All-Clad has a reputation for excellence in their cookware and this set has all the basic pieces you'll need to experience that reputation for yourself.

Three bonded metal layers combine to provide superior heat distribution along the bottom and into the sides of these pans. The copper, more than an attractive exterior, is the best conductor of heat and the thick aluminum core will hold and spread that heat for maximum effect. The interior is highly polished stainless steel and will resist corrosion as well as it resists the stick of food.

The handles stay cool on the stovetop but are oven safe. Hand washing is recommended as detergents can darken the copper.

The lids fit tightly and keep the moisture, flavor and nutrients in your food. If you aren't used to such fine cookware, keep your heat turned down initially. You'll rarely need a full flame to prepare ingredients and the control these pans offer make one unnecessary.

This set includes a two quart covered saucepan, a four quart casserole with lid, and a ten inch fry pan. A nice starter set for an at-home gourmet chef or the basics for a professional kitchen. Comes with a lifetime warranty against defects.

More Info on this All-Clad Cop-R-Chef Cookware Set:

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This neat stovetop griddle will help you painlessly create not just breakfast foods, but sandwiches and meat items with ease.

Excellent conductivity is provided by the aluminum core of the pan. The hard-anodized aluminum exterior is a signature of the LTD collection and resists scratching, chipping and peeling. A dual interior layer consists of 18/10 stainless steel bonded to scratch resistant professional grade nonstick. Due to the nonstick cooking surface, you use less butter or oil and experience easier cleanup. The pan comes with a lifetime warranty against defects. Stainless steel stay-cool handles are riveted in place for a strong, worry-free bond. Hand wash with soap and water as the LTD line is not made for dishwasher use. Low to medium heat settings are recommended for the best results from your griddle.

Cook for larger families at once or prepare bigger batches of food. The lip around the side is really nice for helping you to get a good hold on an item for turning. The griddle can be placed across two burners and retain its heating properties across the surface.

Customers were unhappy that the grease gutter takes away from the actual cooking surface and food runs into it as well as the grease it is made to capture. The pan can also be a bit unwieldy in the sink. Users were pleased to see the heat really does travel into the edges of the pan.

More Info on this All-Clad Skillet Pan:

• Click here to find this Skillet at Amazon.com

Convenient stovetop grilling is now at hand. The LTD line from All-Clad stands out because of the striking black hard-anodized exteriors. They resist scratching, peeling and chipping.

Starting with a thick aluminum core, 18/10 stainless steel is then bonded to its surface, and then a layer of scratch resistant professional grade nonstick is bonded to the stainless to form the interior of the pan. Stainless steel handles will stay cool as you cook and are riveted in place for strength and security.

This pan is safe up to 500 degrees in the oven, but not suitable for use under the broiler. The twelve inch round Grille pan can hold several items at once and sear into their surfaces the recognizable grill marks which add flavor and visual enjoyment.

Even customers who aren't a fan of the LTD line or fancy pans in general have made exceptions in their kitchen for this pan. Detractors argue that the raised surface areas are not tall enough in comparison to the bottom of the pan, which causes some sacrifice of flavor. Others argue that the nonstick works against a nice sear. Still others claim even with excessive heat and use of thinner food items, that the grill does not heat and truly grill the food as they'd like. Still, overall, people enjoy their Grille pan and attest to frequent use and easier than expected cleaning.

All-Clad has a tremendous following and it seems the pan is perfectly capable of searing and grilling a variety of foods all year around.

More Info on this All-Clad LTD Round Skillet Grille Pan:

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All Clad LTD 12in Round Nonstick Grille Pan NEW US $65.05   Auction Ends: 17d 4h 55m Make it yours...

ALL CLAD LTD | 12 ROUND GRILLE PAN NON STICK 3012 US $50.50   Auction Ends: 13d 10m Make it yours...

Let's just get this issue out of the way: This cookware doesn't compare to something like All-Clad. But at this price, who cares? Circulon offers fantastic cookware at a fantastic price. You can tell a Circulon pan from the telltale circular grooves. They claim that they protect the nonstick coating from wear by exposing only a small portion of the nonstick surface to cooking.

Like all non-stick, you need to be somewhat gentle. Don't wash them in the dishwasher. And don't cook with them over high heat. Also, these can go in the oven, but only up to 350 degrees. (Generally, you want to keep non-stick coatings away from heat that is too high.) And keep those forks and metal spatulas away from the nonstick surface. If you take care of your cookware, they will last forever. (They are covered by a lifetime warranty, too.)

I'm not a fan of cookware sets in general. I find that some pots and pans are great for everyday use. And others just never get used. Especially with a larger set like this one. But, on the plus side, with a set this large, you're bound to find a pot for every need. And this set has a good mixture of pots. And skillets. It even has a stockpot, which is often left out of cookware sets. So you get every standard piece that a cook would need?what a value!

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A frozen margarita? Call me a purist, but I like mine on the rocks. No fancy mix or secret ingredients. Just Tequila, triple sec/Cointreau, and freshly squeezed lime juice, with salt on the rim. Simple and perfect.

This margarita maker is like the fraternity boy of blending machines. It's large and loud. A little too raucous for my taste. I laughed at it when I first saw it. It's a pretty steep price to pay for margaritas. Clearly, the people who are buying this machine have already been drinking and shopping online.

But frozen margaritas have their own fan base. It's not easy to make shaved ice without a machine. It shaves ice as well as blends so you have two motors going in one unit so it makes sense that it is expensive. Those who love them will do anything to replicate the restaurant quality. My mother would shriek with joy if I bought her this machine. She would surely use it enough to make it worthwhile, too.

I wouldn't use it enough to make it worthwhile but if you entertain enough, it would be great for parties. Although it only makes a couple drinks at a time. So you would basically spend the entire party with your margarita machine.

This machine is okay, but not worth the price. I think you're paying way too much to have the Jimmy-Buffet-branded name. You can get "wasted away again in Margaritaville" for less money without a margarita machine.

More Info on this Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker:

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MARGARITAVILLE FROZEN CONCOCTION MAKER DM1000 KEY WEST US $244.98   Auction Ends: 6d 45m Make it yours...

Brand New Margaritaville Key West Frozen Maker DM1000 US $249.95   Auction Ends: 11d 23h 25m Make it yours...

KEY WEST Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker DM1000 US $269.00   Auction Ends: 27d 14h 39m Make it yours...

What a cool idea: a mini breadmaker that creates adorable little 1-pound loaves. That's the perfect size for my family. I'm always buying larger loaves that end up moldy or in my freezer, where I always forget about them.

This breadmaker is small, too-- small enough that you could actually leave it out on your countertop to use every other day. (It's the same size as my toaster.) The best part: It's programmable so you can set up the mini Zoji at night and have fresh bread in the morning. It's so easy to use. It even comes with a video instruction guide, although I can't imagine needing it. It's pretty easy and intuitive to use.

Of course, it does a lot of other things besides making bread. Honestly, it's so good at making bread that I would be fine if that was the only thing it did. But it has a cookie/pasta setting that you can use it to make (you guessed it) cookies and pasta, plus cakes (fresh fruit jams?!?!) and dough for croissants. So, in short I can use it to make all my favorite things.

Don't you just have to love any machine with a cookie/pasta setting?

I'm not much of a brand fan; I try to take every product on its own merit. But Zojirushi really makes top-quality products with tons of smart features. Bravo!

More Info on this Zojirushi Home Bakery Bread Maker:

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I can see how this contraption seemed like a good idea. Why not combine the coffee bean grinder and brewing components into one awesome machine? What coffee drinker wouldn't bow down to this mighty creation? Add the ability to set the timer so it grinds and brews in the wee hours of the morning like a tiny coffee robot so you can wake up to a fresh cup of joe, and it would follow that this coffee maker would have legions of followers, right?

Unfortunately this machine requires a lot of cleaning. I don't know if it's just this brand/model or if all grind-and brew machines suffer from this defect. But the coffee bean grinder is directly above pot so the steam from the coffee gets into the grinder area and you end up with a sludgy mess that you have to clean between every pot of coffee. Plus, there is the chute that leads from the grinder to the filter and you have to clean that pretty often or else coffee gets jammed up in there.

And be careful when you pour the water into this machine because if you spill you'll end up with water in the grinder, which ends up in chute, and then you're back to cleaning again. Also, if I may gripe about one more thing, the carafe pours weird, leaking coffee everywhere. For a while, you think it's you: if only you could pour slower, or faster, or somehow differently. In the case of this coffee grinder, it's not you. The carafe is just poorly designed.

Pros? It's very shiny, I'll give it that. It's darned attractive. Almost attractive enough for you to overlook its flaws. And if you are willing to go through this cleaning regimen just to have that fresh cup of brew in the morning, maybe it's worth all the other leaky-carafe problems. But be warned: If you unplug this thing to clean it, then you will have to reset the clock and the timer to use it again. And if you don't unplug it, it will beep at you the entire time you're cleaning it because a part is out of place. It's too much aggravation for a cup of coffee.

More Info on this Cuisinart Grind and Brew:

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CUISINART DGB 600BC Grind Brew Thermal 10 Cup BRAND NEW US $109.99   Auction Ends: 24d 21h 43m Make it yours...

Cuisinart DGB 600BC 10 Cup Grind Brew Coffee Maker US $36.00   4 Bids Auction Ends: 1h 33m Make it yours...

CUISINART DGB600BC Grind Brew coffeemaker DGB 600BC US $108.88   Auction Ends: 17d 16h 4m Make it yours...

This tabletop oven does everything a conventional oven does, only much faster and more efficiently. This little oven cooks food twice as fast and it uses 85% less energy. It's almost magical. Well, it uses conduction, infrared, and convection technology to cook the food so quickly. So it's not magical but it is pretty impressive. (The company has patented the trio of cooking methods it uses to cook the food so fast.)

Another claim-- and one that I can't verify although I find it interesting-- is that infrared cooking results in more "grease release" that other cooking methods, so you're getting healthier food.

So this items still leaves one wondering why you would use a tabletop oven instead of your conventional oven. I'm all for saving energy, but I'm not going to let my conventional oven languish to use this instead. I would, however, use it in the summer when I want to cook without heating the whole house up. You could use it as a second oven for very large affairs. And it would be ideal in an RV, a dorm room, and a small apartment, on a boat. It's fairly lightweight and you could easily move it around.

More Info on this NuWave Pro Digital Tabletop Oven:

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This is a serious blender for people who have serious blending needs. It's definitely professional-grade quality. It makes my old blender look like a child's toy. I once visited a website where you could view blenders blending things you would not believe. You name it, they would blend it. And this blender is that kind of blender. I wouldn't bet against it in a blending contest.

That's funny, I just searched for that website-- it's called "Will it Blend?"-- and it's a Blendtec website. So this blender truly is "that kind of blender."

You can use this to do a lot of things your food processor does. And it works well as a juicer, too. I ran into it when I was looking for juicers, actually. Most blenders can't handle making vegetable juices. You end up having to strain solids and re-blend and repeat. But this blender mows through greens like a champ. (On the down side, this thing is almost as loud as our lawn mower, too.)

I also like that it has one button, so you can push it and turn away. (Not that I'm endorsing unsupervised blending, mind you.)

Something else you can't tell from the pictures is that this blender is a wee bit shorter than comparable blenders. This is terrific because it means it's easier to store and keep on countertops.

I don't like that the base is plastic. It cheapens what is otherwise a very top-of-the line set-up.

More Info on this Blendtec Home Blender:

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This product works just fine. That sounds underwhelming but it is what it is. It's a small version of the extremely-popular Griddler. In functionality, it's similar to the George Foreman grill. But you can use it a few different ways. It's great for burgers and can cook them on both sides. You can also just use it as a grill and grill up some steak or chicken. It's a nice compact size for singles or couples. You can let it live on your countertop.

It shares most of the features that other countertop grills have. The adjustable hinge adjusts to different thicknesses (hello big sandwiches!). It allows the fat to run off into a drip tray.

It does have two features that you don't find on all comparable products. You can use this Griddler as a panini press, which is very cool. (I love appliances that multitask.) And the best part if that the plates are removable for easy clean up. You can pop them out and pop them right into the dishwasher.

So it does exactly what it claims to do and it does that well. It's not the best value for a product like this, but it works like a charm, so you're getting your money's worth.

More Info on this Cuisinart Griddler Jr:

• Click here to find this Grill at Amazon.com