three years and then some!) In our tests, it heated evenly and browned steak nicely on both sides with little staining. Like the rest of the pans, it's sturdy with a long handle and finger grip on the underside that helps balance the pan well. Plus, it has a wide surface area and shallow edges that make it great for sauteing. The other pieces in the set are useful as well with two saucepans that retain heat well. They cleaned up with a quick wash after our sauce scorching test. All pieces are oven-safe up to 1050ºF. While the Hestan Nanobond 10-Piece Cookware set may seem pricy at first glance, it's priced competitively with other high-end cookware.

Goldilocks products are sold direct-to-consumer, so by eliminating the outside retailer they can sell top-quality cookware at a fraction of the price of many other pots and pans on the market. The tri-ply (one layer of aluminum inside two layers of stainless steel) pots heated super evenly in our tests, and the skillet was able to sear a steak evenly from edge to edge.

This set includes all the essentials for a first-time cook or small kitchen, including two different-sized saucepans. The fry pan has taller, more sloped edges than most fry pans, which makes it good for pan sauces, sautés and searing juicy proteins, especially if you finish it in the oven. These pieces are all oven-safe up to 600ºF. To step it up, check out the brand's Essentials Bundle which contains knives, various cooking tools and more — it costs less than $300 for 22 pieces.

All-Clad's D5 line features five alternating layers of stainless steel (for top-notch durability) and aluminum (for even heating). They're top-quality with tight-fitting lids and strong, angled handles that stay cool. Their 18/10 stainless steel interior helps with sticking, and the exterior is brushed, which helps prevent fingerprints.

All-Clad's pots and pans have excelled in previous Kitchen Lab tests, with saucepans that boiled water the quickest and fry pans that offered quick, even heating. We particularly appreciate the straight-edged design of the saucepans that make boiling an egg even easier since you need less water to cover it than wider saucepans. The handles on the lids are wider than most, too, so they're easier to grab. The stock pot is also a tad shorter and wider than others for a quicker boil and easier cleaning.

This set is both stylish and functional. It includes a small ceramic-coated skillet, a fry pan with tall walls that can also be used for braising, a wide saucepan, a large stockpot and an oval-shaped dutch oven, which comes in an assortment of bold colors. Thoughtful design elements like measurement markings inside the saucepan help this set stand out.

In our tests, the fry pan was able to sear steak well — though it was a little hard to clean — and water came to a boil quickly in the saucepan. The handles were also surprisingly comfortable to hold, and they stayed cool during cooking. This set is perfect for home cooks looking to do it all — and the price is hard to beat!

Made In's solid pots and pans have a restaurant-kitchen feel to them. They're five-ply, meaning they're made with five layers of stainless steel and aluminum, so they heat evenly and are super durable. They're sturdy with a long, ergonomic handle designed for easy handling and moving around the stovetop. Plus, they're oven-safe up to 800ºF. This smaller set comes with four cookware essentials: A 10-inch skillet, a 10-inch nonstick skillet, a 2-quart saucepan with a lid and a 5-quart stock pot with a lid. Made In also sells a 10-piece set with more frying pans and a 13-piece set with a wok and roasting pan.

In our tests, both skillets heated evenly and produced nicely browned steak, though the stainless steel skillet was hard to clean. Eggs slid off the nonstick pan with no added oil. Water also boiled quickly compared to other saucepans.

At the Good Housekeeping Institute, we've been testing cookware for decades. We've tested more than 115 sets over the years, including nonstick cookware and stainless steel cookware.

When we test cookware, we test how evenly it heats both with no food in the pan and by searing a steak. We also assess how quickly it comes up to temperature and how well it retains that temperature over a period of time. Several different tests, including our steak browning test and our scorching sauce test, help us determine how easy they are to clean – steak and the oils it cooks as well as sauce have a tendency of sticking, which can be hard to clean. We also boil the same temperature water in the saucepans to assess how quickly they heat. The best cookware heats evenly, can sear a steak well on both sides, can bring water to a boil quickly, maintain a steady simmer and cleans well.

✔️ Material: All stainless steel cookware is made of stainless steel, right? Yes and no. Stainless steel is often the main material in stainless steel cookware, but it's usually not the only one. It's not the greatest conductor of heat so it's usually paired with other materials like aluminum to help it heat quicker and more evenly. Copper is also often used to help it heat quickly and respond to changes in temperature. Stainless steel is hefty, tough and durable, which helps stainless steel cookware last for years.

You'll also often see high-quality cookware that is made of 18/10 stainless steel. This type of stainless steel is known to be long-lasting and rust-resistant thanks to its nickel and chromium makeup. Manufacturer's will often tout if they use this type of steel but they won't tout if they use one of lesser quality that's more affordable. As a whole, stainless steel is durable but the lower grades may not last as long.

✔️ Number of layers: When you see stainless steel cookware touted as being three-ply or five-ply, that number represents the number of layers of metal that make up the pot or pan. The more layers, the more durable it's thought to be, but more layers also typically make it heavier.

✔️ Included pots and pans: Sets are notoriously known for including products that aren't always useful. But we like having pots and pans that match, which is why we lean towards sets. Our favorite sets include at least one fry pan that's either 10 or 12 inches, but having a couple of fry pans is even better. We also like having at least one small saucepan — about 2 quarts to boil eggs easily — and another larger one for sauces and sides. Stock pots are essential for boiling full boxes of pasta, and a braiser is beneficial for rounding out your set so you can make saucier dishes than a fry pan could handle.

✔️ Handles: Larger, longer and wider handles make maneuvering easier and often lead to them staying cooler during cooking. Stainless steel handles versus plastic or other types of handles make the cookware look more cohesive and indicate a higher quality piece. They can also typically withstand higher oven-temps, too, so you can move things from the stovetop to the oven with less fret.

✔️ Lids: Stainless steel cookware lids are often made of stainless steel or tempered glass so you can see inside. If you like keeping an eye on your cooking, this is something to consider when shopping.

Tasty Cookware Nicole Papantoniou has run the Good Housekeeping Kitchen Appliances and Culinary Innovation Lab since 2019; she oversees all the content and testing related to kitchen and cooking appliances, tools and gear. She's a trained cook and published recipe developer and cooks all the time. She conducted the last side-by-side cookware test and continues to test all types, including stainless steel, nonstick, ceramic, cast iron, etc. There are few things she hates more than scrubbing dishes, so the pans that stand out the most to her are ones that require the least amount of cleaning.