What's amazing is the misinformation spread by marketing departments over the years making people think they need these elaborate pans. I have a decent set of cookware I've acquired over the years but ultimately I use my twelve year old 10" carbon steel pan 99% of the time (I cook almost every meal every day so I use it a lot). It's unfortunate that basic home cooking skills aren't something that's handed down over the generations. I mean, feeding yourself should be pretty high on the list of things to learn before you leave home.

What they never tell you in cookbooks is how to manage heat and mentally calculate how much and for how long to apply to an ingredient. It's difficult to put into print but, suffice to say, once you "learn this one simple trick", cooking with any cookware is trivial.