What's the ideal skillet weight?

What's a typical weight by skillet type

A skillet weight will vary depending on the material, the following are typical weights for different types of skillets. (Note, some differences in the table below can be attributed to wall height of pans used.)

Why should I care about skillet weight?

Heavier pans are less likely to warp or flex when cooking or baking, heat distributes more evenly over their surface, and they'll retain that heat longer. Lighter pans heat up more quickly and they're easier to flip food when sautéing. How easy a pan is to cook with varies based upon your own strength. Subjectively, here's how I feel about various skillet weights:

• 5+ lb - Heavy. Challenging to saute, unwieldy to clean
• 4-5 lb - Slightly unweildy, but thick.
• 3-4 lb - Good weight for saute-ing
• 0-3 lb - Very light. If this is a 10" cast iron / carbon steel, it may cook unevenly and potentially warp.

Commercial Skillets and their Weights

It's useful to compare blacksmith skillets with commercially available skillets to understand their weight differences. For that purpose, I've collected the weights of a pretty arbitrary selection of commercial skillets.