The Titanium Always Pan Pro is a coating-free, non-stick pan that can last a lifetime. At least, that’s what the company Our Place wants you to believe.
To test this bold claim, I’ve been cooking with this pan since it came out. And honestly, I am surprised at the results so far.
In this review of the Titanium Always Pan Pro, I explain what I love about it, what I absolutely hate, and whether it truly is the first non-stick pan you’ll never have to replace.
Key Takeaways
If you’re in a hurry, here’s what you need to know about the Our Place Titanium Always Pan Pro.
Construction: This pan is made of three layers: 430-grade stainless steel exterior, aluminum core, and a pure titanium interior. The unique NoCo surface with debossed circles and raised dots creates a non-stick effect without any coatings.
Non-Stick Performance: Eggs don’t stick when the cooking surface is greased with oil. However, without oil, some sticking occurs. Even with minimal sticking, cleaning is easy.
Searing: The pan’s thick, 3.2 mm construction ensures excellent heat retention, resulting in even browning and consistent results. The textured interior keeps oil in the center of the pan, which helps with searing and caramelization.
Heat Conduction and Retention: The pan performed well in my heat conduction test, boiling the water in 2 minutes and 41 seconds (the industry average is 2 minutes and 37 seconds). It also performed well in my heat retention test. After 10 minutes, the water cooled to 100.4°F (the industry average is 99°F).
Design: I like this pan’s rivetless handles, helper handle, and tall sides. However, I hate the uncomfortable, slippery handle, thin, fragile lid, and polished finish that easily shows smudges and fingerprints. The worst part is significant steam escaping from the lid and going directly on the handle.
Is the Titanium Always Pan Pro Worth It?
The Our Place Titanium Always Pan Pro delivers on its promise of long-lasting non-stick performance without coatings — and they guarantee it with a lifetime warranty that covers performance issues (i.e., food sticking). However, its high price and design flaws, such as the uncomfortable handle and poorly sealed lid, might be deal-breakers.
It’s a solid option if you want to avoid Teflon and are tired of replacing ceramic non-stick pans frequently. It’s also ideal if you have limited kitchen space and are looking for an all-purpose pan. But it’s not for everyone.
If the same titanium surface was paired with a more comfortable handle and a standard lid, I would recommend it to most home cooks.
It’s available on FromOurPlace.com, where you can learn more and check the current price.
Use the links below to navigate the review:
- Construction
- Non-Stick Performance
- Searing
- Heat Conduction
- Heat Retention
- Design
- Bottom Line: Is the Titanium Always Pan Pro Worth It?
Construction
There’s a lot of jargon on Our Place’s website about this pan’s materials, so to cut through the noise and find out what it’s actually made of, I reached out directly to the company and asked them to break it down for me layer by layer.
They told me the pan is made up of three bonded layers. The exterior is 430-grade stainless steel, and the core is aluminum. Both materials are standard for a 3-ply pan.
The big difference with this pan is the interior. It’s not stainless steel, and even though it looks like it, it’s not a hybrid of steel and non-stick coating like HexClad, Henckels HXagon, or Cooksy.
Our Place confirmed that the interior layer is pure titanium without any coatings or chemicals. Titanium is incredibly hard and resistant to damage. Because of that, this pan can withstand up to 1000°F in the oven.
Parts of the cooking surface look darker than others, almost like a Teflon coating. I asked Our Place about this, and they assured me the pan does not contain Teflon or other non-stick coatings. They explained that the darker color is actually due to oxidation that occurs during their proprietary curing process.
“The interior surface ply is constructed with pure Titanium – the lower parts are darkened due to oxidation during our proprietary curing process, which results in a nonstick effect.”
Our Place Customer Service
The main feature of this pan is what Our Place calls NoCo (or No Coating) technology, which is the raised pattern on the cooking surface. If you look closely, small circles are debossed into the titanium. And inside of those circles are tiny raised dots.
Our Place claims this pattern creates airflow between the food and the pan, resulting in a cooking surface that repels liquids like a hydrophobic lotus leaf. That’s the secret behind how this pan is non-stick without a chemical non-stick coating.
Non-Stick Performance
So, does this NoCo surface actually work? To find out, I cooked the food that is most prone to sticking: eggs.
Our Place’s instructions say you need to grease the surface with at least a teaspoon of oil, so after preheating the pan, I added oil and a little bit of butter. I let the eggs cook for about a minute before touching them, and when I finally nudged them with a spatula, they moved freely with zero sticking. I also flipped the eggs with no issues.
I tested it again by making an omelet, and the egg cooked perfectly and didn’t stick at all.
To push the limits, I cooked another egg in a completely dry pan without any oil or butter. This time, it stuck, but not so bad that it ruined the egg. I was able to slide the spatula under it without breaking the yolk or ripping apart the whites.
And even though some of the eggs stuck, cleaning the pan was easy; the stuck-on bits came right off with a quick rinse.
I’ve cooked dozens of eggs in this pan, and the performance is consistently excellent. When I set the heat to medium and add oil, delicate foods like eggs and fish glide across the surface without a hint of sticking.
Searing
This pan is not only good with eggs, but it does a good job searing, too. I cooked burgers, steak, salmon, and chicken in this pan, and it browns nicely and cooks evenly.
A bonus of the textured surface is that it keeps oil in the center of the pan. You can still coat the entire surface by tilting the pan, but the oil doesn’t immediately run to the edges and leave the center dry like it does with some non-stick pans.
Keeping oil under the food helps with searing and caramelization because it ensures the food is in direct contact with the hot oil.
Another factor that contributes to this pan’s searing ability is its thickness. Although they say this pan is 3 mm thick, I measured it at 3.2 mm, which is slightly thicker than the average 2.9 mm tri-ply pan.
Thicker pans have more material, which allows them to store more heat energy. So, when you add cold ingredients, the pan maintains a consistent temperature.
For example, when you place a cold burger on a thin pan, the temperature drops significantly because the cold meat absorbs heat from the pan. This sudden temperature drop can result in uneven cooking and a less effective sear.
However, when you place a cold burger on a thick pan with good heat retention (like the Titanium Always Pan Pro), the pan’s temperature remains relatively stable.
Heat Conduction
I measure the heat conduction of every pan I review by recording the time it takes to boil 2 cups of cold (55°F) water.
The water in the Titanium Always Pan Pro began bubbling at 1 minute and 39 seconds and reached a full boil at 2 minutes and 41 seconds.
As the pan heated up, I noticed that the bubbles were evenly distributed across the cooking surface, indicating that the pan heats uniformly without any noticeable hot or cold spots.
Compared to the 30+ pans I’ve tested, the Our Place Titanium Always Pan Pro’s heat conduction falls within the industry average of 2 minutes and 37 seconds.
While some top brands like HexClad and Made In heated the water slightly faster, the Titanium Always Pan Pro outperformed brands like All-Clad and Hestan. Here are the complete results from my testing:
| Pan | Time to First Bubbles | Time to Boil |
|---|---|---|
| Farberware | 1 minute and 2 seconds | 1 minute and 29 seconds |
| All-Clad G5 fry pan | 1 minute and 17 seconds | 2 minutes and 4 seconds |
| Hestan CopperBond fry pan | 1 minute and 23 seconds | 2 minutes and 7 seconds |
| All-Clad Copper Core fry pan | 1 minute and 21 seconds | 2 minutes and 18 seconds |
| Henckels HXagon fry pan | 1 minute and 36 seconds | 2 minutes and 19 seconds |
| Made In stainless steel fry pan | 1 minute and 40 seconds | 2 minutes and 21 seconds |
| Anolon X pan | 1 minute and 35 seconds | 2 minutes and 22 seconds |
| Misen fry pan | 1 minute and 50 seconds | 2 minutes and 25 seconds |
| Caraway | 1 minute and 53 seconds | 2 minutes and 26 seconds |
| Anolon Advanced fry pan | 1 minute and 55 seconds | 2 minutes and 27 seconds |
| HexClad fry pan | 1 minute and 40 seconds | 2 minutes and 30 seconds |
| Made In non-stick fry pan | 1 minute and 53 seconds | 2 minutes and 31 seconds |
| Zwilling fry pan | 1 minute and 45 seconds | 2 minutes and 31 seconds |
| T-fal fry pan | 1 minute and 50 seconds | 2 minutes and 32 seconds |
| Gotham Steel fry pan | 1 minute and 58 seconds | 2 minutes and 32 seconds |
| Cooksy fry pan | 1 minute and 47 seconds | 2 minutes and 35 seconds |
| Rachael Ray fry pan | 1 minute and 47 seconds | 2 minutes and 36 seconds |
| Viking fry pan | 1 minute and 42 seconds | 2 minutes and 39 seconds |
| Calphalon fry pan | 1 minute and 45 seconds | 2 minutes and 40 seconds |
| Our Place Titanium Always Pan Pro | 1 minute and 39 seconds | 2 minutes and 41 seconds |
| Sardel fry pan | 1 minute and 41 seconds | 2 minutes and 46 seconds |
| Pioneer Woman fry pan | 2 minutes and 2 seconds | 2 minutes and 46 seconds |
| Hestan NanoBond fry pan | 1 minute and 52 seconds | 2 minutes and 47 seconds |
| GreenLife pan | 2 minutes and 11 seconds | 2 minutes and 47 seconds |
| Our Place Always Pan | 2 minutes and 2 seconds | 2 minutes and 48 seconds |
| Ninja NeverStick Pan | 2 minutes and 7 seconds | 2 minutes and 49 seconds |
| Tramontina fry pan | 1 minute and 53 seconds | 2 minutes and 52 seconds |
| Heritage Steel Eater fry pan | 1 minute and 57 seconds | 2 minutes and 53 seconds |
| Circulon fry pan | 2 minutes and 7 seconds | 2 minutes and 55 seconds |
| All-Clad D3 fry pan | 1 minute and 55 seconds | 2 minutes and 55 seconds |
| All-Clad HA1 fry pan | 2 minutes and 12 seconds | 2 minutes and 58 seconds |
| All-Clad NS Pro fry pan | 2 minutes and 9 seconds | 3 minutes and 3 seconds |
| All-Clad D5 fry pan | 1 minutes and 58 seconds | 3 minutes and 4 seconds |
| Goldilocks fry pan | 2 minutes and 17 seconds | 3 minutes and 5 seconds |
| Demeyere Industry fry pan | 2 minutes and 3 seconds | 3 minutes and 10 seconds |
| Ballarini fry pan | 2 minutes and 15 seconds | 3 minutes and 12 seconds |
| Heritage Steel Titanium fry pan | 1 minute and 59 seconds | 3 minutes and 15 seconds |
| Demeyere Atlantis fry pan | 2 minutes and 11 seconds | 3 minutes and 25 seconds |
| Xtrema fry pan | 3 minutes and 41 seconds | 6 minutes and 7 seconds |
Heat Retention
Once the water reached its boiling point, I removed the pan from the heat and let it sit and cool.
After 10 minutes, the water temperature in the Titanium Always Pan Pro was 100.4°F, which is above the industry average of 99°F.
I mentioned in my searing tests that this pan retains heat well, but this test confirms it. Below are the results from over two dozen other pans I’ve tested:
| Pan | Temperature After 5 Minutes | Temperature After 10 Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Xtrema fry pan | 142°F | 113°F |
| Made In stainless steel fry pan | 121.1°F | 106.6°F |
| Demeyere Atlantis fry pan | 122.0°F | 106.3°F |
| Made In non-stick fry pan | 120.2°F | 105.8°F |
| Ninja NeverStick Pan | 130.5°F | 104.8°F |
| Misen fry pan | 118.6°F | 103.4°F |
| Zwilling fry pan | 121.1°F | 103.0°F |
| Rachael Ray fry pan | 126.3°F | 102.7°F |
| Goldilocks fry pan | 122.0°F | 102.5°F |
| HexClad fry pan | 120.7°F | 102.4°F |
| Circulon fry pan | 133.3°F | 102.0°F |
| Tramontina fry pan | 118.5°F | 101.3°F |
| Cooksy fry pan | 117.9°F | 101.2°F |
| Calphalon fry pan | 112.8°F | 101.1°F |
| All-Clad D3 skillet | 111.6°F | 100.9°F |
| Our Place Titanium Always Pan Pro | 119.3°F | 100.4°F |
| Ballarini fry pan | 120°F | 99.9°F |
| Heritage Steel Eater | 119.6°F | 99.4°F |
| Heritage Steel Titanium | 120.1°F | 98.2°F |
| All-Clad HA1 fry pan | 117.9°F | 98.1°F |
| Hestan fry pan | 114.4°F | 98.0°F |
| Sardel fry pan | 114.0°F | 97.8°F |
| All-Clad NS Pro fry pan | 116.0°F | 97.3°F |
| All-Clad D5 fry pan | 112.7°F | 97.3°F |
| Henckels HXagon fry pan | 113.5°F | 96.7°F |
| Our Place Always Pan | 118.0°F | 96.7°F |
| Demeyere Industry fry pan | 115.2°F | 96.6°F |
| All-Clad G5 fry pan | 115.3°F | 96.6°F |
| Caraway fry pan | 116.6°F | 96.4°F |
| Anolon X pan | 114.1°F | 96.0°F |
| Viking fry pan | 106.6°F | 95.9°F |
| All-Clad Copper Core fry pan | 117.7°F | 95.5°F |
| Farberware fry pan | 112.0°F | 95.4°F |
| GreenLife fry pan | 119.0°F | 95.0°F |
| Gotham Steel fry pan | 113.0°F | 95.0°F |
| Anolon Advanced fry pan | 112.7°F | 90.9°F |
| Pioneer Woman fry pan | 104.3°F | 90.9°F |
| T-fal fry pan | 108.7°F | 88.0°F |
Design
Performance-wise, I’m impressed. But design is a different story. There are a couple of elements I like, but a handful I absolutely hate.
On the positive side, I like that the handles are rivetless. You get a clean, uninterrupted cooking surface. I also like the helper handle. It’s big and has a wide opening.
I also like the tall sides. They’re about an inch taller than a typical frying pan. So you can fit a good amount of food (2.8 quarts) and use this pan for braising and other liquid-heavy meals.
On the negative side, the handle is thick, squared, uncomfortable, and has a peg that you have to clean around.
When you’re holding the end of the handle, the corner digs into your hand, which doesn’t feel great.
Because of the rounded edges and slick, polished finish, the handle can become slippery when your hand is soapy or greasy, or you’re wearing an oven mitt.
They designed the lid so that the spatula that comes with the pan can slide underneath while it’s resting on the handle, but the space allows steam to escape. Even when you remove the spatula and twist the lid, steam escapes.
As you can see, that steam goes directly on the handle, making it wet and piping hot.
With most pans, you can shift the lid back towards the handle, so there’s a tiny space for steam to escape on the opposite side. But with this pan, the steam is constantly blasting on the handle. There’s no way to fully seal the lid or direct the steam elsewhere.
I also really dislike the polished finish on this pan. It’s one of the shiniest pans I’ve seen, and while it makes a statement and looks great at first, it gets covered in fingerprints and smudges and looks like a mess.
The lid is also thin and feels fragile. It’s only .8 mm thick and weighs 1 pound. For comparison, this Caraway lid has the same diameter and weighs 2.2 pounds, and this Calphalon lid weighs 1.5 pounds.
Bottom Line: Is the Titanium Always Pan Pro Worth It?
So, is the Titanium Always Pan Pro worth buying? This is one of the few pans that I’m torn on. On one hand, it lives up to its promises.
Even the most delicate foods like eggs don’t stick, and since there’s no ceramic or Teflon coating, there’s no reason to believe the performance will change over time. And if the performance does change, you’re covered by their lifetime warranty.
Most cookware warranties only protect you against defects in materials and construction, but Our Place’s warranty covers performance for life. In other words, if food starts to stick for any reason, they’ll replace the pan.
Is it as slick as a traditional non-stick pan? No. But it’s way less fussy than stainless steel, and, at least in my experience, it releases food better than a well-seasoned cast iron or carbon steel pan. Plus, it’s lighter than cast iron, and you don’t need to season it.
On the other hand, it’s expensive—almost $200—and at that price, it’s hard to overlook the slippery and uncomfortable square handle and the flimsy lid that doesn’t seal well.
You could buy a quality stainless steel pan (like this Goldilocks pan) that will last forever and an affordable non-stick pan (like this one from Tramontina) just for eggs and still have $100 left over.
That said, I think this pan is a good option for two types of home cooks: people who want to avoid Teflon and are tired of throwing away their ceramic non-stick pans after six months and people with limited kitchen space who are looking for one all-purpose pan to do it all.
The bottom line is that this pan offers a combination of non-stick performance and durability that you can’t get with most cookware.
If the same textured titanium surface were on a pan with a comfortable handle and standard lid, I’d recommend it to almost everyone.
Visit FromOurPlace.com to learn more and check the current price.
Thank you for this great review. Your experience with the lid and steam escaping is something I’m glad to know about before potentially purchasing the pan. On the OurPlace website it states “Our iconic domed-shaped, modular lid is designed to lock in steam when you need it or release it when you don’t.” Is it possible that the steam won’t escape if I keep the spatula in place under the lid? Or will steam escape no matter what you do (ie – turning the lid)? Thanks!
Great question! The steam still escapes with the spatula in place. Based on my experience, this is a design flaw. It’s okay for some steam to escape (too much pressure would be bad), but you don’t want it going right on the handle.
I hope this helps!
Andrew