That cheap nonstick pan started flaking after 3 months

I bought a $12 nonstick skillet from the discount store and it worked great until little black flakes started showing up in my scrambled eggs. Had to toss dinner and order pizza instead of dealing with it. Anyone else have a pan just fall apart on them like that?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

kelly_miller805mo ago

And @hugo_singh nailed it with the thermal expansion thing, but nobody's mentioned how cheap pans often have a rough surface that actually speeds up the coating peeling off your spatula scraping across it.

5

hugo_singh5mo ago

The real problem is those cheap pans aren't even aluminum underneath. They're stamped steel with a thin nonstick coating that can't handle thermal expansion. You heat up the pan and the metal expands at a different rate than the coating. Plus most discount store pans skip the bonding layer that helps the coating stick. I bet if you looked at the packaging it didn't even say "PFOA free" because they use the cheap stuff that degrades faster. Your best bet is a restaurant supply store pan, they're like $15 but made way better and last years.

2