[jyl]

I like the anodized aluminium Calphalon stuff. They cook well. Don't clean them aggressively, wipe them down with cooking oil, and over time the fry pans get blackened and well seasoned and even easier to clean.

I also have some French copper with tinned linings, which are nice to use but a pain to keep nice-looking. Some All-Clad stainless steel pans, which are also a pain to clean. A couple cheap aluminium pans and woks with teflon no-stick coatings, which are really convenient. I used to really like cast-iron pans, but now that we hang our pans overhead anything that would be lethal if dropped on a 5-year-old is frowned upon.

Basically, I think different types of pots / pans each have their strengths and weaknesses. If you're making roux or sauce or something subtle, you'll care about even heating. If you're frying up a mess of pork chops, you want a big pan that isn't too heavy to lift. For stir-fry you want concentrated, uneven heat. For Pasta a big cheap ugly aluminium pot is fine, for other uses something that holds heat and has a tight-fitting lid is better. Etc etc. So I wouldn't get all my pots and pans in one "design". Pick them up one at a time.