Did we buy a spinner?

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PamelaOryshchyn

New member
We got our first pan from our recent CI spending spree yesterday and tried it out. A number 10 GRISWOLD. It has a small side to side movement when you push on the spouts but was listed as “sits flat on a glass cooktop”. The value for us is in how well it works for cooking. When we tried it out last night, it started moving around and I had to hold the handle while my husband turned the pork chops. At times I thought for sure we have a spinner on our hands but other times it was less likely to move and stood still. Here is a picture from the listing showing (I’m assuming) a flat cook bottom. The seller does accept returns so we have a few weeks to decide if this works for us. So my question is: is some movement normal or to be expected? Or do we have a spinner on our hands?

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There are several facets to pan flatness. A hump or warp in the middle will make it a spinner in the truest sense of the word. A straightedge may appear to show flatness, but a small hump elsewhere on the bottom can still make a pan a "wobbler" or a "swiveler". It may indeed have set flat on a glass cooktop. When cold. Heating can sometimes change that. There were no glass cooktops back when these vintage pans were made, so there wasn't a concern in that regard; gas burner grates and oven racks are forgiving. I'm having trouble, though, reconciling "movement when pushing on spouts" with "sits flat on glass"; both shouldn't really be the case, at least not when cold.
 
The original listing said “sits flat on a glass cooktop”. Then, in a subsequent email when I asked for clarification, he said slight movement when you push on the spouts or something to that effect. He said it wouldn’t make a difference in our cooking experience.
The only points of reference we have are a GRISWOLD #8 that has a slight movement from side to side but less than the #10 has and a huge heavy no-name #10 that we are trying to replace with this one.

So now we need to decide to return or to keep. How likely are we to find a #10 that sits flat and doesn’t wobble or spin for under 250 dollars? While also having a pretty nice cooking surface. We could do the restoring on our own, my only concern is that I would buy a cracked pan or something with my lack of experience.
 
"When we tried it out last night, it started moving around and I had to hold the handle while my husband turned the pork chops."
"He said it wouldn’t make a difference in our cooking experience."

I would say it affected your cooking experience.
 
I believe some of the asking prices on-line are absurd. Unfortunately, finding what you want in the wild may take more time than you want to spend. Wagner and Griswold still wouldn't be inexpensive. Look on this site to find tips for finding stuff. In-person adds to the fun of collecting.
 
Scott J. said:
I believe some of the asking prices on-line are absurd. Unfortunately, finding what you want in the wild may take more time than you want to spend. Wagner and Griswold still wouldn't be inexpensive. Look on this site to find tips for finding stuff. In-person adds to the fun of collecting.
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We’re not in a rush for the #10, so we may well return it and start over in our search.
 
I dont mind a slight spinner for cooking. You may have to hold it while you stir, but I do that all the time anyways. Depends what you paid, and how well it looks and cooks. I know a #10 Griswold is kind of expensive to say the least. I actually need one for my set, lol....Happy Hunting!
 
In my experience, The larger the pan, the harder it is to get a truly flat bottom. My guess is that when heated on an electric stove burner, the center gets too hot before the perimeter of the pan heats up causing the warped surface.

Unless you are cooking on a glass top or an induction cooktop, you should be fine with a slight warp. Most of the daily user pans I have do wobble a bit.
 
CraigA. said:
In my experience, The larger the pan, the harder it is to get a truly flat bottom. My guess is that when heated on an electric stove burner, the center gets too hot before the perimeter of the pan heats up causing the warped surface.

Unless you are cooking on a glass top or an induction cooktop, you should be fine with a slight warp. Most of the daily user pans I have do wobble a bit.
Click to expand...
We are on a glass cooktop. We’re going to cook with it again this weekend and see how bad the spin is when we’re not actively trying to make it spin. Might be that it’s not that noticeable.
 
For anything higher than the two lowest settings on a gas stove, the pan starts out in the oven on the temp I want to cook at. Whole pan is heated, not just what the element/burner is contacting.
 
My oven is used mostly for storage of cooking ware. It would take longer to empty the oven than to heat the pan slowly over the burner, so I just take my time and keep the flame down low. My gas stove is continuously adjustable. Do newer ones have distinct settings?
 
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