I don't know the answer to your specific question, but I'll add just a comment: While I have a set of nice Zwilling J.A. Henckels pots and pans, I needed to supplement with some smaller sizes, and the T-Fal pots I bought work just as well. Yes, they may not last 20 or 25 years, but their utility is good and will give me at least 8 or 10 years, at a lower price. It does not need to be pricey to be good.

The short answer is "it depends." The longer answer is to consider heat balance vs. what one's goal is and what's cookin'.

Consider a thin bottom pot and a thick bottomed pot. The proportions of steel and other metals are not particularly relevant to the following argument. The thin bottom will have a very short thermal time constant while the thick bottom will have a longer one. But you, the observer, boiling water (an energetic heat flow) will only notice that the thin bottom pot stops boiling near instantly upon power removal, and the thick bottom pot stops within a second or two. Do you care?

On the other hand, if the cooking activity is is heating something for a fixed period of time, then the thick bottom pot will keep "cooking" longer than the thin bottom pot, depending on the thermal capacity of the pan contents as well as of the bottom material. Hence the cast iron effect only applies with 'thin content" cooking (simmering bacon, say) while thick and thin bottom pots with two quarts of pasta water will stay about the same decreasing temperature over time with power removed because the thermal capacity of the water volume greatly exceeds that of the pan bottoms.

So there is the heat input case and heat output case. Heat input is from induced currents in the somewhat resistive steel base. Heat output is via several possible effects, including changing state (e.g., boiling water), transporting heat out via steam and grease vapor, radiation from surfaces in all directions, conducted heat into the cooktop (if spacers aren't used), and convected energy from the pot sides into the passing air.

The more important purpose of thick bottoms is heat spreading from the area directly over the coil windings to the center and to the edges of the pots. And this matters more to simmering activities and frying activities than to water heating.

$250 for a frying pan?

Kaseki, that makes sense. I was more thinking that all the claims is more marketing to sell the products and then potentially turn out to be no different than cheaper alternatives based on everyday use.

@wdccruise - The prices of the Demeyere Industry and All-Clad are cheaper than the Atlantis.

I am less concerned for the prices and more concerned about the life and weight of the pans. I have no desire to buy stuff multiple times and start to accumulate pots and pans through trial and error. I see my parents with like 30 pots and only use maybe 5. I would rather have 5 great pots and pans vs 10 mediocre “throw-away” pots and pans. We don’t cook for parties, large gatherings (especially now) or any of that stuff. Just day to day meals (no microwaves in our house) and food for the family of 4 (2 little kids)

I know their isn’t a silver bullet but also since I have never had induction or had to get “special” pots and pans for induction we have never really paid attention. We have used an old Calphalon stainless steel setup several years on our electric stove and have not been happy with them even though they get the job done. However the Calphalon pans are not magnetic so we are shopping. The most used pots in our household are a 10 and 12 inch Costco non stick fry pan, 1 qt and 2qt sauce pans. We use our Instant Pot and air fryer almost daily.

We will not buy a set but rather just the individual pieces that we need. Buy once, cry once.

Thx

I bought a set of 3-ply stainless 40 years ago and I'm still using them, even with Bakelite handles. Still look good. That turned me on to stainless cookware. I've accumulated All-Clad over time and some other 3-ply stock pots from Target/Walmart/BB&B. I also have some Circulon fry pans that are aluminum non-stick with the iron slab on the bottom. The only difference in their usage is that they a) take longer to heat up, b) are noisier (different heat expansion rates). The noise goes away as one adds food and it heats up.

Be aware that Fissler doesn't respond to customer service inquiries. We ordered several items from them, one of which arrived damaged. Repeated attempts by email, phone and through their website were never answered.