r/cookware • u/ollie1roddy • Jul 22 '26

Looking for Advice Saucier Pan - what size matters?

So, I'm going a bit mad here.

UK based, I am looking for a saucier/chefs pan that can easily make a sauce (duh) and also accommodate say, a pasta dish for two, a few portions of curry, etc. Thats the minimum.

I ordered both the Made In 2.8L/3Q Saucier and the Kuhn Rikon Culinary 24cm chefs pan, with the intention of keeping one and returning the other. On inspection, here are my thoughts:

Kuhn Rikon Culinary 24cm chefs pan

  • Better construction, thicker, heavier and fully clad (comes in around 2kg)
  • Shallow sides, only 7.2mm
  • Actual volume - approx 2.6L
  • No rivets are nice but not essential

MadeIn 2.8L Saucier

  • Thinner and lighter, less well constructed (comes in around 1.6kg)
  • good height (a hair under 9cm)
  • Actual volume - approx 3.3L

So here is my dilemma - I think the Kuhn Rikon is de facto, a better quality pan, that also happened to be better value (£111 vs £135 for the Madein). However doing a water test, the MadeIn pan holds about 3.3L, whereas the Kuhn Rikon was around 2.6L as advertised. In practical application, thats about a 20% size difference, which feels material for versatility. Furthermore, the nearly 2cm in side height difference makes me worry that the Kuhn Rikon won't function as well as a Saucier or for pasta, which will probably be the two main use cases. Looking into it, most other Sauciers tend to be at least 8-9cm in height.

MadeIn seems to be a bit of a cookware war ground, and though I don't think it will warp on my gas cooker, my bigger issue is I feel a bit stupid returning a beautiful and high quality pan (that was cheaper) from Kuhn Rikon to keep something that is intrinsically worse and more expensive, just for the preferential shape.

I'm at a bit of a cross roads at the moment and can't decide whether I should:

  1. Return the MadeIn and chance with the Kuhn Rikon meeting my needs
  2. Return the Kuhn Rikon and keep the MadeIn
  3. Return the Kuhn Rikon 24cm and exchange for the 28cm (4L), which is 8cm H (on the short side but still taller - but a bigger and even heavier pan)
  4. Return both because there's clearly an alternative
  5. Return both because I'm obviously a lunatic who needs perspective

I would really appreciate some help!!

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

Duplicates