Titanium Pans vs HexClad vs Our Place: Which Is Safe?

HexClad, Our Place, and titanium pans all claim to solve nonstick without the downsides. Here's what their actual materials are made of, and what that means for how long they last.

Why this comparison keeps coming up for pan buyers

Search "titanium pans vs hexclad vs our place" and you'll find the same questions repeating on Reddit and cookware forums: is HexClad's "hybrid" coating actually non-toxic, does Our Place's ceramic really stay nonstick, and is titanium just another marketing word on a box? These three brands get compared constantly because they're all pitched as the next step after Teflon and bare stainless steel. The honest answer depends entirely on what's under the surface, not what's printed on it.

People aren't just shopping for a pan. They're trying to buy something once and stop thinking about it: a BIFL (buy it for life) piece of cookware that won't need replacing in two years because the coating wore out.

HexClad: the "hybrid" technology and what the lawsuit revealed

HexClad markets its pans as a hybrid of stainless steel and nonstick, with a laser-etched surface and a coating reinforced by ceramic and titanium particles. The nonstick layer itself is PTFE-based. That's the detail a lot of buyers miss: the "titanium" in HexClad's name refers to particles mixed into a Teflon-style coating, not a titanium cooking surface.

In 2023, HexClad faced a class action alleging the company had marketed its cookware as "non-toxic" and "metal utensil safe" while using a PTFE coating that wears down with normal use. The case settled, with HexClad agreeing to pay into a settlement fund without admitting wrongdoing. For buyers, the takeaway isn't the dollar amount, it's what the settlement confirms: a coating is a coating, no matter how it's branded, and coatings degrade.

• PTFE-based nonstick layer, reinforced with ceramic/titanium particles
• Laser-etched hybrid surface designed to combine searing and release
• 2023 class action over non-toxic marketing claims, settled for $2.5 million
• Lifetime warranty advertised, but warranty claims on coating wear are frequently disputed

Our Place: the Always Pan and the ceramic durability question

Our Place built a brand around the Always Pan, a ceramic-coated piece of cookware sold as a cleaner alternative to Teflon. Ceramic coatings are PTFE-free at launch, which is a real point in their favor. But ceramic nonstick has a well-documented limit: it loses effectiveness with heat cycling and use, same as any other coating.

This is the pattern buyers describe again and again across cookware forums: a ceramic pan releases food beautifully for the first few months, then sticking creeps back in, and the release they paid for quietly disappears. Unlike a PTFE coating, ceramic doesn't flake in visible chunks, so the failure is harder to notice until food is sticking on a pan that's supposedly nonstick.

• Ceramic (coated) surface, free of PTFE and PFOA at time of sale
• Nonstick performance known to degrade with heat and repeated use
• No metal layer underneath designed for long-term scratch resistance
• Replacement is the only fix once the ceramic loses its release

« HexClad falsely advertised, labeled, and marketed the non-stick coating... as "non-toxic" »

r/BuyItForLife

Pure grade 1 titanium: neither PTFE nor ceramic, a bare metal

Forneau's cooking surface is 100% pure grade 1 titanium. That's not a coating sprayed, laser-etched, or baked onto a base metal. It's a solid layer of titanium, with nothing underneath it to be exposed to once the surface wears. Below that cooking surface, three layers of recycled aluminum spread heat evenly, and a stainless steel base makes the pan work on induction. The titanium layer itself doesn't conduct heat especially well on its own, that job belongs to the aluminum core; titanium's role is to give you a surface that has no coating to lose.

Being bare metal, titanium doesn't behave like Teflon or ceramic. It needs a proper preheat and a bit of oil to release food cleanly, particularly eggs and fish. That's the one real trade-off, and it's worth saying plainly instead of hiding it. In exchange, titanium doesn't flake, doesn't shed PTFE, and isn't vulnerable to the slow fade that ceramic and hybrid coatings go through.

Titanium does scratch. It's a myth that titanium pans stay pristine forever, and we won't claim otherwise. What matters is that a scratch on a solid titanium surface is cosmetic. There's no coating underneath to expose, so nothing flakes into your food and nothing changes about safety. Compare that to a scratched HexClad pan or a ceramic pan that's lost its shine: on those, a scratch is a sign the coating itself is failing.

For a deeper material breakdown, see our comparison of titanium cookware brands and our guide to PFAS-free pans.

Comparison table: material, weight, induction, care

What users are saying on Reddit and cookware forums

The recurring theme across r/BuyItForLife and cooking forums isn't brand loyalty, it's fatigue. People describe buying "non-toxic" cookware, trusting the label, and then watching the coating flake, peel, or quietly stop working within a year or two.

• « The nonstick coating is already flaking off in chunks » — a common complaint about PTFE and ceramic coatings after heavy use.
• « My pans started peeling despite light use » — ceramic and hybrid coatings failing well before their advertised lifespan.
• « "non toxic" is marketing category that needs to be backed up by actual third-party testing » — growing skepticism toward unverified claims.
• « I spent nearly $1,000 on HexClad cookware because of their lifetime durability and non-toxic claims... Now others are failing again » — buyers feeling let down by premium pricing paired with coating wear.

The common thread: buyers increasingly want to know exactly what the cooking surface is made of, not just what the marketing calls it. That's also why questions like titanium vs stainless steel keep coming up: people are trying to separate real material differences from branding.

Which to choose depending on how you cook

If you cook daily and want one pan that doesn't need babysitting or eventual replacement, a solid titanium surface removes the coating question entirely, since there's no coating to wear out in the first place. If you're on induction, both HexClad and Forneau titanium pans work; most Our Place ceramic pans do not, which is worth checking before buying. For oven use, check the handle material on any option, as coated nonstick pans often have lower oven temperature limits than bare metal.

For everyday searing, eggs, and high-heat cooking where durability matters more than an out-of-the-box nonstick glide, titanium is the material built to last rather than fade. Browse the full titanium pan collection to compare sizes and shapes.