I love cooking, and almost cook every day. I am also very, very careful with my cookware and serverware, since, as my brother puts it, 'my fortune is spent all on cookware'. With this in mind, you can imagine how excited I was to purchase my first LeCreuset skillet. (It's even a very pretty aqua color!). As soon as I received it, I set about greasing and conditioning it, as I have with other castiron products. My first two dinners with it, where I made seared salmon and halibut came out beautifully. Both times, I deglazed the pan and let it cool before gently sponging off the residue. It cooked evenly and washed easily. Come the 3rd day, and a 'little mishap' occurred. I pan fried chicken breast, deglazed, and let it cool. An hour later, we cleaned the pan and -- A DIVOT -- in the middle of pan became visible. Literally, a CHUNK of the cast iron was gone. I can hear the accusations of 'you must have hit/drop/struck your pan' and the 'you can't scrub your pan!'. I know full well -- I own other expensive pans and cast iron, and I assure you, none of that happened. Now, I don't know what happened during shipping, so maybe that didn't help matters. But as of right now, to spend over $100 for a small skillet, and for a piece of the cast iron to fall out on the 3rd use (gentle use, at that) is a little bit sickening. So no, I'm not so enthusiastic about Le Creuset right now.

The product arrived on time and in perfect condition.

Thanks.

I have several pieces of Le Crueset cookware and this pan made a wonderful addition to my collection. It has the benefit of cast iron with a tough non-stick finish. It easily goes from stove top to oven. This pan was selected not only for its versatility but for its safety. This pan replaced a skillet that literally exploded in the kitchen. With the one piece design and construction, this pan will last for many years.

freinds recommended i get an iron/non-coated skillet. is heavy, but i like the weight and if i am going to be eating a lot is good to get a workout while i am cooking. looks so good i like to leave it on the stove. once a week a chef comes in to teach me how to cook and each chef has commented how nice the posts are (have a matching set)...

hear it is healthier to cook with the iron surface, looks good, feels good, the food tastes great and you get a great workout...

Once seasoned, the surface functions very well as non-stick. This is our omelet machine on the weekends and it does a great job like any cast iron pan with heat retention and it heats evenly on our gas burners. Plus no worries about Teflon chips or hazards.