Pan & PlankCookware chosen by how you cook

Kitchenware

Running costs

Energy, consumables and the cost of a year of use.

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A round cornbread baked in a small cast-iron skillet, half of it already cut away — Cornbread baked and served straight from the skillet, the crust browned where it met the iron.Photo: Douglas P Perkins (Douglaspperkins ) · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Open source page

A shop display of Lodge cast-iron skillets hanging on pegboard above boxed Dutch ovens

Running costs

What a pan actually costs per meal, over twelve years

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.

Updated 3/11/2026 · 9 min

Photo: Cullen328 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons