If you re-read, you’ll see I said the *all stainless * is dishwasher safe. Which means stainless inside and outside. Those are dishwasher safe. I didn’t say that the nonstick was dishwasher safe.
For skillets, there’s nothing like great-grandma’s hand me down, well seasoned iron skillet, that hasn’t felt a drop of soap in it for at least 40 years. A thing of beauty!
I’ll go you one better, Qadgop. A heavy cast-iron chicken fryer! I’ve used mine for 30 years, and I expect it to serve somebody quite well 100 years from now. I use it for about half the things that get cooked on the stovetop around here. Teflon is good for egg dishes, but give me heavy metal for everything else! 
No one has told me this, but I’ve come to the conclusion that ordinary Teflon coating wears thin. I never use metal utensils or cleaning tools on new pans. I clean by wiping with a paper towel, then use soap & water with a plastic mesh, non-abrasive pad/sponge, always. Yet after a while, with no noticeable flaws in the surfaceand no gouges, the pan no longer lets stuff slide out, eggs stick just a little and it doesn’t wipe well. Eventually, I chuck what appears to be a flawless-surface pan and get a new one. Is that what everyone else finds?
Innova makes a fine alternative that is very reasonable. I just ordered a 4.5 quart roaster from Smart Bargains for $34.99.
I’d like to offer a couple of suggestions of my own:
-
The way I clean my cast iron pans is to scrape off as much schmutz as possible with a non-metal spatula. If this doesn’t clean the pan sufficiently, I pour in equal amounts of salt and oil, about a tablespoon of each. I work this mixture into the surface of the pan with a folded paper towel and pitch the whole thing when the pan is clean. I got this idea when eating at Little Joe’s, a little hole in the wall italian place in San Francisco. When the cooks had finished cooking an order in a saute pan, the pan cleaner guy scooped a spoonful of oily sand from a container into the pan and scoured it. This method works very well for me.
-
Try to look in out of the way places for expensive cookware and seriously consider less well known brands. For example, I love using enamelled cast iron cookware, but new Le Creuset cookware is prohibitively expensive for me. I go to the TJ Maxx store near me at regular intervals where I pick up cookware labelled A Well Equipped Kitchen. Sometimes the paint isn’t perfect or there’s a chip somewhere, but it’s something that doesn’t affect the performance or clean up.
Hope this helps.
I don’t know what “real cooks” think about Alton Brown, but I found his book Alton Brown’s Gear For Your Kitchen to be fascinating and really detailed. He goes over every possible kitchen instrument, what options are available for what price ranges, and what you need most and least.
Has anyone ever used a silicone rubber muffin pan? I’ve seen reasonably priced ones in ads, but I find it hard to believe they won’t melt.
Mangetout mentioned using one upthread. It won’t melt. I believe they are made with a special silicone formula mixed with tiny bits of glass (threads?) so they can withstand very high heat.