All Clad vs Five Two Essential Cookware, which is better. From what I gathered, Food 52 is an ecommerce/food/ recipe/kitchen and home website. Now they are starting to venture into manufacturing of cookware. But how does that stack up with All Clad? Their primary focus is on producing cookware. Can Food 52 triumph over All Clad at their own specialty. This review will take an in depth look at the two companies frying pan and compare and contrast them.

All Clad vs Five Two Essential Quick Summary

Categories	All Clad	Five Two Essential
Performance	Great	Great
Colors	Polished Steel	Brushed
Brand Awareness	America	America Limited
Weight	Mid Weight	Mid Weight
Country of Manufacturer	America	China
Thoughts	Classic example of how a frying pan should be. Low sides and rolled lip to promote evaporation. Handle is still horrible.	A skillet with a more traditional French Skillet Design. It lacks a rolled lip but otherwise a good Skillet. A lack of warranty information makes All Clad a better choice.
Reviewed Cookware	All-Clad D2 12 inch Fry Pan	Five Two 12 Inch Skillet

The Frying Pan

The frying pan is the workhouse in any kitchen. It is the pan that you use the most, as such it should also be one of the best. Its main purpose is to sear, carmelize, saute and fry food. Which such versatility, it is imperative that you get a good one. Some things that you should look for when buying a frying pan is the weight, handle, lip, shape and design. Some manufacturer have the wrong mindset when designing a frying pan. They try to conform the shape so that it can substitute as a saute pan. When in fact, they should be focusing on what it already does well. Luckily for both All Clad and Five Two, both have developed a pretty decent frying pan.

All Clad vs Five Two Essential Design

This section will compare and contrast the individual aspect of the two companies frying pan. From the Handle, shape and design, we will discuss who is better and why its better.

All Clad vs Five Two Essential Handle Design

The design of a handle affects how comfortable and ergonomic the pan. An unbalanced handle can put undue stress on your wrist. It can also cause pain and tenderness on your palm.

All Clad

All Clad has the worst reputation among all the high end manufacturer. They are notorious as one of the worst handle in the cookware industry. On either side of the handle, there are two sharp corners that digs into your palm. While it might not be as painful initially, if you cook for an extended amount of time, it will hurt. This is especially true for any professional chef who works 12 hours shift. The main benefit of All Clad design is the increase grip. Those edges digs into your hand so that when you turn, the chance of slipping is very low. As oppose to handles who are rounded, while more comfortable, have a tendency to rotate if your hand is greasy.
It wasn’t until recently that All Clad have decided to change up their handle design. I believe the first one was the All Clad X Thomas Keller line. That handle is actually one of the best handle that I have ever used. The next handle design is the one used in the LTD and the C4 line of cookware. Those are more rounded and fat, but still maintains those edges. While All Clad still uses their original handle design, I encourage you to find All Clad cookware with the other type of handles.

Five Two Essential

Five Two Essential Cookware had the perfect opportunity to come up with a better more comfortable handle. Yet, they decided to almost mirror copy All Clad handle. It has that same sharp edge. The only difference is that theirs is more uniform in thickness.
What is good at the Five Two Essential Cookware is how the handle is mounted. Instead of Rivets, welded the handle in place. While a good weld is very strong, I cannot judge the quality of their welds. Only time will tell how well it last. Durability aside, the rivetless design lets you clean pan with ease. Overtime, riveted cookware will develop grease marks on the rim of the rivets. Those are extremely hard to remove and unsightly.
While I think that both cookware manufacturer have horrible handles, because of the rivetless design, I would say that Five Two Essential has the better handle. However, if you manage to the All Clad Thomas Keller Cookware, get those. The handles on those are simply amazing.

All Clad vs Five Two Essential Skillet Shape

The shape of of a cookware affects the rate of evaporation, how easy it is to turn food, and the overall user friendliness. Luckily, both companies frying pan have a well develop frying pan.

All Clad (Winner)

If you read my other reviews before, you know that I regard the design of their skillet as one of the best. It has a low sloping sides that promotes evaporation and turning of the food. The rolled lip lets you pour liquid with ease. There is also a gradual rising sidewall that lets you use a whisk with ease. Honestly, they have one of the best frying pan shape in the industry.

Five Two Essential

The shape of Five Two Essential cookware is basically that of a french skillet. In fact, All Clad even has a French Skillet that looks almost the same. The corners are soft and gradual. The sidewall goes straight up which allows for easy tossing of food. The height of the sidewall are also relatively short, other manufacturer makes theirs too tall and that resembles too much like a saute pan. All in all, its a good design, a rolled lip would be preferable though.

Colors and Finish

On the Five Two Essential cookware, the finish is a brushed finished. This allows you to care for the pan with ease. Scratches which are inevitable are hidden due to the finish. On All Clad, they come in two form, brushed and polished. While scratches on the polish finish are more evident. Their cookware seems really scratch resistant. If you really want, you can upgrade to All Clad d5 line, they have a brushed finish on that line.

Lids

A good lid is tight fitting and traps moisture. They are great for preventing oil splatter and making food cook faster.

All Clad

The lids on All Clad are great. Its stainless steel so that it doesn’t transfer heat. Its tight fitting so that moisture gets trapped. It is also extremely durable. Honestly, there is no issues with their lid.

Five Two Essential

The main issue that I have with Five Two Essential lids are that its glass. I know that some people like peering into the food, but steam basically renders it useless. Not only that, I do not want to have to worry about the lid. Glass are fragile in general and one wrong move means a loss lid.

All Clad vs Five Two Essential Price

The price of these cookware are actually not that great. As MSRP you can expect to pay almost double for All Clad. But Currently at Amazon, All Clad D3 only cost 129. While the Five Two Essential Skillet cost 89 dollar. Around 40 dollar more. If you factor in the Lifetime warranty that All Clad has, its pretty much a no brainer. I tried to find the warranty on the Five Two Cookware, but was unable to locate it.

Thoughts

Both brands make pretty good cookware. However, All Clad is the clear winner in this regards. They shape, lid and value provided is much better on the All Clad. Since this is a new line of cookware by Food 52, you cant really tell how well it will last. The fact that I cant find the warranty is a little discouraging. You should also take a closer look at the manufacturer origin, while china does not mean inferior quality. The current D3 line from All Clad is made in America, while Five Two Cookware is made in China. For a 40 dollar difference, I go with All Clad.

I hope you found this All Clad vs Five Two Essential Review to be informative, If you would like to see more, please visit our Pots and Pans Review page.