As promised, here is an update on how I'm getting on with my Tefal Ingenio pans. So, five months
later what do I think?

To be honest, I thought I would have taken my trusted stainless steel set out of storage but the only ones that have made their way back in the kitchen are are the small pans for heating my toddlers dinners or to cook small servings of pasta and rice and my gigantic pasta pot. ('Cause this mamma can't sleep at night unless I can cook for 40 people at the drop of a hat.)

Now, I use my pans heavily and need to be on the stove a good three times a day. The things I was most concerned about was the non-stick coating and any damage caused by the snap on handles.

The handle scratch is very minimal with only a tiny amount of the coating at the ridge rubbed off. The handles clip on very firmly (a good thing!) so it's surprising there isn't more of an issue. In fact, I only really use the handles for draining or tossing during frying.

Biggest surprise is that I've used them a lot in the oven in place of my trays, mainly because they are so much easier to clean. If I'm cooking meat, fish or potato wedges they will all go in the large frying pan. Also nothing sticks so no scraping or catching and things like the potatoes will crisp up even better as the coating will gently fry them a little if you have included fat.

I've found the heat distribution particularly excellent. These pans are a good weight but even the large frying pan, the outer edges heat and cook very well.

The only negative is that I'm still not a fan of the glass lids with rubber seals, but don't really use lids in cooking. (I think this is mainly an aesthetic issue for me though.)

My kitchen storage is so much neater - the removable handles are a dream and I think I've only got annoyed once or twice where I needed a handle on the pan asap and needed to hunt one down. Although the pans now fit in the dishwasher with no handles, they are so easy to clean that I rarely bother. Bye bye scrubbing.

They also sent me two new pieces to try; a pasta colander insert for the 20cm pan. This doesn't disrupt the neat storage, which is a big USP of the Ingenio range as it still sits neatly with the whole set. I really liked that they had thought about a good solution for the clip on handles which snap onto either the pan or the colander depending on if you are cooking or draining. It's great quality as expected and yeah, I've used it quite a bit actually.

The next item was a grill insert for either the 26cm or 28cm frying pan. As I'm using these pans so much in the oven the grill insert is also handy, especially if you are trying to be a bit healthier and drain off fats from meats. It's also good for roasting vegetables.


So all in all it's safe to say I've been converted to the coated pan and have been really, really pleased with them. If you are looking for a coated set of pans (that also have a storage and multi-tasking bonus), then I can't see how you could better these ones really in terms of quality.

I was sent the Tefal Ingenio pan set for review. Opinions, as always, are my own.