Brands & Head-to-Head
Made In vs Misen
Two young brands with nearly identical specifications. Three things separate them and none of them are on the spec sheet.
Disclosure: Ply & Pan earns a commission on qualifying purchases made through links on this page. We take no free product and no sponsorship, and we never print a price. How we are funded.
Quick picks
The short answer. Tap any row for the full write-up.
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Made In Stainless Clad Frying PanNicer to hold, nicer to look at, made in Italy. Handwash preferred. | Handle comfort and European manufacture | 8.9 | |
| 2 | Misen 5-Ply Stainless SkilletThicker, cheaper, dishwasher safe. Made in China, and heavier than you may want. | Dishwasher convenience and more gauge for less money | 8.8 |
#ad Buy links are affiliate links. We never print a price — prices change weekly and a printed one is wrong within a month, so every link goes to the live Amazon listing. How we are funded.
Key takeaways
- Both are five-ply fully clad with published 800F oven ratings and lifetime warranties.
- Misen publishes 3.0mm; Made In publishes 2.7mm. Both figures come from each brand's own product pages.
- Misen is dishwasher safe; Made In prefers handwashing and excludes dishwasher staining from coverage.
- Made In's frying pans are made in Italy; Misen manufactures in China.
- Made In has the better handle. Misen is usually cheaper.
The quick answer
These are the two brands competing for the same buyer: someone who looked at All-Clad's tri-ply, looked at the price, and wondered why they could not have five plies for less. Both deliver exactly that.
Choose Made In if handle comfort and European manufacture matter, and you will handwash. Choose Misen if you want the dishwasher rating or the price gap is meaningful.
Side by side
| Made In | Misen | |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | 5-ply fully clad | 5-ply fully clad |
| Published thickness | 2.7mm | 3.0mm |
| Oven rating | 800F / 430C | 800F / 426C |
| Induction | Yes | Yes |
| Dishwasher | Handwash preferred; staining excluded | Published dishwasher safe |
| Warranty | Lifetime on stainless; 2 years nonstick | Lifetime against defects |
| Made in | Italy (frying pans) | China |
| Handle | Longer, flatter, more comfortable | Adequate |
| Weight | Heavy | Heavier |
| Price | Higher | Lower |
The thickness difference, in perspective
Misen publishes 3.0mm and Made In 2.7mm, and the gap deserves a caveat: the figures come from each brand's own product pages for different items, and gauge can vary by piece within a line. Treat it as indicative rather than a controlled measurement.
Even taken at face value, 0.3mm is small. More gauge means marginally more thermal mass and marginally more resistance to warping. It also means more weight, and at 3.0mm in a 12-inch, weight is the property you will actually notice — this is a tiring pan to toss food in.
The dishwasher rating is the real difference
Misen publishes its stainless as dishwasher safe. Made In prefers handwashing and specifically excludes staining resulting from dishwasher use from its warranty. Those are genuinely different positions on what the manufacturer will stand behind.
The practical effect compounds. A pan you can machine-wash gets used for the annoying dishes. A handwash-only pan either stops being chosen for those, or goes in the machine anyway and loses coverage. For sauciers in particular — risotto, polenta, custard — this decides more about whether the pan gets used than any specification does. See Misen vs Made In saucier.
Origin
Made In's Stainless Clad frying pans are made in Italy. Misen manufactures in China. Neither is a quality signal in 2026 — both pans are demonstrably well made — but plenty of buyers weigh origin for its own sake, and that needs no performance justification.
Note that neither is American-made, despite Made In's name, which is positioning rather than an origin claim. The genuinely US-manufactured options are All-Clad and Heritage Steel.
How long will each last?
Structurally, both should last decades. Five plies of clad steel with an 18/10 cooking surface, no coating to fail, and enough mass to resist distortion. Neither has published third-party abuse testing, so the rivet question is unanswered for both — which is exactly the gap All-Clad fills and charges for.
The asymmetries are small and go in both directions. Misen's extra gauge and dishwasher rating are marginal longevity positives — more metal resisting warping, and no coverage question when you use the machine. Made In's slightly lighter build is less fatiguing, which matters because a pan you find tiring is a pan that gets dropped.
Both warranties are lifetime and both come from companies younger than the lifetimes they promise. We apply the same discount to each, and it is the single largest uncertainty in this comparison. Everything we could verify about the terms is in warranties compared.
Which should you buy?
Buy Made In for the handle, the finish and Italian manufacture, if you will handwash and the price gap is modest.
Buy Misen for the dishwasher rating, the extra gauge and the lower price, if origin is not a factor for you.
Buy neither if you want an established warranty record — see All-Clad vs Made In — or if five plies are more pan than you want, in which case tri-ply responds faster and weighs less.
The picks in full
1. Better object
Made In Stainless Clad Frying Pan
Made In
Nicer to hold, nicer to look at, made in Italy. Handwash preferred.
- Build
- 8.8
- Heat
- 9.2
- Handling
- 9.0
- Value
- 8.4
- Five-ply construction, 2.7mm thick (Made In published spec)
- Heat safe to 800F / 430C, 200F above All-Clad's rating
- Gas, electric and induction; handwash preferred
- Lifetime warranty on stainless; the frying pans are made in Italy
- Flared rim pours cleanly, which sounds trivial until you deglaze
What it gets right
- The 800F rating puts broiler work and hard oven finishes in spec rather than in hope
- Longer, flatter handle is more comfortable than All-Clad's stick handle
- Direct-to-consumer pricing undercuts All-Clad at an equivalent ply count
Who should skip it
- No decades-long warranty service record yet; the company is young
- Five plies make it slower to respond than a tri-ply of the same size
- Warranty excludes warping from thermal shock, same as everyone else's
Five-ply at 2.7mm, 800F, lifetime warranty on stainless, frying pans made in Italy. The handle is longer and flatter than Misen's and the finish is better.
2. Better value
Misen 5-Ply Stainless Skillet
Misen
Thicker, cheaper, dishwasher safe. Made in China, and heavier than you may want.
- Build
- 9.0
- Heat
- 9.0
- Handling
- 7.6
- Value
- 9.2
- Five-ply, 3.0mm construction (Misen published spec)
- Oven safe to 800F / 426C
- Dishwasher safe and induction compatible
- Lifetime warranty against defects
- Manufactured in China
What it gets right
- Thickest pan in its price band; 3.0mm is genuinely heavy gauge
- Dishwasher safe, which almost nothing else in this class claims
- Sloped sides make it more useful for tossing than a straight-walled skillet
Who should skip it
- Overseas manufacturing is a deal-breaker if made-in-USA is the point
- The warranty is defect-only, and the company is younger than the pans it warranties
- 3.0mm is heavy enough to be tiring in a 12-inch
Five-ply at 3.0mm, 800F, dishwasher safe, lifetime warranty against defects, made in China. On paper it is the better pan; in the hand it is the heavier one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Made In or Misen better?
Made In has the better handle, finish and European manufacture; Misen is thicker, cheaper and published as dishwasher safe. Both are five-ply with 800F ratings and lifetime warranties.
Is Misen thicker than Made In?
By the published figures, yes: 3.0mm against 2.7mm. But those come from different product pages, gauge varies by piece, and 0.3mm is small enough that weight is the more noticeable effect.
Which one is dishwasher safe?
Misen publishes a dishwasher-safe rating. Made In prefers handwashing and excludes dishwasher staining from its warranty, which is a genuine difference in what the manufacturer stands behind.
Where are Made In and Misen made?
Made In's Stainless Clad frying pans are made in Italy. Misen manufactures in China. Neither is American-made, despite Made In's brand name.
Which has the better handle?
Made In. Its handle is longer and flatter, and more comfortable than Misen's, which is adequate rather than good.
Do both have lifetime warranties?
Yes, both against defects. Both companies are young relative to a lifetime promise, which is the same discount a careful buyer should apply to either.