I recently was given several options for a 15 year performance gift at my work. After looking through several pages of kitchen tools, backyard accessories, and pocket knives, I found this 12" carbon steel frypan. I've been thinking about trying carbon steel cookware for a little while, and this seemed like a great opportunity to try it out. Upon receipt, I cleaned it inside and out with warm water and a mild soap, then heated it up with some oil and some potatoes (recommended by a YouTube video. not sure it did anything). In the last three weeks, the only time I've removed the pan from my cooktop is to run a little warm water and wipe it clean. I've cooked steaks, eggs (fried and scrambled), chicken thighs, spaghetti sauce, browned sausage and chicken for a gumbo, made a few bags of ramen noodles with chicken and eggs, made French Toast, and baked a deep dish pizza. This pan is fantastic. It really gets the results of cast iron and stainless steel in one versatile pan. I'm not a professional cook by any measure, but I love cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. I'm also impressed at the results it gets on the horrible electric stove in our temporary apartment. Can't wait to try it out on a proper cooktop when our house is ready. To be honest, I was getting this just to try out the material to see if I liked cooking on carbon steel. I expected this pan to be a little bit cheaper quality, but thought if I liked the material I could always upgrade to the Made In version. This pan is sturdy, has a nice weight, and really does handle everything I throw at it. If anything ever happened to it I would definitely buy another.