Nonstick cookware is great for no-fuss simmering and frying with minimal oil and easy clean-up. We tested the best nonstick skillets, but understand some cooks may be wary of PFAS and Teflon coatings. Thankfully, there's the alternative of the best ceramic cookware that serves up nonstick benefits without a side of PFAS.
We browned pancakes, fried eggs, and boiled water in pieces from six sets to find the best ceramic cookware sets. The Our Place Cookware Set is our top pick because it has the best nonstick surface, heats evenly and quickly, and comes in five colors. The Blue Diamond Diamond-Infused Ceramic Nonstick 11 Piece Cookware Set is our under $100 pick. It's lightweight and heats quickly, but its nonstick properties weren't as good.
Learn more about how Business Insider Reviews tests and researches kitchen products.
Our top picks for the best ceramic cookware sets
Best overall: Our Place Cookware Set — See at Our Place
Runner-up: Caraway Cookware Set — See at Amazon
Most versatile: GreenPan Padova Pro Ceramic Nonstick 10-Piece Cookware Set — See at Amazon
Best budget: Blue Diamond Diamond-Infused Ceramic Nonstick 11 Piece Cookware Set — See at Amazon
Best hard-anodized: OXO Professional Hard Anodized Nonstick 10 Piece Cookware Set — See at Amazon
Best overall
The Our Place Cookware Set is the best ceramic cookware set we've tested, with unparalleled nonstick properties and quick, even heating. Plus, it's available in five colors to match your decor.
What we like
What we don't like
While we're not quite sure that the Always Pan is the only one you'll ever need, we did love using the cookware. The unparalleled nonstick coating and pleasing aesthetics make this the best ceramic cookware set.
Our Place pans are PFAS-free and especially impressive. Sunny-side-up eggs slide easily across the Always Pan's surface with just a shake; no oil is required. The Perfect Pot is also nonstick, which is ideal for slow-cooking sticky dishes like barbecue pork. We will note that the pot won't replace the best Dutch oven due to its low oven-safe temperature (450 degrees F).
The aluminum construction heats evenly and quickly, though the heat retention left much to be desired. Since this is common among nonstick cookware, consider one of the best cast iron skillets for better heat retention.
Each piece has a lid and a beechwood spoon or spatula nestled in a notch built into the handle. We've cooked with the beechwood spatula, moving around bread dough and breaking up ground turkey. It is versatile and sturdy, but it did develop a rough texture after a few months of use.
The Our Place Cookware Set is a smart and stylish choice, thanks to its nonstick coating and color options, including Sage, Char, and Lavender.
Runner-up
A gorgeous aesthetic and available colorways might be what catches your attention, but these pans by Caraway have more to offer. They combine great performance with excellent heat conductivity and ease of cleaning. The set also comes with a smart storage solution.
What we like
What we don't like
We couldn't have a ceramic cookware guide without mentioning Caraway. It was a tight race between Caraway and Our Place — both have slick, PFA-free coatings, come in multiple colorways, and include similar pieces. Caraway lost out on our top spot because it was much slower to heat up.
Kitchen editor Lily Alig tested the Caraway cookware set three years ago and still uses it. Her favorite pieces are the 3-quart saucepan and the Dutch oven. The saucepan benefits from gradually coming up to temperature, enabling you to simmer a sauce without scorching it. The Dutch oven holds onto heat well enough to bake bread with an evenly browned crust and keep pasta dishes warm while you add the finishing touches.
The Caraway cookware set comes with three lids: small for the saucepan, medium for the skillet, and large for the saute pan and Dutch oven. The best part is that the lids are basically interchangeable between Caraway pieces and your other cookware. With flat undersides, the covers can go on any pan roughly the same dimensions or smaller.
Though Caraway does include a storage system, it isn't a strong point in favor. The pan racks require the cookware to be stored vertically; if your drawers are too shallow, the racks are not usable. The hanging lid storage was more promising, but the included hooks were not strong enough. Within a week, our tester had discarded both storage options in favor of her own organization.
Read our full Caraway Cookware review to learn more.
Best versatile
The GreenPan Padova Pro set is oven-safe to 600 degrees and heats evenly, making it ideal for baking, roasting, and broiling dishes.
What we like
What we don't like
Whether braising lamb shanks or finishing a thick Porterhouse, you want ceramic cookware that can easily transfer from the stove to the oven. While all the sets in our guide are oven-safe to 450 degrees F, which is enough for most recipes, the GreenPan Padova Pro Ceramic Nonstick 10-Piece Cookware Set can handle temps up to 600 degrees (425 for lids.) So, if you want to finish a dish under the broiler, you can.
Performance-wise, what impressed us most about the GreenPan Padova Pro is its even heating and heat retention. When we lowered the flame while making pancakes, the skillet held onto the heat enough to achieve a smooth, golden-brown finish. The hard-anodized construction heated quickly, bringing water to a boil in a little over two minutes.
The set is missing a few of our favorite pieces, including a large stockpot and our preferred fry pan sizes. Yet, it comes with 8-inch and 11-inch skillets, which should satisfy most home chefs. It also has three pan protectors to help protect the pieces while stacked.
The diamond-infused ceramic surface held onto food when we didn't use oil, though releasing it with a spatula was easy. We had to put some elbow grease into our scrubbing to remove the remnants. Fortunately, the set is dishwasher-safe.
Best budget
This PFAS-free set outperforms other budget nonstick cookware. The pieces are lightweight, yet they heat quickly and hold the heat.
What we like
What we don't like
If you need to quickly and affordably stock a whole kitchen, consider the sub-$100 Blue Diamond Ceramic Nonstick Cookware Set. In addition to the usual pots and pans, the set includes a turner, ladle, and steamer. The Blue Diamond collection is an outstanding buy at this price, though we wish it came with a larger stockpot and skillet. Still, it also earned the top value buy spot in our guide to the best nonstick cookware.
The Blue Diamond fry pan was the lightest we tested and the fastest to boil a cup of water (under two minutes). The cookware has good heat retention, though the aluminum materials exhibited hot spots, particularly near the handle.
The cookware's ceramic coating isn't as slick as other models we tested, and we noticed wear around the rim of the skillet after use and a dishwasher cycle. Still, for the best budget ceramic cookware set, it would be hard to find a set that is better quality for a lower price.
Best hard-anodized
The OXO hard anodized cookware set has an impressive nonstick ceramic surface that easily releases food, and this set has most of the pieces we look for.
What we like
What we don't like
The best hard-anodized cookware is known for excellent durability, strength, and heat distribution; the OXO Professional Hard Anodized Nonstick Cookware Set is a superb example of this. We found no hot spots when cooking in the 10-inch fry pan. All the pieces have hefty induction-safe bases that make them versatile and more durable.
The nonstick coating of the frying pan impressed us. With a short, brisk shake, eggs came free from the surface and slid seamlessly onto the plate, though the sides of the pans could be less steep. Even after trips through the dishwasher, the skillet we tested showed no wear. We like that the set comes with two larger skillets.
This is a heavy-duty, easy-to-clean set. Perhaps because of the heft, the cookware heats up slower than other pots and pans. Still, we think the extra thirty seconds waiting for water to oil is worth the durable construction.
What else we tested
GreenPan Stanley Tucci Stainless Steel Ceramic Nonstick 11-Piece Cookware Set: We love Stanley Tucci and want to love his cookware set. It has a heavy-duty feel and is aesthetically pleasing, but the frying pan was a disappointment functionally. The lowlights were the slow heating, the nonstick surface that held onto food, and the uncomfortable handle. GreenPan's other offerings are better.
What to look for in a ceramic cookware set
Pieces: Don't be fooled by inflated piece counts. When looking at what comes in the best cookware set, consider what type of cooking you typically do (quick, one-skillet meals or every-burner-busy, elaborate feasts) and how many people you regularly cook for. Based on our research and personal experience, the most useful pieces are a 10-inch skillet, 12-inch skillet, 2-quart saucepan with a lid, 3 or 4-quart saucepan with a lid, and an 8-quart stockpot with a lid.
Stovetop compatibility: The best ceramic cookware won't do you much good if it isn't compatible with your stovetop. Our guide only features sets that work with all popular range types, and we specifically highlight the induction-safe ones.
Oven-safe: Many popular dishes move to the oven after cooking on the stove. Every set in our guide is oven-safe to at least 450 degrees F, enough for most recipes, and some are safe up to 600 degrees.
Dishwasher-safe: If you hate hand-washing dishes, this is a time-saving feature. Keep in mind that the dishwasher will shorten the lifespan of the nonstick coating, so we suggest washing pots and pans in the sink.
How we test ceramic cookware
We tested the 10-inch fry pans of ceramic cookware sets to measure their most important properties, and we will update this guide as we continue to test other pieces from the best ceramic cookware sets.
| How we test | What to look for | |
| Nonstick surface | Without oil, cook an egg sunny-side-up | The egg smoothly slides off the pan, and the yolk remains whole |
| Heating efficiency | Boil eight ounces of water | The time it takes for the center to boil |
| Heat retention | Make three pancakes | Evenly browned pancakes, and the surface remains hot once the heat is turned down |
Cleaning: We cleaned the cookware by hand, and if it's dishwasher-safe, we put it through the dishwasher. We assessed how easy cleaning was.
Durability: We examined the pieces after several uses to see if there was wear and tear. The ceramic surfaces mostly remained in excellent condition, but we found minor nicks around the rim of some.
Ceramic cookware FAQs
Why use ceramic over regular nonstick cookware?
I consulted with an expert: Yunlong Luo, a researcher at Macquarie University School of Natural Sciences and author of several articles examining the impact of microplastics in nonstick cookware. Luo said ceramic cookware is generally considered safer and more eco-friendly than regular nonstick cookware, as it doesn't contain PTFE, known by its brand name, Teflon. However, Luo pointed to a recent study that shows the nonstick capability of ceramic coatings isn't nearly as good as PTFE and PFA.
Can you use ceramic cookware with any cooktop?
Yes. While there may be outliers, all the ceramic cookware sets we evaluated are compatible with gas, electric, and induction cooktops. If you have an induction stovetop, double-check the cookware's product page for the induction-safe label.
How do you clean ceramic cookware?
Most ceramic cookware can be cleaned with soap, warm water, and a non-abrasive sponge. Some sets are dishwasher-safe, but dishwashers may shorten the life of the ceramic coating. High heat also tends to be harder on cookware, especially when empty, so consider using lower heat settings and not leaving pieces empty for long.
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