Last Updated Feb 2023 – I’ve used some pretty off the wall cookware in my day. In my time as a chef, I’ve encountered specialty cookware made with all sorts of metals, gemstones, and synthetic materials. These days, however, consumer cookware is starting to catch up to the specialty world. Lines like Woll Diamond Plus are reinforced with exotic, expensive materials in order to give you the best performance.
This is what Woll would have you believe, anyway. In truth, diamond-infused cookware doesn’t quite match up with the way it’s advertised. In order to help you understand why this is and how Woll’s cookware really stacks up, here are some comprehensive reviews of top Woll products.
Woll Cookware Reviews
* Woll Diamond Plus 10-Piece Cookware Set
It’s a good idea to start with a company’s signature line when trying to build an idea of what a brand is like. Woll specializes in heavy-duty non-stick aluminum cookware like the kind in this set. It’s a classic example of all of the things that Woll is good at. This cookware is fairly sturdy, fantastically non-stick, and performs wonderfully on the stove.
Before we dive too far into that, let’s talk about the big thing that separates this cookware from other sets: diamonds. Woll has infused the non-stick coating in this cookware set with lots of small diamond particles.
They’ll remind you that diamonds conduct heat many times better than metals like copper or aluminum and are incredibly hard. As a result, these pots and pans offer excellent performance and have extremely durable non-stick surfaces.
Right?
I’ll confess that I’m not an engineer, but my experience leads me to believe that the answer is “not really.” The diamonds in these pots and pans are not positioned in a way where they can effectively leverage these qualities. The easiest claim to debunk is heat distribution. These pots and pans don’t heat up substantially faster than other aluminum non-stick sets, and it’s easy to figure out why.
Since the diamond particles are on top of all of the other materials in the pan, they’re not the limiting factor in how fast your food heats up. Instead, heat has to travel through lots of aluminum and non-stick before it even reaches the diamond. The diamonds aren’t ubiquitous, either: they’re scattered over the surface, meaning plenty of heat can skip the diamonds entirely.
A few diamonds being thrown under the non-stick coating doesn’t change things here. It simply makes manufacturing these pans more complicated and expensive.
As far as durability goes, a similar argument applies. The non-stick coating (PTFE) in these pots and pans is vulnerable to being scratched, sure, but it’ll most likely peel or flake off after a few years of use, anyway. Diamonds don’t act as glue, especially when they’re not even on the right side of the material. I’m not even sure that they make the PTFE itself harder to scratch. Gluing sand to paper to make sandpaper doesn’t make something that’s too hard to cut or tear. Why would a thin layer of scattered diamonds protect the non-stick material in between each stone?
Now, it might sound like I’m not a big fan of these pots and pans. This isn’t the case. I’m actually mildly impressed by the engineering of this cookware set in many different ways. I simply dislike the way Woll tries to confuse consumers with the ways it markets this cookware line. If they advertised it as an especially durable, oven-safe midrange non-stick cookware set, I would be all over it.
Let’s talk about why. First of all, as you might have guessed, this Woll cookware set is oven safe to an unusually high temperature. Woll says that every material in these pots and pans is oven safe to 500F. This is pretty incredible, especially since your run-of-the-mill PTFE non-stick will start to degrade above 400 F. In other words, the oven performance of this non-stick set is absolutely incredible.
Second, this well-made cookware set offers a great blend of performance and compatibility. It’s made mostly from aluminum, a cheap, light, and strong metal that conducts heat very well. This ensures that there are no hot spots in your pots and pans and that they come up to cooking temperature quite quickly. Induction compatibility is achieved with a ring or disc of magnetic metal in the base of each pan. This lets your induction range literally generate heat inside of your pan, giving you crazy control over how hot each pot or pan gets.
This set comes with stylish glass lids with steam vents. They’re shatter resistant and give you a great way to salivate over your cooking before it’s done. I would personally avoid putting glass in the oven at high temperatures, but Woll says that these lids are quite oven safe.
The most important feature in any non-stick cookware set is the non-stick itself. While I’m happy to complain about the way the diamonds in these pots and pans are advertised, I have nothing but good things to say about the non-stick coating in general. It’s a standard PTFE-based nonstick that’s quite similar to modern Teflon coatings. Woll has done a great job in choosing a heat and scratch resistant material that’s also incredibly good at preventing food from sticking. You can fry eggs at any temperature with no oil and watch them slide right off of the pan when you’re done.
There are two things you should know about Woll’s PTFE coating. First, it’s quite safe. While PTFE used to be made with a toxic chemical called PFOA, modern non-stick coats can’t be made with that substance anymore.
This means that the PTFE in Woll’s pots and pans is safe.
Second, non-stick coatings will wear out eventually. It’s difficult to tell exactly how long an individual pot or pan will last, but you’re most likely looking at a couple of years of casual kitchen use before a set like this starts to die on you. This isn’t a flaw that’s unique to Woll’s pots and pans. Instead, it’s shared across pretty much every non-stick cookware set, whether it’s ceramic, PTFE, or any other material.
My biggest complaint about this cookware set is the way the handles are attached. Each pot and pan features a permanently affixed handle that will stay put, forever — until it doesn’t. You’ll see the occasional Woll pot or pan with a wiggly handle that you simply can’t fix. The attachment points are sunk into the pan and hidden behind a smooth layer of non-stick, which gives you more cooking surface, but this also reduces your ability to fix a wiggly handle.
Overall, I’m quite fond of the Woll Diamond Plus cookware set. It’s a bit on the pricey end and I’m not sure that the diamonds actually do anything, but it’s still an excellent collection of thick, sturdy, high-performance cookware.
If you’re after something with more heft than a budget non-stick set, consider this Woll 10-piece line. Be sure to compare the price with non-stick sets from other brands, like T-Fal and Anolon, however, as you might be able to find the features you want for a bit less money.
If you’re a fan of the idea of this set but you want to change a few options, you’re in luck. Woll offers this set in a slightly less hefty version (Diamond Lite) that’s lighter and thinner. You can also find an 11-piece set that includes a non-stick wok for all of your stir-frying needs.
* Woll Diamond Plus Fry Pan
Woll’s diamond-reinforced non-stick is quite good at frying eggs. This 8-inch fry pan isn’t particularly cheap, but it’s very well made. It features the same combination of good design, sturdy construction, and questionable marketing as the set above.
This means that while it’s an excellent non-stick pan that’s a bit more durable than your run-of-the-mill fare, it’s not going to work miracles in your kitchen as a result of the embedded diamonds. Instead, it’ll simply last a little bit longer.
For me, pans like these are disposable at best. This is because my background as a cook has taught me that non-stick coatings fail. No pot or pan has ever managed to challenge that assumption, at least not for more than a few years. I would certainly buy a pan like this, but I wouldn’t expect it to last forever. Instead, I would plan on replacing it eventually after using it to make a few hundred of my favorite stovetop recipes.
If you’re after something that makes making eggs easy, this is one of the best pans for the job. The fast, even heat distribution of the aluminum base ensures that you can precisely control the temperature, while the fantastic non-stick surface will let you flip an egg easily without any oil. Things get even easier when you use an appropriate cooking fat. You should avoid using non-stick sprays on PTFE, however, as the chemicals in the spray can damage the non-stick surface.
Like many other pots and pans, this dishwasher-safe frying pan should probably be hand washed. The excellent food release from the modern non-stick surface ensures that a quick rinse and wipe will be enough to keep your pan clean under normal circumstances, however.
Dishwashers tend to damage cookware for a number of reasons, including the amount of heat, the force of the water, the type of detergent that’s used, and most importantly, the fact that your plates, silverware, or even other cookware might bang into this frying pan at high speeds. This could leave your pan with a nasty scratch or even warp it.
There are a number of little things that help this pan to outclass cheaper non-stick alternatives. For one, the coating itself degrades noticeably slower than some cheaper non-stick coatings.
You’ll find many satisfied Woll users who will tell you that while their Woll frying pan did die after two or three years, the frying pans they buy from other brands don’t last half as long. This helps to justify the cost of this pan in a home kitchen — while you’ll definitely have to replace it, you might not have to do so quite as often.
Other factors include the thicker aluminum (great at preventing warps and dings and good for helping your pan stay hot when you add cold food), solid handle, and a high degree of oven safety. With these factors combined, it’s easy to see why this Woll frying pan remains a top-rated favorite among consumers, even with its high price.
This non-stick frying pan is a great way to ensure that your eggs come out perfect every time. While it’s pricier than some models, its modern non-stick coating and sturdy construction help it to last a bit longer in your kitchen. It’s certainly not for everyone, but it’s a very good pan that will cleanly outperform many cheaper models.
* Woll Titanium Fry Pan
While this Woll pan is infused with titanium, not diamonds, it behaves quite similarly to the pan above in most relevant ways.
The biggest difference here is the detachable handle: you can remove the grippy, synthetic handle of this pan in order to improve its oven safety. Just like the pan above, it’s great as far as food release and durability go but somewhat pricier than other non-stick pans. If you don’t mind the price, it’s one of the better non-stick pans you can find.
Woll Diamond Plus Cookware
I’m convinced that Woll’s use of diamonds, titanium, and other exotic materials is just a marketing schtick. Despite this, they make some pretty solid cookware. Each Woll pot and pan is made in Germany by a complex process that involves many steps to ensure each pot and pan is strong and well made.
Their thicker aluminum, superior non-stick, and deliberate design decisions help ensure that their pots and pans are right at home in just about any kitchen.
