Skip the Cookware Set: Here Are the Pieces You Really Need

All of the experts we spoke with recommend getting one or more sheet pans, preferably at least one with a wire rack that nestles inside. That way you can use it in the oven for roasting or, when it’s cool, on the counter for cooling cookies or resting meat. “A true kitchen workhorse, sheet pans are handy for roasting whole chickens and all sorts of vegetables, toasting nuts, baking cookies, making toast under the broiler, sliding under cakes and pies to catch drips, and, famously, making entire sheet-pan dinners,” Miglore says.

Rizzo says you shouldn’t cheap out on sheet pans. “Buy from a professional kitchen store,” he advises. “You need the weight and depth, and it needs to be sturdy.” Miglore recommends looking for what’s called a half sheet or “jelly-roll size.” They’re 18×13 inches vs. the full-sized pans used in professional kitchens (18×26 inches), which are too big for most home ovens. The half sheet is the size typically called for in sheet-pan dinner recipes.

Uncoated sheet pans performed better in our tests overall than coated ones, primarily in the areas of cooking evenness and durability. Here are the top three uncoated sheet pans we tested.