A good skillet is the cornerstone for every kitchen. Find the right one, and the rest of your kitchen falls into place. Its easy to overspend in this area which is why I wrote this report on the Best skillet under $100.
The first thing you’ve got to decide is size. Skillets come in many different sizes and you’ll spend a lot more money for the larger ones. Popular sizes include:
- 8 inch skillet
- 10 inch skillet
- 12 inch skillet
- 14 inch skillet
I always believe that you should go big or go home, so I’m going to focus on the 12 and 14 inch skillets in this guide today. After all, you can always use the larger skillet to cook small food, but you can’t use a smaller skillet to cook larger foods!
The next step is to identify the material that the pan is going to be made out of because this will affect the price as well. Basically, the two main choices that you’re going to run up against are:
- Stainless Steel
- Non-stick (usually hard anodized aluminum)
For the purposes of this guide I’ll try to mix it up with both those options. Personally I like 18/10 stainless steel, but I recognize the argument for a good nonstick hard anodized aluminum pan as well; and to each his own, I always say.
Finally, I need to say a quick word about the different brands and manufacturers that are available. You have quite a few to choose from, but in my opinion the best of the best are:
- All-Clad
- Mauviel Copper
- Cuisinart
- T-Fal
- Farberware
- Calphalon
- KitchenAid
- Lodge
I’ve sort of put these in the order that I like them myself but really any of these brands offer options that are fairly decent at a broad range of different prices.
Putting it all together…
So now we get down to the nitty-gritty of it, which skillets are the best under $100? My top three are as follows:
- All Clad Stainless-Steel 12-Inch Fry Pan with Lid
- Calphalon One Nonstick 12-Inch Covered Fry Pan
- Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Fry Pans
All Clad Stainless-Steel 12-Inch Fry Pan with Lid
At $78 you can’t ever go wrong with All-Clad. It is made of stainless steel with an aluminum core and a stay cool stainless steel handle and lid. Out of 40 customer reviews I give it a solid 95% A rating.
Calphalon One Nonstick 12-Inch Covered Fry Pan
At $60, this is a nice nonstick option. It comes with a tempered glass lid and a long handle that is very comfortable to use. The pan itself is made of heavy gauge aluminum construction with a nonstick surface. With 33 customer reviews I give this one a 94% A rating.
Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Fry Pans
At $44 this is another 18/10 stainless steel option with mirror finish and an aluminum encapsulated base. It is oven safe as well up to 550° and supposedly dishwasher safe too though I highly recommend washing it by hand. With 133 customer reviews, I give this a solid 93% A rating.
So there you have three of the Best Skillets Under $100. When it comes right down to it, any one of them will work very well for you and if I had to pick just one, I would pick the all clad stainless steel 12 inch Fry Pan every single time because it will probably last the longest. Of course, it costs the most as well so keep that in mind.
