Four teardowns in, the Pan Series has a shape. This post puts that shape on one chart — the same chart in the feed post — and walks it column by column. There are no new facts here. Every number below was already verified and published in the individual teardowns, and where a teardown never published a number, this chart says so instead of filling the gap.
Start with construction, because construction is the argument. The Misen traditional nonstick is an aluminum body wearing a 3-layer, PFOA-free PTFE coating, with a titanium-infused plasma primer underneath doing the adhesion work. The Strata Carbon Clad is a true 3-ply at 2.8 mm total: carbon steel where food touches it, aluminum in the middle, stainless steel outside. The Misen Carbon Nonstick is also a 3-ply, nitrided carbon steel around an aluminum core. The De Buyer Mineral B Pro skips cladding entirely — one 3 mm body of iron at 99% and carbon at 1%, with a riveted cast stainless handle. Four pans, four different answers to the same question.
Weight is where the chart gets honest about its own limits. The Strata is 2.4 lb and the De Buyer is 4.6 lb — those were in their teardowns. Neither Misen teardown published a weight, so those two cells read "not in gated specs." That looks like a gap in the chart. It is actually the point of the chart: a reference post you save is only worth saving if it refuses to invent the cells it doesn't have.
Oven limits spread wider than most people expect. The coated Misen stops at 450°F, the De Buyer Pro at 500°F, the Strata carries a 600°F recommended maximum, and the Carbon Nonstick pan is rated to 1,100°F. Read that row carefully, though, because the highest number belongs to the pan with the worst owner experience in this kitchen.
That is the drawback row, and it is the row that matters. The traditional nonstick's drawback is its category: the coating is a wear item, release fades, and when the pan is done, it is done — and Misen has discontinued it, so there is no price to list and no buying another one. The Strata's drawback is patience: it arrives unseasoned, peak stick-resistance takes time and cooking to build, and acidic foods can set the seasoning back. The Carbon Nonstick's drawback is Colin's own arc, in his words: it is not as nonstick as they say — slick out of the box, very sticky after the first cooks, and a very steep learning curve to get it back, with conditioning after every cook as the maker's prescribed fix. The De Buyer's drawback is the daily tax: at 4.6 lb it is the heaviest pan here with a published weight, and the care is hot water, soap kept away, never the dishwasher, dried fully and oiled before it goes away.
Prices, stated exactly as the teardowns stated them: the traditional nonstick has none — discontinued. The Strata's $119 is what Colin paid on Amazon in July 2026, not a current list price for the 10.5 inch. The Carbon Nonstick's line pricing runs through the 8 inch at $109 — the line's entry price, not a claim about Colin's pan, whose size this series has never stated. The De Buyer 11 inch lists at $145.
Colin's verdicts sit underneath all of it, unchanged: he likes the traditional nonstick, he hates the Carbon Nonstick, and the Strata and the De Buyer are his top tier. No category winners are declared here — picks are the finale's job. On November 20, the finale completes this chart across every pan the series features and adds the best-in-category roundup, with his picks only. Until then, this is the halfway reference.
The four teardowns behind every cell:
- #1 Misen traditional nonstick: https://www.craftoverlocation.com/the-toolbelt/misen-traditional-nonstick-skillet-teardown
- #2 Strata Carbon Clad 10.5": https://www.craftoverlocation.com/the-toolbelt/strata-carbon-clad-105-teardown
- #3 Misen Carbon Nonstick: https://www.craftoverlocation.com/the-toolbelt/misen-carbon-nonstick-teardown
- #4 De Buyer Mineral B Pro: https://www.craftoverlocation.com/the-toolbelt/de-buyer-mineral-b-pro-teardown
