In one of our first reviews we are going to look at a very popular product on the market right now – the Stonedine cookware set. This cooking set has been featured on tv, and in all sorts of publications since it was put on the market a year or two ago. It isn’t too badly priced, and the product has some bold marketing claims, but does it deliver the goods? Keep on reading to find out more.
Product Features:
Stonedine technology was originally developed in Germany over ten years ago, and over the past decade has rapidly taken Europe by storm. Stonedine officially came to America a few years ago, and has seen a surge of popularity since it was released. It has been featured on numerous shows, in magazines and newspapers, so there is definitely a big buzz around. There have been over 10 million sets sold worldwide (according to their website), so it is clearly a popular product.
A few weeks ago we got our hands on the full set, and were very keen to give it a test run ourselves. Stonedines claim to fame is in the unique coating applied to the cooking surface. This surface is a non stick coating which has bits of crushed stone in it to make a very tough scratch proof surface with even heat distribution. Thanks to this unique coating, you apparently don’t need to use an oil or butter when you are cooking, which helps to seal in the flavor. It all sounds good, but how does it perform?
First lets have a look at the complete set, and what you actually receive with it. You get a frying pan, a saucepan, a stewing pot, a roasting pot and a cooking pot. You get three lids which can be used on the pots. As a bonus you also get a 11″ Stonedine pan for frying, and a complete 11 piece knife set. These are some nice little extras, and make the entire package a bit more enticing to buy. The packaging itself is a little bland, but we were more interested in the contents than the package they came in!
The cookware itself is made out of cast aluminum. This type of metal supposedly provides the benefits of using cast iron, while having the weight saving advantages of aluminum. This certainly sounds promising, and hopefully there is some truth to it. The base of each unit is made out of 4.5mm magnetized steel. This should provide quick heat up times, and the magnetic base will allow you to use the Stonedine cookware on induction stoves. That doesn’t mean it is limited to use on induction stoves, as it functions perfectly well on other types such as electric, gas or ceramic stoves. It is worth mentioning that this set is oven safe, but only up to 350F or 180C. Remember to never put your cookware in water straight after it has been in the oven, as this could crack the nonstick cookware if it hasn’t cooled down properly first.
Something they don’t mention on their infomercials is that you need to “season” the pots & pans first before usage. This isn’t really much of an issue, as all you really need to do is get a teaspoon of oil, and use a kitchen towel to spread it across the entire surface of the pan. This is a common step to do with all higher grade cookware. The Stonedine set isn’t fully nonstick until this is done, and you could damage it without doing this. We should also mention that frequent washing with water will wear off the “seasoning”. In most cases you simply wipe the inside of your pot or pan with a kitchen towel, and that is all you need to do in regards to washing up. Doing it this way means you only need to season the cookware perhaps 3 times a year if it is in daily use. Cleaning the cookware with water and soap will undoubtedly increase these figures, so keep that in mind.
Once we had done the initial seasoning we decided to give it a test. We had seen their infomercials before, showing how eggs slide out, and how omelets can be blown out of the pan, so this seemed like a good thing to try ourselves. We did the egg test first, and sure enough it slid right out without any problem at all. The egg was evenly cooked, and it came out really well. Next up we decided to test out an omelet to see if that would fare as well as it did on tv. We made a normal size omelet, and sure enough we could actually blow it out the pan, although it missed the plate and ended up on the floor! However we can hardly blame Stonedine for our poor aim!
Since these first two basic tests, we have cooked a variety of foods using the Stonedine set without any major hassle. Steaks, vegetables and sauces all came out lovely, and the lack of oil and butter really helps to keep the flavor to the maximum. We even burnt some milk in the saucepan to see how easy it would be to clean, and sure enough it wiped straight out without any need for the scourer.
We had some fantastic results with the cookware, and it definitely functions as promised. We did 12 weeks of daily testing to see how well the nonstick coating would hold up, and it is still brand new at this point in time. It seems to be very durable, and we can see why it was such a big hit over in Europe.
In recent years there has been safety concerns about nonstick coatings found on cheaper cookware sets being hazardous to your health. The hazardous chemical in question is called “PFOA” or “Perfluorooctanoic acids”. These were found in trace amounts in cheap nonstick coatings, but the good news is that Stonedine cookware does not use this chemical at all in the manufacture of the cookware. It is 100% certified PFOA-Free which is good to know.
In terms of warranty, Stonedine offer a 30 day no questions asked warranty. So if you don’t like something as simple as the color, you can return it within 30 days for a no question refund. The actual manufacturers warranty is a very good 12 years warranty. We’re not sure how they arrived at the figure of 12 years, but we certainly can’t complain. This includes any damage to the units which occurs during normal usage.
Overall we were very impressed with this cookware set from Stonedine. To get a top quality set of cookware you would normally have to pay upwards of $500. The Stonedine price is under $300 which is a really great deal, and makes quality cookware quite affordable. We have seen mention of the poor quality of the knife handles, but we can’t really comment on that as ours seems to be ok (although we didn’t use it too much).
Pros:
- Quality cookware with bonus set of knives
- Oil free cooking
- Nonstick performs very well
- Simple to clean
- Oven friendly (to a certain point)
- Good price
- 12 year warranty
Cons:
- Packaging could be better
Summary:
Overall we were very impressed with the Stonedine cookware set. It delivers on everything it claims to do, and it doesn’t cost a fortune. You won’t find this set for sale in shops, but it is currently for sale on Amazon.
| Our Rating: |
|---|
| 4.5 |