Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Handle broke off after a few months, April 2, 2008
I'll start by saying that until this point, I was a big T-Fal fan.
I ordered my set of 2 pans in November 07. When I got them, they did not look like the picture on Amazon. I contacted T-Fal about this and they said the picture does not always look like the product.
OK - I was fine with that. I didn't get the Thermo-Spot thing, but that's ok. Next thing I noticed is that the handles on both pans started to feel loose. I contacted the company about it. They said this sometimes happens but not to worry.
Finally, I was rinsing out one of the pans the other day and the handle completely fell off. This is ridiculous! That could have been very dangerous. I tried getting in touch with T-Fal and no luck so far. I will keep trying.
Don't buy these pans!
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Passes the Grilled Cheese Sandwich Test, and My Genius Cook of Wife Likes Them Too, March 21, 2008
Since I married someone who chose to be a full-time housewife, I no longer cook except for my own lunch on the weekends and the occassional lucky day when I have the house all to myself. Gone are the days when I would clean my home thoroughly 'once per girlfriend,' and woo women and impress friends with any one of the few dishes I was really good at. (Tip for you bachelor's: you should be able to make three fairly complex dishes really well; this is more important than having a nice car).
But I never had frying pans which functioned so well as these. I would guess that to get pans that work as well--durability, craftspersonship, and overall impress-factor aside--I would have to pay at least three times what I paid for these T-Fal Initiatives pans.
MADE IN ?????: Big issue with most people on T-Fal is where their made: Made in France vs. Made in China is a significant difference. The Initiatives line with the red dot in the middle seems to be entirely made in France. The base of the pan is Made in France, the handle is Made in France. If any part of these pans is made in China, I would have to guess it were the connecting hardware such as the rivets. Other T-Fal pans may be mostly made in China, but the Initiatives are not. This is quality cookware, nothing coming loose from the get-go and the coatings are perfectly done.
The RED DOT: This makes the pans idiot proof. I used to heat up a pan a bit and spatter some water on it to see if it was thoroughly heated--and it never really would be on the first item I put in there, which for today's review will be two sides of a grilled cheese sandwich. The red dot works exactly as advertised--once the lines disappear, you're ready to cook, and it gets to this even heated state quickly regardless of how low a flame you're using. So when I cook the first side of the sandwich in X amount of time, I don't end up burning the other side because the pan has gotten much hotter in the meantime.
BUTTER OR OIL FOR FLAVOR, NOT TO PREVENT STICKING: I no longer have to use more butter or oil than I would like for flavor just to keep whatever I'm cooking from burning. I'll give this the no-butter fried egg test next, but so far even the cheese from my sacred sandwiches which may have gone overboard doesn't burn or stick to the pan, its edges, or the outside. Even after heavy initial use, the pan also does not show any signs of charring on the outside.
OVERALL QUALITY: These are not heavy pans, as more expensive ones are bound to be, yet the material is fairly thick and durable. The coatings inside and out will also withstand scratching better than anything else you've likely used. Even just looking these pans over gives you the impression of a quality item that you might have spent much more on.
The only parts that I would say was where they must have saved some coin on production is the handles, but these are quite adaquate--and at this price they certainly will last long enough to be worth it to go out and pay about the same for replacements if they ever due suffer from too much wear and tear.
PRICE: What a deal! I paid $20 something dollars for these but wouldn't have been suprised to see them go for twice that or more had the handles been better, and even then it seems like they really adhere to a high production standard. I can only guess that they're able to sell cookware of this quality at this price due to volume of sales.
BOTTOM LINE: While I'm happy with the purchase I made without consulting my wife, who does 99% of the cooking, she only complained about me buying them until she actually used them. After that, not another peep about it except to ask for more Initiatives cookware of other types. She's really picky about this sort of thing, so I have to say these have met a very high standard and at an increadibly low price for quality.
My grilled cheese sandwiches have never been more evenly cooked, and my wife seems to be happy with the purchase--though good luck getting her to admit it.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy For Cooking and Cleaning! , September 22, 2008
I am very pleased with this product. They are well balanced pans and don't slide on the burner and nothing sticks, not even eggs without oil! Heat is evenly distrubuted. Clean up is a breeze.
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