I do most of my cooking with a few pans and a crock pot. Cast iron fry pan, a Le Crueset chicken fryer, a couple All Clad pans and a crock pot we got as a wedding gift 35 years ago. Cookie sheet and a muffin tin get a lot of use too.
Also rocking many different pieces of cast iron, which get used every day. I have an enameled dutch oven (Le Creuset) for higher acid stuff (it's also a little larger than my bare cast iron dutch oven). For boiling and such I have a few different sizes of stainless pots, as well as two sizes of stainless saute pans (for deglazing if a sauce is in order).
Brands are pretty much all Lodge (or old stuff that was handed down and I have no idea). Stainless cookware is a mish-mash of brands--nothing fancy. A nice thick bottom is the key.
Stay away from Teflon... it'll make your babies be born naked.
I always eat alone, all I need is a 2qt saucepan (for heating oil, soup, and cooking instant noodles), a small crock pot, and one wok (for stewing and stir-frying).
An old Lodge 12" cast iron, mostly used for steaks.
Two Matfer Bourgeat 10" and 12" that I've had mixed results.
Doesn't help that I moved from a nice 36" gas range to a shitty induction range.
20 pieces of cast iron, Dutch ovens, griddles, skillets of every size, waffle iron etc. , I finally took all my non-stick crap and scrapped it all. Just got a 3 piece stainless skillet set from MADE IN, never thought I'd spend that much money on a pan but so far it's worth the money. Round it out with stainless REVERWARE stock pots and sauce pans.
Just last month, I had enough with all the non stick crap. I broke down and purchased a cast iron set from Smithey Ironware and have been super impressed. I hope they live up to all the hype.
Getting so I can't handle the bigger cast iron skillets. I have a couple smaller Wagner cast iron skillets that are way lighter than Lodge.
But I found a much lighter skillet that cooks like cast iron called Made It. They are expensive but have learned to really like it. Mine is a 8" some day I'll get a bigger one.
I use a bunch of old cast irons from different garage sales. I wanted a restoration project I could actually handle after watching a few too many videos from MyMechanics.
We’ve been avoiding non-stick and aluminum for health implications. 90% of our cooking is on some vintage cast iron I’ve restored (1920s Griswold & Wapak) and stainless steel All Clad pans. Also got some stainless cookie/baking sheets on Amazon for a good price.