Magnetic Cookware Findings

Cooking Discussions
1

The other day I asked Demeyere Atlantis/Proline owners on this forum if the interior of their cookware was magnetic, that is to say, simply, would a household refrigerator magnet stick to the cooking surface if turned over, as if to “pour out its contents”.

The response from a few owners seemed to be that they were not in fact magnetic. I was originally curious about this because their silvinox finish, which works to keep that silvery white finish pristine, it does so by bringing the nickel and chromium closer to the surface level. This is stated as per Demeyere at least. This kind of makes sense since nickel is not very magnetic. Also, Silvinox happens to be not patented in hopes of keeping the formula a proprietary secret.

Below are a few popular brands and models which DO have magnetic interiors. I tested them personally with a refrigerator magnet the size of a quarter with the thickness of about 2 quarters.

ACD3
ACD5
ACCC
Cuisinart MCP
Tramontina tri-ply
(Costco variant- Made in Brazil)

I am not making any value judgements from these findings. They are merely findings and thought I would share and save those interested some time.

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just curious why it matters?

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Hi, I haven’t seen your other thread just yet, but wanted to mention that this

isn’t correct. Nickel is relatively strongly attracted to magnets and can be permanently magnetized.

Perhaps you mean that steels with higher levels of nickel are less (or non-) magnetic. But this isn’t due to the elemental magnetic nature of nickel. Instead, nickel (and carbon) affect the microstructure of stainless making it less or non-magnetic.

So I’m not sure your magnet test is on-point, if your desire is to use it as a proxy for nickel content. Other stainless steels have been around a long time (medical grade, for example) that disrupt the microstructure (and are non-magnetic) without use of nickel. So, you know for sure from your readings that in the case of the Silvinox finish that there’s a relatively high level of nickel at the surface, but I don’t know about other pans.

High-end pans with choosy customer bases might be using one of the med-grade stainless steel recipes?

Edit - I didn’t complete my thought here. Of course, if it is magnetic inside, you should be good to go as it relates to being a low nickel steel.

4

Yes you are correct, sorry about not being more clear about that. Nickel on its own is magnetic.

1 Like
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nickel happens to be allergenic and carcinogenic. You would not want it in your food. That is not to say that the Demeyere pans are leeching nickel. That would require testing from a real laboratory.

6

Thanks… trying to learn here. My Tramontina SS 3-Ply pans are labeled as being 18/10 stainless (which is supposedly 10% Nickel). While a magnet sticks to the outside (and they are definitely induction compatible), it does not stick to the inside.

Any idea what this means?

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it means higher nickel count most likely. Are they the made in china or Brazil variant?

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Higher inside or out? I have both.

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are neither magnetic on the interior? The 12 piece set at Costco are made in Brazil and they were magnetic on the interior. I checked it out myself.

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For what it’s worth, I got the Zwilling Aurora 5-ply a couple of months ago based on someone posting a sale notice here in another thread. Other readers said it was basically the same as the Demeyere Industry 5, with a couple of modifications, because Zwilling bought Demeyere.

The sales info on this pan says the inner surface is 18/10, so lots of nickel. They don’t say what the outer surface is except that it’s magnetic stainless.

I tested with a magnet and it’s definitely grippy both on the bottom and on the inside, but I only have really strong magnets so it’s likely I’m getting a lot of pull-through on the inner surface from other layers.

I tried to test it with a ruler at the millimeter level and just “hand guess gauge” pull force, and it was more clear that the bottom surface had a lot more pull.

11

I have 7 pans (two sauce pans, two skillets, two dutch ovens - one is a base vs triply, and a large saute pan)… I just tested them all (except the 2qt sauce pan which currently has food in it) and the magnet did not stick to any of the interiors.

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thats interesting, how long ago did you buy them? are they induction compatible? In other words, are they magnetic on the bottom exterior?

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I’m guessing about four+ years ago… one set with the skillets, saucepans, and dutch oven (all try-ply), and later the tri-ply saute pan and base dutch oven. They are all magnetic on the bottom, but have only used the skillets and sauce pans on induction (but guessing the dutch ovens are also compatible as that was what was listed on the Tramontina site).

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I think you’re right. They are using one type of stainless (magnetic) on the backside so as to be induction compatible, and the other (higher nickel) on the inside for more resistant surface.

That seems to be what the Zwilling/Demeyere 5-ply have on the back/front surfaces, too.

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For most brands its typically 18/0 outside and 18/10 inside and Demeyere claims the same but what changes for them in that Silvinox finish.

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hmmm. Berondi says the industry does not have Silvinox but Amazon says it does.