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Aldi Selling a Budget Imitation of an Always Pan

EDITOR’S NOTE 1: We were able to purchase the Crofton Awesome Pan when it arrived in Aldi stores. Read our full review of the pan here

EDITOR’S NOTE 2: If you’re looking for information about the Crofton Mini Awesome Pan, click here

This post is an open thread and contains affiliate links.

In 2019, entrepreneur Shiza Shahid co-founded Our Place, a company dedicated to kitchenware. It was a long time in coming. According to Shahid, she was rejected more than 300 times in her pursuit of a loan for startup funding for the company. Shahid, though, was no stranger to challenges, having grown up in Pakistan and earned her way into Stanford University. By the age of 30, she was not only a well-known businesswoman but a mentor to Nobel laureate and assassination survivor Malala Yousafzai.

Our Place’s signature item is the Always Pan. The aluminum body, ceramic nonstick pan claims to replace your “fry pan, sauté pan, steamer, skillet, saucier, saucepan, non-stick pan, spatula, and spoon rest.” It comes with a built-in beechwood spatula and nesting steaming basket.

The catch? The Always Pan currently costs $145. That has led to no shortage of cheaper attempts to imitate the kitchen sensation.

You can now add Aldi to that list.

What We Know:

Crofton Awesome PanThe Crofton Awesome Pan (Product Code: 705241) is an Aldi Find, which means it’s only in stores for a short time. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Aldi won’t restock them, and you can’t order them online. At the time of this post, the pan costs $24.99. Needless to say, that’s a fraction of the cost of the Always Pan and is much cheaper than most other heavy duty ceramic nonstick pans.

Here’s more information about the pan, according to Aldi:

  • Features Fusion Ti nonstick ceramic coating that allows for easy release
  • Made without PFOA or PTFE
  • Made with a long-lasting aluminum lid and a stay-cool, Bakelite handle
  • Features an aluminum body that provides uniform heat distribution
  • Measures 10.25″ in diameter
  • Compatible with gas, electric, glass ceramic, halogen, and induction cooktops
  • Available in Matte Black, Beige, or Dusty Blue

It’s important to note that the Crofton Awesome Pan differs from the Our Place Always Pan in a few ways beyond the price. The Crofton pan doesn’t have a wooden spatula, spatula holder, or nesting steamer basket and colander. The Awesome Pan also is missing the two pour spouts on the sides that the Always Pan has.

 

 

Crofton Awesome Pan

The Aldi pan is backed by a 2-year warranty. The warranty page for the Crofton Awesome Pan on the Aldi US site lists a mailing address in London … as in the United Kingdom. That same warranty page lists the email address info@product-help.co — keeping in mind that .co is assigned to the Central American country of Colombia (and, apparently, some companies not in Colombia). It’s all confusing, and it doesn’t appear to be the first time this particular company has supported an Aldi Crofton product.

What We Don’t Know:

Because we haven’t yet tried this Awesome Pan, we don’t know how awesome it is. We hope to track one down and try it out, but in the meantime, we’ve created this open thread for shoppers to share about their experiences with the pan.


Do you have experience with the Awesome Pan? Let us know in the comments.

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9 Comments

  1. If handle isn’t metal, this pan can’t be used in the oven. That’s a drawback for those who finish dishes with high heat or under the broiler, for instance.

  2. I just got one too! and one for my sister in law for her birthday. I hope they are as good as they look! Very nice looking!

  3. I picked one of these up in the blue color and have used it a few times now. It’s got a good weight and feels pretty solid to me. I like that it has a metal lid as well. Nonstick coating is working great so far (they always do at first) but not sure how long it will last. Paying $135 for the Always pan seems pretty crazy to me as that nonstick coating will invariably wear out within a few years – not that I wasn’t a bit tempted though, that thing is gorgeous.

    Of course, you don’t get any of the accessories with this pan that you do with the Always pan, but it still looks nice and so far I’m very happy with it for $25! You can’t really go wrong at this price.

  4. Scored the last one of these, in matte black. My Ald only received 4 total, so I was lucky. It looks very well made, substantial but not too heavy. Used it today to make marinara sauce from scratch— sautéed veg and garlic in olive oil, then added canned diced tomato plus paste and simmered down. Worked great and cleanup was a breeze. Very much worth the price! Look forward to using it for many other recipes.

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