Stainless Clad Fry Pan vs Cook + Create Nonstick Frying Pan: which is safer?
Made In Stainless Clad Fry Pan is the clear pick. Rachael Ray Cook + Create Nonstick Frying Pan carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
Our pick
Made In
Stainless Clad Fry Pan
PFAS grade
Excellent 100/100
Overall grade
Excellent 96/100
Verdict
Buy
Hazard flags
⚑ 1
Material
Stainless steel clad construction, no nonstick coating
Confidence
90%
PossibleClad separation or delamination over time
Rachael Ray
Cook + Create Nonstick Frying Pan
PFAS grade
Bad 15/100
Overall grade
Bad 0/100
Verdict
Skip
Hazard flags
⚑ 4
Material
aluminum with proprietary nonstick coating
Confidence
35%
PossibleTeflon-type coating fume risk (thermal decomposition)
PossibleAluminum leaching
ReportedCoating degradation and flaking
Where these two actually differ
- We flag Clad separation or delamination over time on the Made In and not on the Rachael Ray.
- We flag PTFE fume risk (thermal decomposition), Aluminum leaching, Coating degradation and flaking and Manufacturing volatile organic compounds (VOC) off-gassing on the Rachael Ray and not on the Made In.
- The Made In is Stainless steel clad construction, no nonstick coating where the Rachael Ray is aluminum with proprietary nonstick coating, which is most of the difference in these two grades.
- The gap is 85 points, wide enough that this is not a close call, and the Made In is the one to buy.
- We are less certain about the Rachael Ray grade, at 35% confidence against 90%, because it discloses less.
Both products run through the same public rubric: materials, coatings, brand disclosure, lab findings, and recalls, plus a beyond-PFAS hazard analysis. Grades are model-based estimates, not lab tests. How grades work →
More cookware: see the full ranking