Customer Reviews

Simply Calphalon Nonstick 13-Inch Round Grill Pan

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For the first few months I owned this pan, it earned five stars. The heat distribution is even, the nonstick surface is great...the only difficulty was cleaning the crannies where the grill lines meet the pan surface, but even that was a pleasure because I was always full of perfectly cooked chicken or steak. I bought the 11" square griddle, too, and it's great.

This pan lost all its stars because, even though I've been using nylon tools and Scotch Brite Multi-Purpose "Safe for Non-Stick!" sponges, the nonstick coating is coming off. I'm eating Teflon, or whatever it is they use to coat the pan. I can actually wear it off visibly by scrubbing it with a sponge. From a company like Calphalon, for a pan that's less than a year old, this sort of performance should earn negative stars, but one is as low as Amazon goes.

I've contacted them. If this turns out to be a manufacturer's defect and the replacement pan works for five years, I'll go right back to five stars when I update this review. I'll even revise it right when I get the pan. If I have to pay for return shipping, though, that'll cost a star. No way am I going to pay to return something defective just to get what I paid for in the first place.

I purchased this grill pan based upon it's best-in-class review from Cook's Illustrated. I have no regrets. This pan delivers excellent grill marks to meats and vegetables. I was pleasantly surprised by the large cooking area this round pan offers. In addition to performance, the price of this pan is hard to beat. It's an excellent addition to any kitchen.

I purchased this pan last Christmas (2007) locally for about $25. I had a pricey square Calphalon pan that we used but found it to be on the small size for cooking family meals. This larger round version is our favorite and is the pan that we reach for first when searching for a grill pan. The lighter version doesn't seem to make a difference in cooking & the pan cleans nicely.
Our use is not limited to hamburgers. Try bacon, other meats & even sliced veggies.

2/9/2010: We are still using this pan 3-4 times/week. It is holding up very well & still cleaning up nicely.

This is a nice LARGE grill that holds 2 good size porterhouse steaks at once. Cooks evenly and is very easy to clean. We bought this because of the Cook's Illustrated review on it. They DO know how to evaluate cookware and products.

First thing I must say if anyone is considering purchasing this pan is REALLY think about the measurements. 13" is bigger than you think. This pan barely fits on my range top and takes up about 1.5 inches of the range next to it. But, I must say, it works very well, heats evenly, and is a breeze to clean. This is a great value.

This is the first name-brand pan of any kind that I've bought. I usually just buy what's cheapest and thought they are really all the same. BIG difference between cooking and clean up with this Calphalon and my whatever name discount store grill pan (that I was replacing in just 2 yrs).

This pan provided very even cooking and the clean up was easy. The only thing I would change is I'd add a little height to the sides. I'm concerned about splatter if I put burgers or a steak in this pan.

This pan size is great for grilling all your vegetables. Works great for asparagus because they fit on this large pan. Leaves nice grill marks on zucchini and bell peppers. Highly recommend.

As a 25-year old man, I thought I would get the biggest pan possible, because I love large steaks. This is almost too big. It doesn't really fit over one burner and most steaks only take up maybe 1/5 of the total area. The non-stick feature seems to be effective. I wish I could put it in the dishwasher (which is a theme that I will repeat often). Seriously, why can't someone make all products dish-washer safe? I'd pay an extra 15% for products equal in quality with this one feature.

Anyway, good pan, but get a smaller size.

This pan certainly lives up to Cook's Illustrated review. It produces great grill marks and heats very evenly which allows you to utilize the entire surface of this 13" pan. It's also very easy to clean.

As a guy who considers the grill to be the ultimate cooking appliance AND who lives in snowy Michigan, I've had my eye on a grill pan for a while. As a Cook's Illustrated disciple, I decided to buy this particular one.

After using it a few times, I don't know what to think. All of the things I remember from the CI review are more or less true; it is indeed great at putting attractive grill marks on food. It also has one other big benefit: it keeps food out of the surrounding liquid. This makes it so that indoor burgers aren't sitting in their own grease as they cook.

But did anyone really think these pans have anything else in common with an actual grill? CI wondered if these pans can bring that "grill flavor" indoors--of course not. For that your food needs to be sitting over open flame, period.

But the big problem (that I imagine all pans like this have) is not that hard to anticipate. Food takes FOREVER to cook on this thing. Think about it; all other things being equal, there is far less hot surface in contact with the food, so the same food is going to take longer than it would on an equivalent nonstick skillet. On a real grill, the grate adds a nice sear, but the cooking heat comes from the flame. This pan works in the opposite way. I'm still working out a way to adapt my cooking technique to this. I guess you just have to cook everything longer at a lower heat setting, but that's not typically the direction you want to go for the kind of food you'll cook on it (besides sandwiches maybe).

Beyond all of that, the pan is not fun to clean. The oil/grease in the pan likes to collect on the sides of the grill ridges, and you really would need a custom-shaped sponge to clean in there well (like the ones that come with Foreman grills).

All of this basically to achieve what amounts to a cosmetic effect. The pan reminds me of my quesadilla maker: doesn't do a whole lot, and not that great at what it does. I guess if I want a good grilled chicken breast in January, I'll have to go to Applebee's.

Chris gives the Calphalon 13" Grill Pan 3 stars.