Most comparisons you'll find are written by someone who sells one of the three. So is this one — we sell stainless. Which means being precise about what stainless does badly, because that's the only thing that makes the rest credible.
The three materials, one sentence each
Non-stick is a coating laid over aluminium. It doesn't stick, it doesn't like high heat, and it wears out: it's a consumable.
Cast iron is a thick block of metal that stores heat and gives it back slowly. It seasons, it lasts generations, it's heavy and it needs looking after.
Stainless is a metal with no coating. It sears hard, it has no coating to wear out — and it sticks until you learn to heat it.
The table
| 304 stainless | Cast iron | Non-stick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Searing meat | Very good | Excellent | Poor — high heat damages it |
| Eggs, pancakes, delicate fish | Needs technique | Good once seasoned | Excellent |
| Deglazing for a sauce | Excellent | Possible, but strips seasoning | Barely |
| Time to heat up | Fast | Slow — 5 to 10 minutes | Fast |
| Heat stability | Good | Excellent | Poor |
| Weight | Medium | Heavy | Light |
| Metal utensils | Yes | Yes | No |
| Dishwasher | Yes | No | Not advised |
| Acid (tomato, wine, lemon) | Yes | Avoid — attacks the seasoning | Yes |
| Maintenance | None | Dry it, oil it | Baby it |
| Learning curve | Two rules | The seasoning | None |
What each one genuinely does better
Non-stick wins on eggs
And on pancakes, omelettes, delicate fish — anything cooked gently with little fat. Nobody should pretend otherwise.
That isn't where its problem lies. The problem is that we ask it for the rest: searing, browning, deglazing. It can't, because high heat degrades the coating. So we turn the heat down to protect it, and on low heat meat releases its water and boils instead of searing.
And it has an expiry date. The coating scratches, flakes, starts to grip, and two or three years later it goes in the bin.
Cast iron wins on thermal mass
A thick steak, a whole bird, a dish that starts on the hob and finishes in the oven: cast iron is unbeatable. Its mass soaks up heat and doesn't let go when cold food lands. That's exactly what a thin pan lacks.
Its drawbacks are real. It's heavy. It takes five to ten minutes to heat. It likes neither acid — a long tomato sauce attacks the seasoning — nor the dishwasher, nor being left wet. And if the seasoning goes, you rebuild it.
Stainless wins on range and on lifespan
It sears almost as well as cast iron, heats three times faster, weighs less, and accepts acid, the dishwasher, the oven, metal utensils and a scouring pad. It's also the only one of the three that truly deglazes: the brown bits lift in thirty seconds and become a sauce.
Above all, there's nothing to maintain and nothing to replace. No layer to preserve, no ritual, no coating to wear out.
Its flaw, and it's real: it sticks when it's cold. The first few weeks take a habit — heat it empty, use the water drop test, wait two minutes without touching. It's two rules and that's all, but you do have to learn them: why stainless sticks, and the four lines that fix it.
If you only have one
You mostly cook eggs, pancakes, gentle things: non-stick. Accept replacing it every two or three years — that's the business model of the object.
You want the best sear and you don't mind the weight: cast iron.
You want one pan that does 90% of everything, every day: stainless.
If you have two
The most effective pair isn't cast iron + stainless — too close in what they do. It's stainless + a small non-stick: the stainless for everything that browns, sears and makes a sauce; the small non-stick kept strictly for eggs and pancakes, which will last far longer because you'll stop asking it for the impossible.
It's also the cheapest way to cook: one pan with no coating to replace, and a small one you stop abusing.
A note on cost per mile
A non-stick at 40 francs replaced every two years costs 200 francs over ten years, and you'll have thrown away five pans. A stainless pan bought once costs what it costs, and that's the end of it. That isn't an environmental argument, it's a subtraction.
Ours is here, 304 stainless with no coating, in 22, 24 and 28 cm, with the 25-recipe book free and 60 days to send it back, even used. If after 60 days you'd still rather use your non-stick, we refund you — which is the only honest way to sell a material that asks for two minutes of learning.
