is Demeyere cookware worth it?

overlandflyer

overlandflyer

Well-known member
i'm looking for a stock pot. theirs is 8.75qts, the Atlantis model. the construction looks great and i'm tired of buying another one every few years.
 
I was kinda hoping that someone would have some input on this, as I am always curious if the more expensive brands are worth the money when it comes to cookware. I have a huge stockpot from Costco that's been great, but I also don't use it very often, so it should last a while.
 
it's an interesting story how i finally purchased this pot. i found it on the WIlliams-Sonoma site and i went as far as putting one in my online cart, but then something interrupted me and i left it sitting there. well, in a day i got an email message from WS calling me back to my cart... noted, but i was in no rush and frankly still cautiously looking around. well, in another two days i get another email message with a coupon "just for me" ... :) 25% off the already discount price + free shipping.

so i'm not really sure who won in the end. i probably would have eventually bought the pot anyway, but if you don't think i'm going to try this again, you're nuts. last winter i lost my patio umbrella on a VERY windy day (seriously, lost... i never even found half of it). new plan will be to go to a few sites, stick an umbrella in my cart and sit back to see what happens

re: the pot... arrived yesterday, going to go marrow bone shopping tomorrow morning. the construction looks great and with welded on handles, the inside is very clean and rivet free all the way to the brim.
 
The pot sounds awesome, let us know how it goes once you use it. You must be in the US or something.... deals like that don't happen in Canada! :rolleyes:

As for the umbrella, you must have had some crazy storm for it to completely disappear!
 
so here are a few comparison photos to my old, but probably not retired yet, "K-Mart" special...

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the Demeyere pot is quite a bit heavier or maybe it just feels more solid. looking forward to not burning my hand lifting the lid and not having to tighten the one loose handle every time i use it. but the nicest feature i already mentioned... i hate the rivets on the old pot and am always concerned when the liquid level gets that high.

i'll probably use both making soup today. i always seem to wind up with too much broth for my old pot, so now i'll use the old pot to hold some broth or even make a bit more than usual knowing i have the extra volume. i'd try a side-by-side test heating up some water, but with the design of my range, none of the elements are the same size!

off to Ralph's!
 
by the way, if you are feeling lonely or unwanted, just give Williams-Sonoma your email address... :) for the past two weeks, i think i'm averaging 3-4 offers/ day. i suppose they're better than Cabela's... 4 years ago i bought a single boat seat from them (i don't even own a boat!) and since then i get 4 huge catalogs / year. i've tried a few times to turn them off, but it doesn't seem to stick.
 
That website is trouble! Usually if a company emails too much (like more than once per week) I unsubscribe, so that would drive me crazy. Comparing Canada to the US, Canada's sale is 20% of cookware, but the Demeyere is not on sale (it's $425!, ouch) and shipping is $40. On the US site, the cookware sale is up to 50% off! And the Demeyere is one sale. And free shipping! Good on you for getting a good deal on it! Looking forward to the side-by-side comparison.
 
i got it for $262 including tax, no shipping.

i also use a "disposable" email address for online purchases. when the spam gets too heavy, i just dump the old name and create a new account. unless i have an active purchase, i typically just ignore that account.
 
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glad i called ahead to check... Ralph's will be getting some marrow bones in a delivery tomorrow morning, so i'm on a 24 hour hold.... oh well, i'm never short on home projects. ... and i haven't had a Burrito Wednesday in a while ... :)
 
well i finally got my marrow bones (along with a freezer bag with the next two rounds).

i wound up using both pots but enjoyed the extra space of the new pot. as far as cooking with it, it's rugged, stylish and pretty much did everything you can really ask of a pot. for the $260 price tag, if you can find it on sale or discounted, it is well worth the 30-50% more than a generic import. not sure if i'd say it is worth the $400+ list price.
 
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well i'm back to making soup again today and felt i had to add this positive addendum. starting yesterday and into this morning i had the marrow bones in the new stock pot and when i removed the bones, i gave them a second leaching in a smaller pot for a couple hours. later on to get it all back in to the Demeyere pot i saw that i had to boil down some of the liquid. normally with the old K-Mart special, when i cook up pasta i can't fill the pot more than half way or it will never maintain a rolling boil uncovered even on the highest setting (9/9). today with the Demeyere pot, it was filled to about an inch from the rim and i had to crank down the heat to a 4/9 to keep the pot from boiling over. this pot has unbelievable heat transfer and containment. especially making soup that takes 24+ hours, the energy saving should be non-trivial.

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to be fair, i would suspect this sort of energy friendly performance would be similar for any well made cookware and i am sure there are more brands like Demeyere out there. just that even being an engineer (albeit electrical, not materials science) i frankly didn't even think about this aspect of the higher quality construction. while energy savings is a big selling point for dishwashers and water heaters, i doubt if many people think about it when buying pots and pans... :)

there are two more pots in this style i'm eyeing right now. there is a 2½ & a 3½ qt. pot which seem to be on sale at all the sites carrying the brand. the 3½ is a bit big, but it would have the nice feature of having the same 9" lid as the stock pot.
 
overlandflyer said:
so here are a few comparison photos to my old, but probably not retired yet, "K-Mart" special...
IMG_4272.jpg

.... looking forward to not burning my hand lifting the lid and not having to tighten the one loose handle every time i use it. ...
Click to expand...
something i should note... as you can see my old pot had NO lid handle... well it once did... but anyway, the Demeyere pot does have a handle, but unfortunately it does get hot... oh well... i'll still give it a 9.9 out of 10.
 
So I take it you think the Demeyere was worth it.

I get most of our cookware off of ebay. I target the copper bottom Revereware pre-1968. It is amazing how many of these pots are still around and in good shape. The copper in these older ones is pretty thick and they cook well.
 
as PLB said in the first response, ... "I am always curious if the more expensive brands are worth the money ", and i am just trying to make the point that i do believe they are. not only is the construction durable... just look at my old pot... the lid handle cracked and fell off some years ago and one handle has to be constantly tightened or as it gets loose simply through regular use... but i would never have guessed there would be such a huge difference in performance.

i'm pretty much going to stick with cast iron for skillet cooking, but i've already ordered that 2½ qt sauce pan to replace a beat-up teflon coated supermarket freebee pot i picked up a few years ago. i'm probably going to have to recalculate steaming times before i start overcooking everything.
 
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