Best Sheet Pan and Baking Dish: Nordic Ware, Emile Henry

USA Pan is a family company, part of the Bundy group, that has made commercial bakeware in the United States for more than 60 years. Its half sheet is heavy gauge aluminized steel with a corrugated bottom, which helps air move under a cookie and stiffens the pan against warping.

The surface has USA Pan's own nonstick silicone coating, so cookies and roasted vegetables release with little oil. The baking surface is 17.25 by 12.25 inches, a touch bigger inside than the Nordic Ware.

The coating is the reason to buy it and its limit. Keep metal spatulas and scouring pads off it, and do not expect it to take the broiler day after day the way bare aluminum does. Skip it if you roast hard and hot most nights.

The catch. A coating wears eventually, and the corrugations are harder to cut a bar cookie on.

Glass is the most practical baking dish there is. You can see the browning on the sides and bottom, it does not stain or hold odors, and with a lid it goes from oven to fridge to microwave the next day. This Deep version is 9 by 13 by 2.75 inches, which Pyrex says is up to half again as deep as its basic dishes, so a full lasagna or a crisp does not boil over.

The plastic lid is for storage only and is freezer, microwave and top-rack dishwasher safe. It stays out of the oven.

Glass does not like sudden temperature changes. Do not put it on a burner or under the broiler, do not pour cold liquid into a hot dish, and set it on a towel or rack rather than a wet or cold counter. Skip it if you want a dish to bring to the table for guests; the ceramic ones below look the part.

The catch. Sensitive to thermal shock, and not for the broiler or stovetop.

Staub's ceramic dishes are stoneware with a vitreous porcelain enamel glaze that Staub says is highly scratch resistant and does not absorb moisture. The set holds two sizes, 7.5 by 6 inches and 10.5 by 7.5 inches, which suits a vegetable side, a small crisp or a gratin for four.

They are oven safe to 572 degrees Fahrenheit and safe under the broiler, in the microwave and freezer, and in the dishwasher. The white glaze looks right on almost any table.

Neither dish is a 9 by 13. Skip the set if you mostly cook for a crowd; you will want the Emile Henry or the Pyrex for that, and these as the second tier.

The catch. Neither dish is large enough for a family lasagna.

Emile Henry has made ceramic cookware in Marcigny, in Burgundy, since 1850. The Modern Classics baker is made of Burgundy clay, which spreads heat evenly and holds it, so a gratin or a baked pasta stays hot at the table through a second helping. Emile Henry backs it with a 10-year warranty.

It is 13 by 9 inches, the size most recipes are written for, and safe in the oven and under the broiler to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, in the microwave and in the dishwasher. The glaze is hard and resists the scratches that eventually dull cheaper stoneware. Sugar is the white, the safest color for a table that changes with the season.

Ceramic is heavier and slower to heat than glass, and it will break if dropped. Skip it if every casserole you make ends in a plastic container; the Pyrex with its lid is the more practical tool for that.

The catch. Heavy when full, and more than three times the price of glass.