Independent buying guides
For home cooks in Canada replacing a pan, a knife or a whole cookware set. Each guide answers one buying question, cites figures with the date they were checked, and shows the formula behind every cost calculator.
| Guides published | 3 | Each one answers a single buying question. |
|---|---|---|
| Calculators | 3 | Formula, units and assumptions shown on the page. |
| Sources cited | 10 | Each with the date the link was checked. |
| Photographs | 12 | Free-licence images, photographer credited. |
Each guide answers one buying question and shows the figures behind the answer.
How to choose
Hob type, diameter and the cooking you really do decide the first pan. A four-material comparison, with the sizes that match Canadian burners and ovens.
Photo: Evan-Amos · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Running costs
Price divided by meals, plus the electricity to heat it and the tax added at the till. Why the cheapest pan on the shelf is the dearest per meal.
Photo: Cullen328 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Maintenance
Seasoning, the three-minute routine after every meal, re-seasoning twice a year, and the two storage mistakes that quietly destroy cookware.
Photo: Modemac · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Each calculator shows its formula, units and assumptions. Nothing is estimated for you in secret.
Ingredient cost, consumable cost and machine cost in one figure per serving.
cost per serving = ingredient per serving + consumable per serving + (machine price - resale) / (servings per day x 365 x years)
Annual electricity cost from rated power, hours of use and your own tariff.
annual cost = power (W) / 1000 x hours per day x days per year x price per kWh, plus standby power (W) / 1000 x standby hours x days x price per kWh
What a cross-border order really costs once shipping, duty and tax are added.
landed cost = (item price + shipping) + duty + tax, where duty = item price x duty rate, and tax = (item price + shipping + duty) x tax rate
The decisions that actually change what you end up with.
1
Photo: Shixart1985 · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The method that changes the result.
0
Photo: Evan-Amos · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Energy, consumables and the cost of a year of use.
1
Photo: Douglas P Perkins (Douglaspperkins ) · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Intervals, parts and what they cost.
1
Photo: Fowler&fowler · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Filters, pods, pads and their real intervals.
0
Photo: Fowler&fowler · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Fixing it before you replace it.
0
Photo: Fowler&fowler · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Every figure in a guide is taken from a named source, with the date it was checked. Where a number is an assumption or an example, it says so in the same sentence.
We do not run paid product tests, we do not publish reader reviews, and we do not claim to have handled every product mentioned. Where a claim needs a lab or a long-term test we do not have, the guide says that plainly.
Photographs are free-licence images from Wikimedia Commons or Openverse, credited to the photographer with the licence named. Charts are drawn from the figures printed in the same guide.
This site earns money from advertising and, where disclosed, from affiliate links. That does not change the order of a comparison or the conclusion of a guide.
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