Thought that IKEA cookware was reserved for uni kitchens? Think again – this is why I awarded it 5 stars

In this review, I put the IKEA HEMKOMST 7-piece stainless steel cookware set through its paces, exploring how easy it is to cook with and whether or not I'd recommend the investment.

Does it deserve to be called one of the best saucepan sets on the market? I think so, especially considering the price.

In a nutshell

I've been using IKEA's HEMKOMST 7-piece cookware set for over three weeks now, and it's definitely earend a permanent place in my kitchen.

Using the pots and saucepan has been my first experience of stainless steel cookware, and I can understand why this material is the most recommended by chefs. But where some stainless steel sets cost well over £200, the HEMKOMST 7-piece has an RRP of £95 - but includes a sol-gel ceramic non-stick frying pan as well.

The frying pan alone carries the quality of some of the best non-stick frying pans on the market. It provides the option to cook without oil, as I've discovered when making pancakes, omelettes, and halloumi in it. Washing the frying pan up by hand also couldn't be easier.

The stainless steel pots and saucepan are impressive conductors of heat, but I'm still able to move them around by the handles when cooking. They also have built-in strainers, which can be used to drain water directly instead of reaching for a separate colander.

I'd recommend the HEMKOMST 7-piece set to anyone looking to upgrade to stainless steel pots and a non-stick frying pan, without spending a fortune.

Specifications

• Materials: Stainless steel, glass (for the lids of the pots and saucepan), plus a sol-gel ceramic non-stick coating on the frying pan
• Metal utensil safe?: Yes, except for the frying pan
• Dishwasher safe?: Yes, except for the frying pan
• Pan diameters: Largest pot - 14cm (H) x 24cm (diameter), 5l capacity; medium pot - 11cm (H) x 21cm (diameter), 3l capacity; small saucepan - 10cm (H) x 18cm (diameter), 2l capacity; non-stick frying pan - 5cm (H) x 28cm (diameter)
• Warranty: 15 year guarantee
• RRP: £95

Katie Sims

I'm Katie, and as one of Ideal Home's regular contributors I've tested a variety of home appliances over the last few years. I love experimenting with new dishes in the kitchen, but on busy weekdays, I'll often opt for low-maintenance meals to get the job done.

I've been testing the IKEA HEMKOMST set for the last three weeks, and have used each piece several times. IKEA have kindly allowed me to keep this cookware set, but this has not affected the integrity of the review.

Unboxing and first impressions

When the IKEA 7-piece cookware set arrived, I'll admit that I was quite surprised at the size of the box. It came up to my waist (I'm 5 ft 8), which I thought was interesting for a package that only contained cookware pieces. The box didn't feel heavy, but it was a little bit awkward to carry into my living room because of the sheer size of it.

It's fair to say that I was definitely intrigued to start unboxing the set, but I quickly realised that the outer box used for delivery purposes was much bigger than necessary. The box containing the cookware was a lot smaller (probably by around two thirds) and very easy to transport into my kitchen. This box also carried all the signs of IKEA's branding, including the classic product sketch diagrams.

I was pleased to see that all of the packaging materials inside the box were fully recyclable. Each piece comes wrapped in tissue paper, and everything is packaged neatly together, with folded pieces of cardboard used to separate the different components.

Inside the box are two stainless steel pots, one larger and one medium-sized (each with a glass lid), a smaller saucepan and lid, plus the non-stick frying pan. There's also a small user manual.

Once I've unwrapped everything, I'm really impressed with how the set looks in my kitchen. The stainless steel is flawless, and each piece feels high-quality. I'm not expecting the shiny newness to stick around once I start cooking, but I instantly feel as though I've had an upgrade as far as my current cookware is concerned.

I'm also pleased with the sizes of the saucepan and pots. As it's just me and my partner in the house, even the saucepan - which is the smallest piece in the set - looks big enough to use for both our rice and pasta portions. The largest pot will definitely come in handy for batch cooking, and the medium-sized pot seems ideal for when we invite parents round for dinner.

The frying pan has a diameter of 28cm, so it won't be replacing our current non-stick pan as this is comfortably bigger. But, I'm anticipating that the IKEA frying pan will be the ideal size for omelettes, pancakes, stir frys and pasta dishes when I'm cooking for one.

The user manual recommends to wash all the cookware pieces in warm, soapy water before the first use. This I do, and once everything is dry, I'm ready to start cooking.

What's it like to use?

Pots and saucepan

The first meal I decide to cook in the saucepans and pot is spaghetti bolognese (I do get more adventurous in the kitchen, I promise). I'm cooking for myself and my partner, but we like to have leftovers with this dish - ideally, one lunch portion for each of us. I'm intrigued to see if the medium-sized pot is big enough to cook four portions worth of food, so I opt for this, as well as the smaller saucepan for the spaghetti.

After letting the pot heat up on a medium-high heat, I add some oil and I'm impressed with how quickly this spreads around the pan. It's a good indicator that the base has got nicely hot in the few minutes I've took to pre-heat it. Once I've added the mince, onion, and garlic, they soon start sizzling away. I like how the pot keeps all of the food compact, which I can tell is helping the flavours infuse together nicely, and more easily than if I'd opted for a bigger pot or pan. The medium-sized pot is pretty perfect for the dish.

As the aromas of the bolognese start to fill my kitchen, I weigh out 185g of spaghetti and add some pre-boiled water to the saucepan. I boiled the kettle about five minutes earlier, but it doesn't take long for the water to start bubbling away in the pan, which I've put on a medium-high heat.

I then add both glass lids to their respective pots, to see if this speeds up the cooking process. It took less than a couple of minutes for the water in the saucepan to boil over, so I quickly removed this and turned the heat down. My main takeaway at this point is that these pans are serious conductors of heat. It became quite tricky to get a good picture because of the amount of steam that was rising from both pans.

The spaghetti cooks in just under eight minutes, which is impressive considering the packet instructions say it will take nine. I've also used a little over an average portion (me and my partner have good appetites), and found I only needed to stir the spaghetti a couple of times to stop it from sticking.

One thing I really like is that I'm able to handle the pans easily while cooking, despite how hot they get at the base. Both the larger and medium-sized pot have grab handles on either side, and I can hold these throughout the cooking process. I think this is quite a clever design feature, and not always guaranteed with cookware sets - our reviewer found the handles of the Tefal Renew+ Aluminium Pans became too hot to hold while she was using them, for example.

I can also lift the lids of both the pot and the saucepan via the silver knob in the middle, which again, doesn't get too hot to pick up when cooking.

One of the pans' more unique features is their built-in strainers. There's a subtle spout on each of them, and the glass lids have grooves to allow cooking water to be poured out from the pan without needing to use a separate colander. I tried draining the spaghetti with this feature, but felt as though I didn't quite have the knack; there was still some water left in the pan at the end, and I found it tricky to hold the saucepan via the handle while lifting the lid at the same time. I'm a little cautious as I don't want the spaghetti to fall into the sink, which is probably why I don't manage to get all the water out of the pan.

When we come to eat the leftover bolognese, I use the small saucepan for the spaghetti again and try to sieve the water out via the pan lid. This time, I'm a bit more confident and tip the whole pan sideways over the sink, while pressing down firmly on the lid to keep it in place. Water streams out the grooves like it should, but unfortunately, a good chunk of spaghetti comes out as well. I realise that the grooves in the pan lid are the perfect shape and size for spaghetti, so I grab my colander and use this to drain the rest of the pasta instead.

While the built-in strainers aren't going to work on spaghetti, they are fine to use on larger-shaped pasta, veg, and rice. I used the saucepan to par-boil potatoes for a Sunday roast, and some broccoli afterwards, and could strain the water from both of these using just the pan lid. I've also used it to drain rice and penne pasta without any issue. It's definitely a nice feature to have, as it saves the hassle of getting a colander out and washing this up afterwards.

I also tested the pan set by making a veggie chilli con carne, this time using the larger pot. With an impressive 24cm diameter and 5 litre capacity, I had no doubt that this pot would be roomy enough to cook enough chilli to cover all of my lunches for the week.

Just like with the medium-sized pot, it doesn't take long for the larger pot to pre-heat. It's 3cm wider than the medium pot, and is just about the right size for the largest ring on my hob. This pot also reaches 14cm in height, and using it to batch cook my lunches definitely helps me appreciate its size. I imagine that cooking for larger numbers of people would be far easier with a pot like this.

Once I've fried off a healthy glug of olive oil - which I add for taste preference more than anything - along with some garlic and various spices, I add in my pre-grilled veg. There's a lot going in, including two peppers, two aubergines, and two red onions, all of which I've only cut into medium-sized chunks. But this isn't an issue thanks to the pot's size. When the tinned tomatoes go in, along with a cup of water, they make a loud sizzling sound, which is testament to how hot the pot is at the base. Once again, it's been on a medium-high heat, and I definitely don't feel the need to turn it up higher.

All that's left is to let everything simmer. I turn down the heat and pop the glass lid over the pot, but as I make a start on frying off some halloumi to enjoy with the chilli, I'm hearing quite a lot of bubbling going on. The amount of water on the pot lid after just a few minutes is enough to tell me that the pot is way above simmering heat, so I give everything a stir and turn the heat down further.

The good thing about the pot's heat is that I know 20 minutes is going to be enough time for everything to infuse together nicely. I find that a veggie chilli con carne can take more time than when I'm cooking with meat, potentially because there's less substance to thicken everything up. But, the heat of the HEMKOMST pot means that when I come to serve the chilli 20 minutes later, the dish is nicely thickened.

Again, I have no problems lifting the pot up via the grab handles, even after 20 minutes on the hob. They're definitely hotter than when I was cooking the spag bol, but still comfortable enough to hold.

Handily, the pots and saucepans also have measurements on their interiors. There's litre measurements on one side, and cups (or quartz, in the case of the biggest pot) on the other, which is handy to have if you're ever following a recipe that uses American measurements.

I thought these markings were a nice feature, and I mainly referred to them when I was using the saucepan to cook rice or pasta (I went to the 0.5l line for one portion, and 1l line for two). Given that I usually use my best judgement on how much water to add, I've managed to save myself a bit of time when I'm cooking these culinary staples. Too much water lengthens the process unnecessarily, especially in the case of rice - so, the measurements in the pan are definitely good to have.

As a side note, when I have cooked rice in the saucepan - which I've done a few times now - I've been really impressed with the efficiency. This can partly be attributed to the fact that I'm now using the right amount of water, but I can also tell that the stainless steel gets far hotter than the base of my old pan, and is just quicker as a result. It takes little over 15 minutes to cook one portion of rice in the saucepan, which I think is pretty good going.

Frying pan

I was really looking forward to using the HEMKOMST frying pan after reading in the user manual that little to no fat is needed to cook with it. First up, I made pancakes in the pan, and I'll admit, I was a little nervous pouring the mixture straight in without adding oil first. I'd let the pan get hot for a few minutes on a medium-high heat first, and after a few minutes with my pancake mixture sitting in the pan, I could tell it was cooking nicely from the bottom.

I used a plastic spatula to separate the edges of the pancake from the pan (because of the sol-gel non-stick coating, metal utensils aren't safe to use). At this point, I was getting ready to flip my pancake, but I was a little apprehensive; the lack of oil in the pan made it seem like the pancake was sticking. But I went for it anyway, flipping the pan upwards by the stainless steel handle. The first attempt was a bit of a fail; I misjudged the weight of the pan and didn't put enough force behind the flip. The pancake landed in a heap rather than flat on the other side, but thankfully, it was cooked enough to maintain its circular shape.

On the next attempt, I put in a bit more oomph and managed to get a better flip, but it still wasn't perfect. Out of curiosity, I asked my partner to give it a go to see if it was just me who struggled to get the flipping motion right. He had a similar experience, where he was able to flip the pancake, but not as smoothly as he would with a more lightweight pan. The HEMKOMST pan may only weigh 1.22 kg, but it certainly feels sturdy.

Because of the size of the frying pan, I also had to pour in more pancake mixture than I usually would for one pancake. This was fine by me, but it probably did contribute to the trickiness of the flipping, and I'd likely opt for a smaller pan when making pancakes next time.

What did leave me feeling super impressed was the pan's non-stick coating. Despite my trepidations, there wasn't an ounce of pancake stuck to the surface when I was finished. This also made washing up a breeze (but more on that later).

Next up, I used the pan to cook a chicken stir-fry for lunch (with enough for one portion leftover). I pre-heated the pan for a few minutes on a high heat before adding my chicken (sans oil), and within a minute, the meat was sizzling away nicely. While the chicken was cooking, I prepared my veg (mushrooms, pepper, kale, and garlic), but I may have got a little carried away with this and neglected to stir the chicken as it was cooking. By the time I got to it, the chicken was starting to stick to the pan, but luckily, I'd rescued it just in time and there wasn't too much residue stuck to the surface.

It was a lesson in just how hot this pan can get, so I lowered the heat and once I'd finished preparing the veg, added these in along with a glug of olive oil, again for taste preference. The oil quickly soaked up any chicken residue that was left on the surface.

The frying pan was the perfect size for two portions worth of stir-fry, though a larger pan would be needed for anything more. I also found it relatively easy to tip the stir-fry straight into the bowl once it was ready, which I can't always manage with larger pans.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how my stir-fry turned out using the HEMKOMST pan. It was quick, easy, and uncomplicated, which is exactly what I need when cooking.

Omelettes are a lunch-time staple in our flat, and I was anticipating the HEMKOMST pan to be the perfect size for cooking these in. Previously, we've had to choose between a much smaller frying pan or our largest pan, which we also use to cook curries and the like in. The IKEA pan seemed like the perfect in-between.

I opted not to use oil in the pan this time, and had faith that the omelette wouldn't stick. It didn't let me down, and I feel like it was the easiest omelette I've ever made. I kept my eye on it the whole time and never once felt like it was sticking. I could fold the omelette nicely and was left with a satisfying semi-circle shape at the end (I don't flip my omelettes simply because I usually stuff them with a fair bit of filling).

Safe to say that I won't be cooking an omelette in a different pan again. The HEMKOMST pan is the ideal size and the easiest way to get the perfect omelette without it sticking.

The final test I did in the frying pan was halloumi, which is a good indicator of how evenly the pan cooks food. I was having just a few small pieces to go with my chilli, which I was anticipating to fry up in next to no time using the pan.

I was right - it only took a couple of minutes for the halloumi to start turning a nice golden colour on a medium-high heat. Again, I opted for no oil, given that halloumi is already such a treat in itself, and was really impressed with the non-stick capabilities. Within five minutes, the halloumi was charring, and there was some residue starting to come off. This didn't stick to the pan, but it was enough for me to turn off the heat and serve the halloumi into my bowl.

I'd say that the use of oil or another type of fat when cooking with the HEMKOMST frying pan really comes down to personal preference; you don't need to use it, because the non-stick coating does what it says on the tin, but you might find that you get a better result at the end if you do choose to add some when cooking. Either way, it's definitely not necessary to add much oil to the pan, and you can get away with just a small drizzle.

Cleaning and maintenance

I don't have a dishwasher in my flat, so we wash everything by hand. So, I'm always on the hunt for cookware that is easy to keep clean as much as it is easy to use - grubby pots and pans just aren't as nice to cook with.

I was mostly apprehensive about the pots and saucepan, as cleaning stainless steel appliances can be notoriously tricky. As much as I'd love to keep the cookware in the immaculate condition it arrived in, this just isn't realistic, and I'd rather get as much use as possible from the pieces and have this show up in their appearance.

It was therefore unsurprising that after a couple of uses, the pots and saucepan were showing smudges. They show up even more so whenever I'm washing up in a rush, but if I take the time to scrub the pots thoroughly - and leave them to dry rather than rush to put them away after a quick wipe with a tea towel - they do come out shiny again.

Because I store the pots and pan in a cupboard, the smudges doesn't bother me too much. If you are planning on keeping them out - or if you just prefer them to always be smudge-free - I recommend a quick spritz with white vinegar spray, which works wonders on stainless steel.

Worse than the smudges though was the residue left in the saucepan after we used it to cook rice. This was a lesson learnt; from now on I always use a tough scourer for the pan if we've used it for rice, and a healthy amount of washing up liquid.

That being said, I doubt it would be much trouble to get the pots and saucepan squeaky clean in a dishwasher. It's just something to note if, like me, you wash your cookware by hand.

Washing up the non-stick frying pan was easy. I've mentioned a couple of instances where I felt like food was starting to stick to the pan's surface, and while there was some charred bits of halloumi leftover when I'd finished cooking, nothing was actually stuck to the pan. Some washing-up liquid and a regular washing up sponge (scourers are a no-go on the sol-gel ceramic) got it looking as good as new again.

How does it compare to similar models and its predecessors?

For me personally, I can say that I prefer cooking with the IKEA HEMKOMST cookware set to my old pots and pans, which were Tefal. The Tefal set had served me well, but testing the HEMKOMST set has made me appreciate how much more efficient cookware can be. I also prefer the look of stainless steel, despite the extra effort it takes to keep clean.

Our current favourite saucepan set is the Stellar 3-Piece Eclipse Set (we've also tried the brand's Chef's Pan) which consists of three stainless steel saucepans. Prices of this set seem to vary, but it's currently available for £215 on the Stellar website, which is over £100 more than the IKEA HEMKOMST set (not forgetting that the IKEA set includes a non-stick frying pan as well). So from a price point perspective, opting for the IKEA set save a lot of money for (I would argue) not much difference in quality.

In general, the IKEA cookware set is more affordable than some of the most popular cookware brands on the market. For instance, we're big fans of the Hexclad 7-Piece Cookware Set, which our reviewer awarded full marks - but with an RRP of £439, this is beyond many people's budgets. We also can't talk about cookware without mentioning Our Place, who have seriously cemented themselves as one of the most popular brands in the business with the Always Pan (£125.00 at Our Place). But, you'd be paying considerably more for just one of their pans than you would for IKEA's 7-piece set.

I've been using the IKEA set for over three weeks now and really haven't found any major problems when cooking. For such a good non-stick frying pan, and three pots/ saucepans to boot, I can't think of a set that matches it in both price and quality.

Should you buy the IKEA HEMKOMST 7-piece stainless steel cookware set?

It probably doesn't come as a surprise when I say that I would definitely recommend IKEA's 7-piece cookware set. If you're looking for stainless steel saucepans, complete with glass lids, and a top-quality non-stick frying pan to boot, the HEMKOMST set is amazing value for money.

I've used this set to cook a variety of dishes now and haven't experienced any issues, bar trying to drain the spaghetti with the built-in strainer. To me, the built-in strainer on the pots and saucepan is a nice additional feature, and as it works fine for other pasta, rice and veg, I don't consider the fact that it doesn't drain spaghetti to be a con.

All four pieces in the HEMKOMST set impressed me with their heat conducting capabilities. This has massively sped up the time I've spent cooking certain dishes, which makes a big difference on busy weekdays. The cookware retains heat so well that I actually need to keep more of a watchful eye on the pans so they don't overheat - which isn't a bad thing. It keeps me more present during the cooking process.

The fact that I'm still able to move the pots and saucepan via the handles when cooking is another bonus. And when taking into account the frying pan's non-stick capabilities as well, I think a set like this could warrant a much higher price tag than £95.

I'll still be using my larger non-stick frying pan alongside, so I can't say this set has replaced all of the cookware in my home. But if you're looking for a comprehensive cookware set to cover most of your culinary needs, the HEMKOMST 7-piece is a purchase I doubt you'd regret.