ScanPan Cookware Nonstick Skillets at a Glance
These are the core of their ScanPan nonstick Pans products today, but their names and offerings change as they update their lines. Furthermore, our testing focused on nonstick skillets only since we believe they're the only ones that need them. It also applies to the other products in the line if you want the complete kit.
ScanPan also makes copper and stainless cookware, which we will not discuss here.
Williams-Sonoma and Sur la Table offer exclusive ScanPan Cookware lines with small design differences (e.g., different handles or lids) but with similar performance. We grouped similar items to make the difference between the lines easier to understand.
It's even more confusing that you can still find discontinued and "exclusive" SLT and WS lines on Amazon. A discontinued ScanPan pan (not listed here) at a discounted price might be your best bet if you're looking for high-quality nonstick.
ScanPan nonstick cookware does contain PTFE, but you may have to dig a little for this information.
Some of their products feature a newer version of the company's nonstick coating, Stratanium+, proprietary to ScanPan. PTFE is present in both.
What Is Stratanium?
ScanPan patents nonstick coatings Stratamonium and Stratanium+. According to ScanPan's website:
A primary characteristic of Titanium is its multilayer, non-stick coating, which includes hard, small, and large particles that impede the adhesion of thermally sprayed layers.
This method of layering results in a 30% better non-stick effect and; a 30% increase in toughness and durability while extending the lifetime of the non-stick coating by 30%.
Resulting from this layering combination, the cooking performance is outstanding.
ScanPan describes Stratanium as a ceramic-titanium coating. While there are no official technical details on the site (as shown in the bullet points above), we believe it is a nonstick coating with PTFE ceramic and titanium added. PTFE coatings with ceramic and titanium make them stronger and longer lasting than nonstick coatings without these materials.
Our impression, however, is that the pan is essentially PTFE nonstick cookware based on its performance, appearance, and care instructions.
ScanPan Review: Worth the Money?
It is a good example of a marketing speech that conveys important information but says nothing. In addition to being vague (what is the purpose of the "small particles" and "large particles"?), the vagueness indicates that the primary material is PTFE. What is the reason? This is largely the case today with PTFE-coated cookware.
In other words, with incomplete information and obfuscation about the PTFE content. ScanPan, like many other manufacturers, also boasts what's not in their cookware, such as PFOA and PFOS. Nonstick cookware has been banned from using PFOA since 2015, but ScanPan led the industry to stop using PFOA in 2007. That's a great idea, as it is a nasty environmental hazard and probably carcinogenic.
In our research, PFOS is similar to PFOA; however, it is not used to make cookware, so it is listed here by ScanPan.
In an attempt to find out more about Stratanium, ScanPan failed to reply.
There is a market of people who want to use PTFE cookware from ScanPan and other companies. However, many of these people are aware of the issues with PTFE and opt to use it anyway, which is fine since PTFE is completely safe when used properly.