Personally, I love my Rachael Ray Hard Anodized Cookware Set. It is really cool to cook in and it cleans up easily. I particularly like the silicone handles. I am famous for grabbing a pan without potholders; so they keep me from getting burned so often.
There are some advantages of hard anodized cookware as well as some features that some people might classify as disadvantages.
This type of cookware is very durable. Most of them are both oven and broiler proof which makes it more versatile than other types of cookware. The set that I got has all of most commonly used sizes of pans including a Dutch oven which I use all the time. They are also great for sauteing.
Hard Anodized cookware is made out of aluminum which is a great heat conductor which results in the cookware heating quickly and uniformly. There is concern about aluminum reacting to acidic food which can cause the metal to leak into the food. To keep that from happening, the cookware goes through a process that creates a non-porous, non-reactive film over the aluminum cookware sets. Anodized cookware has been determined to be safer than regular aluminum pans and the anodizing process makes it extremely resilient.
This type of cookware won’t scratch, dent or burn. Because it is coated and non-porous, it is way easy to clean. It is stick-resistant and unlike non-stick cookware, you can use metal utensils with it. You do not have to worry about the coating getting in your food, which is nice.
The disadvantages of this type of cookware are that it is not dishwasher safe and the handles get extremely hot. That’s probably why the Rachel Ray design uses silicone handles. This type of cookware also cannot be used on an induction range or induction oven. If you don’t know what that means, you probably don’t have one. It’s a fancy stove that professional cooks and chefs use when the heat is generated in the pan rather than from the stove top.
If you haven’t used hard anodized cookware, you don’t know what you are missing. I wish I would have tried it long ago because it is pretty amazing. It is fairly inexpensive when compared to other types of cookware and in my opinion, it is much better than non-stick cookware. There are several brand of anodized aluminum cookware. You might want to check out some reviews before you buy a set.