Checked my “inventory.” Apparently so do I. 
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I have plenty of 24 lids, too, but anything bigger gets covered with a sheet pan or my enormous 32.
I have way too many lids, period. I should cull and rehome.
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This question of a surplus of lids is interesting to me. Do you mean you have more lids than pans of the same size and fit? Or do you mean that, for the things and ways you cook, you only need X of the size and fit, yet you have X + Y?
I used to think it a cardinal sin to separate a pan from its lid, like a parent forcing an extra child into orphange. I think I felt this way because I would jump on buying lidless quality pans and then waste time (fruitlessly) trying to find the OEM shape for the size.
I still feel that way about ovals and specialty shapes–who wants a fish poacher with no screen or lid? What use is a daube without a cover that laps over?
I was late to the party when it came to covering skillets, which typically aren’t offered with covers. I tried cheap commercial basting covers, but those are messy and create the need to use large pans. Then randallhank of Chowhound gave me a strange 28cm SS “fitted” cover that fits a wide spectrum of pans, especially skillets, in sizes from about 26cm to about 30cm.
Ginger of 4-And-Twenty used to keep a stock of orphaned copper covers, and she had an enormous lollypop cover made for my 2-gallon saucepan. One of the eBay copper denizens should specialize in covers…
I have three 24 cm lids …DO, saucier, and stockpot. I often use all three at once but have never needed four. A lid is great for a frying pan for things like melting cheese or hurrying a cook.
Hurrying and finishing. I cover skillets mostly to bring eggs to their desired doneness off the heat without needing to turn them–scrambled keep their gloss, and fried show off their garnish and seasonings better. I have an old CI “chicken fryer” I use in/on the pit grill for finishing, because it has a cover.
Somewhere I DO have a cover I’d love to re-home. It’s about a 28, but some craftsman/machinist muscled it out of 5-6mm copper plate. S/he machined and attached curved “inset” pieces. I’d always hoped I’d find a matching pot, but that ship has sailed. Anyone want this?
I also use the cover for basted fried eggs. Perfect every time .
When I first started buying pans (my collection of all-clad factory seconds) they all came with lids Multiple pans of the same diameter resulted in duplicate lids. None of which, of course, precisely fit pans measured in centimeters. But pans with centimeter measurements resulted in the same phenomenon because most of them came with lids. I have bought pieces without lids; having a lid on hand is obviously never a problem.
ETA: I also have (at least) one of this variety:
There are some that aren’t glass.
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For searing, how does a 2 mm (bimetal) copper fry pan compare to say, a 4 - 6 mm aluminum clad disc bottom fry pan?
Would the aluminum pan hold more heat and thermally crash less? And is this important when searing?
I am a Proline owner, but have not cooked much in copper bimetal. I have one 2mm tinned skillet; the rest are tinned 3mm or thicker.
I think the answer to your question depends on the hob, the load, and how quickly you want the sear to happen. If you’re considering only stored heat, my subjective impression is that it would be hard to beat the Proline. With one or two small steaks on a strong hob for replenishment, I might take the 1.8/0.2mm, maybe the bimetal is equivalent.
How high a sear is your goal?
In old tests, I compared Proline with a thicker disk-based Fissler OP, and concluded that the Proline held more heat.
I have electric coil elements. I am willing to wait a bit longer for a thicker pan to heat up initially. I am just wondering about cooking meat in batches, and whether I 'd need to wait for the pan to heat up again between batches if I’m cooking things like frozen burgers, or just cold steaks from the fridge. Will these kind of cold items crash the temp of a 2 mm copper pan (like a Falk) more so than a pan with 4 mm of aluminum (like a Proline, or a Fissler, etc)?
I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever used really high heat to sear. I don’t think so. I think the highest is when I sear ground beef, which tends to be about a 6 or 7 on the hob dial. It would be nice to have the option of a high sear though. I use carbon steel pans for searing, but I’m tired of babying and seasoning them, so I’m looking for a good s/s alternative searing pan. I’ve been eying either a Falk or a Proline, but I’d like a pan to retain heat so that cold foods won’t crash the temp too much.
My intuition is that thicker aluminum would be better for this than 2 mm copper, but I’m not sure.
There is some “crash”, no matter what you do. Especially if you flop in multiple cold masses of food. This will draw heat from elsewhere in the pan, but the effect isn’t instantaneous.
Nor is it dramatic. When I compared the Proline and Fissler heat holding capacity, I preheated them to 400F in the oven, took them out and laid a single strip of pork belly across them. There was enough stored heat to start browning, but neither reached what could be called a sear. You need replenishment for that.
There’s a tradeoff with replenishment. I mean, the idea is to bring the “cold” spot under your steak back to temp i.e., you’re reheating the pan. A thinner, more conductive pan will do that faster than will a thicker, less conductive one. But you can goose the heat under a slow pan to make up for it.
This may not help with making your choice. Both are excellent pans. You can high sear in both. You probably can’t quickly sear 3 2" thick ribeyes from frozen in either. I think it comes down to handles, aesthetics, and what pleases you more. The only performance issue I can see is that you may WANT heat loss, i.e., responsiveness for plain frying.
I think I understand. So a thinner copper pan will drop the temp from a cold food item lower than a thicker aluminum pan will. But a copper pan will recover to the original high temp faster than a thicker aluminum clad pan will.
So, like you said, it’s a trade off.
Just curious, do you use your Proline and your copper skillets for different things?
Is one better suited to certain foods/cooking methods than the other?
I personally use my thick Proline for meat searing and my copper pans for speed sautéing.
But you can use both type pans for both type techniques.
I like the heat retention of my Proline pans for searing better than the quick response time of my copper pans, but again you can take advantage of both type pans for both type cooking techniques.
Wouldn’t a large copper fry pan be a bit heavy for flipping?
Although there is some overlap, I use the Proline more for searing, especially if I want to fire more than one steak a time or a roast. Or anything I want blackened or could go >450F with nothing else in the pan. If someone else is cooking with me, I know they won’t bubble a lining.
Copper more for pan frying and saute.
As for toss-ability, of course it depends on size and thickness, and a little your own strength and confidence. I haven’t weighed to compare, but I bet a 28cm Proline is heavier than a 2mm copper in 28cm. Unless you’re juicing, you probably can’t casually toss in either pan with one hand or at arm’s length. Using two hands and the right technique, even a 3mm x 32cm copper saute can be jumped by a guy of normal strength.
A small or medium sized skillet is one I don’t mind being 2-2.5mm thick for that reason.
Exactly why I now many years ago bought two De Buyer Inocuivre copper frying pans since they only are 2.0 mm copper, that’s a tad lighter than the 2.5 copper pans and I also really liked the shape of the De Buyer Inocuivre frying pans with its flared sides and quite comfortable stainless steel handle.
They aren’t super heavy for jumping/tossing and the pan shape makes it very easy to jump/toss sauté with them.
You can jump sauté with the Proline, but other than being quite heavy the whole shape of the Proline pan doesn’t lend itself particularly well for jumping/tossing in my view, but I still do it from time to time, if I’m lazy and want to do everything in the same pan.
Thanks. Yeah, I’m still trying to decide between Falk frying pans and Proline for searing. I’m on electric coils so if I go with Proline, response will be slow. The thing about electric coils is that you first have to wait for the element to heat up (or down) and then wait for the pan to respond. Thicker pans slow the process down even more. I guess I am leaning towards the Falk copper (but very expensive).
I do have a separate set of fry pans for flipping: some old All-Clad MC2 bimetal with the bare alu on the outside. They are great pans, quite light, and responsive, despite the 3 mm aluminum. Their notorious badly designed palm digger handles are the only quality preventing them from being perfect. I can sear with them, but not too high. Which is why I reserve them for flipping mostly.
So I’m looking for a dedicated set of searing pans.
You may be overthinking this. DOWNWARD response will be slow on coil no matter what. Upward response on coil will be slower than it would be on gas or induction, but heating up even a Proline on coil is pretty fast, provided you don’t get lost making adjustments.
While I think your choice comes down to between two excellent pans, if you haven’t cooked on copper before, I think you’ll be amazed by Falk.
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