Customer Reviews

Cuisinart 726-38H Chef's Classic Stainless 14-Inch Stir-Fry Pan with Helper Handle and Glass Cover

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I have been looking for a stainless wok for sometime. I did not want a non stick finish as when heated too hot they produce fumes that can be toxic to pet birds.

I purchased this Cusinart Stainless 14 inch stir fry. It is a great pan. It is good looking, large so you can cook a lot of food in it. It is extremely easy to clean. It comes with a nice glass lid. It is also light weight. I own the set of Cuisnart Stainless Cookware that I bought last year on Amazon. I am very happy with the set. This wok pan is an excellent value, you simply will not find a good quality wok at this price. Buy It!!

This is our first stainless steel wok. It is big enough for our purpose. The price is right. We have electric burner so the flat bottom works fine. We do not experience uneven heat distribution along the side because all the heat comes from bottom.

However, it could be better:
1. The cover does not have a hole to let out the steam like our other woks made by Chinese brands, so all the steam came out from side, that has made the stove surface too messy.
2. We do not like the flat bottom. It does sit nicely on our flat stove top. But it feels awkward when you stir food inside. The inner surface is not smooth from side to bottom.

I had shopped around on the internet for a wok like this and this was the best price by far with free shipping too. The quality of this wok is great and we love cooking with it. The see thru lid makes it great to see your food while it is cooking, my old one didn't have that. Would highly recommend this product.

Pro:
1. Very good quality
2. Easy to clean
3. Light weigh but heavy glass lid
4. Large enough to cook a lot of food
5. Heat faster than other pans/pots I used

Con:
1. Food stick (esp. if cooking fried rice & fried fish & tempura)

Price purchased:
$30 + tax at Macy's

Overall experience:
Very happy with it

I've been using woks made of cast iron, aluminums, Teflon-coated materials etc. Learned about some of those materials can react with food and formulate chemical reactions, or the synthetic coating can break down sooner or later. Realized while the family was happily gobbling the foods down, also took along those chemical elements into our bodies. Then I found Cuisinart 14" stainless steel wok when I shopped around for an idea wok. I've had this wok for over a month now. I'm practically impressed. It transfers heat very well, gives adequate heat to do crisp stir fry vegetable dishes. The 14" diameter gives plenty of space to cook for 4 people. I especially like how easy it is to clean. I can scrub it as hard as I want to with soapy water, and don't worry about take the synthetic coat off or the wok will become rusty later on.

well! I am chinese and we uses wok everyday. I gotta say this is a really GREAT wok with its price. Light, heat up fast and super easy to clean.

If you are one of those people who are concerned over the long term health effects of the non-stick cooking pans, this stainless steel pan is an excellent alternative.
It does a great job in handling large amounts of food. Thick bottom and the smooth inside surface are ideal for stir-fry and other similar tasks. Very comfortable and cool handle.
After I read the other reviews about sides of the pan sticking to the food because of the excessive heat, I was a little bit concerned. However, it didn't happen to me. I believe people who described that condition put this pan on the largest heat element on the stove. Although this pan is 14 inch in diameter, the flat bottom is barely 8 inches, and you need the match the size of the heater to the flat bottom of the pan. For most stoves, that's the middle element.
It's a great buy at this price (I paid less than $40). Wish it were easier to store.

Truly disappointing. This wok is out of control. Uneven heating, quick cooling, quick burning, food would stick. For authentic Chinese cooking, it simply can't take the heat. I followed the instruction, heating the wok on medium high on my gas range. It's a guarantee the wok will slow your cooking down to the speed of a crawling freeway. Are you ready to sacrfice your taste buds from enjoying the crisp, fresh stir fry and exchange it to the soggy ones?

Desparately, I cranked up the heat to Chinese spec., it would cause a dark, brunt ring above the oil. It's getting darker everyday. The wok does not retain heat. As soon as the vegetable stir fry hit the surface, the heat is gone. It actually takes longer for me to cook a meal now. Yes, this wok "sticks" like crazy.

I am unsure anyone want to baby sit the wok everyday scrubbing the burnt mark with one's busy schedule. I'm using my old iron wok, not bad at all compare to this one. If you are serious about authentic Chinese/Asian cooking, avoid this wok, invest in something better.

The wok is great. The clear lid seemed great until the first time we washed it. It was sitting in a plastic coated wire drain dry rack and the edge of the lid was in one of the plate slots. There was a bit of pressure on it from the weight of the lid leaning against the wire dish support, but not a lot of stuff leaning on it or anything like that. Out of nowhere the lid shattered as if it had exploded, into thousands of roughly 1/16" chunks. Glass all over the kitchen.

We'll keep the wok, but we don't want a new lid....

I am aware that there is another review saying the same thing has happened,dated 2009. We bought this pan and really love it, and use it nearly daily for soups and curries, etc. We've had it for some months and have used it with the lid on, quite often. The other day, we had a chana masala dish simmering (medium-low) with the lid on, and the whole lid shattered. It sounded like a shotgun going off, or like a small transformer blowing. There was no glass in the food - in fact, it may be a corning-type glass designed to take heat and to break with rounded edges, like windshields.

I have contacted Cuisinart and was told that we would have to pay shipping and handling. I find this outrageous and unnacceptable, and am pursuing the issue further.

What I want to hear is that Cuisinart is aware of the situation and concerned about possible user endangerment. Perhaps this is a rare event; perhaps the fact that there's no vent led to this situation. Maybe there's a flaw in the glass. Whatever the reason, it's been reported twice on Amazon, so leads me to believe that not only could it happen to others, it probably has done so. I do not know whether the previous reviewer told the company, but I would hate to think that two years (at least) have passed with no change to the design of this pot, if Cuisinart did know of the problem.

Cuisinart customer service was prompt and polite, so I have no complaints about that.