Kitchen

Pan-tastic Care: How To Keep And Maintain Your Kitchen Pans

by Kevyn Gohu
April 24, 2025

Here’s how to care for and ensure your kitchen pans last a lifetime!

We love our kitchen pans. They make all our delicious food, and all the good ones like Cuisinart, All-Clad, Tefal, and Le Crueset are not easy to replace if we destroy them. Unfortunately, they do get worn out, especially when we cook and wash them everyday. But there is a way to make sure they last a lifetime. Here are some tips for some pan-tastic care:

1. The Water Bead Method

The water bead method is usually for stainless steel pans, which helps ensure that food doesn’t get stuck on the pan and we don’t have to scrape and scratch the pan later! Place the stainless steel pan on the stove and wait for it to heat up. Then, splash some water droplets onto the pan. If the water droplets turn into beads, that means the pan is hot enough for cooking, and we can start adding our oils, meats, etc.

2. Silicon utensils only!

Silicon has a high melting point, making it perfect for cooking utensils. They’re also soft, which means they won’t scrape pans with Teflon or ceramic coating, preserving the pans for a lifetime. The best part is, they’re usually common and easy to buy online.

3. Room temperature water for cleaning pans

We were taught that putting water in the pan would help soften the debris that’s stuck to the pan. But don’t use ice water! It would subject the pans to temperature shock, making the material more brittle as time passes by. Besides, if the water’s cold, it’ll take time for the water to heat up enough to soften the debris.

4. Keep the pans out in the open

It may look cluttered, but keeping the pans out in the open, especially after using them, helps prevent rust and mold from building up. This is especially common for pans with grooves, ridges, and corners that are difficult for the typical sponge to reach. After wiping them up, leave those kinds of pans out to air dry for thirty minutes before storing them back in the cabinet.

5. Use a plastic scraper

We know some sponge brands sell foams specifically for scraping off food bits. But those can actually damage the pan because the material it’s made off might be too abrasive. Online or in some grocery stores, they sell plastic scrapers that are less harsh against the pan’s material but still get the job done.

What some even do is they just use the silicon spatula as the scraper before washing it.

6. Don’t soap your seasoned pans

Some pans need seasoning like a wok so that the food won’t stick, and it also makes sure the metal doesn’t get worn out over time. What some parents do is that they make the mistake of soaping the pan, which removes the seasoning, requiring them to “season” it again.

With proper care, your kitchen pans will last a lifetime!

Kitchen pans are not fun to constantly replace. They come in different qualities, and not all of them conduct heat properly, changing cooking time and making it harder for us to cook the perfect meal. Plus, we don’t want to spend on a new pan all the time. It doesn’t make sense when they’re supposed to handle intense heat!

Besides, properly caring for our pans also makes sure the meals stay healthy. After years of wear and tear, some of the material can mix with the food. The last thing we want to do is subject our families to heavy metal poisoning!