Using a large pot/pan on a smaller burner

Question

My fiancée and I recently got a bunch of new (very nice) pots and pans for our wedding shower. The thing is, several of the pans are 12", and the burners on our stove are nowhere near that large! (maybe 10" at best)

Are these pots/pans useable on the smaller burners? Will they evenly distribute the heat so it won't be so much of a problem? Or should we take them back? They are nice, hard-anodized pans.

Answer

The pans will distribute the heat for you. No burner that I've ever seen covers a 12" pan, but quality pans will still give you pretty even heat distribution.

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