I've found a non-toxic stainless steel pan set - it's under £100 and it's from M&S

Stainless steel pan sets are some of the best you can buy. Most are expensive and few are neatly designed. Enter M&S. Their 5-piece set is premium, non-toxic, compact, and it's all available under £100. That's a steal.

In my search for the best stainless steel pans on the market, I've been testing the whole gamut of cookware on the market. From Lidl to Le Creuset, I've been boiling eggs, frying onions, stewing casseroles, and flipping pancakes. Out of everything I've tested, M&S has, rather surprisingly, made a lasting impression.

Their 5-piece set includes three saucepans, with useful clear lids, and a ceramic-lined frying pan and a ceramic-lined milk pan. They're chip-resistant, resilient, and actually better than some pans that were ten times the price. So, if you want a top-quality, stainless steel induction pan set, you're in the perfect place. Here's everything you need to know about M&S' latest star product.

Specifications

What's in the set?

The full M&S 5-piece stainless steel pan set covers all bases. You'll get a 16cm saucepan, an 18cm saucepan, a 20cm saucepan, a 14cm milk pan (with non-stick), and a 24cm frying pan (with non-stick). There are options to buy these separately, or just to buy the saucepan trio, but I quite liked having the full set. Imagine cooking a roast dinner, you'd need all of them.

Overall, the credentials of the whole set are pretty impressive. They're compatible with induction hobs, dishwasher safe, oven safe (up to 180°C), and they have a full 25-year warranty. I think one of the most exciting additions to the 100% stainless steel build is the ceramic lining of the frying pan and milk pan. M&S have used StayNew™ technology that they claim "makes the pans chip resistant and more resilient to sudden changes in temperature." It's a touch that I was actually really happy to read about since lots of non-sticks come with microplastics and extra chemicals. 

Who would it suit?

The price tag is one of the most attractive features of the M&S 5-piece stainless steel pan set, especially since it comes with lots of premium touches (including a 25-year warranty and ceramic non-stick. If you're shopping on a budget and you want a versatile set of pans, this is perfect.

Whilst the compact shapes and single-person capacity will be a dream for small-space dwellers, it does make this wholly inappropriate for families. When I wanted to fry a large onion, I had to do it in halves, whereas my other pans could do a whole onion and then have some space left over.

If you're really tight on cupboard space and not an adventurous cook, you can break down the M&S set even further (each pan is sold separately). An essential set would only really need the medium casserole, the frying pan, and the milk pan. The two other casseroles were nice-to-haves for bigger meals

Unboxing

Of all the sets that we tested, the M&S Stainless Steel Pan Set had the slimmest box and smallest amount of packaging. You can see in the picture above that most of the pans were wrapped in brown paper, with a few thin plastic films. It's almost all recyclable, which is good news, and also very easy to transport. Again, this is more good news, especially if you're a new homeowner or looking to make some space in your cupboards.

I gave all of the pans a rinse before using them, but M&S don't recommend that you do anything else, which makes life very easy. So, without further ado, let's see how they performed in our tests.

What is it like to use?

Sometimes, product testing can blur into one fever dream of fried onions, pancakes, chillis, and stews. It's pretty hard for a set to leave a mark in the minds of our testers, but day after day, we kept reaching for the M&S set. We've carried on talking about it after testing, which shows just how impressed our experts were.

I put each pan in the set through a series of tests, designed to assess the primary function of each pan, so that you could find out a little more about what you're signing up for. Here are all the details of what I found.

Test 1: frying pan

When you invest in a stainless steel pan set, there's no guarantee that you'll get a frying pan. If you do, there's also a high chance that yours won't be lined with a non-stick. In this case, M&S gives you a modest frying pan (the diameter is 24cm) with a ceramic non-stick. I'm a big fan of ceramic coatings since these can handle oil sprays without breaking down (some plastic non-sticks become toxic in those scenarios). It's a good, worry-free, convenient option.

The first test I gave the frying pan was the classic pancake. This is a good way to get a visual representation of the heat distribution as well as an idea of how well the non-stick works. I added a teaspoon of butter to the pan, poured in my pancake mix, and let it work. The pan worked quickly, bubbling my pancake in under a minute. I flipped it to see some perfect brown speckles across one side. The non-stick did a great job of keeping the pancake moving and I was pleased with how the batter had cooked through. You can see in the picture above, the results were incredibly even and my pan stayed pretty clean.

The next test was frying onions. All the other frying pans could fit a whole onion. However, the M&S frying pan was just too petite for a whole chopped onion, so I only put half in. Whilst I had compromised on size, I didn't compromise at all on performance. My onions were golden, sweet, and tender. They didn't stick or stain and the pan never got too heavy as I tossed the onions around inside. It was a true success.

Test 2: milk pan

Milk pans are an asset that drifts in and out of pan collections. In my opinion, they're actually one of the most important: you boil eggs in them, warm single servings of soup, make porridge, sauces, and milky drinks. That's essentially my diet in a sentence.

The first test that I give every pan is my porridge test. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to my morning oats, but I have to say that the M&S milk pan did a stunning job. Again, the ceramic non-stick kept my porridge moving, the heat was well distributed, and I ended up with a perfect bowl of oats in under five minutes. Capacity was the limiting factor, but that was the case with the whole M&S set, so it's almost a given for all of my tests.

I also tried boiling an egg in the pan. It heated the water to boiling in just a few minutes and cooked my egg perfectly. Even better. when I was draining the water out of the pan, the spouts on either side made pouring a much more tidy (and much less dangerous) affair.

Test 3: the saucepans

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The set consists of three saucepans: a 16cm, 18cm, and 20cm model. These all come with clear lids that have neat steam holes fitted into them. They all do similar jobs: casseroles, curries, soups, boiled potatoes, just at different quantities.

The one sole difference is that the largest pan has a long panhandle as well as a small loop on the other side, so you can carry it with two hands. I used this on some of the longer boiling tasks to find out whether the handles got too hot to carry. EVen after 15 minutes, neither handle was too hot to hold on to. Even better, when I used the deep pan to make jam, none of the raspberries spat over the sides, because the pan sides come up quite high.

You can see in the gallery of images above that the pans were all consistently good at warming up quickly and evenly. I didn't struggle with any of my dishes burning irreparably to the bottom, nor did I find that my food spat or bubbled over the sides. I think you could get away with only needing the 18cm saucepan or even just the 20cm saucepan, but if you often cook roast dinners, you'll be able to use all three.

Are they easy to clean?

I unwitting had a few kitchen mishaps. I left a batch of onions to burn, some of my pancakes got a bit hot, and I've since burned sweetcorn fritters to the base of the pan. And yet, each and every one wiped clean without the need for any wire wool or scrubbing.

Whilst I stuck to washing these by hand, M&S promises that they're dishwasher safe, even the non-stick pans. So, if you want to minimise your time spent by the sink, you can load them up and leave the dishwasher to do all the hard work.

We'd always recommend following these simple steps for cleaning stainless steel pans. That way, they'll stay looking as bright and shiny as the day you first bought them.

How does it compare?

I've mentioned it already, but I've been testing all of the best stainless steel pan sets on the market. I had an inkling that the own-brand sets would be the best budget ones, but I was expecting Aldi, Lakeland, or even John Lewis to take the spot of the best budget set. Actually, M&S easily claims that spot.

The closest competitor so far has been the Lakeland 5-piece Stainless Steel Pan Set. The reason that the Lakeland set came close to stealing the spot from M&S is that it feels more premium. The slim handles feel strong and sturdy and all the pans have some nice weight to them. That being said, the largest Lakeland pan is actually a little too heavy for my liking and Lakeland has splashed their name on the handle.

They're a good essential set, but I think I'd save the money and opt for the M&S set if you didn't need more capacity. I'm not just saying that to save you money either. The M&S set was the nicest to use for making pancakes, the easiest for porridge, and the non-stick is ceramic, rather than Teflon, meaning that it's less prone to damage.

If you want to spend a little more on your full set, I'd recommend looking at the Tefal Jamie Oliver Ingenio Collection. It comes with innovative storage, impressive non-stick and a whole host of thoughtful design features. Sure, it's double the price, but if you're not a student, it's worth the splurge.

Should you buy it?

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As a space-saving starter set, the M&S collection is impossible to beat. Just reading the credentials, you'll see that it appears more like a luxury set than one which is under £100. Compared to more premium pans, such as Le Creuset's, they're definitely lighter and smaller, but that keeps your wrists healthy and your hob clear. They're lovely to use.

The only factor you need to consider is that the set overall is lacking in capacity. This isn't a problem for singles and couples with small appetites, but it's worth noting if you need to cater to a whole family.

How we test

The woman&home testing process is serious stuff. I'm our product tester for stainless steel pans, which means that I follow the same steps for every single set of pans that we test. That way, I can compare really fairly between sets and, you can too.

I always start with research. Before I test anything, I look into what the brand claims on their site as well as what other people are mentioning in their reviews and feedback, that way, I know exactly what to look for and where I should pressure-test the pans for you.

Once I've done my digging around, I call the pans into our dedicated test kitchen. Here, I put them through their paces. If there's a frying pan in the set, I'll fry onion and make a pancake, to get a good idea of how even the heat transfer is across my pan, how heavy it is, and whether my food sticks to the base.

If there's a milk pan, I make porridge, boil an egg, and heat milk up. I test the consistency of the heat, how speedy it is, and how nice it is to pour and eat from.

Then, for the various sizes of saucepans, I boil potatoes, and make soups, casserole, bean stew, curry, and jam. Generally, I can switch between the pans for these tasks, again, looking for even heat, no sticking or burning, and cool handles. The only one I'm really particular about is the jam-making, which needs a deeper pan and some sets can't quite cater to that.

Once all of those tests are done, I have a good idea of what the set will be like in your kitchen on a day-to-day basis. I'll wash them up (and take note of whether you could just put them in the dishwasher) and give you information on what they're like to store too.

After all that, I compare the sets of pans between each other, giving you a judgement on value, versatility, and who the pan would suit. Then, I'll let you know whether I think you should buy it and any alternative options that you should consider before diving into a purchase.