Le Creuset

Information for the Equipment Newsgroup

The pans pictured are not the white enamed pans.
The insides are of the sand/glass type of coating.

I bought three red Le Creuset pans in the 1980's - one small, one medium sized, and one large.
The small one and the middle one cracked sometime in 1989-1990 when I really started using them more regularly.

I rarely used the largest one until about 1989. After I started using the largest one regularly in 1989, the coating started coming off. [The coating had started coming off my middle-sized, as well, before it cracked.} The coating in the small one never came off. The pans were use almost consistently with wooden spoons. I was using no rubber spatulas at that time.

I used the largest pot in 1989 and 1990 on a regular basis. I inquired at a kitchen shop about the guarantee on it about the time when the coating was as it is in the pictures. The clerk gave me a phone number to call about it's replacement. As I recall, the charge for replacement was going to be about $75 for the one pot. This was not postage. It was a toss-up whether to spend the $75 for a replacement as I had had such bad luck with them, and I wasn't sure I wanted any more Le Creuset pans, so I put the pan away and it's been sitting ever since.

When I see demonstrations on TV using these pans/pots, I assume they are always using relatively new pots. Everytime I see them in a kitchen shop somewhere where a clerk is handy, I will ask about the wearability of these pans, and they always assure me that they will last for years and probably more than my lifetime. If I do mention that mine lasted about 2 years, they have a look of disbelief generally. I scoot off like a complaining crank!

I have taken some pictures so that the newsgroup can see what I am talking about. I feel that it is time to put this question to a test, or to bed to rest.

I realize that this pot can still be used as it is probably cast iron, and I have probably eaten a lot of the sand/glass coating. I think this is what the coating is, to the best of my knowledge. However, my best thought is NOT to use this pot in its condition as I know the coating is "going somewhere" if I continue using it.

At any rate, it was an expensive set of pans for the amount of use I got from them. I know that I had them for a long time, but the use was minimal compared to the damage.

I'd like to know what you think. Thanks.

Page Created December 16, 2003
Page last accessed or updated: December 17, 2003