Is Stainless Steel Cookware Magnetic?

The short answer

The outside of a good clad pan is magnetic and the inside is not, and that is deliberate. Nickel-bearing 18/10 stainless — the alloy you want facing food because it resists corrosion well — is non-magnetic. Nickel-free 18/0 stainless is magnetic. A clad pan therefore puts 18/10 inside and a magnetic stainless layer outside, so an induction hob can drive the pan while the better alloy does the cooking.

Why a pan needs two different steels

Stainless steel is not one material. The two numbers in 18/10 are percentages of chromium and nickel, and the nickel is what changes the crystal structure to the austenitic form — corrosion-resistant, bright, and non-magnetic. Drop the nickel to zero and you get 18/0, which is ferritic: still stainless, less resistant to pitting, and magnetic.

Induction works by inducing a current in a ferromagnetic base. Put a pure 18/10 pan on an induction hob and nothing happens. So a well-designed clad pan faces the right alloy at the right thing: 18/10 at the food, 18/0 at the hob, aluminum in between doing the conducting. That is not cost-cutting, it is the only arrangement that satisfies both requirements. The alloys in full are in 18/10 vs 18/8 vs 18/0.

The fridge-magnet test, and its limits

1. Take any fridge magnet to the shop, or use one at home.
2. Hold it flat against the centre of the pan's base.
3. A firm grab means a ferromagnetic exterior and the pan will work on induction.
4. A weak, draggy pull means marginal coupling. It may work, slowly and unevenly.
5. Nothing at all means the pan will not work on induction.

Two limits worth knowing. The test tells you about coupling, not about quality — a cheap disc-bottom pot grabs a magnet hard and still cooks badly up the walls. And it tells you nothing about base flatness, which on induction matters more than on gas because the hob heats the metal it is touching rather than the air around it. Set the pan on something genuinely flat and press one edge; any rock is a pan that cooks unevenly from day one.

What to look for if you cook on induction

A published compatibility statement, not a magnet. Every brand we cover publishes induction compatibility in its own specification. Prefer that to your own inference.

Full base contact. A rounded saucier base has less contact area on a small induction ring than a flat-bottomed saucepan, which is a genuine trade — see saucier vs saucepan.

A base diameter matched to the ring. Induction only energises the area over the coil, so an oversized pan has a cool rim.

Gauge, for even results. Induction delivers heat abruptly, and a heavier base spreads that before it reaches the food. This is the one application where five-ply earns its weight.

The pans we would actually buy for an induction hob are in best stainless skillet for induction and best stainless cookware for induction.

Does magnetism mean anything else?

Not much, and it is worth saying so because the magnet test gets over-interpreted. Magnetism is a property of the crystal structure, not a measure of grade, thickness or durability. A magnetic pan is not a cheaper pan and a non-magnetic one is not a better one.

One genuine inference: a cooking surface that grabs a magnet strongly is more likely to be a lower-nickel alloy, which resists pitting from salt and acid less well. That is a reason to prefer 18/10 at the food rather than a reason to avoid magnetic steel at the hob. Both can be true in the same pan, and in a good pan they are.

What this means for longevity

The magnetic exterior layer is the most exposed part of a clad pan and the least consequential one. It takes the scuffs, the heat tint and the utensil marks, and none of that affects how the pan cooks or how long it lasts. Demeyere's Silvinox treatment slows that cosmetic aging; nobody else really tries.

The failure that does end an induction pan is a warped base, because an uneven base on induction is far more disruptive than on a gas ring — the hob can only heat metal it is in contact with. Thermal shock is the cause, every warranty excludes it, and on induction it is the difference between a pan with a cosmetic flaw and a pan you cannot use. What to do about it is in warped stainless steel pans.