All-Clad D5 5-Ply Brushed Stainless Metal Stockpot 8 Quart Induction Oven Broiler Protected 600F Pots and Pans, Cookware Silver

2nd most-used cookware I own!
Over the years I’ve exchanged almost all of my pots and pans from whatever brand I purchased at the time, to All-Clad d5 or stainless. I have been extremely pleased with every piece. That said, there are certain of my assortment that get the most frequent use, and this 8-quart pot is the #2 most used (10″ skillet is #1). After it became available I began getting the d5 series over the standard stainless series because I like the d5’s flanged lip better than the standard series straight lip. Also, the d5, as the name implies, is actually 3 stainless steel layers clad with 2 aluminum layers between them, for a total of 5. The standard is 2 stainless layers and 1 aluminum one. In my experience, the difference is relatively minor for my cooking, but the d5 does seems to be slightly better at heat evenness across the pan. It does everything well that you’d expect of a high-quality pot: soups, stews, chili, all at medium temperatures yielding thorough cooking and no burning. However, when you want the heat, it can take it. I also use this pot as a Dutch oven, browning meat at higher temperatures to sear and to create fond, for sauteing, for scalding milk, boiling pasta, and so on. It accomplishes anything I throw at it very well. I’ve even made a huge amount of pastry cream in this with no difficulty.It is advertised as dishwasher-safe, and I’ve washed it many dozens of times this way with no damage or discoloring to the beautiful stainless finish. That said, recognize this is a huge pot with substantial handles that will take up over half your bottom dishwasher rack.As to handling, again it is a large pot. It is substantial in its own right, but filled with hot liquids it is not something easily manipulated with one hand. That means pouring out of the pot is strictly a two-handed effort, and scraping the sides of, say, mashed potatoes into a bowl while holding the pot in one hand is a non-starter.I use natural gas and induction cooktops. I’m using the induction more and more so I wanted cookware that was compatible. Most stainless is alloyed with nickel which kills a magnetic field and is therefore useless for induction. The middle and inner stainless layers of this pot too are alloyed with nickel for the added strength and ability to shine the surface. However, the external layer avoids the nickel and therefore it is this layer which translates the induction field into heat, which is then conducted through the other 4 layers into the inside of the pot evenly, and effectively. I can fill this pot with 6 quarts of cold tap water at about 52ºF, and get it to the boil on the induction hob in under 4 minutes. Even my 18,000-BTU gas burners at highest setting cannot do better than 22 minutes on the same test. The point is this pot works on all heat sources except, hopefully obviously, microwave.My latest trick for this workhorse of a pot is to use it for sous vide cooking. I place the pot on the induction hob, attach an immersion heater/recirculator to the side, add desired amount of cold water, and turn on both the immersion device and the induction cooktop until the desired water temperature is reached, taking only a few minutes to do so. Then I turn off the induction unit and the immersion unit maintains the temp on its own. Just add food sealed from the water and get some amazing fish, veggies, steaks, ribs, chicken and duck, etc. Because of the immersion unit, the pot’s lid won’t fit but for longer sous vide cooking where evaporation could be a factor, I just cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.All in all, a great pot that fails at nothing and excels at everything better than anything else I’ve used in decades of home cooking.UPDATE 3/22/2018 – I’ve owned and heavily used this pot now for almost 4 years. Today the pot is as strong, shiny, and useful as the day I got it. I almost never wash it by hand, and it has been through the dishwasher hundreds of times on pots-and-pans cycles to no ill effect. I see this essential pot lasting a very, very long time. All-Clad hit it out of the park with this pot.

Great pots for induction
What I love: The All-Clad D5 line works perfectly with our Bosch Induction Cooktop. These are holding up in the dishwasher, and come clean without rinsing when we switched to Cascade Complete dishwasher packs. I only use silicone and wooden utensils in them, and after 1 year the pots and pans still look brand new. The times I had baked on food that didn’t come off, the Magic Eraser sponges removed the burnt pieces without scratching. (The sponges also work flawlessly on Corningware, as well.) I really like these pans.What I don’t: I had one pan out of a different set of D5 pots that showed light pitting after first use of boiling water. I tried to return it and All-Clad told me it was from acidic foods and wouldn’t take a return. (On the other hand, I’ve used D5 for over a year with many all-day tomato pasta sauces and none showed pitting. They are still flawless.) So, customer support is the standard downhill out-sourced garbage that you would expect as of late.

Great quality of All Clad
This pot was what I expected from All-Clad. Professional quality heavy stainless steel pot, that performs exceptionally well. Easy to clean, but heavy.

good product
buy it its way worth the money.

Love it! Exactly the size I was looking for. A good quality 12 qts pot is really difficult to find. This one works well with my induction cooktop. Too bad Amazon did not carry polished stainless so I had to get brushed stainless. The only comment is that the handles are a bit skinny considering this is 12 qts pot and it gets quite heavy when filled with food or soup. All-clad should use the same thick handle from D5 8 qts pot with dome lid. With that said, this pot is easily my “go to” pot whenever I need to make a large pot of anything. Undeniably this is a pricey pot, it kinda burned a hole in my wallet but consider this an investment, you feel confident feeding your family foods that is cooked in quality cookware without harmful material. This is a nice solid pot that you know will easily last a life time or two!

Cooks well, cleans easy, looks great.And based on my previous experiences with this type of All-Clad pot, lasts forever.High price is quite acceptable if you use it often enough.