GreenPan, Caraway, and Our Place all sell sol-gel ceramic non-stick cookware. Same chemistry, three different bets. GreenPan invented the category in 2007 and put its strongest engineering into Valencia Pro. Caraway arrived in 2019, sprinted ahead on aesthetics and published test data, and built the matched-pastel Instagram set into the default first-time buy. Our Place launched the same year with a different format entirely — one pan that replaces eight pieces, sold direct, marketed as the small-kitchen answer.
If you are choosing between them in 2026, the question is not which one is "best." All three coat aluminum bodies with silicon-and-oxygen sol-gel ceramic, all three are PFAS-free by published disclosure, and all three obey the same durability ceiling. The question is which one fits your kitchen, your cooking, and your tolerance for replacing a coated pan in two to four years.
This is the comparison written by the version of me who has scrubbed all three.
The shared chemistry — what's the same
Before the differences, the part that matters most: the coating chemistry is the same fundamental category across all three brands. Sol-gel ceramic is a silicon-oxygen network coating sprayed onto an aluminum pan body and cured at 400-800°F into a hard, glassy surface roughly 25-50 micrometers thick. Silicon and oxygen, not the carbon and fluorine that defines the PFAS family. None of the three uses PTFE. None contains PFOA or any of the GenX-class PTFE replacements.
The chemistry difference among the three brands is a matter of formulation tweaks — what mineral fillers are dispersed in the matrix, what topcoat reinforcement is layered on, what the underlying pan body is made of. The category-level chemistry is shared. For the deep-dive on what is in that coating and how it cures, see ceramic-coated non-stick science.
Brand-by-brand quick summary
GreenPan — founded 2007 in Belgium by Jan Helskens and Wim De Veirman. Invented the PFAS-free ceramic non-stick category. Thermolon is its proprietary coating; Thermolon Advanced is the diamond-reinforced topcoat used on the Valencia Pro line. Seventeen years of category R&D show up in the engineering choices. Multi-piece set focus. Less Instagram-friendly aesthetic than Caraway.
Caraway — founded 2019 in the United States. Multi-color sets in pastel palettes, hanging pot rack, built-in lid storage. Multi-layer sol-gel coating sprayed onto a hard-anodized aluminum body. Publishes Light Labs third-party test data in detail; the BBB National Advertising Division reviewed and validated the PFAS-free disclosure in 2025. The Instagram-default kitchen brand.
Our Place — founded 2019 in the United States. Different design philosophy: one pan replaces eight pieces. The Always Pan 2.0 is a frying pan, sauté pan, steamer, skillet, saucier, saucepan, and non-stick all in one shape, sold with a steamer basket and beechwood spatula. Thermakind is the proprietary coating, described as derived from sand, water, and alcohol. Smallest piece count, smallest price, smallest kitchen footprint.
Head-to-head matrix
| Dimension | GreenPan Valencia Pro | Caraway 7-piece set | Our Place Always Pan 2 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Approach | Full set | Full set | Single pan + accessories | | Coating tech | Thermolon Diamond Advanced | Multi-layer sol-gel | Thermakind | | Oven temp rating | 600°F | 550°F | 450°F | | Diamond reinforcement | Yes | No | No | | Number of pieces | 11-piece set | 7-piece set | 1 pan + steamer + spatula | | Starting price | ~$395 | ~$395 | ~$155 | | Color options | Limited (gray, black, cream) | 20+ | 6+ | | Magnetic stainless base | Yes (induction) | Yes (induction) | Yes (induction) | | Country of origin | China | China | China | | PFAS-free / PFOA-free | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Lead/cadmium-free | Yes (per disclosure) | Yes (per disclosure) | Yes (per disclosure) | | Diamond-reinforced topcoat | Yes | No | No | | Published third-party test data | Free-of list, no underlying labs | Light Labs report public | Materials list, no underlying labs | | Brand age | 17 years | 5 years | 5 years |
The honest durability picture
Every ceramic non-stick on the market eventually loses non-stick performance. The differences among the three brands shift where on the curve you land, not whether the curve exists.
GreenPan Valencia Pro has the durability edge. The diamond-reinforced Thermolon Advanced topcoat raises the surface hardness, and the hard-anodized aluminum body underneath converts the surface aluminum into a denser, more wear-resistant aluminum oxide ceramic before the coating is applied. Independent long-term testing by Prudent Reviews concluded that GreenPan's ceramic coating "breaks down after a few years" but "lasts longer than other ceramic coatings." Realistic plan: three to four years of full non-stick performance under regular daily use.
Caraway and Our Place sit closer to the entry-level ceramic curve. Both bond their coating to a hard-anodized or smooth aluminum body, and both are subject to the same chemistry ceiling. Realistic plan: one to three years of full non-stick performance, with the high end achievable through gentle care (silicone utensils, hand wash, low-medium heat) and the low end likely under aggressive use.
The category-wide ceiling is real and peer-reviewed. The 2025 sol-gel ceramic review in Journal of Cleaner Engineering and Technology concluded that abrasion resistance and non-stick performance after repeated cooking cycles remain the central durability challenge of the entire sol-gel category. Diamond reinforcement extends the curve. Hard anodization extends the curve. Neither flattens it. None of these pans gets recoated — replacement is full-pan across all three brands.
Aesthetic and lifestyle trade-offs
GreenPan leans utilitarian. The Valencia Pro lineup ships in gray, black, and cream — kitchen-workhorse aesthetic, less Instagram-ready, appeals to buyers who care more about the chemistry and engineering than the visual identity of the kitchen.
Caraway is the most photogenic of the three. Twenty-plus colorways including pastels, sage, terracotta, and jet black. The matched 7-piece set with hanging pot rack and lid organizer is built to look good as a unit, not just to cook well. If your kitchen functions as a visual space and you want the pots to be part of the design, Caraway is the default answer. The Caraway pieces also tend to show up on social media in styled overhead shots more than any other cookware in the category.
Our Place sits between the two on aesthetic and below both on piece count. Six-plus colorways, minimalist single-pan format, design-forward but understated. The lifestyle pitch is "your whole kitchen on one hook" rather than "the matched set on the rack." For renters, small kitchens, and cooks who want fewer pieces taking up drawer space, the format is the feature.
Use case matching by reader profile
| If you... | Buy this | | --- | --- | | Want the most durable ceramic non-stick on the market | GreenPan Valencia Pro | | Want the highest oven temperature rating in the category | GreenPan Valencia Pro | | Want the most rigorous published third-party testing | Caraway | | Want the prettiest matched set on the kitchen rack | Caraway | | Have a small kitchen and want one pan to rule them all | Our Place Always Pan 2.0 | | Want the cheapest entry into ceramic non-stick | Our Place Always Pan 2.0 | | Cook on induction | Any of the three (all have magnetic bases) | | Sear meat at high heat several times a week | None — buy stainless or cast iron |
If your cooking style is high-heat searing — ripping the pan to 700°F surface temperature for steaks, scallops, or smashed burgers — none of the three is the right pick. Sol-gel ceramic obeys the same physics whether the brand on the box says GreenPan, Caraway, or Our Place, and sustained high-heat contact accelerates coating wear faster than oven heat ever does. Keep a stainless or cast iron pan for that one job and use the ceramic for everything else.
The honest "all three are good but..." framing
None of the three is dramatically better than the others. They are each making a different bet within the same chemistry envelope. GreenPan bet on durability engineering. Caraway bet on testing transparency and aesthetics. Our Place bet on format minimalism and price. All three of those bets are legitimate, and which one is right for you depends on what problem you are actually trying to solve.
The thing that matters most is what they share. All three deliver genuinely PFAS-free cooking — silicon-oxygen chemistry rather than carbon-fluorine — and all three are regulated under FDA 21 CFR Part 174 for indirect food additives. All three are dramatically safer than the unbranded Amazon ceramic category, where disclosure is thin and lead-leaching incidents have shown up in third-party testing. The choice among the three brands is set-versus-single, durability-versus-aesthetics, and price-versus-piece-count. It is not safer-versus-not-safer.
If you are trying to maximize coating life within ceramic, GreenPan Valencia Pro. If you are trying to maximize public testing rigor and matched-set aesthetics, Caraway. If you are trying to minimize footprint and cost while staying in the category, Our Place Always Pan 2.0. The chemistry is the same; the format is the differentiator.
For the broader category buying guide that includes stainless and cast iron alternatives, see Best PFAS-Free Cookware in 2026. For the chemistry deep-dive, see ceramic-coated non-stick science. For the matched comparison against stainless that we have been hinting at, see Caraway vs Our Place vs Made In.
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