Lodge - known for their cast iron - has a line of enameled cast iron that looks and cooks just like Le Creuset and at a third of the cost. I’ve got several pieces of it and I’m delighted.
If you can manage to get to their factory outlet store in South Pittsburgh, TN, you can get excellent deals, too. We make a point of stopping there every time we’re in the area.
Ain’t that the truth. I keep forgetting to get some so when I need something out of the chest freezer, I have to put on my noise reducing headphones and turn the music up really loudly. I am completely revolted by the sound of the frozen things in the freezer touching and rubbing against the sides. Seriously - it makes me gag. It’s about 1000000x worse than walking on crunchy snow and even that makes me wince.
Anyway, I can’t stand cooking with glass. It’s heavy, it doesn’t sit firmly on the burners, it doesn’t hold heat well, and it occasionally explodes.
Enameled cast iron sounds heavenly. We currently only have 2 cast iron pans. I’d love to get more. I can handle the weight if they don’t cook like shit (like the glass).
If weight is an issue, look into enameled steel, like this pot. It’s very light weight, though that means it doesn’t heat as evenly as cast iron, aluminum or copper pans.
I haven’t worked with enameled aluminum, but one of the advantages of aluminum is that it heats evenly and retains heat. I have aluminum-core cookware that is covered in stainless steel, which makes it heavenly to cook with (though heavy) and dishwasher-safe, which I require of everything in my kitchen.
I have one Le Creuset pan which I love. I’d love to get more but blanch everytime I look at prices. The one I had was a hand-me-down from a friend. Someone gave it to her thinking it was the color of her set, but it wasn’t. So I got it!
Aluminum (hard-anodized or cast) would be a good choice if you’re worried about weight. It may be a little hard to find without non-stick coatings these days. I think it also fell a bit out of favor due to the unfounded Alzheimer’s scare.
Do enamel-covered pans like Le Creuset or its knockoffs have any non-stick properties? Could you cook, say, eggs in them?
I share your aversion to the touch of metal. Also the sound of metal spatula on stainless-steel pans. It just sets my teeth on edge. Ergh! And worst of all, trying to clean non-nonstick pans. Once you go teflon, you’ll never go back! LOL! I also have a deep fear of shattered glass.
Re: Lodge I was almost in love - until I saw that the skillet weighs 9 lbs. No Way.
I recently bought a set of these: Robot or human?
It was a cheap fill-in until I could find the perfect set. I think I may just buy a second set of these. They have the non-stick coating inside and out, so they clean like a dream. If you want to be able to make a black-and-blue steak, you might need a separate cast-iron griddle, and I’d still like a really big castiron/ceramic casserole.
But for the day-to-day grunt work, these are convenient, cheap, and I like the blue! 
I keep seeing this 1-800 commercial that has pots and pans made of stone. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of it tho’.
Man, fuck cooking. Eat out! 
What are you scrubbing your pans with, steel wool? Use a soft scrubbing brush made of some kind of synthetic material.
I’ve been watching this infomercial with interest and I believe the name is Orgreenix(sp).
A few notes -
I am not the most graceful cook and I have banged a pot or two together. Glass pans are straight out.
In my experience enameled cast iron (Le Cruset) is very pretty, but it is also very heavy in the larget skillet sizes, does not clean up as easily as you would expect it to, and (surprisingly) it can be scorched. Some people love them, but I am not a big fan of enameled cast iron cookware. Maybe other brands of enameled cast iron will perform better.
Coated pans are nice, but they wear out after a few years of normal use and scorch them once and you have to throw them away.
I like the non coated commercial hard anodized aluminum Calphalon pans, They are durable, have good heat characteristics, are heavy enough and survive heat well enough that they are almost impossible to burn up. The super hard anodized surface is almost ceramic like, and a lot less “metallic” than you might think, take a look at them in your local cookware store. Possibly try a small pan.
As a side note you might also try a few pieces of cast iron in the medium and smaller skillet sizes. Thick, unenameled cast iron has a very different sound, feel, and texture compared to the bright metallic ring and finish of stainless steel that you find objectionable, and once such a pan is properly seasoned they are awesome! You do have to take some care not to burn them up, but even if you do they are relatively inexpensive to replace.
When I lived with my sister we used her enamelware. They feel a lot like ceramic.
