This morning I made scrambled eggs in a $129 skillet.
Most of my cookware costs a fraction of that. For years, I bought pots and pans at TJ Maxx or other discount stores. The frying pan I used most often sells for about $30 on Amazon.
But I cook at home quite a lot these days and I decided it was time to treat myself to a pan from Made In, a brand that is seemingly everywhere, selling expensive cookware that they tout as professional quality. The pan is one of the fanciest things in my kitchen – it comes with a red rubber cover so nothing touches it, and even Bon appetit recently recommended it as one of the best non-stick pans (who wants a stock Pan?).
If this were the height of the pandemic, my decision wouldn’t seem unusual. Since 2020, Americans have gone crazy for home goods. We bought Dutch ovens and air fryers, toys and games, furniture and window coverings – so much stuff that ports were so congested that ships couldn’t unload the goods. People spent especially big on baking and cooking supplies because they couldn’t go to restaurants and were quarantined at home and baking bread instead.
But now people are eating out again, so why are people like me still buying $129 pans? According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, spending on nonelectric cookware and tableware actually rose 33 percent, adjusted for inflation, from the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2024. And according to market research firm Circana, the overall cookware market has grown 16 percent since 2019.
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This could be a social media phenomenon. We live in the age of spectacular cooking videos on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube that make it seem like you too can prepare a restaurant-quality meal if you just have the right technique and cookware. Brands like Great Jones, KitchenAid and Le Creuset are growing in popularity; TV shows like The bear have paid even more attention to life in the kitchen. Carmy, the award-winning chef at The bear, used All Clad, a top brand that also sells frying pans for over $100.
But the boom in high-end cookware has more to do with where and what we eat today. It turns out the pandemic has fundamentally changed our eating habits, says Joe Derochowski, vice president and home industry advisor at Circana. During the pandemic, we couldn’t eat out, so we stayed home and cooked. Then when restaurants reopened, we went through a period of what we call “revenge spending,” where we went out and indulged in restaurants.
Restaurant spending is still up significantly: 11.9% between 2019 and 2023, according to the USDA. But Americans are also cooking more at home. That’s because so many Americans are working at least part of the time from home that even when they can go to restaurants, they’re eating there a lot more. In 2019, 83% of our meals came from retail like grocery stores, while 17% came from restaurants, according to Circana’s research. In 2024, 86% of our meals will come from retail and just 14% will come from restaurants. “Think about it: Before the pandemic, you worked in the office five days a week and could eat your lunch, snacks or even breakfast outside the home,” says Derochowski. “Now we’re working more at home and that means more meals are being eaten at home.”
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It follows that people like me who spend a lot of time cooking at home could invest in more expensive cookware. I could buy cheap stuff and then replace it after a year, or treat myself to something nicer and keep it longer. For me, it made sense to treat myself to a frying pan because it’s the item I use most in the kitchen after a cutting board and knives.
Of course, there’s another reason we’re spending more on cookware. Inflation continues to drive up food prices, especially at restaurants. More than two-thirds of respondents to a survey said increased costs made eating out too expensive. According to government data, between July 2023 and 2024, food prices at home rose 1.1%, while food prices outside the home rose 4.1%. Prices for non-electric cookware and tableware, on the other hand, fell 10%. At that rate, it won’t be long before a few egg dishes cooked in a $129 skillet become cheaper than a few omelets at the restaurant.
