Lagostina Cookware

[quattro]

Hi all.

I'm wondering whether anyone has any experience, good or bad, with using Lagostina cookware. I've searched the internet and have found very little in the way of reviews on it.

I'm looking at investing in a good saute pan (my old one is a cheap $20 model that is one or two uses away from breaking apart I think ) and saw one by Lagostina that looked/felt great. Price is a little hefty but I'm slowly trying to upgrade my pots and pans piece by piece.

Thanks in advance.

Edited February 6, 2008 by quattro (log)

[shona m f pearson]

Hmmm.

I have used Lagostina,

my preferred pots at home are Paderno.

I think you are right to be judging the heft and the feel, but my experience has been that good pots are not cheap, but expensive pots ( and pans ) are not necessarily good

Some of the other factors to look for , crossover potential , I really love pots with lids, or that fit other lids, and pans that have no materials ( plastic, resin, knobs or handles ) that cannot go into the oven or under the broiler ....

All that said, I did not dislike the Lagostina.

lol

good luck !!! let us know which pan you chose and how you like it

[DerekW]

A couple of things. We have one of the large very heavy based ("Commercial Capsule") Lagostina saute pans. It does exactly what I want in that style of pan.

Open stock at a local retailer The (12" dia?) pan with lid cost something like $250. I paid about $35 from a local End of line discount store, Homesense; part I believe of the same group that runs TJ Maxx in the US? If you can nurse your current pan for a few more trips to the range then perhaps you can pick up a similar bargain.

Second thing. The full price pan had a handle style which Lagostina seem to like, where the entire weight of the pan is transfered to the handle through a narrow horizontal ribbon of metal, and with the weight of this pan the handle design did not look very durable - it was bending alarmingly as I waved the pan around in the store, empty. On the other hand, the bargain priced pan has a cast stainless handle with a cantilevered design, and gives confidence in use.

Edited February 6, 2008 by DerekW (log)

[quattro]

Thanks for your replies.

I am from Canada as well Derek. I will pop into Homesense and see what they have to offer.

The pan I was looking at was marked down 50% at the Bay but it still is going to end up costing me around $170 after taxes.

[Anna N]

Most of my cookware is Lagostina which I have had for at least 25 years and I have always been very happy with it for the price. A visitor even remarked a few weeks back that I had obviously just bought new cookware!

It cleans up beautifully, has disk bottoms and tolerates a lot of abuse. But it is also worth noting that Lagostina comes in more than model and some are very light and hence much less expensive. Mine, for example, have plastic handles but these are meant to be removed for use in the oven and mine are long gone.

If I could afford all clad pans I would definitely go that route for a saute pan and a dutch oven type pan but for ordinary saucepans I find my Lagostina does the job admirably.

Lids I find are often interchangeable among many makes and are often available at charity stores if you don't fuss about having everything match.

[Beth Wilson]

I just splurged on some nice Lagostina pans at a Homesense Boxing Day sale. I love them! and the price was right!

They had some models with what appeared to be silicone grips??? It didn't say if they were suitable for putting in the oven so I opted for the heavier stainless steel handles. I found they had many styles and price ranges for Lagostina and I really had to sort through to find the one I liked. Some were more substantial than others.

If you can find the pan you want at the price you want to pay then I would say Lagostina makes a nice addition to the home kitchen.

[DerekW]

I will pop into Homesense and see what they have to offer.

←

If you're (re)equipping a kitchen and there's a Homesense nearby then I'd suggest putting together a shopping list and dropping by every couple of weeks - the stock changes fairly frequently, and often bears close inspection. For example, they had a variety of Anolon hard anodised pieces a while back. Most were identical to the current full-price retail offerings, but mixed in amongst them and at the same prices were a few pieces of the older, better, heavier construction.

Knowing exactly the specification of the item sought is important, and so is being able to keep your money in your pocket in the face of 'bargains' which you can manage without.

Some might question my grasp of the second point