Stick to anything with the "vegetan micro" uppers. It's the synthetic leather that the luxury yachts and cars switched-to decades ago, because it's wayy more durable than leather. And (nearly) zero maintenance.
The rack being super low means the distance between the rear rack and the saddle is almost the exact height of a good backpack. IMHO, it's the best way to carry a backpack on a bicycle
Edit: Brompton's small front O-bag is actually made by Ortlieb. I wouldn't recommend their bags as backpack replacements. They work great on bicycles, but not so much on your back (where the weight should actually be on your hips)
There is no such thing as a BIFL waterproof backpack.
Buy a BIFL pack with a good aluminum internal frame, and then also add to your cart:
A waterproof cover for your pack
A pack of very thick (construction-grade) garbage bags
The garbage bag is your pack liner. Leave it inside the pack at all times. It keeps everything inside your bag dry.
To keep the pack itself fairly dry in light rain, you can put the waterproof pack cover on the outside. This will just make your pack quicker to dry when you get to your destination.
The counter-list in this category runs deeper than any I've covered previously, because cookware is simple enough that stubborn, family-run businesses can still compete. The pattern in who survived is uniform: nobody outside the family has ever been owed a return....
Stainless and carbon steel
All-Clad: The bonded lines are still made in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, sharp-rim settlement and French owner notwithstanding.
Heritage Steel: Family-owned in Clarksville, Tennessee, building on old Vollrath tooling. The fully American clad alternative.
Tramontina: Family-controlled in Brazil. The honest value play; their clad line embarrasses pans at twice the price.
de Buyer: The carbon steel standard, still made in the Vosges. It belongs to Groupe SEB as of January 2025, so it’s one to watch over the next few years.
Matfer Bourgeat: The French commercial standard, family-held, and what a lot of commercial kitchens use.
That said, Tramontina was one of the companies I contacted. They also said they didn't know the thickness of the metal in their own cookware. Maybe I'd have a different experience if I called them in Brazil and spoke Portuguese :/
I'm also shocked that the article doesn't mention Browne Thermalloy. I think they're one of the best cookware brands on the market, but I can't find any third-party reviews on the Internet about them -- except one small thread on reddit. Browne's support couldn't tell me the metal thickness in their 3-ply cookware, but they said they'd forward my request "to their marketing department" (not sure why not their "procurement" or "engineering" or "product" departments), and I haven't heard back..
It replaces a gas range whose flame diameter is pitiful by comparison, but nobody with gas complains about this. I assume a 3-ply pan with a thick aluminum middle should eliminate that concern, since it'll transfer the heat effectively through the whole pan -- even if it's just a small center circle flame.
my pans all have a cold outer rim
Which pans do you use? Is it clad with aluminum? If so, how thick is the aluminum layer?
Which brand was it that warped? So we know to avoid them.
Do you have a link to a source with more info on the needed minimum thickness of the outer magnetic layer? I imagine there's a point of diminishing return, and I'd love to see some research showing the efficacy of various thicknesses of this outer magnetic layer.
New rivets can be made with a rivet gun forever. You can also re-weld, but it's harder (and you're more likely to damage the pot if you don't do a good job welding it).
I guess I should have mentioned that this is for a community house whose kitchen will be shared with others.
I'm afraid one of my younger housemates will break the induction glass cooktop with cast iron. And I certainly can't expect them to take care of the seasonings on the pans. That's why I was thinking (3-ply) stainless steel. It's more, err, forgiving
Yikes. Yeah, warping on the bottom is a big no-go for induction. The heating loss is pretty exponential the further it is from the ceramic glass top above the coils.
Oh, you're in luck. The UK makes the most durable boots on the planet
I'd recommend the Euro Safety Boot as a starting point.
Stick to anything with the "vegetan micro" uppers. It's the synthetic leather that the luxury yachts and cars switched-to decades ago, because it's wayy more durable than leather. And (nearly) zero maintenance.
Here's a review of their airseals after 7 years of abuse.