That Time I Spent $2,500 on Pots and Pans

This story is from this summer. I haven't told many people about it. Ok, I've basically told no one. Not even my friends. Frankly, it's embarrassing. But for some reason, I feel compelled to tell it right now. My main motivation for sharing is because I currently have a very expensive pan that I love. And I want to tell you about it. But if I were to just send you a link to it, you'd see how much it costs and think to yourself that's ridiculous, I can't believe Kristina would do something so foolish. But when you know the backstory, well it still might be foolishness. But it will at least give you some perspective.

My sister and her husband randomly won a free dinner, cooked in their home by a professional chief. She invited Micah and me to join them. Sounds like a fun double date. We all had a suspicion that surely there would be a catch. But the last thing we said to each other was "we are not buying anything!" So we're good. Well turns out this guy is a salesman/chief and he's showing off his "waterless" cookware. Through the course of the meal, he's nailing us with pitch after pitch from every possible angle. And unfortunately, our pots and pans at home were in rough shape. Micah has been complaining for months that we need to replace ours because of chipping + overall disgustingness. We were likely candidates. We got wrapped up. We were in it together.

I have often found myself at some random home party, wanting everything in the catalog after the presentation. But I know I have to face Micah when I get home. So I reign myself in. But here we were both hearing how we couldn't live without these pots and pans. They will change our lives! And not just our lives, no no. These pots and pans have a double lifetime guarantee! We can will them to our children, or whoever we want for that matter, and the warranty will be good for their lifetime as well. Your children will never have to buy another pot or pan.

To add to the unfortunateness, we also had a decent amount of money saved up again, tax returns and whatnot. The perfect storm. Ugh, I don't even want to say what we did... I've almost told some of my friends this story several times. But every time I open my mouth to say it I think "No! I can't tell her. She'll think I'm an idiot!" But I'm telling you this guy was wheeling and dealing like a car salesman. And although we could sense it, we couldn't quite stop ourselves. He was throwing us numbers, giving us his best offer, then making better ones, and better ones. The next thing you know, I'm writing a check for $2,500 dollars. And we were excited about it. We got a steal! My husband loves me! He wants me to have nice things, he cares about our family and our future, he values my cooking, bla bla bla, all the feels, you know.  Those were my thoughts.

Well, the next morning. I just felt sick. We DOVE into research. THAT IS SO MUCH MONEY!! My dishwasher doesn't work, I'd love a new vacuum but I have $2,500 pots and pans?! That is madness. All morning, it's all we talked about. I can't even picture where my kids were when I remember that morning, we were so consumed. Googling, reviewing, researching. I wrote a post on a minimalist moms Facebook group that I'm apart of (bc obviously I can't ask my real life friends, I'd feel like a fool!) asking for advice. Over a hundred comments later, some even saying that they had the exact set, and although the pans are great, they regret spending so much, we knew we HAD to cancel.

The contract/receipt was huge. We frantically read the fine print and saw that we legally had three business days to cancel. We quickly filled out the cancelation, drove it to the post office, rushed shipped it, called, texted, and emailed that guy PLEASE CANCEL OUR ORDER. Thankfully we had no complications, our check was never cashed, and we've never heard from him again.

But the lesson was there and so was the embarrassment. Oh man, that would have been such a bad decision for our family. That decision would have probably changed our lives, not to be overly dramatic. My heart races just thinking about it.

We talked with our parents about it afterward, praying they don't think us ginormous idiots for being dupped as much as we were, and Micah's Dad says "ya know, just because something is the best, doesn't mean you have to have it". True words right there.

So after such a rollercoaster of a ride (the small matter of thinking that we had plunged our family into financial ruin), we settled on this modest option. The All-Clad Essential 6 qt pan. The me before this mess would have thought it crazy to spend $150-200 on a pan. But you could also say that by buying this pan and not the others we saved $2,350 dollars! What a savings! ; )

There it is. I love this pan. It is perfect for families. I make a double batch of basically everything I make (for leftovers and lunches). I brown my hamburger in this, I cook my pasta noodles in it. It's huge and it can do everything. Even go in the oven. Do I feel a little ridiculous having such an expensive pan... mostly no, not after what could have been. Not after the colossal mistake that we almost made. Whew that was a close one.