I've got a vaiety of both sorts of Calphalon, and don't much like any of
it except for boiling water. The "non-stick" surface is a joke, stuff
sticks to it second only to the "sticky" Calphalon.

I agree with previous posters that there is no one optimal material for
pots and pans. I've gotten to a relatively small set that serves me very
well, even if it does look a bit tatty. My good frying pans and dutch
oven are 100-year-old cast iron and are the most non-sticky pans I own
or have ever seen. I have a spun-steel wok that I got for under $10
that, with 20 years of seasoning is beginning to approach the quality of
the frying pans. Newer All-clad saute pans give better temperature
control than the cast iron when that is important, and about three
different "spaghetti pots" (including my mother's RevereWare) that
perform indistinguishably as steamers and pots for boiling stuff in.
Sauce pan roles are filled by an old pressure cooker, All-clad and
Calphalon pots that all work fine. I do like the glass lids that came
with the Calphalon non-stick saucepans.

Roger