@AaronLeeJohnson Tri-Ply just means that there are three layers of (presumably metal) material used in the construction. Most such cookware uses outer layers of stainless steel over an aluminum core because of the relative ease of making that work. A center layer of copper can be done, but you’re not going to buy a good version of it for less than ten times the price of this set. Getting copper that’s thick enough to make a difference to stay bonded to a thin stainless shell is high magic. And a thick stainless shell defeats the entire purpose of the heat-conductive core layer.
@mikesmells I have not used them, but I do have what I believe is a copper chef pan I got in an IRK some time ago. It’s basic nonstick and is about the cheapest Big Lots level quality of a thin, lightweight pan. I have kept it because it’s a deep fryer pan with a basket and it works on induction so I can take it outside and fry stuff.
But thinking about discount store level pans, this isn’t a bad price for all you get. So while this is surely a knockoff level Hexclad imitation, it’s probably a decent enough set of basic pans that will last a year or two depending on use and care. Just don’t consider $200 on Amazon to be an indicator of their quality.
They’re attractive. They’re probably very thin but they will get some additional structural integrity from that rolled lip that you don’t see on a traditional cheap nonstick pan. The handles appear to be riveted. They do have some construction that appear to be nice touches above basic cookware. The nonstick coating may or may not be worth a damn.
@djslack@mikesmells I just received my order today. To my surprise these pans are heavy. They seem to be built to last and if so this is the Deal of the Century.
In case these come back up, for the record I was mistaken. The cheap pan I have is a Copper Cook, not Copper Chef. No wonder these are better, they got promoted.
The manufacturer’s website is unclear (silent, in fact) about the exact nature of the nonstick coating. They claim that it is “harder”, but they also say “diamond-infused”, which is the kind of thing done to modify PTFE coatings to make them less easily shredded by metal utensils. Additionally, they say “Laser-Etched Stainless Steel Raised Hex Surface”; several makers supply cookware with patterned surfaces on which a PTFE-based coating is on the majority of the metal but with small gaps through which the food can directly contact a small percentage of the metal. I can’t say for sure that this is what’s going on here, but that’s my interpretation. If that’s correct, then the use of any metal utensil or abrasive cleaning implement should be prevented.
@rpstrong Marketing does not always respect or reflect reality. More than thirty years back, Farberware came out with a nonstick coating on a stainless pot and claimed it was OK for metal utensils. It was thick PTFE with stainless steel powder embedded in the matrix. The interior was almost as nonstick as regular PTFE, but their embedded metal particles didn’t protect the PTFE from damage. After two iterations of the coating in as many years, they stopped saying it was metal-utensil-safe. Sporadically, others have repeated Farberware’s mistake. I personally have zero doubt that this will prove to be yet another. They might be weasel-wording their verbiage to restrict the “ok” to just the utensils they have supplied, in the belief that their apparent recessing of the coating below the surface of the raised pattern can protect it, but I’m not going to be testing that.
@werehatrack For more than 50 years, I’ve been using metal utensil safe low-stick cookware - cast iron.
I suspect that there may be some legitimacy to the idea of the recesses protecting the coating - variations on that theme seem to be a fairly recent thing. Of course, such a scheme works best for flat implementss like spatulas.
And what tool did they not include? Maybe a spoon with curved edge?
Teflon coat your insides! Surely a wonderful idea.
\Showme Teflon coated insides of a human and a friendly looking and smiling section of cancer. Include a Banana for scale. Photo realistic award winning trending on Instagram style.
If this coating is PTFE I would steer clear. It is a forever chemical and there is no safe limit of exposure. See the 2018 movie , “The Devil We Know”.
Can’t find confirmation on the nonstick coating, but they do disclose the existence of two chemicals: silicon carbide and isobutanol. The latter is a plasticizer, and the former looks like it’s used as a structural reinforcement in various applications where high heat tolerance is required. I’m assuming that the “diamond-infused” coating is actually infused with silicon carbide, since it has a diamond-like crystalline structure.
@AROAH In my opinion, calling silicon carbide “diamond” is about as accurate as calling Gorilla Glass “transparent aluminum”. But I’m 153.5% certain that there are marketing asshats who will do it. I just don’t know for sure if it’s being done here.
@Trinityscrew Eeep! Yeah, supersized nope with extra nope sauce and a side of nuh-uh. (And I’ve got some decent PTFE pans that I use where appropriate.)
@Trinityscrew@werehatrack Meh, a little non-stick coating lining the inside of some stomachs might not be a bad thing for the national bodyweight and BMI averages.
@Trinityscrew that’s either a different brand or an older version of the pan. I have the pans from MEH and they are similar, but not exactly the same pattern as that.
I just received my pans. I’ve already mastered (almost) the art of making a bowl of cereal, and now that I have these pans I’m going to learn how to cook, become a famous tv chef, marry a beautiful blonde, and lose everything in the divorce.
Woo!Hoo!
Let’s get this party started
We had one of these shiny covers they put over the rivets explode like a gun shot last night. Fortunately nobody was standing close to it when it happened. Is this why they are going cheap?
Specs
Product: Copper Chef 3D Matrix Non-Stick Stainless Steel Cookware Set
Model: 4-00646-11-10CR
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$199.99 at Amazon
$124.99 at Camping World
Warranty
90-Day Manufacture Warranty
Estimated Delivery
Friday, Apr 26 - Monday, Apr 29
Me: mom, can we get hexclad?
Mom: no, we have hexclad at home
@tonylegrone And this is why we never have nice things.
@tonylegrone What? You get hexed at home? Do witches live in your closet and under the bed?
@tonylegrone love my hexclad. the best.
@tonylegrone @werehatrack
This site is a big reason we don’t have nice things. But we have lots of things.
@pmarin @werehatrack Can confirm, lol
@heyitslauren I’ve been interested in them, but the price is a little above that “give it whirl” threshold.
Finally, cookware that occupies all three spatial dimensions.
There’s some cross talk going on. One of the tags says it’s just a brand name but Try Ply apparently does involve copper in the layers of the pan.
@AaronLeeJohnson These use aluminum in between two layers of stainless
@AaronLeeJohnson Tri-Ply just means that there are three layers of (presumably metal) material used in the construction. Most such cookware uses outer layers of stainless steel over an aluminum core because of the relative ease of making that work. A center layer of copper can be done, but you’re not going to buy a good version of it for less than ten times the price of this set. Getting copper that’s thick enough to make a difference to stay bonded to a thin stainless shell is high magic. And a thick stainless shell defeats the entire purpose of the heat-conductive core layer.
@AaronLeeJohnson There is no do, only Tri.
@AaronLeeJohnson @soxnabox Or no deux, only tri
I’m super tempted. Anyone used them have any insight?
@mikesmells I have not used them, but I do have what I believe is a copper chef pan I got in an IRK some time ago. It’s basic nonstick and is about the cheapest Big Lots level quality of a thin, lightweight pan. I have kept it because it’s a deep fryer pan with a basket and it works on induction so I can take it outside and fry stuff.
But thinking about discount store level pans, this isn’t a bad price for all you get. So while this is surely a knockoff level Hexclad imitation, it’s probably a decent enough set of basic pans that will last a year or two depending on use and care. Just don’t consider $200 on Amazon to be an indicator of their quality.
They’re attractive. They’re probably very thin but they will get some additional structural integrity from that rolled lip that you don’t see on a traditional cheap nonstick pan. The handles appear to be riveted. They do have some construction that appear to be nice touches above basic cookware. The nonstick coating may or may not be worth a damn.
If you’re in the market it’s probably worth it.
@djslack @mikesmells The fact that these are three ply would suggest that they are above the Le Sheepeaux level on the thickness aspect.
@djslack @mikesmells I just received my order today. To my surprise these pans are heavy. They seem to be built to last and if so this is the Deal of the Century.
@ChezBrian Cool! Check back in after some use and let us know how they do, since they may show up again. I hope they’re awesome for you.
POPSOCKETS! ROAD ROCKETS! SONNY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
In case these come back up, for the record I was mistaken. The cheap pan I have is a Copper Cook, not Copper Chef. No wonder these are better, they got promoted.
The manufacturer’s website is unclear (silent, in fact) about the exact nature of the nonstick coating. They claim that it is “harder”, but they also say “diamond-infused”, which is the kind of thing done to modify PTFE coatings to make them less easily shredded by metal utensils. Additionally, they say “Laser-Etched Stainless Steel Raised Hex Surface”; several makers supply cookware with patterned surfaces on which a PTFE-based coating is on the majority of the metal but with small gaps through which the food can directly contact a small percentage of the metal. I can’t say for sure that this is what’s going on here, but that’s my interpretation. If that’s correct, then the use of any metal utensil or abrasive cleaning implement should be prevented.
@werehatrack it’s just easier to say they’re nonstick so don’t use metal utensils, right?
The picture does look like it’s just exposed metal etched or masked out of the nonstick coating to me.
@werehatrack But they come with metal utensils. Mixed messaging? Hmmm.
@soxnabox Yeah, that’s very mixed indeed.
@soxnabox @werehatrack From the description above:
The only mixed messaging here is in the comments.
@rpstrong Marketing does not always respect or reflect reality. More than thirty years back, Farberware came out with a nonstick coating on a stainless pot and claimed it was OK for metal utensils. It was thick PTFE with stainless steel powder embedded in the matrix. The interior was almost as nonstick as regular PTFE, but their embedded metal particles didn’t protect the PTFE from damage. After two iterations of the coating in as many years, they stopped saying it was metal-utensil-safe. Sporadically, others have repeated Farberware’s mistake. I personally have zero doubt that this will prove to be yet another. They might be weasel-wording their verbiage to restrict the “ok” to just the utensils they have supplied, in the belief that their apparent recessing of the coating below the surface of the raised pattern can protect it, but I’m not going to be testing that.
@werehatrack For more than 50 years, I’ve been using metal utensil safe low-stick cookware - cast iron.
I suspect that there may be some legitimacy to the idea of the recesses protecting the coating - variations on that theme seem to be a fairly recent thing. Of course, such a scheme works best for flat implementss like spatulas.
And what tool did they not include? Maybe a spoon with curved edge?
@rpstrong Or a fork?
Pretty and reliable are not always together.
@hchavers Pretty and crazy on the other hand…
KuoH
@hchavers @kuoh Okay, crazy I’ve got covered, where do I get the other?
@hchavers @kuoh
Tiny micro pockets for food to get stuck in, impossible to clean and negating any non-stickiness.
There is no spoon.
@warpedrotors Thankfully there is a spork.
Teflon coat your insides! Surely a wonderful idea.
\Showme Teflon coated insides of a human and a friendly looking and smiling section of cancer. Include a Banana for scale. Photo realistic award winning trending on Instagram style.
You really didn’t want to see that anyway.
@qazxto The teflon only coats the tumors and protects them from chemo. I’m pretty sure I saw something about this on TikTok.
@mikelikesbbq @qazxto And everything on TikTok is Based On A True Story. (In the sense of “that was truly a story”, at least.)
Nice pic of Hannibal Lecter (the excellent TV series “Hannibal”) cooking up something. Wonder what?
@neutra no doubt his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
@neutra And how did he/haw get those grill lines on hiz/oner steak??
If this coating is PTFE I would steer clear. It is a forever chemical and there is no safe limit of exposure. See the 2018 movie , “The Devil We Know”.
@tkocka forever chemical? Clark, that’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.
Can’t find confirmation on the nonstick coating, but they do disclose the existence of two chemicals: silicon carbide and isobutanol. The latter is a plasticizer, and the former looks like it’s used as a structural reinforcement in various applications where high heat tolerance is required. I’m assuming that the “diamond-infused” coating is actually infused with silicon carbide, since it has a diamond-like crystalline structure.
@AROAH In my opinion, calling silicon carbide “diamond” is about as accurate as calling Gorilla Glass “transparent aluminum”. But I’m 153.5% certain that there are marketing asshats who will do it. I just don’t know for sure if it’s being done here.
Pic from an Amazon review. No thanks.
@Trinityscrew Eeep! Yeah, supersized nope with extra nope sauce and a side of nuh-uh. (And I’ve got some decent PTFE pans that I use where appropriate.)
@Trinityscrew @werehatrack Meh, a little non-stick coating lining the inside of some stomachs might not be a bad thing for the national bodyweight and BMI averages.
KuoH
@Trinityscrew that’s either a different brand or an older version of the pan. I have the pans from MEH and they are similar, but not exactly the same pattern as that.
@Trinityscrew @werehatrack what IS that? How does that work (to making something not stick)?
What happened to basic aluminum or iron pans that were non-stick (when enough grease was applied)
I just received my pans. I’ve already mastered (almost) the art of making a bowl of cereal, and now that I have these pans I’m going to learn how to cook, become a famous tv chef, marry a beautiful blonde, and lose everything in the divorce.
Woo!Hoo!
Let’s get this party started
We had one of these shiny covers they put over the rivets explode like a gun shot last night. Fortunately nobody was standing close to it when it happened. Is this why they are going cheap?