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Comment by acd | Hacker News Reader

Great idea!

List of more durable items:

Stainless steel frying pan instead of nonstick frying pans where the non stick coating wears off. Cast iron even better.

Plain bicycle without electric parts easier to recycle metal.

Durable quality Screens drivers.

Non electric espresso maker. Bailetto.

Corded headphones no batteries that wear out. Changable parts. No wireless protocol that go obsolete.

LifePo4 lithium iron batteries instead of lithium cobalt chemistry. Cobalt is a conflict mineral mining that puts out dangerous pollutants. Lifepo4 can take more recharge cycles than cobalt chemistry and are safer.

Reasoning is if the product last for life it’s more environmentally sustainable.

Cell phones are on the opposite end of the last for life spectrum.

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> Stainless steel frying pan instead of nonstick frying pans where the non stick coating wears off. Cast iron even better.

They're called nonstick for a reason; stainless steel does not compare. You'll have more sticking problems cooking eggs on a steel pan drowning in butter than on a (new) nonstick pan with minimal grease.

I do own an 18th-century cast iron pan and it has pretty good seasoning. I use it for many things, almost daily, but I'm still glad I own nonstick pans too.

Stainless steel frying pans have their place, so I'm not sure why you're saying they "don't compare." Sure, they "don't compare" for a non-stick scrambled egg, but there are more things that get made in the kitchen.

For me personally, my most-used pans in order are my 12" cast iron, my 10" cast iron, my 12" All-clad stainless steel, my 6" cast iron, and my 6" non-stick is last, mostly for eggs.

Stainless is excellent for anything like a pasta sauce where you're starting with sautéing onions and such.

Stuck on bits can be a feature rather than a problem. Deglaze with some wine and make a sauce!

100% -- I never use my stainless frying pans because they are such a nightmare to get food to release and clean up afterwards.

We use a cast iron and a nonstick - that's it. You can cover 95% of use cases with that.

These are the only pans I use at the moment but I've been thinking about adding a stainless pan. How do you handle dishes where you're frying something, but then need to add some vinegar, a tomato base, or a cup of water to boil into the pan after frying? I use my cast iron at the moment because these dishes start with a lot of frying and then go straight in the oven near the end, but they're pretty hard on the seasoning in the pan. I've been thinking the stainless pan might be good for these so it can still go in the oven and I don't have to worry about the vinegar destroying my seasoning.

I wonder about that too - a bit of white wine or vinegar to deglaze the pan, that seems to unstick anything.

We gave up on nonstick - we never found a good one that wasn't ruined within a year. With the right balance of a bit of olive oil and a bit of butter, I can fry and scramble eggs in my cast iron without it sticking.

And my wife won't use cast iron because it's too heavy and hurts her wrist.

Each of these (non-stick, stainless, cast iron) are great for the appropriate application, while also having downsides (like ANY tool). Knowing what to use, and when, comes from experience.

No way. If you use a soft plastic or wood spoon it should last much longer than that. My 10 CHF frying pan is still good after 8 years.

What's CHF? I found a CHF pan company but I only saw cast iron.

Not sure about nonstick skillets. Put a little grease in one - it doesn't stick, just floats around. Put in the egg- sinks under the grease, adheres instantly to the skillet surface like paint. Never had a 'nonstick' skillet work. Just me?

I stay with cast iron, for decades now. No problems.

> They're called nonstick for a reason; stainless steel does not compare.

Cooking eggs in a stainless steel pan is a bad example because you shouldn't do that. They are useful for different jobs. Stainless os great for other things, like cooking a piece of meat (try getting that fond in a non-stick pan!), or frying some potatoes... etc

>Stainless steel frying pan instead of nonstick frying pans where the non stick coating wears off. Cast iron even better.

that's misleading if not outright wrong.

the counterpart to nonstick is not cast iron or stainless steel -- it's carbon steel. carbon steel pans compare well to nonstick when seasoned (good woks are still carbon steel, and you can still find good carbon steel skillet pans, just not by lodge).

Which pans would you recommend? I have found non stick ones to be garbage because the coating gets scratched. I have a SS pan but its super sticky even with oil. My cast iron one works well and is fairly non stick but a pain to clean.

check out America's Test Kitchen's review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suTmUX4Vbk

These interesting comparisons could even be included in the Buy For Life score for each product or brand.

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