Cooking

My 12” Matfer Bourgeat carbon steel pan is by far my most used cookware. My cast iron pan has been relegated to steaks and Dutch Baby style pancakes. I use a nice stainless steel sauté pan for anything else I shouldn’t cook in the cast iron or carbon steel

My recs:

At least one cast iron skillet and or wok (try wokshop.Com) don't spend a ton of money on these. You just don't need to.

A nice thick bottomed stainless pan (I prefer mirror bottom) this is where you need to spend a bit of money - makes a difference, get the best you can afford.

Two to three cheap nonstick pans - more money doesn't get you a whole lot here, these lose their nonstick properties after a few years of heavy use. I work these hard and replace every 2-3 years.

Dutch oven. Get one. Recommend lodge - similar quality to the French brand and like 1/5th the cost.

I also like carbon steel pans. I have something like what's in the picture. But my biggest gripe is they seem to use cast iron handles which keeps the pan heavy. I'd be fine with an aluminum handle that's still oven safe so I can maneuver the pan more.

The most used in my kitchen is a 14" stainless clad pan (SignatureWares). It's hefty, but holds heat very well. Second would probably be a 12" cast iron. I have pretty much the same preferences as you, but I found a carbon steel pan doesn't quite hold the heat as much as I'd like on an induction cooktop. That, and the one I have is 10.5" and I'm often cooking more than one serving so it gets crowded fairly quick.

I have a couple cast iron pans and I like them but they're annoying to clean. I have a small sink and the cast iron pans are just too heavy and bulky to wash easily in it. I just got a cheap non-stick on sale and it's so nice to just toss it in the dishwasher and not have to care. I haven't really noticed a difference in food quality either to be honest but I'm mostly cooking what my kids like (which is almost nothing) so I'm not making anything fancy these days.

My favorite single piece is probably my 12" All-Clad stainless skillet. It's a Master Chef 2 model, so the outside is not stainless and it's dirty as hell by now. I got it ages ago as a factory second, and on sale as well, but it's lasted so long it wouldn't bother me if I'd paid more.
I made the mistake of getting an All-Clad nonstick skillet, and of course the surface wears out just as fast as a $30 model.

Eh, my stainless steel wok I guess.

My enamel dutch oven is the MVP in my kitchen.

My carbon steel wok is my favorite. I do have multiple other carbon steel pans, as well as a stainless steel pan and a few stainless steel pots.

My 10.5” cast iron pan almost never leaves the stove top. Second to that is probably the carbon steel wok.

I use everything. I am loyal to nothing. I have cast iron, steel, non-stick, ceramic, and Pyrex.

I would love to switch from non-stick (no-name restaurant supply store stuff) to carbon steel, but I just can't give up putting them in the dishwasher after I'm done eating.

Would you say the seasoning was difficult to maintain? I find my cast iron needs a re-season every time I'm done cleaning it (soap, water, gentle scrub with a sponge) otherwise it looks a bit bare and sticks more.

I use a pressure cooker at least 5 times a week. For what I cook (dried beans, brown rice, veggies, cheap cuts of meat) it really does save time!

I use cast iron for most things but I have a few big old magnalite pots that I use for soups and gumbo

Cast iron

We have one that belonged to my grandma in law.

We also bought 3 field cast iron pans for our kids to take when they move out. We rotate these every few months to season.