Best Saucepan: The 2 to 3 Quart Pan to Buy Once

Tramontina's Signature line is tri-ply clad, with an aluminum core, riveted stainless handles and a stainless lid. It works on induction, gas, electric and glass tops, goes in the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, is NSF certified and carries a lifetime warranty. That is most of what the expensive pans promise.

It is also dishwasher safe, which the All-Clad is not. For a first kitchen, a rental, or a second saucepan beside a good one, it is hard to argue with.

What you give up is finish and feel: the handle and rim are less refined, and the pan will not look like much on an open shelf. Skip it only if the pan is also going to be a thing you enjoy owning.

The catch. Plainer handle and finish than the premium pans.

Made In's Stainless Clad saucepan is five layers of metal, made in Italy, with a 430 stainless outer layer that makes it work on induction. The 2 quart size measures 7 inches across with a 6 inch cooking surface and about 3.85 inches deep, and it comes with a lid.

The handle is hollow, which Made In says keeps it cooler, and the rim is rolled for pouring. Two quarts suits a couple, custards, small batches of rice and every sauce most home cooks make. It is sold on Amazon by Made In directly.

Skip it if you want one saucepan for a family; the 2 quart is small for rice for six. Made In also makes a 4 quart, which is a jump past the ideal middle.

The catch. Two quarts is the smaller of the useful sizes.

A saucier is a saucepan with a curved bottom and wider mouth. There is no right-angled corner for risotto, polenta or pastry cream to hide in and burn, and a whisk or spoon sweeps the whole surface. Cooks who make a lot of sauces and custards often prefer one to a straight-sided pan.

This is Made In's five-ply, Italian-made 3 quart version: 10 inches across the top, a 7 inch cooking surface, about 3.5 inches deep, induction compatible, with a stay-cool handle fastened with stainless rivets. The wide mouth also reduces liquids faster.

The trade is footprint. A 10 inch mouth takes more room on the stove and in the cupboard, and it holds less for its width than a straight-sided pan. Check the listing for a lid before you buy; the title does not promise one.

The catch. Wider than a saucepan of the same capacity, and a lid is not named in the listing title.

Le Creuset casts its enameled iron in Fresnoy-le-Grand, northern France. The Signature saucepan is its Dutch oven shrunk to a long-handled pan: heavy iron that heats evenly and holds heat, a light interior enamel that lets you see a sauce darken, and a tight lid that returns steam to the food. The stainless knob is safe at any oven temperature and the pan to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cast iron is slow to heat and slow to cool, which is the point for béchamel, caramel, polenta and rice kept warm on the back of the stove. The listing says it is safe for the dishwasher and metal utensils, though wood and a hand wash will keep the enamel looking new longer.

It is heavy, as all cast iron is, and a full pan held by its one handle is a two-handed job. Skip it if you want a pan for quick boils; clad stainless is faster.

The catch. Heavy, slow to heat, and nearly double the price of the clad pans.