Our Place Pan Review: Never Use Another Pan Again

As a fairly adept at-home chef, I’m always looking for ways to streamline my cooking process. And hopefully reducing the number of dishes I have to do at the end of the meal. So, when I found the Our Place Always Pan, which is supposed to replace 8 different pieces of cookware, I was intrigued.

I placed my order on a Friday and by Tuesday everything was on my doorstep. I have to say that I was a bit surprised by how much packaging this product came with though. This is especially true of the steamer basket and the pan.

The upside is that everything consisted of cardboard, paper, or biodegradable bags. But, it still seemed like it could have required a lot less packaging to get this product to me.

This pan isn’t really just a pan, but also comes with the following additions:

• Nesting beechwood spatula with integrated spoon rest
• Stainless steel steamer basket
• Modular lid that can open and close to let off steam
• Pour spouts
• Spruce wooden steamer (we had to purchase our separately, but sometimes they run promotions where they give it away for free with purchase)

Once we unboxed everything and gave it a quick wash with soap and water, we were ready to get cooking.

Ground Chicken

We decided to put the Always Pan and its many accessories to the test through our regular family dinners. The first thing we tried was just browning up some ground chicken. As expected, no issues.

We set the heat to medium, which is also the maximum recommended by the brand to protect the pan. Even with the relatively low burner temperature it still got the pan plenty hot enough. I was pleased with the evenness of the cooking temperature. And as expected, the non-stick ceramic made cooking even more of a joy since nothing came even remotely close to sticking.

Rice

Next, I cooked a rice dish in the pan, which did extremely well. The pan is more than deep enough to boil, simmer, and cook the rice without any issue. The included pan was sturdy, well-designed, and easy to use. It also easily kept steam in when I needed it, or I could just rotate part of the lid around to allow steam to escape.

Quesadilla

After that test, we decided to try making a quesadilla in it for lunch one afternoon. For this specific dish, our goal was to achieve a crispy brown on the outside of the tortilla while balancing melting the cheese with the meat inside. 

As with other foods we had cooked, it handled it without any issue. We found the crisping to be extremely even and consistent. However, it did take a little bit longer to cook due to the fact that you aren’t supposed to cook at higher heats in this pan. But, given the performance, it’s hard to complain too much.

Being able to cook a wide variety of food types is a big selling point for the Always Pan, from my perspective. This added diversity helps to make the price point a little less harsh.

The clean-up was also incredibly quick and easy. A big part of this is due to the ceramic coating. So, quite literally, all we had to put was just a drop of soap and a quick wipe down with a sponge and we were done. 

Cleaning the exterior of the was just as easy. I got a little grease on the side of the pan, which I thought might stain the coarser exterior surface, but I was surprised to find it did not.

On a side note, if you have an induction cooktop like I do, make sure to align it to the correct sized burner. The pan itself is suitable for what appears to be a larger burner ring. However, the physical metal portion that contacts the induction burner is smaller. As a result, it would only work on the medium size induction burners on my stove.

With regard to the wooden spatula, I loved that it rested on the handle, with the food end hanging over the pan itself. This was an ingenious way to not have to make a mess on the counter with the stirrer.

Bamboo Steamer - Char Siu Bao Buns

The last product we tried was the wooden steam basket. I have never used this style of steamer before so naturally I had to attempt one of its most popular recipes that it is specifically known to make – Char Siu Bao Buns.

I attempted this dish twice a week apart. After watching that haunting Pixer short of the same name, I set out to make my very own bao children. My first attempt yielded edible but horrible looking bao that is entirely the fault of my dough-making skills. Honestly, after struggling so hard with the forming of the raw bao buns, the steaming process was an absolute breeze.

The only minor issue I had in both attempts was the paper liners they give you start to curl in the steamer but luckily you have those those long chopsticks to get them back into place. Other than that, it was a very smooth cooking process. I had to refill the water in the bottom of the pan for the later batches and it reached steaming temperature again very quickly. I was a little worried about the white layer of mineral deposits left in the pan after steaming all that water. But it washed out with virtually no effort.

There’s not much more to say other than I was VERY proud of myself for being able to make this traditional dish that I always that would be out of reach for an amateur cook like me. I literally interrupted our team’s important slack conversation to say “look at my buns!” with the biggest grin on my face.

However, I do wonder how this type of a basket will hold up long term. It just seems like wood over heat / steam for any long duration is not going to go so well. But, after two uses there’s no signs of wear or tear so far!

Ultimately, we really enjoyed the experience of using this pan and all of the associated parts. And it has become one of our kitchen staple pieces of cookware. I just wish they had a slightly larger option, because a 10” diameter pan is a bit smaller than I’m used to using for my regular meals.

The Our Place Always Pan was developed in LA, but is made in one of their factories in China. The brand claims that they chose this specific female owned and operated facility due to their high-quality craftsmanship and attention to ethics. This factory is touted to have top notch quality and concerns for their employees.

When Our Place was choosing the facility that would produce this specific product they went to 15 facilities in total. They have performed regular site visits to ensure the product quality and employee ethics are being upheld. In addition to that, Our Place also validates this by:

• Interviewing on-site teams
• BSCI audits
• ISO audits
• SA8000 audits
• Sedex audits

While all of these are fantastic steps towards continual quality control, the brand doesn’t give any clearer indication as to which of these are performed at this particular plant. It’s nice to see a company that is working diligently to offer transparency, but they could use a little more with regard to clarity.

Even though this aspect isn’t as clear as I’d like to see, it does appear that they have created a high-quality product. 

The outer shell is made of cast aluminum for a lighter weight product that heats up faster for more even cooking. The interior is made of a non-toxic, environmentally-friendly, ceramic coating. This coating is silicon based and contains none of the following toxic ingredients:

• GenX Chemicals
• PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic Acid)
• PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene)
• Lead
• Cadmium
• Toxic Metals

According to the brand, this type of coating has not only been approved by the FDA, but is currently considered the safest non-stick coating on the market. When it comes to cookware, these aspects are extremely important with regard to function, performance, quality, and longevity.

While the Our Place Always Pan does come with a much higher price tag than most regular pans, there are some justified reasons for this. This pan replaces 8 different products, including:

• Fry Pan
• Non-stick Pan
• Skillet
• Steamer
• Saucier
• Saucepan
• Saute Pan
• Spatula
• Spoon Rest

Just those 8 different things alone would probably cost well more than the $145 price tag, if they are quality products. The fact that this company is working to create quality products with quality control measures in place helps to instill confidence in the brand. 

And it doesn’t hurt that they stand behind their products 100%, so if you aren’t happy with the product for any reason, they will figure out a solution.

If you want to learn about new collections and special deals, then signing up for the Our Place email list is the way to go. Usually, they’ll send you a discount code off of your first order once you sign up also.