This mini saucepan from Victoria, made from high-quality cast iron, is designed for your smallest jobs. Cast iron is prized for its ability to heat up evenly and retain heat—this saucepan is finished with a textured surface that clings to seasoning better than artificially smoothed pans. The pan is seasoned with a coat of Kosher-certified, non-GMO flaxseed oil, made with zero synthetic chemicals. Like all cast iron, this saucepan will grow more nonstick with use and time.

The base of the pan and handle are balanced to avoid tip-overs. It works on most heating surfaces—including induction, ceramic, grills, ovens, gas stoves, under the broiler and even in a campfire—and is our pick for heating up small servings of soups or sauces, melting butter, prepping marinades, making desserts, heating basting sauces and making dips like queso or fondue. Made in Colombia by a family-owned company.

Clocking in at just 1.2 pounds, this mini skillet from Victoria, made from high-quality cast iron, is designed for your smallest jobs. Cast iron is prized for its ability to heat up evenly and retain heat. The pan is seasoned with a coat of Kosher-certified, non-GMO flaxseed oil, made with zero synthetic chemicals. Like all cast iron, this saucepan will grow more nonstick with use and time.

Use this skillet for serving, cooking, baking, grilling and oven-to-table recipes, as it works on most heating surfaces—including induction, ceramic, grills, ovens, gas stoves, under the broiler and even in a campfire. We like it for making eggs and baking cheeses, like feta and Brie, but it’s also excellent for broiling small items. (Arguably, our favorite use is for single-serve skillet cookies and mini desserts.) Made in Colombia by a family-owned company.

Field's cast-iron skillets work just as well as other brands but are so much more lightweight—the 10-inch model weighs just 4 pounds, at least 20% less than other models. The inside of the pans are also well burnished so they're smooth, not rough, for low-stick cooking, especially if you've seasoned your skillet properly. The Field skillets come pre-seasoned and are available in a range of sizes to suit the needs of any home cook. Choose between the No. 4, a compact 6-inch pan that's perfect for morning eggs and personal grilled cheese; the medium-sized 10-inch No. 8 or 12-inch No. 10; or the No. 12, a generous 14-inch skillet that is our favorite for big batches and campfire cooking. You can purchase the custom Field Company cast iron lids here.

Historic French company's Choc Intense line of nonstick pans use the latest generation of nonstick coating—designed to have a 50% longer lifetime than other models—so they release food easily and are a breeze to clean with a soft sponge. This deeper-bowled Rounded Sauté Pan also features robust forged aluminum walls and an induction-friendly stainless steel bottom for even heat distribution. It's especially useful for recipes that require gentle, steady heat to avoid scorching and benefit from the easy cleanup of nonstick, like making a custard or slowly cooking a sugary syrup. We also love it for cooking soft-scrambled eggs over low heat, as the high sides and smaller base keeps eggs together so they cook slower and more steadily. The attractive matte black pans are weighty but not cumbersome, with sturdy triple-riveted stainless steel handles. De Buyer even includes a cloth bag with each pan to protect the nonstick surfaces during storage, so you can stack Choc Intense cookware without worrying about scratching the material.

An even, consistent heat is the key to better cooking and more consistent baking. The Baking Steel Mini Griddle helps achieve both. It’s a pre-seasoned sheet of carbon steel on one side and a stovetop griddle on the other. When using it on its baking steel side, it sits on your oven rack to speed baking times, promote even browning and produce perfectly crisp bottoms. But flip it over, and the griddle side offers the same excellent heat conduction, just on the stove or induction plate. The Baking Steel has thermal conductivity 18 times greater than a ceramic baking stone, meaning it absorbs and regulates heat better, mitigating temperature fluctuations. That means it produces brick oven-caliber bubbling and charring on pizzas, thick, crispy crust on loaves of bread and a faster bake time when cooking quiche. And compared to a normal aluminum griddle, the mini griddle will get hot faster and stay hot for as long as you need it—great for making breakfast, perfectly cooked burgers, steaks, veggies and more. It's the best of both worlds in one mini device.

Our kitchen team was, quite frankly, stunned by the Vermicular 10-inch skillet. It is at least 50% thinner than other cast-iron skillets, making this 2.4 pound one the lightest we’ve tried. Durably designed, it features a heat-resistant enameled surface and a wooden handle that stays cool to the touch. The pan cooks more like stainless steel than cast iron thanks to its thinness, which makes it heat up more quickly, but it offers the nonstick and cleaning advantages of enameled cast iron. It’s the perfect skillet for searing or stir-frying. The skillet also comes with a glass lid that’s designed to be stood upright to avoid touching a dirty counter. Use to sauté veggies, fry an egg, sear a steak or make the perfect crispy grilled cheese.

Our kitchen team was, quite frankly, stunned by the Vermicular 10-inch skillet. Weighing in at 2.4 pounds, it is at least 50% thinner than other cast-iron skillets, making it the lightest skillet we’ve tried. Durably designed and nonreactive, it features a heat-resistant enameled surface and an oven-safe aluminum handle. The pan cooks more like stainless steel than cast iron thanks to its thinness, which makes it heat more quickly, but it offers the nonstick and cleaning advantages of enameled cast iron. And it still retains heat well and evenly like cast iron. It’s the perfect skillet for searing or stir-frying. The skillet also comes with a stainless steel lid with an attached cast-iron handle that’s designed to be stood upright to avoid touching a dirty counter. Use to sauté veggies, fry an egg, sear a steak or make the perfect crispy grilled cheese.

Field's cast-iron griddle is the perfect pan for breakfast or quick high-heat cooking. The low sides let you easily get your spatula under pancakes and fried eggs, and it's perfect for searing steak. We love Field's cast iron because it works just as well as other brands but is much lighter and easier to maneuver—the 10.5 inch No. 9 model weighs just 4 pounds, at least 20% less than other models. Like all Field cast iron, the griddle comes pre-seasoned, well burnished so it's smooth, not rough, for natural nonstick cooking, especially if you've seasoned your skillet properly. The Griddle No. 9 is a single-burner tool designed to fit any stovetop (including electric and induction). Cast iron gets—and stays—hotter than most pans.

When a recipe calls for charring vegetables, what do you do? Well, you can fire up the grill but that is a lot of work for just one eggplant or two bell peppers. In Turkey, however, they have a better solution called the Közmatik, a metal disk that fits perfectly over the burner of a gas stove. Evenly spaced holes allow heat to circulate around the vegetables, so you are truly roasting, rather than searing as you would on a skillet. The holes are close enough to hold even small veggies, like slender spring onions, and the disk is large enough to keep several bulbous eggplants from rolling off. It’s also less messy than charring directly on the burner: The Közmatik catches nearly all of the bits of charred vegetable skin and juices that would leak onto the surface of the stove. And, once cooled, it can be thrown in the dishwasher for easy cleanup.

This pan from Iwachu is made from Nambu iron, a traditional Japanese cast ironware known for heat retention and durability that dates back over 400 years. The perfect companion for eggs, pancakes, stir-fries and more, the pan is ergonomically designed with curved edges and high sides that deepen on the front end for easy flipping. Its compact, not-too-heavy size is just right for omelettes or fried eggs, and its natural cast iron construction makes it practically nonstick. Plus, the thoughtfully designed handle stays cool longer on the stove, so you can skip the potholder and still keep your hands safe when flipping.

This Milk Street-exclusive, three-piece set from Wahei Freiz is made for the smoothest, streamlined deep frying experience. The first piece: A deep frying pot, complete with a flat, sturdy base, which allows plenty of depth for oil, sits safely on a burner and makes for more even heating than a sloped wok. The pot has a wide opening, so there’s plenty of room to move utensils freely within and fry evenly.

The second piece is a drop basket, which makes for easy loading and unloading, without risky dropping and splashing even when frying heavy chicken thighs. The stay-cool handles of the fry pot hold the basket so that it functions as a draining rack, too. And the final piece is a custom-fit splatter screen, made of black mesh that’s easy to see through. Using this well-designed set when frying makes for a more even, consistent result, reduces mess and even limits oil waste, as everything drips and drains neatly back into the pot. Bonus: While the set’s designed for frying, we also tested it for pasta and other items that require boiling and draining, and it works like a charm. All three items stack compactly for easy storage.

The typical wok is lousy for home cooking. With a round bottom that doesn’t heat on a flat American burner, poorly conductive steel and low-quality construction, most woks don’t perform well enough to be worth the storage space. That’s why we designed the Milk Street Hammered Wok specifically for American home cooks. After dozens of hours testing 10 woks of varying shapes, sizes and materials, we understand the features that make a great wok. Our redesigned 13-inch wok has high-quality construction, oversized handles for better control, a special dimpled surface for nonstick cooking and a tight-fitting tempered glass lid. It will last a lifetime, and it’s guaranteed to improve your day-to-day cooking.

Unlike nonstick pans that need to be replaced every year or two as their coating wears off, carbon-steel pans are designed for the long haul and actually become more nonstick over time. This durable egg pan from French company de Buyer's Mineral B line is thicker than other brands and can be used in the oven as well as on the stove. This compact pan is the perfect size for everyday use, when you want the benefits of carbon steel but don't want to deal with cleaning a large pan; it's also great for toasting small amounts of spices or blooming spices in fat to make infused oils. And with each use, the pan develops more of a protective surface coating that has nonstick properties.

This carbon-steel pan from iconic French company de Buyer has rounded sides that are just the right shape for turning or rolling French-style omelets, then gently sliding them out of the pan when done. And it is by no means limited to omelets: The round sides that help with rolling an omelet are also nice for sautéing and flipping any food. Each Mineral B pan has an all-natural beeswax coating that protects against rust and provides a foundation for seasoning. Over time, your pan will transform from its original gray to mottled blues and oranges before developing a lustrous, fully blackened patina. As the seasoning builds, the surface also becomes smoother and more nonstick.

Before you use your de Buyer carbon-steel pan for the first time, clean it with very hot water and rub down the entire surface to remove excess beeswax. Heat oil in your carbon-steel dish on the stovetop—enough to cover the bottom—until it starts to smoke, then discard the oil and rub the cookware down with paper towels. Before the cookware develops a fully blackened patina, we recommend adding a little more oil or butter to start, and ensure the pan is fully preheated and evenly coated in fat before adding ingredients.

In case of stubborn, stuck-on bits of food, scrub the pan with kosher salt moistened with oil, which will simultaneously season the pan. We also recommend wiping a thin coat of neutral oil across the pan’s surface for storage (with use and time as the patina improves, this will become unnecessary).

• Net Weight: 2.9 pounds/3.2 pounds
• Dimensions: Diameter: 8 inches/9.5 inches/11 inches, Depth: 1.5 inches
• Use: Compatible with all cooktops, including induction
• Care: Hand-wash only
• Place of Origin: France

Named for its place of origin, La Chamba clay cookware from Colombia is crafted completely by hand using centuries-old methods. Made from local river clay, this stunning matte-black comal can be used directly on the stovetop for everything from toasting spices and charring vegetables to frying eggs or warming tortillas. It is perfect for use on the grill when cooking delicate vegetables or fish that benefit from the smoky heat of the grill but could stick or fall apart if cooked directly on the grate. Use the La Chamba comal to char vegetables for our Oaxacan Green Mole with Chicken. Making La Chamba cookware is quite literally a community effort, and every piece passes through the hands of various skilled artisans in one village in Colombia. The three types of clay used in the dishes’ construction make them strong enough to use in the oven, microwave or on your stove—but as with all clay cookware, La Chamba pieces should not be exposed to extreme temperature shock. Instead, heat your comal over low flame, or put it in the oven before preheating.

Much as we love our stovetop coffee makers, too often the grates over the gas burners are too wide for them to sit safely above the flames. But in Italy, Christopher Kimball was introduced to a simple tool that keeps the country’s ubiquitous stovetop espresso pots perfectly balanced. The Ilsa Gas Ring Reducer consists of high-quality, heavy-duty cast-iron construction that decreases the size of gas burner openings in center grates while absorbing and diffusing heat evenly. It’s fantastic for making coffee, of course, but we find it’s equally useful for any small cookware, from saucepans to tea kettles.