[dean]

If you Really want to know the quality of clad pans or pots, put a pint or so of water in the pan bring it to a boil and add a teaspoon of baking soda and stir.  Remove about half a teaspoon of the liquid and cool... then taste.  Keep a minty piece of candy handy though because if your cookware has a lot of aluminum leaching through it will taste nasty as hell.  A good quality stainless pot or pan won't change the flavor of the water.  

I used to sell pots and pans, I used to love it when someone told me how great their cookware was and they had bought theirs for a fraction of the price for mine... then they'd do the taste test...      Its like everything else... you get what you pay for.  

[beerocd]

Hmm, I'll have to get some fresh baking soda. Not the stuff sitting in my fridge.
What cookware did you sell? I've seen some pretty pricey stuff, like Neova (Vitamix).

[dean]

I used to sell Towncraft.  If they made a 40 or 60 quart pot thats what I'd want but I sure as hell wouldn't drill it, I'd siphon from it unless I could get them to fabricate it special for me.  I really wonder if some of the brew pots already made are as good?  Only a test would tell.

Here is a link but its not really helpful probably...
http://www.townecraft.net/deluxeset.html

[beerocd]

Those look similar to my mother's "Lifetime" set.

[euge]

Never one for sets but any stainless steel skillet, saucepan or stockpot needs a thick clad botton IMO. Preferably copper. Mine match despite being different brands. 

Nonstick doesn't have the longevity and generally can't handle the abuse of normal cooking without a good silicon spatula.

Also I only need a few kitchen knives which I hand-sharpen on aluminum oxide and hone with a steel. A decent buy is the Henckel Fine Edge Pro. Holds an edge and easy to sharpen for a $30 knife.

My best and sharpest knife cost me $7 at the Asian market. Despite being hollow ground it holds an edge sharp enough to shave with.