Pan Series navigation: #4 — De Buyer Mineral B Pro (published Mon Nov 9) · the full comparison chart and category roundup land Nov 20.
I own two of these. That sentence does a lot of work in a review, so let me be specific about what it does and doesn't mean. It means the Made In Stainless Clad 12″ earned a second purchase in a kitchen that also runs All-Clad, Demeyere, De Buyer, Strata, Misen, Smithey, and Finex. It doesn't mean the pan is flawless — one of my Made In pans has already been through a warranty replacement, and we'll get to that in the drawbacks, where it belongs.
Flip the pan over first. That's where I start with any clad pan, and this one is stamped plain: MADE IN, USA, 12″, etched into the base, with the brand name repeated on the handle plate. The Stainless Clad line is made in Italy or the USA depending on the piece and the batch — Made In says so on its own collection page — and mine is the American one. The base of my pan also shows its work history: scratches, heat tint, water spots. That photo runs with this post unretouched, because that's what a used stainless pan looks like.
The construction, in Benton's terms
Five layers, four metals. Made In's own product page lists the stack: 304-grade 18/10 stainless steel, aluminum, aluminum alloy, and high-grade ferritic 403 stainless. In plain terms: a stainless cooking surface that won't react with food, an aluminum core that moves heat fast, and a magnetic stainless skin on the outside so the pan works on induction. The cladding runs through the whole pan, not just a disc welded to the bottom — that's the difference between even sidewalls and a hot ring at the base.
Numbers, all from the maker's pages: 12.5″ total diameter, 9.5″ of actual flat cooking surface, 1.75″ deep, 3.5″ tall at the rim, 20.5″ long including the handle, 3 lbs. Oven-safe to 800°F. Gas, electric, induction — all of it.
That 9.5″ cooking surface is the number to internalize. A "12-inch pan" gives you nine and a half inches of floor. Three chicken breasts fit; four crowd. Every brand plays this game, and Made In at least publishes the real figure in its size guide.
How it cooks: the responsiveness trade
My shorthand for this pan, from using it next to the rest of the wall: Made In stainless is responsive. All-Clad holds temperature better.
Those are the two ends of the stainless trade and you pick per dish. Responsiveness means the pan follows the burner — turn it down under a pan sauce and the simmer eases off before the sauce breaks; flash the heat for a deglaze and it's there. It also means the pan gives heat back up faster when cold food lands in it. A thick, retention-first pan shrugs off two cold steaks. This one dips and recovers. Neither is a defect; they're different tools, and it's why my pick for a general skillet has always been "Made In or All-Clad" with the choice made on how you cook, not on brand.
At 3 lbs it's also a pan you can actually toss food in one-handed, which matters more than spec sheets admit.
The drawbacks, prominent as promised
It is not nonstick, and eggs will punish you for forgetting it. Made In says this on its own product page — they don't recommend the pan for delicate fish or eggs — and it's the rare case of a maker's warning underselling nothing. Preheat it properly and use enough fat and it's manageable; treat it like a coated pan and you'll be soaking it.
My warranty history is part of this review. Across my Made In kit I've had three warranty replacements, and one of them was a 12″ stainless pan. Made In's customer service is the best I've dealt with in cookware — "beyond top-notch" is my phrase and I'll stand behind it — but a review that mentions the service and skips the reason you needed it isn't a review. The replacement process was painless. The pan still needed replacing.
The lifetime warranty has edges. It covers defects in materials and workmanship. It does not cover discoloration or staining (your pan will blue and rainbow with heat — cosmetic, normal, and on you), scratches from metal utensils or the dishwasher, warping from prolonged excessive heat, or thermal-shock damage from running a hot pan under cold water. Read that list before the word "lifetime" does any deciding for you.
Hand washing is the maker's recommendation. It is dishwasher-safe on paper; Made In recommends hand washing, and the base of mine shows what real use looks like either way.
Retention is the compromise, restated. If your cooking is steak after steak at maximum ripping heat, the heavy retention pans later in this series — and the Demeyere Atlantis I pick for searing — hold their temperature in a way this pan doesn't try to.
Where it lands
$149 for the 12″, direct from Made In — verified on their site the night this was written, and re-checked at publish per our standing rule. For that you get a true 5-ply pan, made in Italy or the USA, with an 800°F ceiling, a hollow stay-cool handle, and a warranty whose service desk has, in my direct experience, actually performed.
My category picks haven't moved: for sauciers, Made In is my pick outright. For a general skillet, it's Made In or All-Clad — the responsive one or the retentive one — and on Nov 20 the finale chart scores this pan against every other pan in the series, column by column, with the category winners named.
Next in the series: the chart is coming. If you're deciding between two pans from this series, that's the post to wait for — or don't wait, and argue with me in the comments about response versus retention.
Get the Nov 20 finale and the rest of the teardowns by email — the Craft Over Location newsletter signup is on the site; one email per issue, unsubscribe by reply.
