I'm a pretty good cook; I can make croissants, beef wellington and a great bolognese sauce and I think the HEXCLAD company produces amazing pots and pans. So what makes them so great you ask. Some background: Teflon and similarly coated PP's once scratched, not only begin to loose their non-stick quality but for health reasons should be discarded and not used. And what's worse YOU CAN'T MAKE "FOND" with them. Fond is those little brown bits and other browned areas that stick to the bottom of the pan after frying and are like gold when making gravies or sauces and in any recipe in which you deglaze the pan, (adding liquid to a hot pan) to use the resulting liquid as an ingredient.
HEXCLAD solved the problem. They did it by placing the Teflon or Teflon-like material in hexagonal grooves all over the surface of the pan, including the bottom. As a result, the pot's surface metal is higher than the coating and thus protects it from being scratched by metal tools while still maintaining its non-stick ability. It's also makes the pot very easy to clean. Now for the best part. Drumroll please... ONE CAN STILL MAKE FOND! So buy a pan, crack open that dusty cookbook and start cooking like a pro. Good luck!