Kitchen Reviews

I purchased this cookware set as a Christmas gift to myself in 2002. I was initially very pleased and enjoyed the durability and ease with which items could be cooked. But now after a year and a half I'm very disappointed in the skillets. They are hard to clean and even with a good cleaning food is sticking to the nonstick surface. I would expect this from a lower quality product from a warehouse store but these carrry Emeril's name. Also, I watch, "Emeril Live" frequently and he doesn't appear to be using this cookware set as much as his stainless.

I needed new pots and pans, so I started looking around and everyone I new was getting or already had Calphalon. I came on Amazon to figure out what kind of Calphalon to buy....like the professional or the cheap kind like at Target. After reading the reviews, I decided to give the Emerilware a try since everyone raved about them. If you notice the Emerilware reviewers have given it five stars! And now, it's been three months that I've been using my Emerilware and I just wanted to thank the other reviewers for pointing me in the right direction! I love this cookware. This is truely a sturdy, quality product and my cooking even tastes better. You can't put these in the dishwaher, but you don't need to...one little wipe with the sponge cleans them right up! So for all you brides out there or people like me who've worn out their pots....don't take the easy way out and get what everyone else has.......get the Emerilware!

Emerilware by All-Clad has a sturdiness to it that shouts quality the first time you pick it up.
*The heavyweight thickness of the aluminum retains heat well and distributes heat flawlessly so there are no hot or cool spots.
*The quality of the multilayer nonstick material is comparable to Calphalon Commercial Nonstick, which is very, very similar although perhaps a little lighter in weight.
*The price for this set on Amazon can't be beat! It's priced the same here as the substandard lines of cookware available at [local store]!
*Lifetime warranty by a quality company means you can buy with confidence.
*Stay-cool, sturdy metal handles can go into the oven and have a handy and comfortable notch for your thumb.
*The combination of matte grey anodized aluminum bottoms and stainless lids and handles make a stunning design statement for your kitchen.

Folks concerned about the heavyness of the Emeril pans should check them out in the store, and compare to the Calphalon Commercial products, which also carry a lifetime warranty and have excellent cooking characteristics.

This particular set would be an excellent starter for a couple. Families and entertainers will need to add at a minimum a 12-inch frypan and an 8-quart stockpot, also available here at Amazon.

Enjoy!

Excellent set, easy to use and will last beyond its ten year guarantee. I use the pressure frypan to cook macrobiotic rice or oatmeal. After 50 minutes of high pressure cooking, I get perfect brown rice or oatmeal(no sticking or burning). Once you know the stove setting required to maintain pressure, you can almost forget it. However, as with any cooking device, I monitor it periodically. The pressure pot and frypan have flat bottoms which makes food preparation and cleaning a breeze. The glass lid was a major selling point, as it enables conventional use of both pots.

My wife makes succulent turkey drumsticks in only eight minutes of cooking time.

None of the other brands, we previewed, appeared to be constructed as well as the Kuhn Rikon models.

Needless to say, our family considers this set a great value. More important,we use it almost daily.

I learned about Duromatic Pressure Cookers while visiting Switzerland. The home kitchens I visited had two or three sizes of Duromatic (Kuhn Rikon) pressure cookers, even though kitchens and stoves are smaller than the average U.S. kitchen.
It is all about energy savings and speed for efficiency minded Swiss households.
It makes so much sense for our family when we come home late and want to have good food fast, instead of "fast food". Main courses like stew and split pea soup are possible in minutes instead of hours. Artichokes cook faster this way than any other.
Besides being an energy-efficient way to cook fast and well, these pots are great just used in the conventional way. The interchangeable glass lid allows you to boil pasta in one pot while pressure cooking the meat or sauce in the other, using the pressure lid.
We have had the old type American aluminum pressure cookers with the noisy and scary sounding pressure relief system. We have all heard stories of exploding pressure cookers, but this problem has been overcome years ago with the new safe systems invented by the Swiss. This Duromatic is the new age of safety and convenience and it is super quiet...
At this price it is a bargain and if you added an inexpensive non-stick omelette pan you would have all the cookware needed.

I received a 5-liter Duromatic pressure cooker as a gift 7 years ago, and wondered, "What on earth will I do with it?" Now I use it almost every time I cook. It is well-constructed and lives up to every promise they advertise: fast, healthful cooking has never been easier. If you love beans, there's no better way to cook them--dinner's ready in half an hour or less. Steam vegetables in 1 minute, cook a whole chicken in 19 minutes,or make perfect risotto with NO stirring in under 10 minutes from start to finish! You can make wonderful puddings and cheesecakes, too, with a little practice.

I ordered the "Duo" set to get the glass lid and the smaller cooker. Though I didn't need another 5L, it is quite handy to have two (I use it without pressure for cooking pasta or some soups.) The smaller (2L)size is wonderful for quickly cooking cereals, small quantities for babies or kids, or side dishes.

The recipe book provided with this set is extremely helpful and detailed, so don't be put off by having to learn the cooking techniques (Note to Kuhn-Rikon: a video or CD-ROM would be wonderful! I received a marketing CD-ROM a few years ago but IMO it should be in the box.) It can be tricky to convert recipes, the book contains thorough charts with cooking times for most foods, and once you get the basics down you'll be ready to start experimenting with your favorites. If you would like to cook with more whole grains and beans, this is a must-have. If you want that slow-cooked tenderness, but not the boring taste of Crock Pot cooking, pressure cooking is for you. Unlike the Crock Pot, the PC allows you to start with a saute', use the pressure to speed up your cooking time, and then add more delicate ingredients at the end so they stay crisp and colorful. Also, on a hot day like today, I appreciate that the shorter cooking time uses less energy and doesn't heat up the kitchen!

At first I had a hard time finding good PC recipes, but lately there seem to be more cookbooks coming out as the PC seems to be enjoying a bit of a revival. I just ordered Rick Rodgers' "Pressure Cooking for Everyone" and am happy to see more recipes for "gourmet" foods as well as everyday meals.

My only complaint, and it's a small one, is that I wish they sold custom cooking inserts for puddings and cheesecakes. The standard method is to cover your springform pan with foil and make a "harness" from foil to lift your pan in and out. You end up wasting a lot of foil, and it is easy to accidentally dump your dish on the way out. It would be great if they made an insert with a lid and handles to make this easier.

It would be hard to find a more versatile cooking tool, and I'm newly in love with my Duromatic(s) again after receiving my new set. BTW, the 7-year-old set is still perfect, not even the gasket has worn out, although it looks a bit shabby compared to the new styling and shiny finish of the new set. I can't say enough good things about Kuhn-Rikon or Duromatic. Give it a try! Here's to healthier, faster cooking in your home!

If you have not tried Calphalon commercial nonstick this pan is highly recommended. The domed lid is more than beautiful, it truly seals in all moisture. The pan literally rinses clean - never needs soaking, and the nonstick finish is very durable. The handle rarely gets uncomfortably hot, but the handle on the lid gets hot. One minor annoyance is that handle is a little too heavy so the pan tends to tip when nearly empty. On the plus side, the light pan is a nice design for stir fry. It is true that it is great for stirfry, but look at the size - and don't expect this size will stirfry more than a small side dish.

This Calphalon Commercial Nonstick 2-Quart Chef's Pan with Lid is a "collector's item" from the newer line of Calphalon's nonstick cookware. Thus, it has the same alloy aluminum pan as the older "Professional nonstick" line, but its interior has the superior Commercial nonstick coating. Its handle is "stay-cool" sculpted stainless steel, instead of an older chrome-covered iron handle that can get very hot to the touch. The 9-Inch bottom of this chef's pan is slightly smaller than that of the 3-Quart Sauté pan, which is another useful pan that usually comes with a Calphalon starter set.

This pan is a real bargain. Since Calphalon rarely offers such deep discounts, especially on their newest nonstick line of cookware, it seems worthwhile to add it to one's collection. If you have not tried a Commercial nonstick pan, I recommend this one as a test pan. The Commercial nonstick omelet pans are excellent, but one can get them in a starter set at a good price, too.

Because this chef's pan has the rounded shape, I use it for stir-frying, reducing sauces, and making demi-glace. I have two flat-bottomed woks (Joyce Chen and Calphalon), but they do not work that well on an electric range, and they are not nonstick. This chef's pot is useful for a small-to-medium stir fry on either a gas or electric burner. When the stir fry is done, I use a Calphalon nylon scoop to remove the cooked food, then reduce the sauce.

Since this pot is nonstick, clean-up will be easy. Any residue can be removed with a nylon scrubber and Soft Scrub. Hand-washing is recommended by Calphalon. I have had some of these Commercial nonstick pans for four years, and they still look like new.

An excellent little pan. I was ambivalent at first, not particularly interested in having any non-stick cookware.

Main drawback? The pan's smallish size. But we can hardly blame the pan, can we? I have still crammed a lot of food into this tiny thing...great for wilting a bag of spinach, great size for making sauces and personal stir-frys.

The nonstick surface is excellent. A few roommates have abused it in my absence and it still works great. I use it for pancakes, etc., since I lack any other skillet or omelette pan. The steep sides make flipping with a spatula a little work. However, the shape of the pan makes hand-flipping quite simple.

I have not had trouble with the pan's balance when empty, however I have dealt with much worse at work and so maybe calphalon's relative excellence had spoiled me. Nor have I had particular trouble with the handle getting hot, but again I'm used to everything being hot.

The lid is great, both because it is domed and it forms a good seal when liquid is present. It also allows the pan to be used for many other purposes to which it would not otherwise be suited (e.g. simmering messy sauces, wilting leafy vegetables)

Final thoughts: this attractive little pan is shaped thoughtfully, comes with a lid, comes clean very easily thanks to excellent non-stick, and can be used for just about anything (I have steamed, boiled, fried, roasted, sauteed...). Don't expect it to feed a family. It's ideal for one or two people, and for larger groups it will be a favorite for side-dishes, tapas, etc. Goes right in the oven.

This skillet is an excellent tool that if given a chance will be useful every day. As long as you don't expect something from it that its size simply cannot deliver, it has earned all five stars.

I just bought three more Calphalon pans (commercial hard-anodized) and expect as much from them.

Surroundings:
I don't have air conditioning in my basement apartment and the air gets extremely humid and hot throughout the summer, as the side of the building I'm in receives sun all day long. The bedroom is 12x15', and the living room is 24x16' and oddly shaped. Installing standard air conditioning isn't an option due to the construction of the building and window settings. I just bought one of the Vornado 750B fans for my bedroom, on the recommendation of a co-worker, and after just one week's use, immediately bought a second for the living room.

Style:

The styling of the fan is quite unobtrusive and modern, but this isn't a major point for me, due to the way it operates. You can place it out of sight and still get excellent performance by aiming it at an angle on a wall or the ceiling. Though this is the largest model Vornado makes, the head of the fan is only 15" large, which is a full 9" smaller in diameter than the nearly worthless box fan it was replacing. The serpentine metal base gives it a very stable feeling, as the Vornado's motor, the heaviest part, is directly in the center of gravity. There are 4 rubber O-rings packaged with it that slip on the steel base, so that if you're using it on a hard surface, it dampens any resonant vibration. I recommend using them in any case, as on a hard tile floor, the steel base did buzz a tiny little bit. With the O-rings applied, it was silent.

Performance:

This is where your money went when you spend a little extra for quality. The Vornado is *very* quiet on the lowest setting, and perhaps due to the pitch of the propeller or the formation of the air exiting the grill, much lower pitched in sound than your average box fan. To me, that makes the sound it produces much more acceptable. The motor is quite heavy, and a continuously variable speed control doesn't come cheap, but it's very much appreciated by this end user!
These are minor points, though, as I was looking for something that would actually make a difference in the way I felt throughout the summer months. Following the instructions for winter use, I started by keeping the fan aimed toward the ceiling to lower the heated (normally wasted energy) air toward the ground. The Vornado makes extremely quick work of redistributing the air flow and mixing the air in a room even on the lowest setting. I was actually able to turn the thermostat down by about 5 degrees, from 72 to 67, and the room still felt just as comfortable. That alone will end up paying for this awesome fan in a year or so!

However, I really wanted to see how it would work when summer hit, so I experimented by turning the heat up to 85 for a few hours until I was as uncomfortable as usual in July/August. Then, per the Vornado's instruction pamphlet, I aimed it at a wall about twenty feet away and set it on medium. It takes a few minutes to establish a pattern of flow in a room, so everytime you move the fan, you need to let things adjust for a minute or two to see if you've got an effective position. Let me tell you, I haven't found an ineffective one yet, just ones that were less powerful than others! In any case, what happens depends on the size of the room and the fan speed you set, of course, as well as where you aim it.
If you set it a distance away, and aim it directly at you, it will cool you off extremely quickly, to the point where 85 degrees felt like about 70. If you aim it at a wall and let the airstream "splash" off and recirculate as the device was intended, the effect is more subtle and much more comfortable than a normal fan. Instead of a constant, droning, one-sided breeze, you get a chaotic mixture of tiny little currents that waft around you in unpredictable patterns. No matter where you move in the room, you're surrounded by these buffeting little breezes. It frees you from being stuck in one spot or moving the fan to wherever you want to go in order to be comfortable. It's really cool. I lit a stick of incense in the furthest location from the fan, and I could actually watch the smoke being pulled all over the place. If I'd have tried the same thing with a box fan blowing on high, it would have risen in a straight column from 10 feet out! The highest setting of the fan speed is as loud as any other fan, though low-pitched, and it will move so much air that I can't forsee ever needing to use it at that level. The medium setting was as much as it took for me to be quite comfortable in a large room at 85 degrees.

So, having reset the heat to a level that won't kill my wallet, and keeping the fan on the lowest setting again, I couldn't be more happy with my purchase. Whether you can't afford or install A/C (or would like to make it more effective at a lower setting), or you have uneven heat distribution, the Vornado fan is *THE* solution. Yes, they're much more expensive than a regular fan, but they're 10-fold more effective than the biggest normal fan I've ever used, and the Vornado is warranteed for life.

There's a reason you can't find these fans on E-Bay ... no one ever gets rid of them!

My life long love affair with fans go way back. I suffered with insomnia in my teens and learnt I would sleep when a fan was blowing on me. I run a fan year round (thought I was the only one, but find there are others out there!). My sinuses do not close up, and the white noise makes me sleep so peaceful. However, I need a "softer" fan for my work area. One that give plenty of air current, but since I am writing with papers about me and books, I needed one that was not a hurricane. This one is a pleasing quiet fan, good are current, but can be near silent. In Summer it makes any room cooler, in winter makes the room warmer. I am very pleased with this fan and its excellent warranty.

If you are a teacher working in a classroom that is not airconditioned, I highly recommend the Vornado 750B air circulator. I've put it on top of a filing cabinet in one corner and faced it at the opposite (farthest) corner above the heads of my high school students. No arguments about who is getting the most benefit from the fan because we can all feel the air moving around the room. We use it all year round, not just when it's warm. Even at its highest setting you can still be heard in the back of the classroom. It's sturdy and easy to wipe clean of the everpresent chalk dust. I also have a 610 in my bedroom at home to lower the costs of air conditioning. I recommend Vornado to anyone I hear complaining about energy bills or the comfort level of their home or workplace. No one has been disappointed.

This is a nice heavy saute Pan. I have had Circulon products for years now and got this pan a few weeks ago and absolutly love it. Easy clean up and looks nice also. What a bargain.

I have only used the pan three times so far, but it is already my most favorite pan to cook with. It cooks evenly and cleans up with no effort. I thought I would have some trouble cooking an omlette because of the design, but it turned out beautifully. The weight of the pan is heavy enough to know that it is a quality product, but not so heavy as to make it awkward to cook with. It makes an attractive additioin to any cooking ensemble in your cooking arsenal. I plan to buy an entire set of Circulon cookware in the very near future. It is a worthy investment for any serious kithcen buff.

I bought this pan along with another Circulon pan last year. It has held up so well, it still looks brand new. Clean up is a breeze, nothing sticks to this pan! Loved it so much I bought it for my parents, who also love it. Amazon has such great prices on Circulon, as my other cookwear wears out I'm replacing with Circulon!
You won't be disapointed with this pan!

this flatware is stunning! oversized with a good weight in the hand. don't let the low price fool you! this should easily cost 3 times the price! your getting a steal! i've had mine for 3 years and it's still a classic... i'm just online buying more so i'll have 24 place settings! at this price, why not? my christmas will be very stylish and for once, i don't have to borrow my mom's flatware (don't mom's always have a huge set?) :) buy with confidence, it's even prettier in person!!!! :)

This product was even better than expected! It's a great price, and EXCELLENT quality, with a 30 year warranty! I had been searching for a beautiful set of bamboo inspired flatware for a long time, and was extremely pleased when I came across these. I loved them so much I sent them to a friend and she couldn't believe what a great deal I got on such an excellent quality item.

My fiance and I bought this set when we first moved out together and loved them! We went back to the store to get another set but couldn't find them, but we did find them online. They're great! We also wash dishes in the dishwasher and I have found no rust stains. These are awesome!!!

I've owned All-Cladd stainless and, after buying Cuisinarts' Multicald, I can't see a difference. Except, of course, for the price.
Some of the reviews that I've read about the MultiClad are a bit misleading. This is professional quality cookware and must be treated as such. The use of high heat will result in less than desired results, often over cooking or burning of the food. With aluminum core stainless, it's best to use a low to medium flame, never a high flame.
Stainless is naturally non-stick. The use of cooking oils or butter will add flavor to the food, but doesn't add any non-stick qualities - as long as the flame is low!
As for cleaning, use a stailess steel cleaner like Cameo or Bar Keepers Friend after every use. Doing so will keep your stainless cookware looking new forever.
I bought the entire line from Amazon and have never been happier. It truly is a value-priced version of All-Clad.

I first consider the Cuisinart Everyday due to its lighter weight and copper bottom. I also compare the Multiclad to All-Clad Stainless and Calphelon Stainless side by side, and bit the bullet and get this complete set.

This Multiclad set has outstanding fit and finish, much better than anything that I compare with. It shows jewelry like fit and finish everywhere I look--the lid fits well and that agrees with the statement from the brochure: "... partial vacuum may form which will seal the lid to the pan ..." It also has durable exterior stainless brushed finish.

I would settle for the less expensive, lighter and top-rated Cuisinart Everyday set, but end up with this one due to its examplary fit and finish and quality construction and only ...(a few dollars) difference.

All-Clad stainless line is a well known cookware in restaurants that provides great performance; this set has the same contruction, metal and costs 1/2 of the price. The law of physics said that if all factors are equal, the result would be equal. So why pay more???

Like everyone else here, I comparison-shopped and did research galore before I purchsed the Multi-clad 10-piece set. As a firm believer that for items of this nature, bargain-hunting is eventually punished by crappy performance and short life-span, I was very leery of buying anything other than the established "commercial quality" brands (Calphalon and All-Clad -- Viking's new line was not even considered, as it's clearly just bait for upper-middle-class label ...). After comparing some of the features in the various stainless steel lines, though, the cuisinart seemed a safe bet -- and after using it, I can say it's almost perfect. I'm a fairly experienced cook, AND I'm a graphic designer, so aesthetics are very important. This collection is just gorgeous, and these features may be important considerations for some:

- Brushed stainless exterior instead of polished (like All-Clad has) is a big plus. One clank into a neighboring pot, or one injudicious swipe with the scrubber and a mirror finish is ruined. Brushed is much more forgiving, and remains beautiful much longer.

- The handles on this set stay pretty cool under low to medium heat, and they're fixed at a less pronounced angle than all-clad... which makes lifting easier, especially when full.

- If you're not accustomed to cooking with stainess cookware, be advised that these pots get hot FAST, and that much less heat is required. In fact, a note to the goober who complained about the skillet: it even says in the brochure accompanying the cookware to NEVER use high heat, as it's not necessary and will damage the pans. The best ways to keep foods from sticking: lower the heat, keep ample liquid in the pot (if applicable), and keep the food moving.

- The polished interior surface is fairly non-stick, and will remain so with care. That means keep them free of food residue (like rice and oatmeal can leave), free of mineral deposits from your tap water (an occasional cleaning with white vinegar works well), and try not to do anything that will put little scratches in the surface that food can cling to...that means wooden utensils are best, and clean via warm-soak-and-sponge and try not to use a scrubber pad.

- If you display your cookware on a baker's rack or hanging rack, you'll want to occasionally clean the exterior surface with something like Williams-Sonoma's stainless steel cleaner, which'll keep the surface bright, will minimize fingerprints, and make future cleaning easier.

- The only thing I'd change about this set is to swap the stainless lids for glass, which make it so much easier (even when there's condensation on the lid) to check cooking progress, color, simmer point without risking steam scalds etc. The only stainless/aluminum set I've found that has glass lids is made by Calphalon, and is much much more expensive.

All in all, this is a really superior product that even very experienced cooks should be quite pleased with.

Recently I decided to upgrade my knife collection at my home and cabin, which meant buying two knives. My mainstay, a Japanese sushi knife, has incredibly hard steel but was too delicate for day to day use. After doing the research I bought the Tramontina Professional Series 8" Cook's Knife and also the Calphalon collector's editon knife, figuring to keep the best one at my house and exile the loser to my cabin. I ordered the Tramontina ($...) and bought the Calphalon ($...). If money is the primary thing I would buy the Calphalon. But if I had it do over again I would buy two Tramontina knives. The steel of both of these tools is very,very, good; unless you toss your knives in a drawer you won't have to sharpen these very often. The difference is in the balance, feel, look, and workmanship. The Calphalon blade has a wave or slight curve to it and when you run your hand along the side of the blade you can feel hollow places and irregularities in the forging. The Tramontina is just dead on. The handle is a bigger disappointment for the Calphalon, because it is almost square in cross section with a sharp transition from top to side and side to bottom. It just doesn't feel very good. The Tramontina, on the other hand, has a more rounded and complex shape that feels just right. The least important is the look. Seen from the top, the Tramontina's tang meets the bolster by curving outward in both directions, with the handle pieces having a matching curve, so the knife is rounded in two dimensions at the bolster. It's hard to describe but it just looks like a quality product. The Calphalon's tang keep's it's flat bar shape right into the bolster, with the handle pieces cut off square to fit, so it is square in both dimensions. Again, this is a minor point. I have since bought the Tramontina 6" utility knife and I'm just as happy with it. I highly recommend this product and for me, it was worth the extra $.... If you decide to get the Tramontina make sure to get the Professional Series as they make other, cheaper knives.

I am not one to write reviews. I have purchased many things from Amazon. Even though I liked the products, I just wasn't motivated to write a review. I just received this Calphalon 8" Collectors Edition Chef Knife. I am a "knife nut", as well as a very good amateur chef. I've been doing this for 40 years. I KNOW quality knives. Before buying this knife, I read the reviews on ALL the Calpholon knives in the series. The reviews ranged from "junk" to "the best". I also checked cutlery websites and found a site that stated that the Calphalon line of knives are produced by Friedrich Dick-- a German knife company that produces professional kitchen knives comparable to Henckels and Wustof,(both of which I own). Even Henckels has different qualities of steel, depending on the series and price of the product. Was this Calphalon a "low quality" steel. Some reviewers stated it was "made in China". I figured for 20 bucks I'd take a chance--it would be a "test knife". Out of the package, it was heavy and appeared well made. Holding the end of the handle with my fingers and tapping the blade, it had a solid "ring" to it- the sound of a high carbon steel blade. I took a sheet of copy paper, and with the blade at an angle to the edge of the paper, sliced the paper in half with a single cut. Very nice for a factory edge. I sharpened it with my ceramic hone and was able to "shave" the hair off my forearm. It doesn't get any better than this! Yes it is forged in China, but this is excellent German steel. Also it doesn't have the rounded and highly polished handles that the German counterparts have. But in performance, I could not tell the difference from my Henckels. I owned a retail store for 16 years, and delt with many products from China. There is a lot of "junk" from China--but there are also a lot of very high quality products from China. I'm not going to go into political or labor issues here. It is personal choice. I found some Chinese products to be far superior to U.S. or European goods at a fraction of the cost. This is a high quality item. I am definately going to buy more from this line. You will NOT find a better "forged" knife at this price! My only "objection" (if you can call it that), is that the knife is a little heavier than the Henckels or Wusthof knives, so they "handle" differently. I prefer the lighter weight, but this is a personal thing. It would not influence my decision to buy this product.

I purchased two of these knives, and with Amazon's recent price reduction, barely qualified for free Super Saver shipping.

For the price, the quality of this knife is extraordinary. You are not likely to find such value in another knife. The workmanship and materials is the equal to my J.A. Henckels which I have used for many years.

There is one thing you won't appreciate until the knife is in your hands and that is the exceptional balance. Rest the knife on a horizontal finger at the groove where the handle meets the blade to see what I mean.

I usually do not favor things made in China because of quality issues but this is a pleasant exception. The only evidence that this knife was made in China is a plastic sticker on the blade, easily scraped off with a finger-nail.

So I suggest you do as I did and buy two. One to keep and one to be given as a gift. Both will be cherished.