I have had a Matfer/Bourgeat disc frypan since 1982, and it’s my favorite pan. I got it in a local kitchenware store, too, whose owner obviously had an eye for good products; so I was not introduced to it via the evidently forbidden restaurant supply store route. I also have some Vollrath Tribute pieces, also not via the forbidden route of restaurant supply. And the Main Street kitchen store where I was living carried Sabatier knives and hard anodized aluminum pots and pans made by the company that later changed its brand name to Calaphon. They found their way into my kitchen I recently replaced the Bourgeat/Matfer pan with a new one of the same size, because the 1982 model wasn’t induction capable, and I have an induction range. For the replacement, I had to go to a commercial source. Apparently, this is a sin. As for how my stuff looks - it’s very clean. Scratches in the SS? Of course there are scratches -I have art on my walls if I want to look at something. I don’t consider cookware a luxury item to be corralled and gazed at. Most of my all clad, from when there was only 1 model of triply stainless, is factory seconds, which have tiny scuffs sometimes the size of my pinkie fingernail. I keep my pans in my cabinets, in pull out pan drawers Who sees them? I truly don’t understand why some feel that a home cook’s pure path should not have any “professional” equipment.
Hi Meekah,
My point is pretty obvious: the world of the home cook and the pro are completely different–for many reasons and in many ways.
Claus has been investigating how much overlap there is between the two in Europe–mostly in terms of his own collection-- and he’s posted quite a few examples.
Individual home kitchens and commercial kitchens are both diverse–so we’re just comparing subjective impressions–and having fun.
Not quite a hubcap either, but close… 
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfmIz3VhGvF/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
I must be a heretic, but in my view if you need a particular item and you are able to go to a restaurant supply type of store for it, you really ought to go there, even if your friends are horrified. I need to replace two jelly roll pans. They had them at WS and SLT for about $39, each. I found pans at Ace Mart I actually preferred for $5 each. Things like tongs and metal spoons, whisks, turners, etc. are both lower cost but very durable. Their pans are really nice, but since I already have pretty much all the pans I’ll ever need, I only admire them. Ace even has a few esoteric but very cool but hard to find things, like a wooden tamis (as well as the metal ones).
We had an independent, family hardware store here for many years with a great housewares section. Lots of implements you’d even forgotten existed. Basic sturdy stuff for the kitchen that would last forever. And stuff that used to be part of every kitchen, but was no longer “fashionable.” I spent a lot of happy time in those aisles, and a lot of my kitchen implement type stuff is from there, including all my baking pans. And if you wanted a Graniteware roaster like grandma used, that was there, too. Sadly, the place closed around 4 years ago. Everyone mourned the passing. We have a new Webstaurant store in an industrial park within easy driving range but I haven’t been there in person yet… there was this pandemic thing … but I did order something from them! I think Ace stores are locally owned and operated, so each store has freedom to select what they will stock.
My friends were never horrified at my purchases, but they like to cook, not gaze at their “kitchen jewelry”. One grew up working in her parents’ neighborhood restaurant. We both have similar purchasing habits.
They’re not cheap (in the pejorative sense) so much as there’s no reason for them to be expensive given modern manufacturing technology.
The restaurant brands don’t have to recoup huge marketing expenditures and budgets, either.
Keep a very close eye on the enamel from now on.
When a home chef pulls the prep out of the 'fridge and it’s all neatly done in hotel pans, covered, and ready to go that’s when you know somebody has gotten serious about cooking (and food safety too), and not merely shopping at Williams-Sonoma for the latest shiny object.
You make an important point about commercial cookware. Dollar for dollar, you’re probably getting more quality and value than you’d get for the same price with a ‘must have” consumer piece because of the cost of brand marketing alone.
Not the enamel, JustCharlie,
The host.
Ray
It’s not so simple though. My reply is not necessarily directed to you meekah, but I just wanted to bring in some nuance. Reading these posts one can quickly get the impression that one should only buy restaurant grade cookware. I’d strongly advise against such an approach. For home cooks.
For a home cook other criteria are more relevant, e.g. durability. Restaurant cookware is not meant to be operational for years, whereas my copper pans will function over several lifetimes.
Good quality, highly conductive cookware, also help home cooks with less experience than Michelin star chefs. The better the pan, the less experienced a cook needs to be. I’m a good cook but even I benefit from high quality cookware, eg when I’m being distracted by other things (partner, telephone call, music and so on) while cooking. When I turn the gas off under my copper pan, I can just take on a phone call, and resume again when I want. The pan will have such a good response to a changed heat setting that I can just forget about it for a few minutes without ruining my dish.
Of course, good cookware doesn’t have to be expensive, e.g. Paderno Grand Gourmet and De Buyer carbon steel are world class and cheap. But yes, I’ll also happily pay for Le Creusets and copper cookware.
I have both commercial and “jewelry”. A pot drawer full of good copper, and Demeyere, and … so forth. I agree that quality cookware helps, but in the end, it can’t think for you … yet. 
You are spot on that less experienced cooks can benefit from pans that are responsive and even. That ability to turn down the temp on a responsive pan can help a new cook dodge a bullet when the scallopini is about to turn crisp. If they do not know what they are doing in a restaurant supply store and cannot get help, they might make a bad purchase. If they know what they are after, a pan with a thick aluminum disc might be just the ticket. Most of the stuff WS and SLT sells (other than ECI for jobs it is not suited to) will not get them in trouble.
Hi damiano,
I’m very project oriented, and my project is completely “home kitchen”–looking back to my American backwoods past, and forward to cultural fusion.
Neither restaurant kitchens nor restaurant supplies fit with my unfolding project. The only time I spent any serious time at restaurant supply was when I looked at CCK cleavers
I don’t know of a single pot, pan, knife, or tool that I have in common with any nearby restaurant.
.
I rarely see SS frying pans when I look in back, mostly aluminum or CS. Nothing i like to see more than a good chef using a bent up CS pan.
As much as I hated going to the fabric store with my mom, get me to the houseware section in any store, and I could browse. Pots and pans were my favorite toys growing up. Ice cream buckets, too. Made good drums.
Now, I go to Thai stores, gotta check out the cookware and knives, Mexican store same, and so on.
I used to think restaurant kitchens must have the finest. Then, a peek back exposes all the aluminum. Whatever works.
Here’s the question, Vecchiouomo,
What led the inexperienced cook in your example to venture into a restaurant supply store?
I can answer this question for me. Simple answer: cheap and good products. I live in a relatively large city and we have a big cookware shop that is catering to enthusiasts like us. There will be shiny and expensive Le Creusets but also a lot of proper restaurant grade cookware.
I bought my first cookware products there: 2 disc bottom saucepans for 20 euro each, which I still have after 20 years, and which I prefer over the Demeyeres I tried, and then a 20 euro simple no brand chefs knife. The knife quickly got replaced by a Kiwi I had picked up when holidaying in Thailand.
Many restaurant stores here also display expensive cookware, like Demeyere and Le Creuset/Staub. I do all my weekly groceries at a restaurant wholesaler and I sometimes wander around the cookware department.
but
Of course, the proper current day restaurant wholesaler is AMAZON. Best collection and best prices for cookware.
Hi damiano,
Williams Sonoma was the local Pasadena store that allowed me to walk around for hours–looking at great displays of home cooking concepts–with products I knew I could never afford–until I discovered the same products on EBAY at prices I could easily afford. After awhile, I was even able to find ways to buy from Williams Sonoma.
During much of this time, I visited a local restaurant with sports bar near a big restaurant supply. Never went in–until I got interested in a CCK cleaver. Didn’t buy anything. Didn’t even look.
In the USA, I can find ways to beat AMAZON prices most of the time. I can’t beat the prices on AliExpress, though.
