You'll find plenty of top-notch pot and pan sets in well-stocked kitchen stores. They may look different, but they all have the basic qualities you should be looking for. Thinner materials spread and retain heat unevenly, and their bottoms are more prone to dent and warp. This means the food will burn. An absolutely flat bottom is especially important if your stove element is electric. Larger pans transfer heat more evenly.
To determine if a pan is heavy enough, lift it up, look at the thickness of the walls and base, and knuckle it, do you hear a slight pop or a dull pop? In this case, a bang is fine. Good pans are worth the money because they control the heat better. "Good conductor" and "heavy gauge" are key characteristics of good cookware. Here's how these characteristics affect cooking:
1. The heat of reaction. Good thermal conductors, such as copper and aluminum, respond to temperature changes. They do what the heat source tells them to do, heating and cooling almost instantly.
2. Rapid heat flow. Heat flows more easily through a good thermal conductor, ensuring that the temperature of the cooking surface equalizes quickly.
3. Uniform thermal diffusion. Thicker pans have more distance between the cooking surface and the heat source. As the heat flows to the cooking surface, it is distributed evenly because the heat spreads as it flows.
4. More calories. Mass retains heat (heat is vibrating mass, so the more mass vibrating, the more heat). The more pans to heat, the more heat the pan can hold, so there is more constant heat for better browning, faster cuts, and hotter frying.