Our Place’s cookware is famously good looking. The brand’s newest launch, the Essentials Collection, is just as stylish (if not more) than the Always Pan that has become ubiquitous on only the most Instagram-friendly hobs and inspired hundreds of lookalikes.
Luckily, this set is more than just pretty. It’s the brand’s biggest set to date, an offering that is ‘designed to declutter’ and comes with sleek pan sorters as standard, and might feature its best non-stick surface in the form of a ceramic interior.
In a nutshell
If you want to perform a full reset of your cookware, this is the set I’d recommend. It’s effortlessly smart and sleek, with a covetable range of colours to choose from.
The non-stick is ultra-impressive thanks to the ceramic material and it’s a big relief that the surface, like Our Place’s other pans, is non-toxic. Clean up is easy thanks to the super slide-y surface too, though putting these expensive pans through the dishwasher is not recommended which will be off putting for some.
While I opted for the 11-piece set, which is perfect for smaller kitchens, the scope of the collection includes a 17 and 21-piece version. The cream colour of these pans fits so well with my kitchen scheme but if it’s a little too dangerously close to white for cooking with, you can pick from Terracotta, Blue Salt or Char.
This is a versatile set, especially with the fact it’s oven-safe and the included storage racks also go a long way to defeat cookware clutter in cupboards. I’m also a huge fan of the glass lid on the frying pan.
Product specs
- Materials: Thermakind ceramic nonstick coating, pressed aluminum body, brushed metallic finish knob on lids
- Metal utensil safe? no
- Dishwasher safe? no (hand wash only to preserve nonstick coating)
- Pan sizes: 27cm Fry Pan, 28.L Saucepan, 6.6L Stock Pot, Nesting Stainless Steel Strainer (for Stock Pot), Storage System x 2
- Warranty: 2 year limited warranty
- RRP: 11 Piece Set £275
Getting started
In the last year, I’ve grown very attached to my Our Place Titanium pan (as per my review, I think it’s the best non-stick pan out there, though it’s a hefty investment). I’ve interspersed my use of it with testing other cookware, but I’ve returned to it time and time again.
I’ve recently moved house and been faced with the conundrum of building a capsule collection of cookware for my new smaller kitchen. So when the offer of reviewing this Our Place set landed it was very enticing prospect, with the promise that there’s a ‘Place for Everything’ thanks to the included storage units too.
With the 11-piece set you receive two organisers, made from recycled plastic, each with removable side and interior walls. It gives you a space for three lids and three pans and it’s useful you can break them up to stash them into two separate places. The biggest pot and strainer are too big to fit into the system however, which is a little bit annoying.
Frying pan
If you’re anything like me the pan you’ll probably use most is the 27cm Fry Pan. This comes with a glass lid, which is great for versatility, and like the other pieces in the set has an ‘OP crest’ stamped onto the handle (or a ‘branded silicone node’ if you will). You can pop this out for a more thorough clean.
One of my favourite things about these pans is how lightweight they are. I’ve proclaimed my love for the Our Place Titanium Pan many times but it is comparably much heavier than this. If you struggle with hefty pans, there’s a huge benefit to picking ceramic over stainless steel.
This is a great grab and go pan for eggs of all kinds. It heats phenomenally quickly (I was using it on induction for scrambled eggs but have also used it on an electric hob) and the non-stick is simply fantastic.
It’s great for sautéing too, with less oil needed to prevent sticking. This carrot, spring onion and celery base mix for a vegan wellington I was making needed hardly any oil to cook initially before I added in mushrooms.
In this recipe it’s crucial to allow the mushrooms to cook off their natural moisture so that they can brown and caramelise. In a bad non-stick pan I’ve had this go very wrong, but it was seamless with this one with enough heat to do the process in the time that the recipe gives (about 5 minutes).
I also used this pan for garlic mushrooms, which involves a similar process of caramelisation. They cooked in good time and were easy to move from the pan before I used it to make an omelette to go alongside.
This pan is a great size for an omelette and was so easy to flip over and get onto my plate.
Small saucepan
This saucepan comes with a sturdy lid and is lipped on one side. It heats quickly for boiling and the non-stick surface comes in so handy for making sauces or a roux.
I made a cheesy leek sauce by softening the leeks in hot water and then whipping up a roux and adding the leeks back in. It’s a faultless pan in terms of the non-stick – even if you accidentally have the pan a little too hot, it’s very forgiving.
Some excellent saucepan sets I’ve tried have measurements on the inside of the pan which can be very helpful for cooking rice and pasta and could make a nice addition here.
I also used this saucepan to parboil a good amount of potatoes for roasties. My method is to fill the pan with cold water and bring to a boil. Though this saucepan looks small it can hold an impressive amount.
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All in all, this is a handy saucepan of a great size that will fit the bill for most boiling jobs and for cooking carbs of all varieties. Some might wish the lid was glass with this one though to make it easier to see how their rice is getting on.
Saute pan
This stunningly easy one-pot sausage lasagne (via Olive) is one of my favourite treat dinners. The recipe starts with frying carrots, celery and onion, and for the job, I chose the sauté pan, which is easily my favourite from this set. The two handles on either side make it so easy for transferring to the oven, and it’s the perfect depth for multiple portions.
Sautéing the vegetables, browning the meat and bringing together the bolognese sauce is all done in this one pan and there was plenty of space for this all to come together. I part cooked some lasagne sheets in the set’s saucepan and added those in too in strips.
This is a hob to table recipe and luckily, all the pans in this collection are oven-safe up to 232°C (the glass lid is only safe up to 220). After I’d added mozzarella to the top of the lasagne mix it was ready to pop this pan into the oven for about 30 minutes.
The somewhat unusual handle shape is suprsingly easy to handle and though this pan is quite big, it still slotted into my oven with ease. When it was time to remove it, the double handles help a lot to avoid any mishaps.
The mozzarella browned really well and though there was some slight browning around the edge of the pan, this cleaned off in an instant.
What’s it like to clean?
The biggest takeaway from cooking with this pan set is how easy it was to cook with thanks to the ceramic non-stick. That huge benefit also crosses over into this cleaning section, as the incredibly slippery surface also makes it a dream to clean as there’s rarely much to scrub off.
The care instructions for this set is to exclusively hand wash it, which might spell trouble for those very attached to their dishwashers. If this is you, then the Our Place Titanium Collection might be a better choice – those pans come out of the dishwasher looking even better than when you started cooking.
How does it compare to similar pan sets?
At first glance this set reminded me of American cookware brand Caraway, which sells pots and pan sets for a crazy amount of money (like this 12-piece set for £598 via Amazon). I haven’t tried Caraway but this set has a lot of the same specs (non-toxic, ceramic and available in different colours) and is a lot cheaper, especially when on sale – at the time of writing it’s £275. That’s still mightily expensive, I know, but I also think the Our Place set is a lot better looking.
Another similar set I’ve tried is the Soho Cookware Set from ProCook (£102.40). It’s fabulously affordable, has a great range of pan sizes and the non-stick works well (if not as incredibly well as the Our Place set). On a budget however it’s a fantastic alternative.
Should you buy the Our Place Essentials collection?
I’ve really enjoyed testing this set and experiencing all the benefits of ceramic as a cookware material. The non-stick coating is excellent, though you have to be so vigilant with not using metal on it, and the selection of pans and included storage system gets the seal of approval from me.
I haven’t used this set for long enough to give you a definitive verdict on this set’s durability, which is a known problem with other sets coated with ceramic. Time will tell if this set can hold up to everyday cooking in the coming months.
All in all, I can wholeheartedly recommend this pan to anyone who wants to do a full reset of their cookware cupboard – it looks great and is a dream to cook with. It’s also the most attractive option out there if you’re design-conscious. If you’re not that fussed, there are cheaper options (like the aforemnetioned set from ProCook) that you could opt for.
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