All-Clad vs Viking Cookware: Which is Better?

Viking and All-Clad are known as masters in crafting multi-clad kitchenware. Both brands offer diverse types of bakeware and cookware sets with great quality that are meant to be used by all types of cooks and not just the experts.

Deciding on which brand between All-Clad and Viking can be a tough choice since both offer the same selections of cookware and target the same type of consumers. However, with a little deep look, one can notice their vast differences. To understand those differences better and to be able to make the right choice, I have made this in-depth All-Clad vs Viking comparison for you.

Introducing Viking

Viking is one of the few kitchenware manufacturers that offer multi-clad cookware that can provide professional performance to perfect your recipes. This brand has continuously been looking for high-grade cookware to match their high-end cooking ranges thus creating quality pots and pans that are definitely fit for professional use. 

Pros of Viking Cookware

• Incredible heat retention. All Viking pots and pans feature a fully clad body with a wide base construction that promotes faster heat conductivity, stable heat retention, and even heat distribution throughout the cookware.
• Even and stable heat distribution. You can definitely expect this from the multiple high-quality layers of metal. This company uses a thicker metal base on its cookware to secure great stability for heat distribution.
• Highly durable cookware. Busy kitchens often involve sudden temperature changes from cooking at high heat to sudden rinsing in cold water. This often causes pots and pans to warp but not for this brand. Viking focuses on the 5-ply construction to stretch out the multiple layers of stainless steel and aluminum throughout the entire cookware to ensure lifetime durability for each pan and pot.
• Great cooking surface. Putting the nonstick models aside, most Viking pots and pans are crafted with a scratch-resistant surface that can accommodate all types of utensils including metal.

Cons of Viking Cookware

• Individual pieces are heavy. Due to the multiple layers used in creating the cookware, the weight of each pot or pan becomes quite heavy for everyone to use.
• Large sizes. Most pieces Viking offers are for large servings. They are meant to be used by large or at least small families. However, if you are living alone you may find the size of pans and pots a bit inconvenient.

Introducing All-Clad

All-Clad is well known as a leader in manufacturing high-quality cookware featuring its signature multi-clad kitchenware. The invented fully cladded cookware made All-Clad the number one go-to brand for professional chefs and home cooks, since their pots and pans easily cater to the demands of a busy kitchen.

Pros of All-Clad Cookware

• Excellent heat conductivity. All-Clad uses different types of cores when manufacturing their pots and pans. Depending on which model you choose, the core can be either pure aluminum like in D3, or a tri-ply core alternating stainless steel and aluminum as in D5, and sometimes it can be a pure copper core as we have already seen in the All-Clad copper core collection. Overall, the fusion between the metal layers and the core increases the heat conductivity throughout the cookware while improving heat retention.
• Variety of cookware material. All-Clad started to craft different types of kitchen sets after mastering the way to fully cladded stainless steel cookware using different materials such as ceramic, hard-anodized, and even nonstick. Although, some of its nonstick models are no longer sold online and can only be found in local stores.
• Long-lasting cookware. All-Clad uses bonded sheets of high-grade stainless steel with aluminum to create durable cookware that can withstand the test of time while providing the versatility you need to cook delicious meals.
• The overall cost of value. All-Clad products are indeed a bit more expensive than the average kitchenware. However, that makes it more of a worthy investment since you literally pay for decades of superb performance.
• Lifetime service. This brand shows its confidence in its work by offering a lifetime warranty to all their tri-ply and Penta-ply cookware.

RELATED: All-Clad D3 vs D5

Cons of All-Clad Cookware

• Fewer nonstick cookware. Compared to stainless steel collections, there are only a few nonstick and hard-anodized cookware to decide on, which makes your options a bit limited.
• Costly. All-Clad cookware sets are 15% more expensive than most cookware collections available in the market. However, considering the long-term cost of buying less expensive cookware, investing in All-Clad cookware can be a wise decision.

All-Clad vs Viking: Differences and Similarities

All-Clad and Viking are trusted brands that earned their reputation through fabricating remarkable metalworks for our stovetops. At first glance, these brands look quite similar, however, they have far more differences than you may think. Starting from their design, construction methods, and particularly their cooking performance. Without further ado, here are the five main differences between Viking and All-Clad.

Material

Both brands offer cookware made with different materials such as stainless steel, nonstick, hard-anodized. However, Viking expanded its options to craft outstanding pots and pans using titanium, carbon steel, and cast iron giving the customers the chance to explore a variety of collections to choose from.

Viking combines multiple layers of solid aluminum as the core with either stainless steel or hard-anodized to create durable cookware that can ensure both performance and versatility to be used on any cooktop.

All-Clad on the other hand focus on bonding different metals to create different types of notable alloys that are designed to strengthen and boost the performance of the cookware. This formula that All-Clad follows results in robust pieces that can provide you with long-lasting cooking performance.

Cooking Surface

Most of the All-Clad cookware is crafted with the same stainless steel cooking surface that has a brushed polish to improve their nonstick qualities. However, as great as it sounds, the interior is still made with pure stainless steel therefore, food is prone to sticking to the surface. To solve this issue, All-Clad designed a new nonstick model which relies mainly on hard-anodized material to create a slick interior instead of stainless steel. Read HA1 vs B1 for more information.

Viking in contrast features different types of surfaces depending on the cookware model and customers’ needs. Sometimes it’s a non-reactive glossy enamel interior as it’s mostly the case with the cast iron cookware, while sometimes it’s a non-reactive 18/8 or 18/10 stainless steel surface which is primarily what this brand uses for its high-end stainless steel cookware. Howbeit, In order to enter the nonstick market, Viking started implementing the hard-anodized technology to craft sturdy kitchenware with smooth surfaces.

Design

Both Viking and All-Clad showcase a classic minimalistic design in all their collections. Both brands focus more on improving the overall performance and adding new features to cover the daily needs of a busy kitchen.

All-Clad constructs its pots and pans a bit shallower than most standard cookware. This is to make up for the heavier weight resulted from the bonding or cladding process. Also, in order to facilitate pouring and sliding your cooking off from the cookware, All-Clad decided to adjust the edges to be more inclined.

Unfortunately, while this method does add more versatility to the list, it still won’t reduce the overall weight of the pots and pans. Thus, you won’t be able to cook more food as you would do in lighter-weight cookware.

Viking, on the flip side, features a wide base construction to promotes easier heat conductivity throughout the cookware. This brand is no exception when it comes to weight, the multi-clad collections will provide you with excellent performance but will limit you on the amount of food you can cook at once. However, the difference here between this brand and All-Clad is that the pots and pans Viking produces have either flat or rolled rims. While this makes it easier to clean, it will make it harder for you to pour food off the pan.

Handles

Unfortunately for All-Clad, they don’t usually add any stay-cool hand grips, unlike Viking that’s started to use this feature in its design to provide better comfort and control.

Personally, I think Viking wins this round, the way they design the handles is just great. They are shaped to accommodate different hand sizes while improving grip and control over your pans. Taking the weight into consideration, this brand features helper handles for their pans to promote better transport which makes it easier to handle the cookware.

All-Clad is quite simplistic when it comes to crafting and designing handles. Performance over the beautiful look is what this brand has been focusing on. The handles are long and attached to the cookware using two tight rivets to slow down the heat from moving all the way to the handles of the pans and pots.

Cost

Viking and All-Clad are definitely carrying a heftier price compared to other brands. They are mainly focused on perfecting every aspect there is to produce high-end cookware that can fulfill the needs of anyone be it a professional chef or home cook. Here are some examples of All-Clad and Viking cookware prices:

1. Viking Contemporary 10-piece Cookware Set: $500
2. All-Clad HA1 Hard-Anodized Aluminum 13-Piece Cookware Set: $600
3. Viking Hard-Anodized 10-piece Cookware Set: $600
4. All-Clad D3 Stainless Steel 10-Piece Cookware Set: $700 ($800 for the nonstick version)
5. All-Clad D5 Brushed Stainless Steel 10-Piece Cookware Set: $800
6. Viking Professional 5-ply 10-piece Cookware Set: $1150
7. All-Clad Copper Core 10-Piece Cookware Set: $1450+
8. Viking 7-ply Titanium 10-piece Cookware Set: $1500

Viking vs All-Clad: Cookware Sets Comparison

The Final Verdict

Both brands are dedicated to creating formidable cookware for both amateurs and professionals that could last for a lifetime. Their high-end cookware sets deliver almost the same performance, offer the same versatility, and secure unmatched durability. That being said, when it comes to the price, there isn’t much of a difference.

Viking surely offers more kitchenware made of different materials which slightly expands your options to choose from. But, if you are planning to settle for either stainless steel or hard-anodized cookware then you will be fine with either of the brands.