Pros of Ceramic Cookware: Easy to Use, Easy to Clean 

Ceramic-coated nonstick cookware has become increasingly popular over the past few years as an alternative to traditional nonstick cookware. And it’s easy to see why: lightweight, beginner-friendly, and available across a wide range of price points, there’s a lot to love about ceramic. Here, we share the biggest pros of this type of cookware (and why the Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™ Ceramic Nonstick collection may just be the right cookware to add to your collection). 

Slick Nonstick Surface 

Ceramic nonstick cookware like our Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™ Ceramic Nonstick line is coated in an extremely dense ceramic matrix formed through a sol-gel process and reinforced with organic compounds, creating a slippery cooking surface that even delicate foods like fish or notoriously sticky foods like melted cheese glide right off of. 

This means these pans are perfect for new home cooks just learning how to fry the perfect egg, families cooking up big weeknight meals, or health-conscious folks looking for ways to use less oil when making their favorite recipes. 

Made Without PFAS

If you’re looking for easy-to-use and easy-to-clean cookware that delivers much of the convenience and performance of traditional nonstick, ceramic nonstick is your best bet. Ceramic nonstick cookware is made without the use of PFAS—which are certified by the FDA as food-contact safe, but whose health and environmental impact have come under public scrutiny. As a result, ceramic nonstick has become an increasingly popular alternative. However, many consumers complain about the durability and longevity of ceramic nonstick: the surface is easily scratched or damaged, food-release performance deteriorates more quickly than traditional nonstick, and the pans need to be replaced more often. That is why we created Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™, a tougher and more durable kind of ceramic nonstick.  

(To learn more about how the different types of nonstick cookware are made, check out our deep dive here.)

A quick note: Whether you’re opting for ceramic nonstick cookware or are considering sticking with traditional nonstick, know that all of Circulon’s pots, pans, and kitchenware are approved by the FDA for food-contact safety.

Quick Cleanup 

That slick ceramic surface isn’t just great for ensuring your recipes come out perfectly every time; it also means ceramic nonstick cookware is extremely easy to clean. Some ceramic pots and pans, like those in our Halo with LaserDefense™ collection, even feature details like flush rivets covered in the same slick ceramic coating to ensure that food particles don’t get stuck in hard-to-reach nooks and crannies that can slow you down while doing dishes. 

Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™ Ceramic Nonstick pots and pans are also dishwasher safe (a huge pro in our book, but more on that down below), which means they’re even easier to clean than both traditional nonstick and other ceramic cookware. 

Want to know about how to properly clean and care for ceramic pots and pans? Check out our full guide here. 

Versatile Performance 

Ceramic-coated cookware performs best when used for the kind of medium-to-low heat cooking that you do every day. Most ceramic cookware, including Circulon’s Halo with LaserDefense™  pots and pans, is safe for temperatures up to about 500°F, making them great for recipes that require getting started on the stove and finishing in the oven. It’s worth noting that the lids of your cookware set may have a lower oven-safe temperature; those included with our Halo with LaserDefense™ sets are oven safe to 350°F.) Unlike many ceramic-coated cookware, Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™ pots and pans are made with an edge-to-edge steel base, so they’re compatible with all types of cooktops, including induction. 

The ceramic coating is also non-reactive, meaning that you won’t have to worry about your favorite zingy lemon chicken or Grandma’s all-day marinara sauce corroding the cooking surface and exposing your food to the metal substrate.

Beauty Meets Affordability 

Last, but certainly not least, on our list of ceramic cookware pros is how good these pots and pans look on your countertops. Unlike traditional nonstick (and other cookware materials like stainless steel or cast iron, for that matter), the ceramic coating can be infused with a wide range of pigments, giving cookware a modern color-drenched look for a fraction of the price of enamel cookware. 

Circulon’s Halo with LaserDefense™ collection is available in elegant Pearl White and earthy Sage Green. And, thanks to our innovative LaserDefense™ technology, the beautiful cooking surface is up to six times more stain-resistant than those of other nonstick cookware brands, so you can trust that your pots and pans will stay beautiful for years to come.

Cons of Ceramic Cookware: Durability Concerns & Performance Limitations 

There’s certainly a lot to love about ceramic nonstick cookware. But, like any cookware material, it does come with a few limitations and drawbacks to be aware of. Here’s what you need to know. 

Delicate Nonstick Coating

The biggest con of ceramic nonstick is that the coating most brands use is prone to scratches and chipping, resulting in cookware that doesn’t last as long as most of us would like it to. This, however, is not the case with Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™ Ceramic Nonstick cookware. 

To create a ceramic nonstick that met our extremely high standards of durability, we went back to the drawing board to re-engineer these pans from the inside out. We spent years developing the groundbreaking LaserDefense™ cookware technology: a beautiful and functional pattern of concentric circles created by tiny raised micro-dots laser-etched onto the aluminum core of the cookware. This micro-dot matrix, which the ceramic coating is applied on top of, elevates your utensils slightly above the cooking surface to provide unprecedented protection against scrapes and abrasion. The result? A new standard of durability for ceramic nonstick cookware—one that makes us confidently declare Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™ America’s Toughest Ceramic Nonstick*.   

Shorter Lifespans

The fragile coating of most ceramic nonstick means that these pots and pans have a much shorter lifespan than other types of cookware. What’s more, as our experts developed Halo with LaserDefense™, we discovered that the testing done by other ceramic manufacturers doesn’t come close to replicating the kind of wear and tear these pans experience in real kitchens. That means that the nonstick coating of low-quality ceramic cookware actually degrades faster than expected, resulting in an even shorter lifespan in the kitchens of most home cooks. 

In addition to developing all-new ceramic coating technology, we set out to create an all-new set of quality tests to get a better picture of how ceramic holds up over time when exposed to sticky and acidic foods, burns, stains, and scratches from metal utensils. What we discovered during these ultra-rigorous tests is that our innovative LaserDefense™ technology allowed the nonstick surface of our Halo collection cookware to be nine times more scratch-resistant, six times more stain-resistant, and last twice as long* as the other ceramic nonstick brands. 

Best for Medium-Low Cooking

As we mentioned above, ceramic nonstick cookware is designed with everyday home chefs in mind. That means it performs best—and will last the longest—when used at medium to low temperatures. It’s a limitation that most won’t notice. Cooking over medium heat and properly preheating your cookware will still get you a good sear on proteins and veggies. But it is something to consider if you’re the type of cook who loves to use the broiler or cook over an open flame. Doing so can damage the nonstick coating, causing it to degrade and lose its ability to easily release food much faster than it would otherwise.  

Not Always Dishwasher Safe

Because the ceramic coating found on most nonstick cookware is quite delicate, these pots and pans typically aren’t dishwasher safe. The high temperatures and harsher chemicals found in dishwasher detergents can cause the nonstick surface to break down more quickly. This, understandably, can be a drawback for busy home chefs who need the convenience of cookware they can toss into the dishwasher without a second thought. 

In addition to providing an unparalleled level of stain and scratch resistance, Circulon’s innovative LaserDefense™ Ceramic Nonstick cookware is tough enough to put in the dishwasher when you need to, though we’d still recommend handwashing wherever possible to extend the life of your pan. 

A New Standard of Ceramic Nonstick Cookware 

The Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™ Ceramic Nonstick collection features all of the pros of ceramic cookware, without the major drawbacks traditionally associated with the material. That means you can enjoy the chic look, easy food release, and quick cleanup we all love about ceramic, without worrying about sacrificing quality and durability. 

Now, the only question you should ask yourself is, Do I get the Pearl White or Sage Green set?

To shop the full Circulon Halo with LaserDefense™ Ceramic Nonsick collection, as well as our other award-winning cookware lines, head to circulon.com. 

*Compared to leading ceramic nonstick competitors in a food release test performed at 220°C/430°F, and leading competitor nonstick in staining and metal utensil tests performed at 200°C/390°F.