Tefal Unlimited Premium Induction

So Versatile - Ideal Kitchen Cookware – The Tefal 24cm saute-pan was relatively lightweight. It provided a wonderful cooking experience for everything from scrambled eggs to fried eggs (with or without oil) to stovetop casseroles to slow-cooked soups to dry-fried sausages or big thick fried burger patties. The saute-pan, lid-on or lid-off (as required) gave even heat to its contents… Read more

on my new induction cook-top.

I have a range of 'stone' or non-stick frying-pans from 16cm to 30cm but, over the 25 days, I've had the Tefal one, the others have nearly always stayed in the cookware drawer.

It is EXTREMELY EASY to clean ... most often a wipe with a paper towel suffices but it a delight in the sink and the dishwasher if they are used. The lid, too, wipes clean quite easily or responds well to a plastic scourer or any dishwasher cycle.

In just over three weeks, it's had a mighty work-out for us (a mid-60s couple of empty-nesters with five kids, all in their 40s, living elsewhere). It's been responsible for about 50 meals for us and we are delighted.

My only suggestion to the manufacturers/designers would be to consider an adjustable steam-escape hole in the glass lid. A couple of dishes we cooked may have done better with steam escaping through a smaller aperture. I was asked to review the saute-pan about a month ago. In exchange for the review, I am allowed to keep the product. (THIS has NOT influenced my glowing opinion. I am aware that these cost $AUD105 to $AUD160 in shops and online and it would be a good investment for any age family, couple or single who decided to purchase one.)

Reduced spatter due to higher side and easy clean surface with comfortable weight and even heat distribution – User impressions after 1 month use of supplied cookware under Product Review Ambassador Program. We have purchased many sizes and types of cookware and discarded many, particularly "Non -Stick", which failed durability when in use. This Tefal Saute Pan, offers comfortable weight 1.250kg without Lid / 1.950 kg including lid. A Red thermo indicator… Read more

mark in centre of Pan which changes as pan heats causing legible print merge into uniform color with background to indicate searing heat attained for cooking. Securely attached metal handle which remains comfortable to touch while cooking and good balance. Even heat distribution across whole base of pan and raised sides, which tend to minimise spatter when cooking. A glass, ovenproof lid with fixed vent and metal handle securely attached, and comfortable to handle when cooking. Advertised suitable all Hobs. I have only tested on solid electric and Aldi Ambiano Induction cooking plate. Have used to cook, Shepherds Pie, Bacon &Eggs, Spaghetti Bol, Vegan Spaghetti Bol & Curried Chicken. The pan fits comfortably inside our toaster oven , to complete cheese melt over Shepherds Pie. Cleanup: The pan had char marks after bacon& eggs, no added oil, which I cleaned initially with paper towel wipe to dispose residual oil & mater from cooking, while char/ burn marks remained. I chose to hand wash the pan in sink with detergent / hot water and scratch-proof scourer, which restored interior of pan to new appearance. Only continued use over time will determine the durability of cooking surface, but early indications are, this is an improvement on previous cookware we have used. Wife likes it and say's its a keeper to replace 3 other scratched,Teflon coated or Stainless Steel heavier pans. We have rated this against a range of ScanPan, Baccarat professional, NeoFlam, Teflon coated, Heavy Raco commercial SS induction and older curved base Tefal pans in our kitchen. Best points: Weight, Cleanup, Even heat distribution across pan / No hot spots, Comfort to handle and Balance. Low spatter due to higher non curved side, "Titanium " non stick surface.

Finally a truly durable Non-Stick good sized Saute pan & Glass Lid that is very versatile – I had stopped using Non-stick Frypans about 5 years ago, as I got sick of the surfaces not lasting and them not having a decent base. After throwing many out, I figured they were a waste of money and had since only bought Stainless steel Scanpans & Roco pans as I found they cleaned up better after cooking than a lot of nonstick pans ended up… Read more

doing, and they had much solider bases that retained the heat and cooked food better. This pan was sent to me for a trial, and after using it for a month I have found it to be a very pleasant improvement to the older versions of non-stick pans. I would certainly buy this brand and model pan again. The Lid handle and pan handles stayed cool at all times during cooking and handling. A solid, heavy based pan - which is what you want for good cooking without pan warping after high heat use. Diameter of pan fits my large circular hotplate circle perfectly. I have cooked a range of foods in it, from frying onions a long time, to stews, pancakes, and there has been no discoloration, warping or any change in the non stick surface. It still looks like brand new. Good quality glass lid with cool touch handle with a permanent tiny vent hole in the glass works well. Initially I was wondering if it may not be big enough for a family meal, but after cooking Spag Bog in it for 5 without any crowding or overflowing sauce I think it is a good everyday size for family meals. The diameter it is fits in the Dishwasher very well also, not dominating much of the entire lower shelf like my other frypans tend to do. It also fits into my kitchen sink better and is less cumbersome to handle than my other bigger pans. The nonstick surface lives up to its name and no food sticks to it making for a very easy handwash also. High pan sides reduce splattering when cooking fatty chops, etc. There was definitely less splatter. The extra cm of height really makes a noticeable reduction of spitting fat on the bench, other hotplates and my arms weren't splashed at all. You could own only this 1 pan and be very happy. It could well remain the only pan I regularly use, so far this month I haven't used my others at all.

A Quality Frypan – This is a really good frypan. I own 7 Frypans, whilst this may seem strange, they all have their own purposes. Omelettes, steaks, stir frys etc. I've rethought how I use a frypan since using this pan. I'm used to stainless steel pans, and one very small Aluminium pan with a non-stick coating. Though the coating is disappearing on that item as a… Read more

result of my cleaning habits. I exclusively use a gas cooktop (except for motels)- maybe an induction cooker would be a different experience, due to the finer control of heat. Other people's input would be good here to see what they found. My photos show the frypan in action.

The Pros: I use far less oil with this Tefal pan. It heats up faster, the coloured area means that I know when the temperature is good to go and it's quicker to clean. The weight is balanced nicely, with a well shaped handle that fits my hand and importantly, the handle does not get hot in use, due to the good choice of materials. The base is thicker than most alternatives, so that the temperature does not drop rapidly when cold ingredients are put into it and of course, the base does not warp at all when hot. Anything I've tried has fried really easily - beef and pork steaks, bacon, eggs and capsicums amongst other vegetables. The coating seems to be very well attached, other non-stick pans I've owned have shed their coating after a short time - my bad, I am vigorous on cleaning. The handle is well attached with big rivets, it looks like it will not get loose over time and could be "nipped" up anyway, since you can see that good materials have been used in making it.

A teensy Con (but only for me): The method of cleaning is different to my experience. I usually chuck everything into the dishwasher, hence my cooking goods typically get damaged. This pan really should not be dishwashed. However, given the coating cleans so easily, dishwashing really isn't needed. A light scrub with a plastic bristled brush with detergent, a wipe clean and that's really enough to go again. Whoops, I should have prepared (seasoned) the pan with oil before use, but that's because I don't read the instructions before use. D'oh. The instructions cover this step off more thoroughly online.

To summarise - a well designed and made Frypan, easy to use.

An excellent and versatile addition to any kitchen – I have used earlier Tefal non-stick pans before, so was very keen to try this newer addition to their range when given the opportunity as an Ambassador for Product Review - especially since I am intending to change out my 900 mm natural gas cooktop for a 900 mm induction cooktop. This is a very high quality product that benefits from the base… Read more

thickness and solid stainless steel handle that does not overheat during use. I have posted pictures in the order mentioned in this review. Initially, I hand washed the pan (from new) using a mild dish detergent, then a rinse under the tap. Since pancakes have been a family favourite for many years, I decided to use this breakfast example to show just how easy it is to do and end up with a sparkling pan with a few second clean-up (hot water rinse and wipe only), as in the second pic - literally as good as new. I did use a small amount of butter (for flavour) in the pan since I don't add any to my pancake mix. With previous thinner base pans on gas, I used heat and flame diffusers, but not this time. I tried both the largest burner (turned down from full to medium heat), then the smallest burner on full heat (marginal difference but slightly better as it heats from the centre and bubbling indicating ready to flip a little faster). For a stir fry I used Rice Bran Oil and cleaned the pan in the same way. Thankfully my stir fry tasted better than it looked, thus no pic. I look forward to this being my universal pan of choice given experiences to date.

A versatile wok, but temperature limits and lack of dishwasher safe cleaning a bit of a limitation – TEFAL UNLIMITED PREMIUM NON-STICK INDUCTION WOK 28CM PLEASE NOTE: I don’t have any sort of formatting options on this site, so I use capitals for headings and emphasis. I do this to make this review easier to read and is not me yelling, ok? Please keep this in mind. I don’t tend to yell… ever.. but in the famous words of the Disney movie,… Read more

“Tangled”:

“Frypans, who knew?!”

Perhaps in this case:

“Non stick induction woks, who knows?”

And that, dear reader, is what I endeavour to find out. :-)

This is an “Ambassadorial Review”, meaning that the folks at Product Review have sent me this item for free in order to express my opinion. I tend to write “in depth” reviews on items that I’ve bought in the past, so they recognise that I might “go the extra mile” to provide useful information. I do get to keep the wok, but I won’t let that sway me either way. The Ambassadorial system just allows recognised reviewers to assess things they don’t already have. So with that open-handed administrative stuff out of the way, I have one final tip before I start the review…

GET COMFORTABLE AND/OR READ SMARTER (NOT HARDER):

Have a look at my pictures first. They're a little out of order, but they show:

1. The temperature indicator, and damage free coating after a month of use. 2. The box and it's entire weight. 3. A random chicken stir-fry where I felt the chicken was not fried, but more simmered in its own juices. 4. What came inside the box (showing the lack of padding) 5. The weight of the wok itself. 6. Side by side comparison of a cheaper, and more expensive wok (typical photo) 7. (And this is the special one) A side by side comparison of all three woks (same arrangement) showing a thermal camera's view after three minutes on my biggest gas hob on max burn. This shows how evenly they heat up, and any cold spots.

Last point before I begin, I write long reviews in order to provide as much information as possible. Grab yourself a snack, and a tasty beverage, make yourself comfortable. While reading this may seem intimidating to some, reading this will be faster than hopping from one site to the next collecting disparate facts about this wok. If that’s too much, feel free to scan the headings, and read the bits that are useful to you.

Haven’t scared you off? Let’s go.

WHAT OTHER REVIEWERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE TEFAL UNLIMITED PREMIUM 28CM DIAMETER NON-STICK INDUCTION WOK:

On Tefal’s own (Australian) web site, I had a look around to see what (if any) issues I should be looking out for.

With an average rating of 4.6 (out of 5) stars, and 26 reviews (at the time of writing), the break down was as follows:

5 stars: 20 reviews 4 stars: 4 reviews 3 stars: 1 review 1 star: 1 review.

So let’s dispense with the bad… what did that 1 star review say? It was quite long, but the two sentence synopsis is as follows:

The wok was deformed in transit because while there’s lots of padding on the outside of the wok, there’s no padding inside it. It is no longer round.

Ok, so that’s some useful info for people considering getting it delivered. I’ll add a photo of the packaging situation below.

The three star review, said it didn’t look like the image they saw when ordering… so they returned it.

Ok, it’s not a fault per se, so these are the two most negative comments about it… and they don’t really say anything about an intact wok… so if you ignore these two scores, out of a potential 24 x 5 stars, (120) this wok gets 116. That’s 96.67% (note: This is Tefal’s own site, but many of the reviews were acquired from Myer’s site)… so it’s fairly unlikely that the results are horrendously skewed.

Overview of the 4 star reviews:

Some people don’t like the weight of it (whether that’s too high or low, is not always clear), some say it’s light, but maintains even heating. Interestingly, there are comments like “it’s lasted about a year, the coating is coming off, so I’ve bought a second one”.

Overview of the 5 star reviews:

“We love this wok and use it every day, but we have to buy new ones every 8 months to a year as the non stick stops working” Other comments like:

“I love the size, and how easy to clean it is”, “Downside is that it doesn’t come with a lid”, “Good size when cooking for two or four people” and “Love the ovenproof handle”.

THE IMPRESSIONS FROM ONLINE REVIEWS:

So without even seeing one of these pans “in person”, you know it’s a wok without a lid, it’s possible to damage it in transit, people love the shape, and “general usefulness”, it’s easy to clean but the coating (with heavy use) might not last even a year. Yet strangely enough, people are happy to buy another one, sometimes one after another…. Which at between $95 and $190 per wok… adds up… even with free delivery.

Let’s put it another way…. “What questions should I as a reviewer, or theoretical buyer… be asking here?”

Firstly, Tefal has a two year warranty on this wok. If people are treating it correctly, and using it in a domestic situation, then the folks replacing it every 8-12 months should be eligible for a replacement under their two year warranty. Why they’re just buying replacements is beyond me… It makes me wonder if the warranty claim process is difficult or somehow not worthwhile. Perhaps it’s just that people are abusing the wok by doing things “against recommended practices” and are consequently ineligible for a warranty claim. That said, if you’re washing this wok by hand with non abrasive cleaning tools, and using non-metal implements to cook with, then according to Tefal’s own terms and conditions, they should be replacing or repairing the wok for you.

Secondly, if you’re going through a wok every year or so, this leads to questions about long term/ongoing costs:

Is it better to buy a higher-end solution like Swiss Diamond… which has “limited lifetime” warranties? If Swiss Diamond’s 32cm induction wok is $300-550 (or as low as $274 when on sale as it is at the time of writing), it may only take a few years for it to break even, and then any time after that SAVES you money. Conversely, my partner’s “trusty” $15 Woolworths-branded wok of similar dimension, that lasted about 12 years of routine use, (albeit not induction-capable, as that wasn’t nearly as popular as it is today). Alternatively, perhaps one should consider a fairly comparable offering from Baccarat’s “Rock” range, perhaps the 30cm induction compatible “Wok with Lid” that sells for between $120-$280… and has another “limited lifetime” guarantee, and of course, includes a lid. (Which we purchased a few months before receiving this Tefal wok).

So questions I’ll be finding answers for are:

1. What state does the wok arrive in? 2. How does it stack up against our very old “cheap and cheerful Woolworths wok” and the Baccarat “Rock” wok, or even our much loved, 12 year old Scanpan Paella pan with lid? 3. What (if any) degradation do I see with heavy use… albeit limited to only a month of use at most for this ambassadorial review? Maybe I’ll do a follow up “after the fact”, but since I have to write the primary review first, I better get to it.

THE DAY OF DELIVERY:

Ok, so the postie placed it on our front doorstep with an audible thud. In our case, it was a typical brown cardboard box, with the pretty coloured box inside. There was no padding whatsoever in the brown box, and to my surprise NO padding whatsoever inside the internal box. (Well, there’s a sleeve of bubble wrap on the handle, but that’s it. If this is typically the case, damage in transit wouldn’t surprise me. That said, our wok seemed fine to me. (See image).

The first thing that struck me was just how light the entire delivered package was. Some of my more recent reviews have been cast iron cookware, so this may have skewed me somewhat. However, I wanted to know how heavy the internal box + contents was. I took a photo of it on my kitchen scales, and it came in at only 1.6Kg. Weighing the wok alone it came in at a little under 1.2Kg (1184g according to my scales). Compared to my other cookware (a mix of enamelled or seasoned cast iron, steel, aluminium alloys, and ceramics) it feels quite a bit lighter, but if you run a lot of aluminium cook/bakeware, then this might be normal for you.

LETS TALK ABOUT THE BOX FOR A MOMENT:

I’ll get to the care instructions pamphlet next, but ignoring the marketing for a moment, there are a few things mentioned ONLY on the box, or mentioned in greater detail on the box than the included pamphlet.. which largely deals with care instructions.

1. All hobs + induction (ok, so regardless of your stove top, like gas, electric, induction, etc… this wok will work). 2. “Stands the test of time” (ummm… clearly other owners who are routinely replacing it disagree, but we’ll see). 3. The red seal in the bottom of the wok, actually changes to a deeper red as it heats up. When it gets hard to read, it’s “perfect for searing”. (Note that the lighter red bits darken to match the text/hourglass icon). This is in the pamphlet but the only photos to explain it are on the box.) 4. The pan itself is recyclable (no nasty chemicals, but see point 8 below). 5. Made in France… so if you’re a Francophile, maybe this will matter to you. If you started your driving career on a 1982 Renault Fuego that literally (as its name suggested) caught fire while you were driving it… “Made in France” might go the other way. 6. “Images may differ from the photos” (really, you can’t match the photos on the box to the pan? Sounds somewhat sad to me, especially for a company that claims to be no. 1 in European sales value back in 2018.) 7. Upper (widest) diameter may vary from the specified 28cm by as much as +/- 0.5cm. 8. “No INTENTIONAL addition of lead or cadmium” (both at toxic heavy metals).. I’m glad they’re not doing it intentionally…(Which makes me wonder: “Are other woks likely to have these metals in them?”)… apparently they test for it, but the conditions of that test aren’t mentioned.

THE PAMPHLET:

The key bits of information that I found useful are:

a. Oven safe up to 250 Celsius (That’s higher than the official 220 limit that LeCreuset/Chasseur enamelled cast iron pots can handle). b. Cannot be used in the microwave (that’s obvious, and I don’t know many microwaves that would FIT this wok) c. The “searing ready” (mood ring/temperature indicator) on this wok is called “Thermo-Signal technology”. There’s greyscale image of the seal (too cold/hot enough) but I find the photos better on the box. However, it does warn you that the heat should be turned down once hot to avoid damaging the wok. So this is to stop people from overheating the wok.. I guess… at least more so than indicating when the wok is hot enough to sear.. but I suppose it could be interpreted either way. d. The product has a 2 year warranty against “Manufacturing defects unless the country you bought it in has higher warranty requirements” It does not cover: i. glass components. (None included with this wok) ii. anything “sticking” iii. damage caused by “incorrect use” iv. “professional use” v. damage caused by “knocks or drops” vi. “stains, discolouration, scratches ANYWHERE on the product due to normal wear and tear”.

So proving that there’s a manufacturing problem… might be a challenge.

Care instructions:

- Initially, you need to hand wash, and lightly oil the pan. - Avoid heating the pan without food, it’ll overheat and distort. - “Metal utensils may be used, except Knives and whisks. Avoid using sharp-edged utensils” (Umm whisks aren’t usually sharp edged.. but if you want the maximum life from you non-stick coating, I’d just use wood, plastic, or silicone coated utensils. - To prolong the life of the coating, we recommend hand washing, avoiding abrasives, and after each wash, dry the induction base thoroughly. - However, if you DO clean it in the dishwasher, we recommend gentle detergents such as liquids or gels (not tablets).

INITIAL TEST OF THE “THERMO SIGNAL” (MOOD RING) OF THE WOK.

If a mood ring changes colour based on temperature, (ostensibly defined by mood-related increases of blood flow, rather than poor blood circulation) then this “Thermo Signal” stuff works in a similar way, albeit at much higher temperature. I had to try it out after I washed and oiled the wok. It does indeed darken as it heats up. I wasn’t cooking at the time, so I used my smallest gas hob (I have a gas stove) to avoid overheating. While I couldn’t find my laser thermometer to test how hot it needs to be to darken, the radiant heat from the pan once removed from the stove was noticeable. I believe it would be a good searing temperature. I’ll hopefully see the temperature in my subsequent tests.

Down sides of the “Mood ring”:

1. It’s a “hot enough” indicator. It tells you NOTHING of how far you’ve overshot…. Until the pan starts deforming.. and by then it’s too late. 2. It requires you to heat the pan up EMPTY (or close to it... if it’s full of food, how will you see it?) 3. It basically REQUIRES you to stare at the empty pan as you heat it up, because if you go away and come back, (say, to do some food preparation) you really won’t know if you needed to turn the heat down five seconds ago, or five minutes. You might well have overheated the pan already. So if you heat the wok up as you prepare your food, then this indicator isn’t going to help you much at all.

For me, it’s not particularly useful for my cooking style, so I consider it a bit of a gimmick. Also, because of the warnings Tefal has made regarding “overheating” the wok, I’m not entirely convinced that searing in this wok is a great idea to begin with. When I sear my steaks on the barbecue, or even the stove, I use seasoned cast iron cookware, and I like my cook surfaces to be upwards of 300, sometimes even 400 Celsius.. I don’t recommend that with pans/woks that have non-stick coatings…. If you want your wok to last, that is.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE (MOSTLY) ALUMINIUM CONSTRUCTION:

If you’re serious about searing anything, you’ll find that the flat base of the wok will do a better job of searing than the walls will…. Unless you’re on a big gas hob and there’s significant flames kissing the other side of the walls. The base will be better (in general) because that’s the only bit that has the thermal retention (read: steel for the the induction hobs) to sear at least passably well.

Since the pan is so light, the bulk of the base, and walls will be made of a coated aluminium. Aluminium has a fantastic thermal conduction rating (ranked third of the cookware-safe metals, after copper and silver.. but is often chosen for low weight and considerably cheaper price)… but that conductivity and lower density means that thermal retention is consequently, pretty low compared to iron (and steel which is refined iron with some impurities). Aluminium has 3 times the thermal conductivity, and at one third the density. That means it’s easy to put heat in and take it out but, keeping that heat in there and only transferring it to your food will be a challenge.

A low heat retention means that a cold slab of meat (or frozen vegetables if you prefer), will suck the heat right out of the preheated wok on initial contact. So searing would need VERY high temperatures to pull that off, and it would be very difficult to control (not to mention, potentially damaging to the pan). It’s for this reason, I prefer a seasoned steel wok or cast iron pan for searing. Metals like cast iron have so much more heat retention (don’t confuse that with conductivity) that preheating it will buffer the pan from the initial “cold shock”, and this tends to give that true brown (ideally not black) “bark” (think: browned meats) indicating that the Maillard reaction is happening (proteins breaking down into flavoursome aromatic compounds).

Frankly, I think this wok doesn't truly work as a traditional wok very well. The shape and materials of the wok aren't "traditional" for the classic style of wok, and it really seems to behave a little more like a deep frypan. Perhaps I was heeding the warnings about overheating the wok too closely, and didn't stretch the wok to "true stir fry" temperatures. Consequently, I found that it took a LOT of time and/or heat to do a nice browning since the aluminium will draw that heat away… and the wok didn't quite concentrate the “juices” coming out of the ingredients. Since I probably played it a bit safe, I found that it’s more likely to simmer/boil, rather than fry your meat.

Of course, this wok with even heating caused by the thermal conduction, will likely be fantastic for heating liquids though, particularly curries, laksas, and stews…. If you don’t have the time for a slow cooker. So perhaps it's also more akin to a small saucepan... than an actual wok.

Aluminium is a highly reactive metal. It does NOT handle acids well at all, and can add a metallic taste to acidic foods. So people who cook with lots of citrus, vinegars, wines, pineapple, and tomatoes would normally be discouraged from cooking with bare aluminium cookware. However, since this wok has the non-stick coating that will protect the metal, you can cook with acidic foods without issue… as long as the coating is intact. However, again, how well the coating holds up to acidic foods is a question I cannot test without destroying the wok.

GOING BEYOND THE FIRST DOZEN COOKS:

After cooking a range of foods, from bacon and egg breakfasts, rainy afternoon laksa, “one pan” steak & veggies meals, and meatballs, to Turkish Pide pizza stuffings, curries and (you guessed it) stir fries, the pan cooks many things besides stir fries, and cooks well. I used wood, plastic and silicone implements, so I haven’t scratched anything yet. Of course, I’m taking it slow and following the instructions provided. If you’re the kind of person who uses dishwashers and metal implements, particularly the pointy/edged kinds, then you can expect to damage the non-stick coating, particularly when it is hot.

Is it mind blowing as a cooking implement? I’m sorry but I haven’t noticed anything majorly different between the $12 Woolworths wok, the $99 Baccarat “Rock” Wok with Lid, or the $300 Scanpan 36cm non-stick paella pan. They’re all based on an aluminium and steel core and merely vary in their shape and coatings.Given their respective sizes and construction, the Tefal wok heats up roughly as quickly (on average) as the all aluminium Woolworths wok. The wider than average flat bottom of the Tefal wok reviewed here does make it a little faster to heat up than the Baccarat, but then again, the wider base (and significantly larger capacity) of the Paella pan evens any gains the Tefal had over the others. Really, it comes down to a size and shape you like to cook with.

Now what makes the Tefal wok better and worse as a cooking implement compared to our other options here?

We love the 28cm size and shape for a typical 2-4 person meal, but we feel that cooking for four adult males with hearty appetites is really only achievable when it’s padded out with rice or noodles cooked in some other pot or appliance. If you have folks with smaller appetites, or often do “multi pot” instead of “one pan” cooking… then this works very well.

If you keep this in mind, and limit the contents somewhat to the sauce/meat/vegetables, (with thicker sauces, or lower amounts of sauce) we can shake the entire wok around and while cooking to “keep the food moving”, to ensure a satisfactory, but hardly amazing sear. That said, this is a FAR cry from the steel 40cm+ diameter woks with narrower bases that force the food back into the middle. Even so, the Tefal wok’s elongated handle allows easy operation one handed, and the “high-enough” walls allows you to shake things around the wok quickly without spilling. That said, we can do that with the Woolworths and Baccarat woks just as easily. The Paella pan, doesn’t have a long handle, it has two tabs on the side. While the paella pan has a higher capacity, the lower walls and short handles require the food to be pushed around the pan, rather than the pan shaken to move the food. That said, Scanpan has woks very similar to the Tefal as well, I just don’t own one.

The Woolworths pan and the Tefal are the only implements that DON’T come with a lid. Now most people won’t care, but we often cook in the pan, and leave it there for “second helpings” to save washing up another pan. Having a lid to keep things warm and dust/insect free is a huge help to us. The Woolies pan cost $15 dollars, so we expected the lack of a lid. The Tefal, at the similar price range of the Baccarat (which did come with a lid) puts it, in my humble opinion, at a disadvantage to similar options.

My partner likes the shape, the weight, and way the Tefal wok cooks. Since she’s a not-quite-5 foot stick-figured pixie, and I’m a much taller, stronger (lets carry that 80kg railway sleeper by myself on my shoulder) kind of fellow, I was interested in how she handled it. But it’s little different from our other similar cookware in weight and dimensions, so she has made no complaints and uses it with relative ease.

CLEANING:

Overall, I found the cleaning so far to be very easy. I’ve had some burned bits of mince and sauce, but they slid off with almost no effort. The cleaning instructions suggest to dry the bottom thoroughly before storing it. I suspect this is to reduce rusting, so I’ve done that, and I haven’t seen any problems so far. That said, the riveted handle does have some “nooks and crannies” that can accumulate around the rivets themselves. So it’s not as easy to clean as it could have been if the handle was cast or welded to the wok.

The reviews stating that the non-stick coating of the wok is only good for a year or two, coupled with the subtle hint that hand washing or dishwashing with “gentle detergents” is recommended, I’m reluctant to stick it in the dishwasher. While I’m willing to wash up by hand using detergent and a soft cloth, (I haven’t even scratched the coating yet, see attached image) my better half is less enthralled from the cleaning perspective. She’s a “If it doesn’t go into the dishwasher, then I won’t use it” kind of gal. So I get the impression that I’m going to be the only one who uses it. That said, since we’re both crazy food nutters, it actually helps me to have pots “at hand” (for my use at least) when we’re cooking concurrently. :-)

3 MINUTE “AFTERBURNER” TEST - THERMAL IMAGING & ANALYSIS:

OK, so I’m a tech-head, nerd, who uses thermal cameras… so I thought I’d help you, dear reader with images that show just how evenly the woks heat up… and compare it to the cheaper and more expensive woks I already have.

Please note: That the even-ness of the images shows heat conductivity, and does NOT reliably translate into heat retention or cooking performance. (Remember my discussion above). Obviously these images are for the empty woks, and foods (particularly fluids like sauces, stocks, and even water) will help to even the distribution of heat further over time as well.

So to ensure a fair reading. I’ll put the woks I have on the same hob, at the same heating level and take the image at the same time (3 minutes to avoid destroying my woks), and let the hob to completely cool down (to ambient) between images. (See comparison thermal images).

The cheap (and ancient) Woolworths pan (Left) has the hottest base and greatest thermal differential (75 degrees Celsius) on the walls. The thinner Aluminium construction allows the base to heat up quickest in the allotted time frame, and the taller, wider walls cool down as you get further away from the hob. No surprises there. What IS interesting, is that the exposed aluminium (where the coatings have chipped off… largely after 6-7 years of routine use) is actually cooler. This makes sense in that the aluminium is no longer insulated by the coating, but it is surprising that the coating itself helps with thermal conductivity to the point that the core seems noticeably cooler.

The Tefal “Unlimited” 28cm Induction Wok (Middle) has the most even result with a temperature difference of just 29.5C. Part of this is the fact that it is the smallest of the three woks (at only 28cm wide, and shallower/shorter walls). The conductivity of this wok ensures that heat from the base is drawn from the base, and the wider base has a slightly better contact with the hob’s heat. I can’t verify this, but I suspect that the metal is a little thicker, which would also explain the lower base temp and greater wall temperatures. However, I have found that chicken is definitely hard brown in this wok. (See image of stir fry). Now yes, I prefer my veggies to be a little undercooked, and yes, I could have browned it eventually. However, I just don’t like the long-term implications on the non-stick coating if I’m using the Tefal for the kinds of searing temperatures a typical seasoned/stainless steel wok would experience in that short, high-temperature style of cooking that a true stir-fry wok is usually associated with. If you’re wondering what that cooler splotch in the base is, that’s a little pool of oil that accumulated when I oiled the pan after cleaning.

The Baccarat “Stone” 30cm wok with lid (lid not used or shown for test comparison) had a “middle of the road” temperature difference of nearly 50C (49.6 Celsius to be precise). However, it is both taller and wider than the Tefal, and the coating CONSIDERABLY thicker. Interestingly, the extremities temperature was IDENTICAL to the Tefal after the same amount of time, but the core was 20C warmer. If I had to sear something in any of these woks, I think this would be my choice, as the embodied heat is higher, and the walls seem to be a little more efficiently transferring heat than the Tefal. This would probably be a bit nicer than the Tefal and probably noticeably better to sear with than the Woolworths wok. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS:

Cost: 50-80%

For a 28cm wok with induction capability, this is a fair-priced model. I’d say it’s aimed at the lower-mid range of the market. There are a range of alternatives, each with their pros and cons. However, if you can buy it on a sale at the lower end of the price scale, I’d give the price an 80% score. If you pay the higher end, or find you need to replace it within the 2 year warranty period as others seem to, then I’m sorry, the price only gets 50% and I’d strongly encourage you to buy something else (whether that’s a Woolworths el-cheapo, that did serve us well for 12+ years) and replace it every few years, or just buy a high end Baccarat, Scanpan, or Swiss Diamond which can be bought on sale for $100-270 on sale for the long term savings (and dishwasher safe cleaning).

Quality: 90%

I can’t fault this wok for materials so far, so I’m giving it 90% for the lack of dishwasher safe cleaning.

Design: 95%

Light weight, single handed operation, relatively nice shape, and easy to hold handle. Riveted handles a little bit of a pain to clean though, deducting 5%.

Ease of Use: 90%

10% lost because the walls are a little shorter, making spillage a little more likely, and lower capacity probably needs other cookware to pad larger meals out. Very easy to clean while the coatings are intact though.

Versatility: 90%

Depending on your cooking style, temperature range… For general cooking… 90%. It’s not going to compete with preheated cast iron for searing, or copper/silver cookware for rapid -yet-controlled temperature changes. However, I’m only going to compare this with a wok of similar construction, so it loses 10% for those pervasive warnings about overheating this wok.

Effectiveness: 80%

Frankly, the “Thermo signal” is of limited use to me personally. Other than that, it’s pan that can be very versatile if used within the bounds of its construction. For frying up bacon and eggs, cooking mince, or making a curry, this works well and without much fuss. As a high-temp, sear everything right-at-the-smoking-point or “let’s fry the pants off this food”, this isn’t the wok for that… unless you WANT to replace the wok on a regular basis.

Warranty: 50%

Two years, with so many conditions that I think it’d be hard to claim against, doesn’t inspire confidence. With so many cookware brands (some cheaper end) offering 7 year, 10, or limited lifetime warranties, Tefal hasn’t inspired a great deal of confidence here, and the fact that people are reporting that they’re buying new pans whilst WITHIN warranty, only reinforces my concerns. I’d really like to see a re-coating service, or some other way to make the wok last longer.

Support/Documentation: 90%

The pamphlet told me almost everything I needed to know, but the box had better images to show what it was talking about. The box isn’t something I’d keep around, but the pamphlet is. Consequently, I’d have liked to see the pamphlet printed in colour, and perhaps the box be a little less fancy.

Total Score: 645/800 - 675/800 (80.625% - 84.375%)

There are a lot of reasons to judge this differently, and it depends on your needs and situation.

Cost is a big variance here. You can get it from “Peters of Kensington” for as little as $85 (pickup). Some places have it at over $170.. that’s TWICE the price (and still not include shipping). You can get four or even EIGHT “el cheapos” for that price. With the Baccarat having limited lifetime warranty and dishwasher safe cleaning, and larger cook volume, starting at $119 might make more sense. However, if you love the size and shape of the Tefal, and get it cheap, and really look after it, I don’t see why it should lose any more than 20%. If money is no object, and you just don’t care and love Tefal… then add the missing 20-50%. (Add 2.6 to 6.25% to the overall score)

Perhaps you don’t mind hand washing, then add the 5% (add 0.625% to the overall score)

Perhaps you only do simple meals and this wok does everything you need, add 10% back to versatility. (Add 1.3% overall)

Perhaps you LOVE the thermo signal, and rely on it heavily, and don’t sear much…. Then add the 20% back to effectiveness. (That’s an additional 2.6% to the overall score)

Perhaps you are constantly upgrading/giving your “hand me downs” to friends and family, the warranty won’t mean much to you, add 50%… (that’s 8% to the overall score)

Perhaps you’ve never read a manual in your life, forsaking the consequences, add 10% to the documentation. (Add 1.3% overall)

CONCLUSION:

At the end of the day, I have seen no evidence of problems with the non-stick coating. Particularly when following Tefal’s instructions. However, my test was limited to the month I was given, so long term use may paint a more detailed picture. So I personally cannot fault this pan at all. I’ve perhaps treated this one a bit more gently than the other ones, (namely hand washing) because the other models explicitly say I can use the dishwasher. Overall, it’s a perfectly serviceable multi-purpose piece of cookware, but it isn’t going to handle continual use at those extremely high temperatures some stir-fry enthusiasts will want to use.

I like it, and as a one-pan option, it’s great. But keep price and performance in mind when comparing the alternatives.

Good luck and happy cooking! Harmo.

Best nonstick pan I have used – This Tefal wok was provided to me for the purpose of this review, under the Productreview.com.au Product Ambassador program. This wok has really helped improve my cooking of stir-fries. I am a retired professional cook, but I have never really been happy with my stir-fries. The end result has often been limp vegetables rather than crisp crunchy… Read more

ones. I think the issue has been the pan temperature falling too much during cooking. The first time I used the Tefal Unlimited induction wok, I was impressed. At last, a crisp and flavourful stir fry.

The Tefal Unlimited Premium Induction wok has some clever features. It has non-stick surfaces inside and out, so even any spills and dribbles that find their way over the edge of the pan are still very easy to clean off. The inside surface is a premium titanium non-stick, Tefal says it is safe to be used with metal utensils as long as they don’t have sharp edges. That is impressive. I didn’t subject the wok to any torture tests to look at durability, but so far after a few weeks use it is still unmarked. I did cook a chilli dish using minced beef and used a stainless steel potato masher to break up lumps of minced beef, it has rounded edges (like a heavy wire zig-zag) so nothing scratchy, the titanium non-stick surface had no marks or damage at all.

Tefal frypans, including this 28 cm Unlimited Premium induction wok, have a very clever temperature-indicator red dot in the centre. This dot has an image of an hourglass in a slightly different shade of red, one of the two reds becomes darker when the pan is at a good hot temperature for cooking, which is a really good guide for the cook. The hourglass image disappears and it becomes just a plain red circle when at the correct temperature. This isn’t perfect, I could still make out the hourglass image even when hot, but it is certainly less distinct and is still a big help.

I have two ways of heating this wok, my regular stove is gas and has a wok burner, I also use a small benchtop induction cooker and I have used this wok on both. As it is sold as an induction wok, I mainly used it on the induction hob, which has a maximum power level of 2000 watts. At this level it took a little while for the wok to heat up, a more powerful induction cooktop would have been faster. Even on the gas wok burner, it took a few minutes to get up to temperature. This isn’t a bad thing – it means when the wok is hot enough (when the red dot becomes all one colour) there is quite a lot of heat stored in the metal of the wok, so it holds its heat when you put cold food into it, and it cooks the food easily and fast. Nothing sticks, not even a little bit. It is the best non-stick surface I have used. This makes clean up easy, too.

Woks are all about stir frying, but I have found this wok to be good for other cooking too. The way you can “store” some heat in the pan before adding the first ingredients, the large surface area and the even heating makes it great for browning the first ingredients of many dishes. I have cooked a chili beef and bean meal and cooked a few curries in it, each time it was excellent. The initial browning / searing phase was fast and very effective.

I really enjoy cooking with the Tefal Unlimited Premium induction wok, but it isn’t perfect. Its achilles heel is the handle, which is too heavy and an uncomfortable shape, and angles up too steeply. The handle has a raised ridge down each side of the top surface, and these press into the fleshy parts of the hand when you hold the pan. This is accentuated by the weight, which is quite heavy. I’m a 1.8 m tall male, a smaller lighter person might find this pan too heavy. The steep angle of the handle makes you hold it at an unnatural angle, it should sit a bit flatter. The handle is solid stainless steel, which means it is oven safe to 250 degrees C, but it could be made lighter and a better shape. It also has no grip to the surface, which makes it slippery if your hands are wet. The good news is Tefal have another version of this pan, the name is the same except it doesn’t have the word “Premium” in the title, and it has a handle that, in photos at least, looks much better. Wider, flatter, a more comfortable looking shape, a grippy surface, but only oven-safe to 175 degrees C. I would suggest checking them both out in store before buying the premium version.

The Tefal Unlimited Premium induction wok doesn’t come with a lid. I think it should, fortunately I had a suitable glass lid that fits well. It may not be necessary when used as a wok, but the pan is versatile enough for other uses like curries and then having a lid would be great.

All in all, I’m impressed.

Impressive! If you've never had a saute pan before (like me!), you better read this! It'll beat your fry pan :) – Full disclosure... I was given this pan to test for free, but I'm no sell out :). This is a completely honest review of the product at hand, and I don't sell my word to anyone. I’ve been looking for a larger cooking vessel than my large fry pan, but not so big and cumbersome like a cooking pot… and I think I’ve found the perfect solution! … Read more

Tefal’s Unlimited Premium Induction Non-Stick Saute pan is definitely a winner. Made in France (not a cheap import from the usual cheaper manufacturing zones), this definitely has that superior feel.

Lets start off with its size… as this is the thing that used to scare me off saute pans (for handling, storage, and cleaning). Not so with this one! To put it in perspective, I have a large non-stick frypan (also from Tefal coincidentally) that has served me well over the last few years of daily use.

This saute pan has an inner diameter of 24cm, with straight sides that extend up in height at 8cm. Their large fry pan is 26cm at the top lip, but curves in at the bottom to 22cm, and is only 5cm in height. It doesn’t sound like much of difference, but when you work out volume the saute pan has about 50% extra capacity! That makes a huge difference to what you can cook in it, without being too big like a pot is.

I cook for a family of 5, and this saute pan is the perfect fit between a large fry pan (which is too small for say a chicken and vegetable satay), and full size pot (which is too big and cumbersome to work with every day). You avoid the splash and spill over of using a fry pan, but still have light weight access to stir and move the contents, that you can’t do easily with a pot.

Clean up is a breeze… as it takes up virtually no extra room in the dishwasher that the fry pan does. As it stands only 3cm higher, it stacks the exact same way in there and doesn’t sit too high and catch the dishwasher spinners.

I can see they’ve upgraded the handle on this saute pan (I've got older Tefal fry pans). The old ones are still going strong and have never gotten loose or something, but their design shape has been upgraded with this newer model.

I’ve attached a couple of pictures showing the difference, but basically the newer handle is more solid, contoured for better comfort and manoeuvrability, and doesn’t collect dishwasher water/debris anymore (the old one was hollow as it was sheet metal folded over on itself, so water and food bits would sometimes get lodged in there coming out of the dishwasher). The newer handles on the Tefal Unlimited Premium range solve that minor complaint completely, as they nice and solid with no hollow bits to catch gunk. As you can probably tell, I’m definitely a saute pan convert now… a big fan. Much more flexibility without the downside of bulk and weight. Oh… I haven’t mentioned that yet. This saute pan weighs 1.26kg. The fry pan is pretty much 1kg even. I reckon a lot of that is in the newer solid handle, which does help with balance when the saute pan has a bit in it.

Well done Tefal… you’ve got a winner with this one!

Its not a Wok, but it is an excellent Frypan – The Tefal Stirfry Pan/Poele Wok/Wok Pan, well, in the immortal words of Meatloaf, which was also cooked in this pan using the stove top and oven, “Two out of Three “aint bad”. I have used this pan three times a day over the last three weeks and I can honestly say, it meets its guarantee, perfect searing, no scratches developed on its titanium… Read more

coating, and it exceeds the performance of other frypans in my kitchen, that being fast and even cooking results. It is an excellent Frypan, possibly one of the best I have used.

It performed exceptionally well in the making of Oodles of wok style Noodle Stirfry, Fried Rice, the obligatory Poele, Curries, Fillet and Butterfly cuts of meat and Fish, Big Breakfasts, Pancakes, even outreach dishes like popcorn, mussels and even soups/Laksas, as well as doing a great job in combination with the oven on my experiment with meatloaf. But as the song goes, its third advertised capability for which this pan is branded, and the one that I was most looking forward to, that being the Wok, is a big miss.

Refer "Report Image 01.jpg": When I received the Tefal product my primary desire was for a Wok.

This Tefal product held great promise in the graphics of its packaging, and its Wokpan label set my expectations that a Wok was soon to be exposed. Its Marketing on the package left me salivating for what was about to unfold.

Alas, the Wok like appearance on the packaging revealed itself as a product that was more like a frypan, and had significant shortcomings as a Wok, that being too small – did not cover the 4 servings for my “test” subjects - the side walls of the Wok were far too shallow, there was no concentration in surface area at the base of the pan for the collection of juices and that extra kick of heat, that I had come to expect from a small concentrated flat centre in the base of a traditional style Wok.

Refer "Report Image 02.jpg": The image is what the Tefal StirFry Pan/Wok looked like out of the box

Refer "Report Image 03.jpg": The image is what I was expecting the Tefal Wok to look like, with a much higher side wall and a smaller centrally concentrated base section

In defence of the Tefal Frypan review, my Wok style may not be to everyone’s liking, I have come to expect a small concentration in surface area to the flat section of a Wok, the point where the flavour is infused into the ingredients. This is where I would normally expect the natural juices to be stored as a collection point, and the place for which I toss through the ingredients, where normally the temperature is much higher.

The Tefal Stirfry Pan/Wok spreads the heat evenly over its cooking surface, with the extent of its flat base resulting in most of the natural juices that collect there, evaporating due to this larger flat surface area. It is excellent at spreading its high surface temperature across the entire surface of the pan, but provides no real additional concentration of temperature at the base of the pan, which delivers little opportunity for tossing/basting the ingredients, what is normally a juice collection point at the centre of a Wok.

In addition, no opposing handles to control frying versus tossing and no lid to add the “Steam Reduction” capability so often sought for in a Wok, is sorely missed. Basically, it behaves like a Frypan, is excellent at Stirfry, but requires a different technique from the Wok for cooking Wok Style recipes. The Tefal Stirfry Pan/Wok does not cook like, nor behave like, a Wok.

Refer "Report Image 04.jpg": The Tefal Stirfry Pan/Wok image is what I received, it is an exceptional Frypan.

Refer "Report Image 05.jpg": However, I was expecting a Wok more like the representation in this image.

So I developed a bit of a bug bear in the use of this Frypan as a Wok, that was hard to overcome. The Tefal Stirfry Pan/Wok, as a Wok, has none of the distinctive features of a Wok, being the size (diameter), the side wall (height) that allow ingredients to be tossed controlling how the heat is used from different areas of the pan, techniques for adding heat to the ingredients when held at the wall of the pan, or from tossing ingredients through a highly concentrated central point in bottom where the juices are collected. So, using this Frypan/Wok with your fine-tuned skills for using and enjoying a Wok, well forget it being a Wok.

In conclusion, apart from my “Wok it is not” comment, it does lend itself to a number of features used in Wok style cooking. The heat of the pan is equal across its entire cooking surface, that is, base and side walls, meaning more surface area to fry that Stirfry. It requires no oil, apart from that used in the pans bedding down process, and heats up quickly with a high level of heat trapped into the pan by the thicker/wider energy induction capability that is clearly visible at its base.

As a frypan, it’s a great looking frypan with excellent heat distribution across the pan, its non-stick surface is holding up to hammering I gave it over the last three weeks, and the shape of the pan walls does tend to throw the tossed ingredients off the side walls back into the frypan. The handle is cool to the touch and is at a comfortable angle to allow ingredients to be tossed effectively. The pan is relatively light given its induction plate, and heats up to the cooktop’s set temperatures very quickly. It is extremely responsive to temperature changes at the cooktop. I would have loved a lid to have been included with the pan, if not the additional handle, but if I ignore my yearning for a wok, it can do most things a Wok can do, it just requires a different technique to that used for a Wok.

So would I recommend the Tefal Stirfry Pan/Poele Wok/Wok Pan and add it to my arsenal of cooking utensils. Well, as a Frypan, A Big “Yes”, it will replace a few of them and hold pride of place at that, but as the Wok I was looking for, It is not.

Non-stick no more – If you don't want to read my entire rant, here is the summary: The Good: Non-stick really is non-stick (so far). [Update after 14 months, Aug 2023: Still very good] [Update after 20 months, April 2024: It's over. No more non-stick on this one. It came to a pretty abrupt stop about 2 months ago, so 18 months into its life] Handle doesn't get… Read more ·  2

hot. Lid handle does not get hot. Can go into the oven. Lid has a decent rim allowing a fair bit of condensation water to accumulate without dripping into the food when lifted.

The not so good Handles (both lids and pan) attached in a way that cannot be tightened. [Update after 14 and 20 months, Aug 2023 and April 2024: So far no need to tighten them, all in perfect condition] Maybe a small handle on the opposite side of the main handle would make it easier to pour things out

Overall I would say this pan has quickly become one of the family favourites and it was an instant hit the moment it came into our kitchen. Right now it has earned a solid spot in the front row of our pan cupboard. It has a lot going for it and time will tell whether it will be able to maintain its qualities. [Update after 14 months, Aug 2023: All the above is still valid. I have not noticed any deterioration of substance in the non-stickiness and the pan has established itself as a family favourite for sure]

[Update after 20 months, April 2024: We have given the pan a truly hard workout. We loved it and kept using it more and more, some times two or three times a day. The heavy use started to show after about 18 months. Some of the coating in the outside started to come off (see photos) and the non-stick properties disappeared, together with the white pattern on the inside and the trademark Tefal red dot. Completely gone (I wonder how much of that coating and red dot made it into my food). I trued to revive it all with some 'tricks' I found online, but none of them made a difference. Dear Tefal pan, you have been a big part of our cooking lives over the past 20 months, but unfortunately it is time to part ways now.]

++++++++

Before I start, let me give you a little bit of background that you need to take into consideration when reading this review. I don’t particularly like cooking. I have a very utilitarian approach to cooking and any pan or pot I use needs to basically have those qualities: 1) Be non-stick. And I mean be non-stick, no asterisk, no ifs and buts, no disclaimer, no special instructions that I need to follow with certain oils that are to be used (or not to be used), certain temperature ranges that I need to stick to (pun intended) or special rituals I need to follow with certain sequences of placing my food into the pan. None of that. If I made pan cake batter, I want to place the pan on the stove, put whatever amount of whatever oil or butter I want in the pan, let it melt and place the amount of batter I want into the pan. As long as I do all that within reasonable parameters, especially as far as temperature is concerned, then the damn pan cake is not supposed to stick. Full stop. Same with chicken breast, sausages, bacon, fried eggs or whatever. 2) Have handles and lids that do not get hot. One of my pet hates are shiny great looking designer pots with handles and lids that a few minutes into boiling the pasta can no longer be touched without protection. Let engineers come up with a design that does not create unnecessary hazards and then let your marketing and good looks team have a go at it without allowing them to compromise functionality. I know, I am showing my age (and profession) – but I am the one writing the review. 3) Be light enough so I can lift it with one hand and pour contents out while using my other hand to scrape it clean. 4) Be easy to clean 5) Keep those above properties over time – or be cheap enough so I do not care to throw the pot out and just get a new one.

We have a plethora of all sorts of pots and pans in our kitchen. The crown jewels at least price wise are a set of super shiny, copper base, stainless steel, hyper expensive pots and pans. They are however completely and utterly useless for anything else but for boiling water. I do not know what the opposite of non-stick is, but those would be the definition of that.

Although I seem to be the only one admitting publicly that those were amongst our most useless purchases ever, I am certainly not the only one thinking that they are useless judging be the amount of time those pots are being used these days – which is basically never. They have quite naturally moved back and further back in the cupboard and are also really hard to get out from the bottom of the back of the cupboard, because they are, thanks to the copper base, painfully heavy.

Then there is a set of high end non-stick cookware from a company that claims to have super non-stick cookware. It was supposed to be special because they supposedly use an alloy and not just a coating. That in theory keeps it all non-stick year after year without any deterioration in performance. Yeah right – after a few years and multiple attempts in restoring the non-stickiness by following the procedure on the manufacturer’s webpage, some of them ended up in the recycling bin and some now fight for space in the bottom back next to their expensive shiny designer counterparts.

So I started buying super cheap pots and pans. Woollies, Ikea, Target, K-Mart, you know the usual suspects. On a side note, Choice Magazine has recently done a test of pots and pans of all sorts of price ranges – with interesting results (all I say is I feel totally vindicated).

If I look at our kitchen cupboard that houses all the pots and pans – there they all are in the front row. All the $20 pots, the $17 pan, the Aldi baking forms. All in use, all non-stick, all light, easy to clean and regularly used. And guess what, if one of them gets scratched or loses its properties or the handle becomes wobbly or the pot accidentally becomes victim of some sort of cooking / burning incident, then it just gets replaced for a few bucks in no time and the new one is loved and used just as much as its predecessor.

So, now that I got all this out there, how did the Tefal pot do? Well, let me go through my list:

1) Non-stick. Oh yes, it is non-stick. It better be, it is new. They all are (at the beginning and then slowly deteriorate, except for the shiny copper base ones, they were useless from the beginning). So, no further comment after 1 months of ownership. I will provide updated to this review in a few months. [Update after 14 months, Aug 2023: Still going strong in the non-stick department. Honestly better than some of the cheap purchases I mention further up. But we must keep the price difference and cost of replacement in mind]

[Update after 20 months, April 2024: As per above, the non-stickiness lasted about 18 months. It's all over by now].

2) Handles and lid that do not get hot. That was a surprise I must say. When I took the pan out of the box, the first thing I saw was the metal handle and I was immediately disappointed. But hey, Tefal engineers, well done. The metal handle of the pan and the metal handle of the lid both remain cool enough to be touched even after prologued periods or cooking. Not sure where the secret is, is it the shape, the way the handle is attached to the pan, the material or a combination of the above, but that was a very pleasant surprise. With that metal handle of course also comes the ability to put the entire pan into the oven if needed. Thumbs up.

3) Be light enough to be able to lift it with one hand. I would say that criterion is met too. There is always the compromise between heat capacity, equal heat distribution of the base and weight. I would say Tefal managed to hit a sweet spot. Again, well done Tefal engineers.

4) Be easy to clean So far so good. Non-stickiness comes with easy cleaning of course. Where the handle meets the pan, there are a few corners that are tough to get to though. And the glass lid has a rim that is quite difficult to get into – but that comes with a great advantage. That rim holds a fair bit of condensation water. So when you lift the lid and tilt it, a lot of the water that condensed on the lid will not spill back into the pot or all over your counter top but get caught in that rim (see photo).

5) Keep those above properties over time That I cannot comment on yet. But I am committed to updating the is review at least on a yearly basis. What else is there to say? The instructions (Tefal, who designed that little leaflet and the pathetic flow of various languages across the pages?) say that metal utensils can be used and that minor scratches won’t affect performance. Well, thumbs up if that is the case. [Update after 14 months, Aug 2023: I am quite impressed with the durability of this pan. We have managed to not scratch it, whether that is due to my entire household being very careful (rather unlikely, let's face it) or due to good engineering and material properties is unclear, but the pan is still in excellent condition. And it has been used a fair bit].

[Update after 20 months: By now it is truly scratched and the pan clearly shows its age. Amazingly enough, the outside seems to have taken a bigger toll than the inside (see pictures)].

The instructions also say that should the handle become loose over time to just tighten it with an ‘appropriate’ screw driver. That would be a nice feature to have, but the handle on my pan (and the lid) is attached with rivet style fixtures. Look at the photos, no tightening possible with those. I will report back how well the handles keep over time. [Update after 14 months, Aug 2023: amazingly, both handle and lid handle are still very tight. No issue] [Update after 20 months, April 2024: both handle and lid handle are still very tight. No issue]

Then there is Tefal’s Thermo-Signal Technology. It’s the red dot in the middle of the pan that changes to a solid red (from a red with an hour class and writing in it) when the pan “is perfectly preheated and ready to cook”. An interesting concept, its usefulness I do however question. I am the first one to admit that I am not a great cook (see above), I would however argue that there is not one “perfect heat” that suits all circumstances. Pancakes vs stake? Chicken breast vs mince beef or onions vs garlic and so on.

And one last thought on that subject – it turns solid red when it is ready to go. Am I the only one who does not intuitively associate solid red with “go now”?

[Update after 20 months, April 2024: I don't have to worry about the red dot any more. It has completely disappeared - together with any non-stick properties].

I used my thermal camera and took a shot of the pan at the time when the supposed perfect preheat state was reached. So around 150 C is considered a good temperature. Which I must say felt amazingly hot to me. Way hotter than I usually let cookware get before I put food in.

The picture also shows a fairly equally distributed heat pattern which is not that easy to achieve when using a gas stove like I did. I would have liked to show the heat distribution of some of my other pans, but it became all a bit too difficult with the different sizes and rim heights. A direct comparison between the different manufacturers would hence have been unfair I think.

Overall I would say this pan has quickly become one of the family favourites and it was an instant hit the moment it came into our kitchen. Right now it has earned a solid spot in the front row of our pan cupboard. It has a lot going for it and time will tell whether it will be able to maintain its qualities. Updates will be provided. [Update after 14 months, Aug 2023: provided, see above]

Final Update April 2024 after 20 months of use: See above. Coating and non-stick properties are completely gone. And so is the pan for the most part. It was very good while it lasted. See photo updates

Well made, easy to clean, worth the price – I’ve cooked about everything I could think of in this pan and it has performed wonderfully. I recently made paella and placed the pan in the oven and it turned out perfect. We’ve used this pan with an induction cooktop only. It heats fast and the heat indicator is practical. It’s easy to clean, well balanced, the handle doesn’t heat up and it’s… Read more

light weight.

There’s no PFOA, lead or cadmium used in making this pan, I consider this is important, those metals are poisonous.

The pan is marketed as scratch resistant and it appears this is true and if treated correctly I’d say we’ll easily get a few years of hassle free cooking.

The pan is dishwasher safe which is helpful as it saves time.

I’m pleased with this pan and believe it’s worth the price.

Great for singles, couples and small families – Positives: The Tefal non-stick wok browns meats well and cooks it quickly. The wok generates heat fast and food items do not get stuck. It is also really easy to clean and not too big to store. The handle stays cool to touch and it is not too heavy so can easy pick up with one hand when full. I tried the wok on a range of different meals such as… Read more

storeys and scrambled eggs and it worked really well. Negatives: The size of the wok is just too small for a family of 4 or larger. I had to cook everything separately for a stir fry and then add it all together. If you add too much to the wok at one time it just forces the vegetables etc to release water and become soft. Therefore if you are only cooking full meals like stir fry’s for 1-3 people then this is a great size. Would also be handy if it came with a lid but this is not a deal breaker.

Heats Quickly, Evenly, and Easy to Clean – I received this wok as part of the ambassador review program. This held no bearing on the rating or review which were my own honest opinions. Firstly, I think it is important to also note the following household circumstances: Our household consists of a family of 3 adults. Our most commonly used cookware item is a wok. We have a gas oven and… Read more

stove.

Over the past few years we have had a few woks, some non-stick ones that haven’t lived up to expectations and our current one is a stainless steel wok which food sticks to and can be difficult to clean. I was excited to receive my new Tefal Wok with hopes that it would be a significant improvement to what I have previously used. To summarise, I have broken down my review into the following pros and cons:

PROS: ** Heats quickly

** Even heat distribution. There are no hot/cold patches with heat spread evenly throughout the base.

** Non stick (as the name suggests). With my old steel pan, meat and any sauces would sizzle, stick and sometimes burn unless constantly stirred. When using my new Tefal wok I was relieved to notice no sizzle, sticking and burning and I was able to leave sauces simmering on low. When cooking bacon, it was crispy as it should be and did not stick one bit.

** Easy to clean. Food wipes off with no effort or hard scrubbing required.

** Comfortable, ergonomically shaped handle to allow easy holding and carrying

CONS: ** RRP seems steep (although this range can often be found on sale at major retailers to provide better value)

** Possibly too small for a family of 4. We cook for a family of 3 and just managed to fit the ingredients of most dishes in. A 32cm+ wok might be a better size for a larger family.

** Only having used it for a few weeks, I cannot attest to its long term durability. However, it appears solid and well made which suggests durability may not be of concern.

** Manual clean - Whilst it can be put in the dishwasher, it is recommended to be washed by hand so to play it safe we are following this advice.

Overall, I had no major concerns and none of which affect its performance in any way. As such, I am very pleased with this wok and look forward to getting many more uses out of it.

Impressed and highly recommend especially for 2 people – When I received this pan to trial and test out I was looking forward to it as majority of my cookware is the Tefal brand and this sauté pan is exactly perfect for just the two of us or even perfect for 4 people. I have an induction stovetop and this pan can work on all hobs as well as induction which is great for me. The pan comes well… Read more

packaged in the box and the product is Made in France. It has a durable non-stick coating and it is ideal for stewing, braising, simmering and slow cooking. I also used it to make a stir fry as hubby was using the wok and we make separate ones as he likes his certain vegetables and I prefer others. I wasn’t sure how it would go with stir frying but it was great and I will be using to do my stir fries.

The pan size is 24cm and you get a clear lid which makes cooking a lot easier as no lifting of the lid every time you need to check.

With my other Tefal pans they had the red thermostat cooking temperature indicator which would go from red to dark but this sauté pan has an hourglass printed on the red area and once the temperature is reached on the pan, the hourglass completely disappears and the red dot turns full red which now tells me the pan is preheated and I am ready to cook. This is when I turn back the temperature to save on heat and it will also prevent overheating the pan as well.

There are no sharp edges on the cookware. The silver sturdy handle feels comfortable when gripping it. When using the stovetop, the handle does not retain any heat either.

Cooking was a breeze. This pan will be slightly heavy once you have food and you need to pick up to take to your pot stand.

One of the meals I made in the sauté pan is Apricot Chicken just for the two of us. Perfect size and everything was evenly cooked. Well this will definitely test out the pan with the non stick as this dish sure goes sticky but once I dished up the meal, the pan looked pretty clean. I have included a picture of when I took the meal out of the pan to show you how clean it looked.

Cleaning was a breeze once the pan has cooled down. I always just do a quick wipe of a paper towel for any leftover sauce and then wash up and it was so quick. No scrubbing is needed Using just a soft sponge in hot soapy water will completely clean the pan perfectly. The manufactures say that you can use some metal utensils except knives and whisks and sharp-edged utensils. I still prefer to use my wooden and durable plastic utensils as I always feel safer using them.

All in all, I love this pan as I have a bigger pan that I used to use but it was way too big for just the two of us now. This is just perfect for two of us.

Usually I would cook a corned silverside in my slow cooker so I did use the pan to cook up one and honestly, it was delicious. Perfection. Hubby wanted some caramelised onions the other night so instead of using the frypan which is slightly bigger, I just used the sauté pan and no problems. He said they tasted better.

The pan is guaranteed for 2 years against manufacturing defects but with all the products I have had over the years from Tefal, I have never had any problems at all. That is why I recommend the brand to family and friends. At the time of writing this review, I have no idea on what the actual price is and that is why I have not ticked value for money but I am sure if I knew what the price was, I love it so much it would be ticked.

Reallly impressed at all the foods I cooked in this product and will continue to cook even more.

Perfect! – I was after a good multi-use pan, with an awesome non-stick surface and a lid. I was also thinking about a pan which I could also use in a motorhome/caravan situation too. I have really loved cooking with this saucepan and it has been perfect. I'd highly recommend. The pan is fast to heat up and the indicator in the middle of the pan is great for… Read more

knowing when the pan is ready for cooking. Both factors help cut energy use. This is particularly useful for meats, where searing the outside helps keep the the juices in making for more tender eating meats. The pan is big enough without being too big. I used it for cooking a range of different foods and the high sides means it is flexible enough to enable stir frying and equally as convenient when cooking pancakes. The non stick coating is awesome, nothing sticks, nothing! Which means easier to clean too. I have got Scanpan, Swiss Diamond LeCreuset, which also have great non stick surfaces and I'd say the Tefal non stick surface is as good or maybe better. Hopefully, it ages just as well. Every time, I just wiped clean with a cloth, no need for muscle or repeated wiping. What gets hot to touch? The pan handle was always comfortable to touch, never felt too warm or like I couldn't leave my hand on the handle. However, the lid on the other hand, that's a different story. The glass lid handle does get too hot and it does become uncomfortable to hold. A few times I resorted to leaving the lid off because it was too uncomfortable to handle. I don't have to do this with other glass lids with metal handles (Scanpan). I also noticed that the glass lid creaks as the temperature varies, I don't have this problem with Scanpan. Now are either of these matters deal breakers for me? No. Annoyances yes but nothing a tea towel on the lid handle couldn't fix. The steam vent is always open, no cover. I'd prefer it to be adjustable. Note: the product was provided to me as part of ProductReview's Ambassador Program, ie. I did not buy the item.

Awesome product; recommended for every kitchen! Frying with no mess! – I was offered the chance to the try the new Tefal range and we love the product. Having tested this for 3 weeks I would definitely recommend this for any and all kitchens and also recommend this as a great present for friends and family. If I could go back in time I wouldn't have bought my other fry pans! The box and product look great. … Read more

Definitely giftable, though we are _not_ going to gift ours :) Solid feel to the Tefal pan. Good thick base. Lid handle is riveted, not screwed, which is much more hygienic than those metal rings around screw handles etc.

We don't usually do much frying; normally there is a lot of spatter to clean up every time. With this, we can't even find any spatter as it's 99.9%+ inside the lid.

The Tefal heating spot is very handy to let you know when the pan is nearing as hot as you want for cooking. Saves having the food sitting in the pan as long etc

Like other non stick solutions, and many other pots and pans, it is not advisable to put this in the dishwasher as it will discolour (according to the instructions). So, we stuck to hand washing. Our "hot" water system is only pumping out "very warm" water at the moment. Despite that, the pan washes easily, with nothing sticking to it. This is despite my failure to add oil etc for a number of dishes and/or burning stuff a little onto the pan. Though I burned stuff a touch and it cleaned off fine in warm water, don't go burning stuff to the pan as it's not recommended.

I'm not a cook and used this mainly as an excellent non spatter fry pan on a gas stove. It says this pan can be used on all types of kitchen hobs.

Dishes fried well and properly in the pan, despite having a lid on top. (I think that's a thing with a lidded fry pan which doesn't have the high sides this saute pan has)

It's especially good for popping corn, as you can see when it's all done (used a touch of oil). Other dishes I did were omelettes with no oil added (great size for a 2 egg omelette), haloumi cheese with and without a drop of oil (delicious both ways), sauteed potatoes, carrots and spam (no oil for a spatter test and this is one of the things that stuck a little to the pot).

The handles did NOT get too hot. The one attached to the pan/pot, well, avoid the two thinner bits where it attaches and stick to the thick handle. That only felt around room temperature. After frying for quite a while, I found the top handle was a little hot but not so hot I had to let go or use a tea towel to handle it.

My girlfriend loves how clean everything is now, after I fry, and though she'd initially thought we don't need any more pots and pans for the kitchen she is NOT letting it go now :)

Could this be my new favourite pan? – I have written a couple of other reviews for brand-name cooking pans, and recently I was invited to try and review this sauté pan by Tefal. I was super keen, as a friend of ours raves about her Tefal pans. So for the last two weeks we’ve enjoyed putting this pan through its paces. First impressions out of the box: The pan looks and feels solid.… Read more

The weight-to-size ratio is very similar to the other professional quality pans that I use regularly. It looks to be very well made, and I expect it will hold its heat well, given what looks like a good, thick base. The lid also looks solid and well made. It has a small hole for steam release, which is welcome.

The stainless steel handle is not quite as comfortable to hold as my other pans (which are partly insulated with a rubber-like plastic, and more ergonomically shaped). I’m not concerned by this, but I think it’s worth mentioning. Heavy, one-handled pans can be awkward to hold and carry as it is, especially when full.

The instructions say, ‘Overheating the pan may damage its non-stick properties or distort the base. Avoid overheating your cookware especially without food.’ This advice is pretty standard, and I have learnt and accepted that you can’t cook on full heat with non-stick pans. A friend of ours says she cooks with her Tefal pans on both low and high heat, and her pans are lasting reasonably well. Still, I think I will trust the instructions and avoid high heat.

The box and instructions also promote an impressive sounding feature called THERMO-SIGNAL® technology. In the middle of the pan is a rusty-red coloured circle with an hourglass icon. According to the instructions, ‘the hourglass disappears and the THERMO-SIGNAL turns full red when the pan is perfectly preheated and ready to cook.’ Fancy!

The cooking experience:

So, the family gathered around the pan as it heated up for the first time, to observe the magical disappearing hourglass. (Yes, we probably need to get out more.) And over the next few minutes we debated whether the dot was getting darker or not—it’s a little hard to tell when the change is subtle and it happens gradually. Eventually we concluded that it was as dark as it was ever going to get. The hourglass doesn’t come close to disappearing, and this feature is more fizzle than sizzle. I’m declaring this one a marketing gimmick.

The pan didn’t disappoint when it came to actually cooking some food. Dinner cooked beautifully, and cleaning up was as easy as running it under some hot water and wiping down with a sponge. But the real test of a non-stick pan is the humble egg…

I normally cook eggs with a bit of butter in the pan, even with a non-stick pan, but since these pans are brand new and we want to really test how good the non-stick coating is, we cooked our eggs with no butter or oil at all. With just the slightest encouragement, they slid around on the pan and lifted easily. (See the video.) There is virtually no egg-residue left on the pan, and again, cleaning up was a breeze.

Despite being uninsulated, the steel handle never became noticeably hot while cooking. Whether this would be a problem on high heat, I can't say, but at a low to medium cooking temperature, the handles are fine to handle with bare hands.

For me, judging a great non-stick pan is all about the durability, heat retention, and of course, the non-stick coating. Sure, the handles could be slightly more ergonomic, and THERMO-SIGNAL® was underwhelming, but this pan has it where it counts. It’s rock solid, and I could not fault the non-stick coating. Of course, two weeks isn’t nearly long enough to tell how durable the pan is over the long-term—especially how long-lasting the non-stick surface is—so I will aim to come back and update this review in a year or so. Until then, it gets an easy 5 stars, and may yet prove to be my new favourite pan.

A Very Good Premium Sautepan (with a similar quality lid) – Ambassador invite review: thoughts are my own. This has certainly solved my first-world gripe about having to start the onions in a frypan, add the chicken and then transfer every to a pot when the sauce is ready to add or have it all spill when stirring an overfilled fry pan. The same goes for stir fry dishes. With this, it's deep enough that… Read more

I only need one pot to very easily fill up four big eaters. It will do for even more if the rice/potato (whatever) is cooked separately. Saves time in washing up and even that bit less washing all adds up for the environment too.

On the stove, the pot cooks evenly and the handle remains cool. In the oven, I have only used it to 220c. The latter was when I put in a cottage pie with cheese on top. I immediately turned the oven down to 180 for the duration of the final 15-minute cook-through. I have never used the lid for oven cooking but the instructions appear (check as it's my reading only) to say I could have easily - No plastics or silicones on this premium steel/glass product.

Its non-stick surface works great and appears as premium as the rest of the product - as exceptional as it gets.

It takes a dishwasher very well - comes out like a new pin every time.

I never gave it the full five stars as I got by without it, but it is very useful and gets used twice weekly at the minimum.

Its high quality & fun – I really like this pan and there are multiple reasons. Great non stick frying pan. Heavy build and solidly made. It seems to be durable. Its not too heavy i would say ideal. It also looks great and non stick works perfectly with cooking healthy. 28cm is a good size for a family and I even use it for a small jobs and always works amazing. I would… Read more

say the heag is evenly distributed which makes cooking easy and efficient. I find I use lower heat settings due to excellent heat retention. Non- stick surface makes clean up a breeze! If you are looking for a high quality, heat efficient and easy to clean pan your after, this is the one. I have purchased Tefal Premium Frypan's for many years and I am very happy with them as they are light weight and very easy to clean with a soft cloth!

Very slick non-stick – The pan comes in a pretty, well presented box. It is selling for around $90 in multiple different national stores. Upon opening, out comes the frypan and the included information booklet. The pan itself feels sturdy and well made. It appears strong with 2 robust rivets attaching the stainless steel handle to the pan. The handle itself is not the… Read more

most comfortable in the overhand grip and the least comfortable in the neutral grip, but if you handle the pan with an underhand grip, this position feels fine to hold (see pics attached). The non stick surface feels slightly rough textured which I assume would help with the coating’s non stick properties. The red spot indicator in the middle is there, but is it of any use? Tefal call this red spot the Thermo-Signal and it indicates the right temperature for cooking, as is stated in the supplied booklet. For cooking, I wanted to test out the red spot as I have never had a pan with it before. I only use induction cooking on a high quality cooktop. The cooking zone I use is slightly larger than the pan itself, so I know I am getting full energy put into the base of the pan to heat the whole surface area evenly. I point my touchless thermometer at the centre of the pan to monitor the heat indicator red spot change colour to what Tefal recommend is the perfect cooking temperature. On the Tefal product webpage description section of this pan, they state the red spot indicates the perfect temperature for searing, which would be a much higher temp than regular cooking. The red spot didn’t turn solid until it reached around 230 degrees C. Other brand non stick surfaces, manufacturers recommend to stay under 500 degrees F, or 260 degrees C, as higher heat than this can damage the coating. But I can’t find info about the upper limit temp of this Tefal titanium non-stick coated pan. The booklet states that the pan can’t go in an oven hotter than 250 degrees C so make of this what you will. There isn’t much wiggle room for overheating when relying on the red spot indicator if that is your only go to. And this indicator is too high for regular cooking, with my own cooking habits. Most of my cooking is at a preferred surface temperature of around 180-200 degrees C. I have cooked schnitzels, bolognaise, eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausages, steak, and a pan fried toasted sandwich all in this pan. I never push the temp over 230 degrees C, no matter which pans I use. I have found that with any food items I put on this pan, nothing sticks. I have used it consistently for 3 weeks straight and it has maintained a great slick surface the whole time, and still continues to perform well after using it almost everyday. Eggs, both fried and scrambled were not an issue. Bacon did leave slight residue behind that just easily wiped off without a wash. Sausages did the same but was an easy wipe off. Pancakes were easy to slide my silicone spatula underneath to flip. Highly saucy dishes were a pleasure to cook. And the handle itself never got warm for handling. The heat just didn't transfer into the handle. All my appliances and cookware are always treated like gold. I have never used a metal utensil on any non-stick surface, including this pan, although Tefal does state that non sharp metal utensils can indeed be used. I always pre-heat the non-stick cookware on a lower heat before ramping up the heat. I even go as far as using a Chux cloth underneath all my cookware whilst cooking on the induction cooktop to prevent any scratches to the glass. I never use a spray oil on a non-stick surface, but only use bottled oils or butter. This pan washes super easy and quick without any effort when washed in warm water with a soapy sponge. Nothing has stuck to the surface or has required soaking. I never place any non stick cookware in the dishwasher. When I treat my cookware like gold, it lasts many years. My original non-stick collection has lasted just over 9 years now and still looks and performs as brand new. I see this Tefal Unlimited Premium easily going the distance when treated right. If I were to purchase new non-stick cookware, this Tefal Titanium coated collection would be on my list and strongly considered. I wouldn’t at all consider the product for the red spot indicator alone, as that just isn’t required for my own cooking habits, but for the build quality and outstanding non-stick performance, I’d definitely recommend the Tefal Unlimited Premium.

Not the best wok for traditional stir frying – I was excited to receive the Tefal Unlimited Premium Induction Non-stick Wok 28cm as I use a wok almost every day cooking for up to 4 people. I thought a smaller wok would be useful plus take up less room in the dishwasher. I have included a photo of my original wok and the Tefal one to see the difference in size. On the box, Tefal says the wok… Read more

is big enough for 4.

I have been using this wok for a couple of weeks for different types of recipes, not just stir frying.

This is a high end piece of cookware retailing at around $200 ($90 if on sale).

I am not a fan of the red dot (thermo-signal) heat indicator as over time it stops working from previous cookware I have owned.

MY EXPERIENCE USING ... 1. The wok did not work well on my largest induction hotplate, not able to reach high temperatures. All my other cookware works well on this ring. It is the closest to me so I use it the most. The Tefal wok worked well on a smaller ring and reached high temperatures quickly. 2. I found the size of the wok difficult to use for stir frying due to its' small size. It certainly is better for one or two people, not four. 3. Due to the size, food splashed everywhere when stir frying. 4. The wok is ideal for deep frying. 5. With a small base not that great as a sauté pan due to the smaller surface area. 6. Unfortunately the internal surface is not curved which makes the movement of stir frying difficult. My larger non-stick wok is curved internally and has a flat base.

PROS... 1. Can be used in oven up to 250°c. 2. Dishwasher safe. 3. Compatible with all hotplates. 4. Comfortable to hold handle. 5. Scratch resistant coating (That will need to be tested over time to agree with this claim). 6. Easy to clean. 7. Not too heavy to hold with one hand. 8. Cool to touch handle when using on hotplate. 9. Fast, even heating. See video.

CONS... 1. Too small for proper stir frying. 2. Price. 3. Not curved internally.

Adam Liaw, Masterchef winner and celebrity cook recommends a home wok with a base that measures 35cm and needs to be curved. This wok is only 28cm. A larger wok will have higher sides which keeps sauces from splashing everywhere when stir frying.

If you are right into traditional stir frying like me, this 28cm wok is not the wok to use.